‘Survivor’ 33 Cast Had To Evacuate Because Of Cyclone
Season 33 of Survivor may be the most shocking yet, but no producer could have planned for this season’s biggest twist. Entertainment Weekly reports that while filming the CBS show in Fiji, it was Mother Nature who had spoken and it was the entire cast and crew who had been voted off the island. It was just day two of filming when the evacuation began due to a cyclone. Tropical Cyclone Zena came crashing down on April 6, causing filming of Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, to be halted to ensure the cast and crew’s safety.
“Weather does play a part in the show, and you will see the part it plays, and it’s a first. And it was scary,” says Jeff Probst, host of Survivor.
“For 32 seasons of Survivor, we’ve been very lucky to have escaped some severe storms. This time, the storm caught us. It was only day two and in a matter of hours, a nice afternoon turned into a severe rainstorm that kept growing in intensity by the hour. We were monitoring the weather minute by minute back at base camp. When the national Fijian weather service upgraded it to a cyclone, we had to evacuate both tribes from their beaches and get them to safety. We have never had to evacuate tribes in 32 seasons of Survivor.”
Season 33 of Survivor pits 10 “Millennial” contestants (ages 18-31) against a tribe of 10 “Generation X” members (ages 33-52) and even during the Fiji evacuation, the two distinct personalities of the two could be seen, says Probst.
“It was very interesting how the two groups responded to the news. The Gen X tribe was responsible and very concerned about their well being. The Millennials were less concerned about their safety and more excited that they were making Survivor history.”
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Tropical Cyclone Zena hit southeast Fiji just six weeks after the area had to deal with Tropical Cyclone Winston which is the strongest cyclone on record. Zena was marked as a Category 2 cyclone.
6 Killed As Massive Tropical Cyclone Batters Fiji good luck to the castaways for Survivor season 33 and 34 https://t.co/ARRhiERawC
— marti boe (@cupcakes_mpls) February 22, 2016
Some may argue that Survivor can bring out the worst in people, but apparently, the U.S. show is more tame than other countries’ versions of the show. Survivor is patterned after the Swedish show, Expedition Robinson, which first aired in 1997. Mark Burnett brought the series to America after re-tooling the concept a bit since he felt that the original was a bit too mean-spirited. He also wanted to focus more on the human drama between the team players and there is plenty of that on the CBS show.
Probst has hosted every season of Survivor to date. The very first episode of the reality series aired for the first time on May 31, 2000 and featured two tribes of eight. During the show’s first 11 seasons, it was rated among the top 10 most watched shows. It has been nominated for several Emmy Awards and Probst himself has won the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program award four times in a row. In 2007, the show made Time magazine’s list for 100 greatest TV shows of all-time.
The 33rd season of Survivor premieres with a 90-minute special on Wednesday, September 21 at 8 p.m. on CBS.
[Image via CBS]
