Jeff Probst Media Teleconference - Transcript

Jeff runs though the 16 personalities:

Brandon Bellinger from Manhattan.  He's 22, a farmer and that was his whole thing coming in.  He said "I kinda look and I kinda sound like a dumb farm hand and I may just play that card and let them think I'm not too bright."  But that's not the case.  You see that pretty quickly.  He's got a quick wit and he's got a smart mouth.  He's a strong kid.  He's really strong.  I think people are going to really enjoy him.  I think he's got a likeable quality.

Danni Boatwright is also from Kansas.  She's a sports radio talk show host.  She's 30, a former... she's been in some beauty pageants.  She's good looking.  She's an attractive woman in great shape. She's an athlete. She has 6 brothers. So she comes from a strong competition background.  That's one thing I've always looked out for is women who compete.  Because in general guys are raised to compete, women aren't.  You get toward the end of the show and more times than not the guys play the women.  Women end up 5th and are happy with it.  If somebody like Danni gets deep in the show she'll be a threat because she definitely gets competition.

Margaret is from Ohio...Chardon, Ohio.  She's a family nurse practitioner.  The way she described it for me is that it's just under a doctor, it's not just a nurse.  She's schooled in a lot of different types of medicine.  She's a care-giver.  Right away, Episode 1, she's a star because this 11 mile trek that they begin with is so brutal that you have the most unlikely of people on their backs, on their knees, throwing up, eyes rolling in the back of their heads.  Margaret is qualified to run triage and figure out who is doing ok, who's just over heated, who might be in trouble and what to do.  We literally monitored the first few days... we obviously have our own doctors but the doctors can't intervene so we used the reality of Margaret with these guys as a way to monitor how serious some of them were.  At one point Margaret was concerned about somebody, she really was concerned.  And we got concerned.  So she got into a big role right off the bat.

Brian Corridan is 22. We have a very young group, a lot of people in their early 20s.  Brian is from NYC, originally from Connecticut.  He takes alot of pride in being from Connecticut.  Greatest state in the country he'll tell you.  He's an Ivy League student.  Considers himself incredibly bright.  In casting when we met... my grammar is horrible and he would correct me and then say "see I've already got you on edge, you're so worried now because you know that you can't speak properly and I do".  Even that sentence that I just said was probably poor grammar.  Brian is really fascinating to watch and listen to.  He's like Hatch Lite.  He's Richard Hatch Lite.  He truly believes he is the second coming.

Cindy Hall is from Naples.  She's a zookeeper.  Interesting woman in that, I think she would agree that she's more comfortable around animals than she is people.  The fact that we're throwing her in Guatemala in a rainforest with howler monkeys and crocodiles and snakes and red ants and all this stuff, lots of mosquitoes... could play to her advantage in that Cindy has some knowledge of the outdoors and wildlife that other people could benefit from. On the flip side Cindy could come across as somebody just so detached that they don't know what to do with her.  That was kind of my question going in... would she be able to bridge those two worlds.

Gary Hogeboom is a former NFL quarterback.  He's from Michigan, Grand Haven, Michigan.  Gary was worried that people were going to figure out who he was or recognize his name.  So he developed an alter ego which I think was Gary Hawkins.  And he said, "I'm either a land developer or landscape design", something like that.  His view was, "I'm just gonna deny it.  No matter even if I get outted I'm gonna deny it."  Well Danni Boatwright, the talk radio host from Kansas, on day one, said "that's Gary Hogeboom, I know that's Gary Hogeboom".  So it was a great little dance that went on right away with Hogeboom saying "I'm Gary Hawkins" and Danni having this information about who he was.  Do they confide in each other?  Does she use that information?  Does she hold onto it?  It got off to a good start.  And Gary doesn't look like an NFL player.  His hair is prematurely gray. He's very lean.  He didn't want people to think he was a big athlete.  So I think might have not given it his all in the beginning to kind of draw attention away from himself.  Draw attention away...throw attention...divert attention.  Thank you Brian Corridan.

Rafe Judkins is also 22 and from the Ivy League world as well but completely different from Brian.  Rafe is a very understated.  He's got this tremendous personality.  Very likeable.  I think people are going to really get behind Rafe.  He's gay and he's bright in terms of understanding Survivor, he's really studied it.  He also coincidently had done a semester on the Mayan culture right before Survivor.  Had no idea we were going to Guatemala or that we would choose him to be on the show.  So he had a little bit of history.  If we ever did a Q and A, theoretically, that guy would have a leg up.

