Jeff Probst Reveals How ‘Survivor 49’ Players Were Chosen for Season 50 (Exclusive)
- - Jeff Probst Reveals How ‘Survivor 49’ Players Were Chosen for Season 50 (Exclusive)
Mike BloomDecember 18, 2025 at 5:22 AM
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Robert Voets/CBS
On Day 26 of Survivor 49, Savannah Louie memorialized her ally Rizo Velovic, who had recently been eliminated against the eventual winner in Final Four firemaking. "I hope he gets the chance to come back," she said. "And I know he has it in him to be a winner. I feel like, in the future, this game is his."She had no idea how much those words would come to fruition almost immediately. And that she would, once again, be along for the ride.
🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Nearly the entire cast of the Survivor 50 cast was announced on May 31, days before the historic cast of 24 returning players would go out to play. But there were two spots left unannounced by Jeff Probst for the landmark season, reserved for two players from Survivor 49, which had filmed but not yet aired at the time. And the first look at Survivor 50 that aired tonight officially revealed who will be rounding out the cast: Rizo and Savannah.In an August interview with Parade, Probst had said that the Survivor casting team went into 49 with no hard and fast rule about casting a certain number of people. Or even anyone at all."What we agreed to as a group was, 'If somebody makes a big impression, we're going to want them on 50. So let's go into 49 with our own state of flux,' Probst reveals in an exclusive interview with Parade. "And what happened was two players impressed us."
"We did not go in looking for two players," he continues. "We didn't go in saying, 'If we do it, it has to be a person of this age or this gender.' We didn't have anything. We just said, 'Let's just stay open.'"
Related: Jeff Probst Says ‘Survivor 49’ Players Led to Record-Breaking Cast Size for Season 50 (Exclusive)And if one were to pick a shortlist of players to return from the recently-wrapped Survivor 49, both Savannah and Rizo would be at the top of the shortlist. The two started as tight allies from the beginning, only growing tighter when a power shift at the merge left them suddenly at the bottom. Staggeringly, despite being down 7-3, they, alongside Sophi Balerdi, clawed their way through to somehow wind up as three of the Final Four. Each of the pair took on different roles to achieve that success. Savannah was the shield for the trio, the constant target throughout the postmerge. But she helped secure safety for herself and her allies by winning four Immunity Challenges, tying a record for women. Rizo wielded a different form of immunity: An idol he found in the premerge. Despite it being not so hidden, he was able to wield its power and Tribal Council theatrics without actually playing for a historic 12 rounds. Their partnership, unfortunately, got cut short on Day 25, when Sophi put her two closest allies in firemaking against each other at the Final Four. Savannah prevailed and eliminated Rizo, who was one of five jurors total to give the win to the former reporter."We didn’t decide on Rizo and Savannah until we had our Final Three. It was that late into 49 and that close to 50! And remember, it wasn’t a situation where we had to have players from 49 to fill out our roster for 50. We just made the decision to stay open to the idea throughout the shooting of 49, see how it all played out, and then decide. We set up a Zoom the morning after the finale. They walked in, and I was waiting on the Zoom to invite them to be a part of our most historic season ever! We were so happy that they both said yes."
Related: ‘Survivor’ Launches First-Ever Nationwide Immunity Idol Hunt
Indeed, Parade can confirm from preseason interviews with Rizo and Savannah (to be released at a later date) that both were asked to return to Fiji mere hours after the champagne was popped and pizza was eaten around Savannah's win. It was an immediate yes for both, who had less than two weeks back at home before flying out again for Season 50.With the full cast of Survivor 50 now out in the open, the wait officially begins until the epic three-hour premiere on Wednesday, Feb. 26. And Probst could not overhype the upcoming season enough, feeling it will hit all types of people — even those who have never seen Survivor."This is the most excited I have ever been to launch a new season of Survivor," he says. "Diehard Survivor fans are going to love it! Newer fans who’ve only been with us for a few years are going to love it! Families are going to love it! Kids are going to love it! And I really hope people who have never watched Survivor will give us a try. Because I genuinely believe if you watch just one episode, you’ll be hooked." "That’s how confident I am in what this season delivers," he continues. "It’s big, it’s fresh, it’s completely unpredictable, it’s emotional, it’s shocking, it’s full of redemption and revenge, of support and betrayals! Ultimately the fans will decide where it ranks, but there is no doubt this will go down as one of the all-time great seasons of Survivor."Until that "all-time great season" premieres, you can check out Parade's exclusive preseason interviews with the cast of Survivor 50 — including Rizo and Savannah — in 2026.
Related: Meet the Full Cast of 'Survivor 50' — Including the Mystery Season 49 Players!
This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 18, 2025, where it first appeared in the TV section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
