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Jeff Probst defends Survivor helicopter flyover above loser island

"It's not to rub salt in the wounds," the host says. "Although I know it sounds like, 'Oh, come on.'"

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Published on December 13, 2023 09:30PM EST

Drew Basile was feeling pretty low. That happens on Survivor, and it was happening to Drew on this week's episode of Survivor 45. He had orchestrated this brilliant blindside of a former ally, Julie Alley, only to see the entire plan crumble after Austin Li Coon told Dee Valladares, who told Julie.

As if that was not bad enough, there were the regular rigors of the game — lack of food, lack of sleep, lack of temperature regulation. And not only was Drew emotionally and physically drained, but he was once again not picked to go on a food reward — instead, he was designated as the reward loser babysitter and had to stay back at camp and keep an eye on Julie and Jake O’Kane. Making things even tougher to take, the person who did not select him for the feast was none other than his island BFF Austin, who instead picked Dee and Katurah Topps to join him for a scenic sandspit picnic getaway.

If Drew at least thought that getaway would be taking place out of sight and out of mind, he thought wrong. That’s because the winners would be traveling to the aforementioned sandspit via a helicopter. And, in a stroke of production genius, that helicopter would first be performing a flyover right above the back at camp. It's a move that multiple players described as "savage."

Suffice it to say, Drew did not seem particularly enthused seeing the joyous winners whizzing by, no matter how many times Jake attempted to cheer him up. It was a brilliant juxtaposition, and on the latest episode of his On Fire podcast, Survivor host and showrunner Jeff Probst was asked if this decision was explicitly made to rub salt in Drew's wounds.

“It's not to rub salt in the wounds,” Probst says on the podcast, “Although I know it sounds like, ‘Oh, come on.’” To which we say…. Oh, come on. (And we also say…. Can we have more, please?)

Probst acknowledges that there is certainly a moment they were playing for as producers, but that also simple logistics played a part in the decision. “I mean, it is fun and almost mandatory because they're in a helicopter and we're in a small part of Fiji. They're going to see it anyway, so we might as well just fly right over and blow up some sand in your face.”

As much as we support blowing as much sand into as many faces as possible, Probst says the shot they were really going for had everything to do with contrast. “The bigger reason is it reveals story. How will each group react?”

To achieve that comparison, editors cut back and forth between land and air. “You have two threesomes,” notes Probst. “You have Julie, who is unconcerned — because she is in on the game, she's not worried. You have Jake, who's kind of amused because he's still a bit on the outside. And then you have Drew, who is annoyed because ‘That should be me.’ And then on the helicopter, you have Austin and Dee drunk with power. I mean, Austin says something like, ‘Look at Drew just standing there.” And we cut to Drew saying, ‘Damn, life sure is unfair.’

"And then there's Katurah observing it all — pure strategy. ‘Yeah, just keep your head in that Lovers Lane. That's exactly where I want you.’ So I think that's the bigger reason, is we learned a lot from that one flyover.”

Hey, anything that gets Drew throwing cooking items all over the beach is good by us. For much more inside intel from Probst on the latest episode, check out On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast.

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