Jim Lynch is 63, from Colorado.  He's a retired fire captain.  He's the oldest guy but at 63 he's really not that old, he's in good shape.  I don't think he hid the fact that he's a retired fire captain.  We've seen the game enough that being a hero and being a leader can work for you or against you.  Like it did with Tom, he knew how to play it.  I think Jim's big thing is going to be...he's a big... he's one of those "I know how to do it.".  That's gonna be hard for him to back down and be a team player because he probably does know how to do it.  And he's with 20 year olds and he's gonna have to get along.

Morgan McDevitt is 21 from Illinois.  A Magician's Assistant, she's also a waitress and maybe does a little modeling.  She's young and fit and attractive.  She's a woman that I didn't have a lot of faith in going in.  I wasn't sure she had the staying power.  As the show started, I started changing my mind.  I saw someone who really did want to play and really would work.  She kind of became an underdog in that sense for me, personally.  I think she always saw herself as a full on threat but in my opinion I was realizing... okay there's a little more here than maybe I gave her credit for in the beginning.

Lydia Morales is from Lakewood Washington, originally from Okinawa.  She's a fishmonger.  She can slice, dice, do everything with a fish.  The only unfortunate thing for Lydia is that the place they're at, there are fish but they are located in a lake that is muddy and full of crocodiles.  Fishing is not going to be like Palau.  It's fair to say that Palau was like a vacation compared to Guatemala.  It's hot, averaging maybe 105 [degrees] a day, it got up to 120.   It's humid.  The mosquitoes are ridiculous.  The lake is full of crocodiles, they are given corn to eat.  But Lydia is a charming woman with quite a history.  I don't know how much will come out on the show.  Truly a survivor in her own life.  A woman who is going to have to work hard to stay in the game because it's a physical, physical, physical season.  It's the most physical we've ever done and Lydia is probably the least physical of all the people out there.

Jamie Newton is from Douglas, Georgia now from North Hollywood, California.  He's a Southern boy, there's no doubt about it.  He's a water ski instructor, one half of a set of twins.  He was raised to say "yes sir" and "no sir".   I think there's a bit of a chip on his shoulder but it's a charming chip.  And Jamie is a strong guy.  What I found endearing about Jamie is that I truly believe that he intends to do the right thing everyday.  Sometimes that's harder for him to do than others. I believe his heart is in the right place and that makes him an interesting person to put on this show.

Amy O'Hara is 39 from Massachusetts.  A police sergeant.  Amy is East Coast.  By that I mean she shows you what she is, she says what she means.   "Yeah socializing with a group of people is going to be a little difficult but I've done it before.  I worked with a police force and I can merge.  I'm a little rough around the edges."  She's a little bit of Twila.  And it's fun.  And Amy is tough, chick is tough.  And this season tough could keep you in the game.

Judd Sergeant is 34 from New Jersey, a hotel doorman.  He's everything you want in a Jersey hotel doorman.  Everything ends in "man".   "Let me tell you, man".  He's colorful.  He's hot headed, he's strong.  He's a pretty good player of Survivor.  You get to talking to these guys in casting and you figure out who gets the game and who doesn't.  I think Judd gets the game.  He knows he's got to build alliances with people. He knows he's got to be trustworthy to a certain point and he knows he's got to pull his weight.

Brooke Struck is from Santa Monica, California.  She's originally from Hood River, Oregon.  Law student, took a semester off to come do the show.  She's a sharp woman and she's a good thinker.  Very calm.  She's young and attractive and fit but her strength or her liability lies within her approach to the game which is very calm.  The show starts off with an 11 mile trek through the jungle and it's a doozy, it aint no walk.  You got a map and a compass and Brooke is the kind of person who will offer to lead and it just depends how she does it because that can really irritate people or it can be comfort to have somebody who's willing to take the risk and knows how to read a compass.

Blake is 24 from Dallas, Texas, he's a commercial real estate broker and a model.  I think he'd like to compare himself to Colby...in that he's young, good looking, all American.  He's very fit.  But as I said this season is tough and even the fit guys are going to have a hard time.  Blake in casting... all the guys loved Blake, we thought he was great and the women were sort of nonplussed by him.  Which all the guys found interesting.  We're looking at him going "wait I thought this was the kind of guy that girls like.  Young, good-looking All American, polite."  So I don't know what the take on Blake will be.

Brianna, she's 21 from Edmonds, Washington.  She's a make-up artist and sells make up.  My take on Brianna was that there was another reason she's out here other than what she was telling us.  And I could be way wrong.  She says she wants the adventure and all this stuff.  I think there's something else going on there and for that reason she was really interesting for me in terms of how this journey played out for her and what she wanted to get from it and whether she was successful.

So those are the players.

Question:  With the issues of Katrina, are there any concerns that might blunt or diminish the issue of surviving.  Obviously the same question came up after 911.

