'Survivor' Season 41 Reportedly Delayed Until Fall 2021

Survivor fans are going to wait a little bit longer than usual for the next season of the CBS competition. On Wednesday, Inside Survivor reported that filming for Season 41 of Survivor had been postponed until the spring of 2021. While many other television programs have been able to resume production, Survivor has faced a series of unique challenges amidst this pandemic because the show films in Fiji.

Survivor originally hoped to resume production on Season 41 this fall. But, due to new safety measures from the Fijian government, the country's borders are closed to non-citizens. As a result, Survivor, which films in Fiji's Mamanuca Islands, will not be able to resume production until April at the earliest. Production on the series will reportedly now go back to its traditional filming schedule starting in 2021, per TV Line. They will possibly film Seasons 41 and 42 back to back from April to July of 2021 (it should be noted that an April start is contingent upon the state of the pandemic and any updates from the Fijian government). Since filming has been delayed, new episodes will likely not begin to air until the fall of 2021.

Towards the beginning of March, and before any cases of COVID-19 were officially reported in Fiji, Survivor decided to delay production for Season 41 out of an abundance of caution. Host and executive producer Jeff Probst reportedly sent out a memo to the crew in which he explained that the show decided to be proactive in the face of this unprecedented pandemic to keep the safety of the crew, many of whom hail from countries around the world, in mind. Season 41 of Survivor was initially set to air this fall on CBS. However, in July, the network officially pulled the show from its schedule. At the time, the network shared that the Survivor producers "are continuing to work with officials in Fiji on the appropriate time to start production on its next edition, with health and safety matters the top priority for everyone involved."

In early July, Probst spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the future of the show amidst this health crisis. He shared that when it comes to resuming production, the series has had to consider many challenges that many other television programs don't have to worry about at this time. "Shooting in a foreign country is exponentially more complicated, and we are still exploring them. I'm on the phone every couple of days, either with the government of Fiji or with our executive teams that are in charge of logistics and planning," Probst said when asked about the safety measures that they're discussing. "We're continuing to lay out ideas. We don't have a plan yet. It's what we're spending all our time doing because it's not like we're going to Atlanta to shoot a show."