The coronavirus pandemic has claimed yet another show, as CBS announced on Tuesday that Survivor would be removed from its fall schedule. The longtime reality competition was hoping to get a season together in Fiji, but with all that is going on, the show would be unable to get a season together in time to air in the next couple of the months.
The network added that production remains in talks with officials from Fiji to figure out a plan for when the time is right as the safety of the team and its contestants remains at the highest priority. The show had to halt production in March when the spread of COVID-19 was considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization. This installment will be the 41st season of the Jeff Probst-hosted show.
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As usual, Survivor was slotted in at 8 p.m. on Wednesday in the fall but will now be replaced with the newest season of The Amazing Race. This shakeup means that SEAL Team will bump up to 9 p.m., and S.W.A.T. will slide into the 10 p.m. time slot, which moves from being in the midseason to now bumping up to the fall season. Kelly Kahl, who is the network’s Entertainment President, said in an interview with Deadline that resuming filming on their two reality competition shows would be more difficult than others because of having to “navigate some international waters.”
The last season of Survivor aired on Feb. 12 and wrapped up on May 13 in Mamanuca Islands, Figi. Tony Vlachos outlasted Natalie Anderson to be the most recent winner. Prior to the season, CBS aired on a special “40 Greatest Moments and Players” episode to look back on the prior 39 seasons.
Along with news on Survivor and The Amazing Race, CBS also may be moving closer to getting back on track with its usual summer hit reality show, Big Brother. Us Weekly learned that the network is hoping to put together an All-Star cast. The reason for that has to do with saving the time of vetting unknown contestants and the audition process that comes with it. There has been no official announcement from CBS about what they plan on doing with the show, which is set to air its 22nd season over 20 years. Along with that, the network is hoping to find a way to get its other reality show, Love Island, up and running amid the pandemic.