JP:  When 911 happened Survivor: Africa was about to premiere and I was very uncomfortable promoting it, it was hard to talk about it.  Survivor was still new and we had just done Australia which was truly about surviving.  There was the obvious comparison of, okay suddenly a show called Survivor is a bit insensitive and certainly not relevant.  I agreed.  That was 4 years ago and 8 seasons ago.  I feel like now that Survivor is familiar and Survivor is comforting.  I hope that for the people that watch this show, season in and season out, that are suffering as a result of everything that has happened with Katrina, maybe at some point... at least there are some things that are still good and solid and I can rely on.  Nobody in their right mind thinks Survivor is really about surviving.  It's a television show.  It's technically a game show.  I think we've shown people that you can rely on us.  We're dependable.  We're going to give you the show that you expect and try to make it fresh in a little way.  I actually think that enough time has gone by that much in the same way that other shows like American Idol make you feel good for the hour and take some of the pressure off.

Question:  You did answer about Hogeboom and did anyone get wise to the fact that he's an ex NFL player.

JP:  Hogeboom was a guy who applied.  We didn't go looking for him.  His tape was him in Michigan and he's out in the snow and his kids are piling show on his head.  He's saying "if I can survive two kids and the Michigan winter I can survive your show."  And when I saw his tape it just says Gary, it didn't say Hogeboom.  I really didn't know anything about it, I wouldn't recognize him.  He gets in there and he's a great candidate for the show.  Now add in the fact that he's a former pro quarterback and has some sort of celebrity but not so much that it's guaranteed that he'll be outted, it becomes sort of interesting.  On one hand this guy could still be a superb athlete but if you show that, you're dead.  So he's got to run this little game of "I'm good enough to keep around, I'm not so good that I can beat you.  And no my name is not Hogeboom, it's Hawkins with a W."

Question:  You've contributed Super Bowl predictions every year for the Celeb Bowl Predictions (?)... did you get to talk about the Superbowl at all?

JP:  No because of what we just talked about.  It was forbidden for me to say anything.  I have a habit of calling guys by their last name.  I knew that he was going to lie going in.  There was one challenge where I just about said "Hogeboom".   It's early on, day two or day three when we have our first challenge.  Danni is sitting on the side saying "I think that's Gary Hogeboom.'"  It got into my head and I just about said it and luckily caught myself.  No we never talked football.  Analogies get made in Survivor all the time, like..."you're sort of the QB of our tribe" that came up about being a quarterback.  It wasn't in reference to Gary.  It was a little dicey to keep in mind that you have to remember that this guy is a landscape architect.

Question:  When you originally signed on with Survivor years ago did you have any idea that the show would be such the huge pop culture phenomenon that it has become?  When did it first dawn on you the impact the show has?

JP:  I definitely had no idea that it would have any kind of pop culture impact.  I thought in the first 20 minutes when Richard Hatch was up in the tree lecturing Sue Hawk and she said "action, Richard action, where I'm from we work while we talk."   I thought, "we've got a really smart show that's going to fascinate a small section of the population that are going to be into this social experiment".  I never thought it would be the kind of show that my mom would be glued to and that my nieces would watch.  When it really kind of started hitting me was season 5 when I started realizing, man people really are watching this show.  That's why I feel confident in saying what I said about Katrina.  I don't mean it to be disrespectful.  I truly mean it that I think Survivor has earned its place on the map because of alot of factors not the least of which is it just happens to be a fascinating situation to take new people and shove them into a tough environment and watch it play out.  I just talked to a guy about an hour ago on the street, he said "I watch with my son since he was 7, he's now 11,  we talk about things like ethics".  I'll ask him "if you think that's okay to tell one person A and another person B".   I like that it makes me feel good.  I want to be part of something that has a secondary layer and not just a game show.  It has sound soul to it.

Question:  We've seen all the promotion about the two big twists, what can you tell us about that?

JP:  The two twists, two people that have played the game, two former players are coming back in some capacity.  Where the idea generated from, we have a constant board of ideas and sometimes they make it into a season and oftentimes they don't.  We've talked about the notion of not doing an All Stars but doing a regular group of new people and interjecting one or two former people to see if they would be used as easy vote offs or if anybody would have the confidence to say "I think you're an asset and I want to learn as much as I can and I'm still going to play the game against you and yes I'm going to try to get rid of you but in the meantime you're going to help me get further."  We sat at the table and there were 6 people on one side saying "you're stupid, they're first off" and then there was the other side saying "what if they're not".  You can predict, you can't write the ending.  There is an inherent risk in doing something like that.  But I'll be honest with you, it's the reason that the same creative team is still on Survivor.  Burnett allows us to take risks knowing me might fail but believing even if we did people will come back and give us another chance.

Question:  Did you support this idea and why?

