‘Survivor 43’: Jeff Probst Says Contestant Outsmarted Producers in Premiere Episode

Survivor fans were introduced to a new crop of castaways during Wednesday night’s premiere. As viewers quickly saw, this cast isn’t messing around. As Jeff Probst even told Entertainment Weekly, one of the castaways even outsmarted the producers in the premiere. 

In the opening challenge, Cody Assenmacher determined a way to complete it that the production team hadn’t even thought of. Cody encouraged his tribemate, Dwight Moore, to capture the flint ring that they were trying to get by putting it inside of the opening in the bamboo pole that he was wielding. The hack worked incredibly well and as soon as Dwight took on Cody’s advice, he was able to get the flint and win the opening challenge. Probst was especially impressed with Cody, as no one thought about tackling the challenge in the same way. 

“Cody was the only player who stepped out of the emotional chaos and studied the problem while it was still unfolding,” the host said. “How do we get that flint?  We had tested that challenge many, many times with our Dream Team. Nobody ever thought of doing that, but Cody did.” Probst continued to say that it wasn’t just a “great moment” for the tribe, but a “great moment for the audience because that moment revealed character.” He added, “It showed that Cody is both calm and wily. That combination allowed him the clarity to see an opportunity and the ability to find a solution. It’s a seemingly tiny moment, but it’s a great example of how you have to play this game. In the moment.”

Survivor’s premiere episode also featured a twist from the last two seasons, the Prisoner’s Dilemma. However, there’s one twist that you won’t see this time around, Change History. In a previous interview with EW, Probst opened up about eliminating this twist, which saw one castaway breaking an hourglass to reverse the results of an immunity challenge. He told the outlet, “I can already hear some fans celebrating and others saying we caved to criticism. We love fan feedback, and the feedback on Change History was amazing. People either really liked it or really hated it, but not a single person said ‘Eh, I could take it or leave it.’ And with Do or Die, the drama was electrifying but we also felt that was one twist we could put on the shelf… for now.”