JP: Oh yeah.  I think socially it's a real great question.  People see it very differently and will react differently.  Some people will say "oh no, no, no, you've had your chance no go away."   That's short-sightedness and putting some silly ego or pride ahead of the goal.  The goal is "how do I get further in the game?"   Depending on what I think of this person and how you played... I'd go up to this person and say "listen your head is on the block already, team up with me and let's get a couple of other people, of the 4 of us you're probably going to be the first to go but let's go as far as we can together and if you're good you'll outplay me again". 

Question:  How was it decided who the two people would be?  What criteria were you looking for?

JP:  We talked about a couple of ideas.  One that I was totally against and so vocal about was letting America decide.  My feeling was, you can't trust America to vote in two people that have the qualities that we need.  People can get on the internet and people can have their friends call in and suddenly we're left with somebody who was voted out first from 4 seasons ago who nobody remembers.   You can't do that.  I kept arguing that we decide and we just have to have criteria.  The criteria we came up with was two things:  who would the audience like to see again, who would they enjoy and secondly, what's the justification for bringing them back?   So if you can make an argument that this person deserves a second chance because...then that person was on the list and we had a fairly small list and the choices to us were obvious once we looked at it.

Question:  You said that they'll be back in some capacity, are they in fact playing and competing for the million dollar prize?

JP:  Well, let me think... in a sense, definitely.  Trying to think what I can tell without saying what CBS doesn't want me to say.  I've kind of...I've said alot and there's alot to read between the lines.  I feel ok with what I've said but the idea is certainly not to just have them come back and say "good luck", that wouldn't be very interesting.  But to come back and participate in this game in a way you have to decide...before this happens...you have to decide how you're gonna play it...are they a threat or are they an asset?  The answer is in there.

Question:  Can you talk about how Survivor has remained a top 10 show for all these years, what keeps it fresh?  Certainly twists like the one you just mentioned.  What else keeps it fresh and drawing in new viewers?

JP:  I'd like to think it's the very likeable host...but I know better.  I think it's... you just hit on it.  It's a good structure for a show, the whole notion of abandoning people hits on a part of the human condition of being lost.  If you've ever been lost in a scary part of a city or ever literally been abandoned on a deserted island, whichever extreme, that's a big part of the human experience.  And the other part of the human experience  is being picked last for anything.  Whether it's playing basketball as a kid or being the first guy laid off from the job, there's a feeling of "wow they don't want me around, they don't want to play with me."  Those two big elements of Survivor, I think, always resonate with people.  And then I think, you know, that it was in good hands.  I think Mark Burnett has proven that he's a gifted storyteller and he knew how to take a very very small idea from Sweden and turn it into a monster show.  And the third element is that we do work hard.  We work hard at casting and finding that little injection of freshness that doesn't abandon the show that people expect.  That as time goes on is what's going to make Survivor more and more difficult to continue at the level.  We have to continue to find new ideas and find ways to shift the show.  Cause sooner or later we're going to run out of islands to go to.  There's only so many that can accommodate us.  So we're already looking at new ways to layer the show so that it doesn't have to always be about going somewhere exotic, it just has to continue to evolve.

Question:  I just wanted to touch back on something that you brought up that revealed alot about yourself the last time we talked before Palau.  How are things moving along in your personal life with Julie and will we be hearing more about that in the tabloids?

JP:  I hope you don't hear about it in the tabloids.  I'm smiling a really wide smile right now because I'm definitely still in love, more in love than I was 6 months ago.  It trumps everything else.  When I was in Guatemala and around these ruins, I'll say in advance, I'm sure some people will think this is corny or cheesey or whatever, but there are these ruins that are 2500 years old.  When we got to tribal council and were surrounded by three huge ruins, if you closed your eyes you could almost imagine the people there 2500 years ago. They're in grass skirts, they're trading and bartering for things and there's  probably somebody who's going to get their head chopped off because that's the way their civilization worked.  But when you open your eyes, the people are gone and the pyramids are still there, the ruins are still there.  What struck me is these ruins are 2500 years old.  That means the people have been gone for 250 centuries!  That's how long ago these people existed and left.  My life is like that, snap of a finger and I'm gone.  I want to explore my life and love is the E ticket at Disneyland.  I feel like I have it and it makes everything so much better and everything richer, a richer experience.

Question:  Any wedding plans for the future?

JP:  No.  Haven't even talked about it.  Not for any reason other than just...that'll present itself.  I think it's a natural question for anybody who says they're in love like I just did.  Now we just really are having a good time learning how to be a couple and how to make sure that we stay special to each other.

Question:  I am from the Grand Rapids press.  Grand Haven where Gary Hogeboom is from is right in our area and of course he's a big native son who everybody loves.  Can you tell me what kind of competitor is he.  You refer to him earlier as being kind of crafty.  I spoke to his old football coach and he said Gary is a guy who does not like to lose.  What do you say about that?

JP:  The first time I met Gary, you get a sense from certain people that they get it, quote unquote.  Hogeboom gets it.  I don't know how much of that comes from playing in the NFL and being the quarterback position and having to lead a team.  But he's extremely sharp.  He's sharp enough to know that this is how people might see me.  If people figure out that I'm an athlete this is the harm it will do me.  He knew enough not to excel too much coming out of the gate.  It's an 11 mile trek.  Hogeboom was probably as well conditioned as anybody out there.  But I don't think you'd see it.  I don't think he shows it.  He played low key.  And in terms of being a guy who doesn't want to lose, there's no doubt about it if Hogeboom could last in the game awhile to the point where it gets to be individual then he could be a threat because he could be strong.

Question:  And you were saying that this guy on the 2nd day outted him?

JP:  It's a woman, Danni.  She's like a 30 year old, attractive, in great shape, athletic background, lots of brothers and hosts a radio show. She doesn't out him, she says... I can't remember if she says it in reality or in an interview but she knows, well she's pretty sure, she goes "I think that's Gary Hogeboom."   But the big question at that moment for me was, man if I knew that about somebody and I found out that what you were saying was that your name was Gary Hawkins I would come to you, I would either hold that... the question is does she hold that information until she needs to play that chip and say "listen Mr. Hawkins we need to make a deal or I'm going to bust you."  Or does she go to Hawkins and say "listen I know who you are I'll keep your secret we'll team up."  There are lots of options.  But Gary is working it going "I'm Hawkins.  I got Hogeboom all the time, the guy that played football, yeah I hear that all the time." 

Question:  Wow, so he's a little bit of an actor, too?

JP:  Hogeboom was out of the gate an actor.  And it was fun because we've never had anybody who had a lie to tell and tell it so well.  He didn't hesitate.  "What do you do?"  Landscape architect.

Question:  So he's giving his real life job now and not alluding to his former fame?

JP:  Yeah and he's using a different name.  A name close enough that he'll respond to it.

Question:  What's your idea of a dream location for a vacation?  Your work on Survivor in so many exotic locations, I imagine that has no appeal for you now.

JP:  It really doesn't, you're right.  My dream location is wherever my friends are.  That could be just Arizona or hanging out with my family and my brothers.  I got a buddy coming up from Seattle in two weeks, we'll just hang out at my house.  I don't even care for the sun anymore.  I've gotten so into trying to not get skin cancer and wear sun screen.  110 degrees, doesn't sound good.

Question:  Describe a little bit more about the location and the starting trek from where to where did they go?

JP:  Guatemala is kind of a dichotomy in that there are places in Guatemala that are gorgeous.  There's Guatemala City and Antigua, old cities that are beautiful.   We just took them to an area that was dense in terms of ruins and dense in terms of rainforest.  It's the summer and it's hot.  That's the layout, you have all these old ruins sprouting up everywhere that are really cool.  But it's 110, mosquitoes, muddy crocodile infested waters and snakes and all that stuff.  The whole idea of making it tough came from the fact that again sitting around the table in LA, going... "all right this is going to be hard again.  This is going to be a difficult season.  We can either make it hard and have big huge ice castles so that they don't remember how hot it is or we can embrace how tough it is and make it tough."  We decided that we haven't done tough, tough, tough, ever.  So the idea came, "let's do a trek like we would in Eco-Challenge."  We brought in the same guys that Mark used in Eco-Challenge and said "here's where we want to start, here's where we need to end up. Make us a course."   So these guys went through the jungle and mapped out what turned out to be an 11 mile hike, trek whatever you want to call it.  You gotta have a compass and you've got a map. Our Survivor maps are not Rand McNally, they are purposefully vague.  There's a stream here and a big tree here.  So we set that up and ran it 3 times with our dream teamers and it killed them.  We had no idea how hard the Survivors would run.   You just cannot ever anticipate the adrenalin that courses through a body.  It's the toughest beginning we've ever had.  You will see many people on their back, on their knees, throwing up, eyes rolling back.  And it's people you wouldn't have expected.  It's not necessarily the 19 year old girl that weights 84 lbs.  It was hard and it sent a clear message that was "you better think twice about voting off  the strong because you're afraid they will hurt you in this game.  Cause without them it's only a matter of time before your tribe dwindles.

Question:  And is the camp on the coast or in the interior?

JP:  It's in the interior.  And the trek is...you're vying for two different camps.  One is theoretically alot better and more enjoyable than the other and you're also playing for fire.  Fire is...if you've watched Survivor, is key because without it you can't boil water.  Without water you're seriously hurting. 

Question:  You were talking before about the closeness to Katrina.  Is there anything in the show that you folks  have gone back and taken out or changed just because it might be a little insensitive given what they've been through?

JP:  No, not that I know of.  And I don't remember anything happening that we would be sensitive about.  We are sensitive to Katrina, definitely but I don't remember anything happening on the show that would require us to make a modification and edit out of the show.  It's 16 goofballs trying to not get voted out of the gameshow.  In the moment it's fun to watch and see them not have something to eat.  But this show would never compare to something like Katrina.   I don't even think you feel that when you're watching it.  I don't think you go "God that's just too close to home."  It's clearly still, A-type personalities going "well I don't like you either."  For some reason I feel there is a bit of charm to Survivor even when people are complaining and moaning.  We all know it's going to work out.  This isn't really a disaster.  This isn't a situation where we're not going to come and rescue someone if they need it.  You want to take an hour out and give your brain a break.  

Question:  You mentioned Mark a couple of times.  He's got so many things going on now.  What was his involvement in this edition as say opposed to the last one?

JP:  To be completely honest, Mark is involved in every season if by no other part than Mark created this and built this machine that we're running.  He taught us how he wanted the show to be designed and where the guidelines were.  When he hired me he said "I'm hiring you because I think that you get it.  I'll never be able to talk to you.  I'll never be in your ear.  You're going to make decisions in the moment that we're going to have to live with and I trust you."   Mark can call in at anytime he wants and say "I just had an idea.  I don't care what you're doing, I want this to happen."  But he doesn't.  He says "let's look at the big picture, I want to make sure this happens."  It's a big reason...we're all there because Mark has given us autonomy to run a show for him.  You couldn't run all these shows day to day.  Nobody could.  There's not enough days in the week.  But one thing to Mark's credit, you look at his executive producers and senior producers,  a majority of them came from Survivor in the early days.  He is extremely loyal.  For all the hoopla around Mark, and "he's tough to do business with and he's got a healthy ego."  Mark is loyal.  Mark told me early on, "you know I've got several hundred people on my payroll.   I feel responsible for them and their families and their kids.  I've got to keep doing shows so we can all keep working."  I believe him.  For a guy who's made 10s of millions of dollars in the last few years, he's incredibly humble still.  I see him at these Rockstar: INXS tapings.   He'll invite us over to the house afterwards and we'll hang out with the INXS guys and Mark has some caterers come in and throw a party.  It's like hanging out with your best friend.  He still knows how to party and can tell a good story but he also happens to be a major, major force in TV.  

Question:  Talk a little bit more about the heat.  Just how bad is this heat.  How did it affect you as well as the teams?

JP:  That's a good way to gage it.  I came into it... I've had a revelation about sun damage and skin care in general.  I came in with Murad sunscreen protector, I wear a hat everywhere.  You will not see a challenge when I won't have it on.  I am not ready for what one day was during one challenge, 120 degrees.  It's stifling and sucks your energy.  You see these challenges that when you see them edited are down to 5 or 6 minutes but in reality we're out for two or three hours.  You have to reset something up because it's in a series of  heats.  I kept noticing that my brain, which is not the fastest already, just didn't respond as quickly.  I really for the very first time, looked at these guys and thought "man this is really serious... they are exhausted and dehydrated."  Sometimes you'd see people get cold because they are so dehydrated and it's 105 and they're freezing.  That's scary stuff.  During one challenge I covertly called the doctors over to make sure we were not in trouble.  You'll see it in the first episode.

Question:  Where did you go to cool off?

JP:  I'm a stickler for no water bottles inside the Survivors, you don't smoke or have a candy bar wrapper.   It drives me nuts that we forget to show respect to people getting their asses kicked.  On that challenge where we were worried about them I chugged a bottle of water.

Question:  There are air conditioned places to go to right?

JP:  When we're not working.  Yeah.  In Guatemala we built a city in the middle of a field.  Our offices have air conditioning.  Our trailers, we were supposed to be in tents and nobody wanted to do it.  One of our guys bought 6X8 foot trailers. It was glorious.  At night it cools down a little, I personally don't prefer AC.  It's hard on your body to go from really hot to really cold. 

Question:  Since we last talked Richard Hatch has been indicted.  What's your reaction to that?

JP:  Hatch is a very charming guy and I enjoy talking to him but I seriously think Hatch is delusional.  I'm not a psychiatrist but the guy thinks he can beat the IRS.  He's out of his mind.  57 million people watched Richard Hatch win a million dollars.  To not declare it on your tax return is to challenge the IRS.  Who does that?  Who wants that headache?  If I was a reality show contestant I'd be going back over my accounting.  I have a feeling they are looking at everybody. 

Question:  Was Julie with you in Guatemala and if not how do you handle the separations?

JP:   Yes and not well.  Yeah she did.  I was...I take the Survivor world, hold it with dear regard.  I talked to the creative nucleus.   Everybody was like "that'd be great we love Julie."  Mark said "get her a job".  Because he's in love with Roma and he now gets it.  So he's pro love.  Julie came out on day 7 and stayed til day 34.  It was fantastic to go home at night and have your partner there.  She's getting her masters so she had stuff keeping her busy.

Question:  In previous seasons the people perceived to be threats to win the game seemed to get voted off early and it eliminated the most interesting players, strongest players.  Did you change anything in the game to discourage that?

JP:  Well you can't change anything to discourage people from voting off the threats because ultimately it's a point of view...in terms of just getting voted off because you're strong and therefore might be tough to beat in an individual challenge.  I think by no particular reason other than being in a tough environment we did change that.  They knew after that 11 mile trek, they're smart enough to know that everything happens for a reason.  We're putting this on day one because we want you to understand something, this show is going to be tough.   The people who are now worried are the weak people.  Lydia who, bless her heart, is charming but not very strong in challenges.  And Morgan, who only weighed 95 lbs, is maybe getting beat up out there.  You better learn how to make that corn or build fire or build a shelter. You gotta bring something to the party now.

Question:  About your next show, is it going to be Jeff and Kelly or Kelly and Jeff?

JP:  The truth is, no one from ABC has ever talked to me, not one word.  I co-hosted a little bit and Regis made a little joke that I was going to replace him.   The next thing you know it's in one of the magazines that Regis is about to lose his job to the upstart Jeff Probst.

Question:  When TAR brought Boston Rob and Amber in it gave them a boost in the ratings.  Do you think people will assume that you're bringing in people from past seasons just to get a boost in the ratings?

JP:  No, we don't need a boost in the ratings.  We've had 20 million for 11 seasons.  I'm glad Survivor could help Amazing Race out.

Question:  Some of the people who did past Survivors are popping up on The Battle of the Reality TV Stars and Reality Kills.  Do you watch that stuff?  Is it encouraging to see these guys back on TV, or embarrassing?

JP:  I don't really watch it.  I'm learning how to play the didgeridoo.  Not that I don't watch TV.  I love Lost and am waiting for The Sopranos to come back.  I'm flipped over this new Chris Rock show.  There's so much reality now that I kind of feel like Survivor is in it's own category with shows like Race and Idol and Apprentice, thoroughbreds in the genre, not little one-offs.

Question:  How's the didgeridoo going?

JP: It's a hard instrument to learn but the environment on Survivor is incredibly romantic for the crew at night in the sense that it's a bunch of gypsies and we have guys from all over the world.  They make this great music.  I sit out there season after season going "that's really cool."  I got myself a didgeridoo and I'm going to learn how to play it.

Question:  I read awhile ago there was some speculation would Survivor go on after the 12th installment. 

JP:  Well my contract is up after 12.  In that sense I don't have an existing contract with CBS.  I would assume they are doing more.  But they don't order them that way.  They only order two at a time and they've ordered 11 and 12.  Not said anything about 13.  I don't want to be the David Caruso of Reality.  The guy that everybody goes "you're not doing Survivor anymore?"  I'm not an idiot.  But 6 years of being away, I have to admit that I know it's a great job.  How much more do you want to sign, signing another long term deal would be really hard.  You miss people and I want to start a family.

Question:  If you did choose to leave would the show go on without you.  Would they replace you with Rob C. or someone like that?

JP:  I don't know if Cesternino would be the right choice.  I'm sure he thinks he would be.  The show would definitely go on without me.  The star of the show is the show. Survivor the structure is the show, that's why it works.  And the casting of the people that you put on the show is key.  Yeah, you could get someone else to host it.   And it goes through my head that if you leave a show like that and the new person comes in and they're better than you.  I gotta figure all that out and I've got to be asked back first.  And I have a good relationship, I don't know why I wouldn't.  

Question:  You see all the tapes like what goes on at camp.  If you have a personal like or dislike can you influence Tribal Council.  If you want to out Gary can you do that just to be mean?

JP:  First of all, I don't watch tapes.  It doesn't mean I don't get information.  I could never watch the amount of tapes, they come in all day.  But I want to know the big beats.  I need to know if someone is lying about their occupation or names so I don't blow it.  There are, in every episode, multiple moments or encounters that I don't know happened.  I want to have free reign at TC and not be a scripted monkey.  I want to be able to watch somebody roll their eyes and ask why.  People at Tribal want to talk and can't help but talk and they really shouldn't talk.  You really should say less.  In terms of should I influence the game...of course, yeah if I said "hey Gary Hogeboom QB"... we'd have a horrible lawsuit.  I'd be in a real bind.  It's a dicey... the vague ones come when you're hard on someone at Tribal Council... like "you're not pulling your weight".  And people go back at camp and go "Probst said you're not pulling your weight."  In Guatemala it was very contentious.  There are a couple of people who aren't going to be inviting me to dinner anytime soon.

Question:  Has someone ever, when voted out, gone totally ballistic and threatened violence?

JP:  Nobody's threatened violence.   We had a couple this season of Guatemala, where people were so blindsided and it was so personal and there's one in particular that is probably the most colorful exit that we've ever had.  I say colorful in quotes because it's funny looking back on it but it wasn't funny to the person at the time.   People are generally respectful at Tribal Council.  I try to remind myself when I go get the votes that for somebody it's their last Tribal Council and the end of something they've worked hard for and they may not even know it's coming.  I try to be respectful of that and most Survivors are also. 

Question:  Are the internet rumors out there true that some type of fever went through cast and crew.  Was there anything like dengue fever?

JP:  No.  Now in the crew, yes but it's common.  We have so many people eating from the same cafeteria.  There's always the spread of the runs.  I'm careful and always the guy with the fresh fork.  

Question:  Looking at the cast biographies, 3 sets of twins.  Twins figure really big into the Mayan culture. Is there anything about that in the show, do the challenges incorporate twins in anyway?

JP:   You know alot more than anyone else has brought up.  There is folklore about the twins and gods.  We already knew what challenges we were going to do related to Mayan culture. We do have some that are basically descendants of games that the Maya played.  We modify them to make them into a Survivor challenge.  How they built things comes into play.  We didn't know that we had all these twins until we cast the show.  We toyed with it.  How could we incorporate it.

Question:  It seems so statistically unbelievable. Just wondering if Mark had something up his sleeve.

JP:  No, no not at all but it was wild.  I didn't even know it.

Question:  You mentioned how All Stars was a miserable experience.  Why would you decide to revisit that a second time, what was different about it this time as far as bringing back previous people.

JP:  All Stars was very different in that everybody has played the game before, all had personal grudges or friendships with each other.  It completely changed the game.   The reason this idea... for me anyway... was more appealing is you have a brand new crop of people.   If you wanted to bring two people back even to play the game the whole time, if people didn't like them they vote them out 1 and 2 and you're back to your regular season and that's fine.  But wonder if somebody takes a chance and says "I might try to team up with them or keep them around because they might be an asset." Suddenly you've got an interesting game.   If it's me, "stick with me don't vote me out first, I will teach you stuff about this game that will give you shortcuts you'll never learn on your own."  It would be a huge dilemma.  I know I should get rid of you but I know I can probably go further with you.  So I'm going to take a chance and hope you're not that good and smoke me before I smoke you.

Question:  You've mentioned how the waters around there aren't friendly.  Are we looking at another Africa here where it's not a heavy water season.  

JP:  It's not heavy water-based but we do have water challenges.  We get them out in the water.  The water factors in.  We learned from Africa that you can't not have water.  

Question:  You said Palau was a lot of firsts. How would you sum up this season?

JP:  The toughest period.  I know the people in Africa are going to want to defend their title but I really believe that this season was tougher, the temperatures and humidity and bugs.  The hardest challenges we've done.  Land based challenges, physical challenges.  Get down dig your feet in the mud and pull.  You've got to take chances on this show if you want to succeed.  I think people, when it's over, will say, that was tougher than Africa.

Question:  How were the teams split up this time?

JP:  We thought we had even tribes in Palau.  For the first 5 seasons Mark would say, "we cannot have one tribe obliterate the other because that would be disastrous."  And then it happens and it turns out to be fantastic.   But we never set out for it.  We think we have very evenly divided tribes this time.  The initial trek kinda speaks to that because you're racing for the better of two camps and fire which is probably more important than the better camp.  The 11 mile trek goes all of one day and into the next and it was very close.   It's fun to get the drama of having them select [tribes] but you can't do that every time.   This time we'll pick.  Or motto is that anytime we can force them to make a decision then that's another potential chance for a good moment in reality.   We thought that Ulong had the advantage because they had the young guys and strength.

Question:  Are you still surprised when it comes down to the end and women have the numerical advantage and never use it?

JP:  I've come to the conclusion that men are raised with competition.   When guys compete and they lose, they don't get mad, they just  say "you've got me, now let's go get a beer."  Women aren't raised, in general, to compete like guys.  The guys play the women.  If we have 2 or 3 women that are very competitive with a background in sports and competition, like Cindy and Danni, let them get deep in the show, they may play the guys.  It's fascinating to me.  From a producing point of view what you desire in a contestant is someone who will play everyday and not quit.