I cannot wait to talk to you about everything.
I'm so happy you're here.
Congrats, Survivor 50.
Thank you.
This is a big deal.
I know, it is.
It's good.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
There's a lot to celebrate.
I know we want to get to the book.
You have a book out as well.
But also, you did something that I thought was so fun and awesome.
You released a song that you sing.
Yes.
Yes, it's, yeah.
Yes.
It's called Survivor.
50.
-"Come and Get It."
That's the song, yes.
It's called Survivor 50.
It's a rock song.
Yes.
It's legit.
This is real deal.
Well, I don't know that it's legit, but... Look at this picture of you.
This is on... Yeah.
Okay, and...
Okay, a little context.
That is Wichita, Kansas.
And I am not kidding when I say that was just a Tuesday.
That's what I... That's how I dressed.
I was in a, like, a rock band that was terrible.
But I didn't know that.
No.
You look so cool.
Come on, with the Van Halen T-shirt.
I wanted to be David Lee Roth.
Yes, who didn't?
We all wanted to be.
I want to play a little bit of it.
Oh, really?
On The Tonight Show, Survivor 50...
Survivor 50, come and get it.
Come and get it.
Take what's yours.
You want it bad?
I say you gotta want it more.
So come on, come and get it.
Take what's yours.
You want your face in the stone?
Then you've got to bring the war.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, come on.
You're on Spotify.
Okay, here's the deal.
For real.
Yes.
Why would you do that?
It's ridiculous over the top, but I was thinking of Survivor 50 and the Super Bowl shuffle that the Chicago Bears did for the Super Bowl and I thought I'm gonna die one day.
I want to do the things I want to do.
I want to write a rock song.
So we recorded at Henson Studio.
Now it's Chaplin Studio.
It's one of the most legendary rock studios, recording studios in the world.
You went there to record?
Yes.
How fun.
It was so much fun.
I'm not kidding.
It was one of the highlights of my life.
Come on, bud.
To do that, I think it's the greatest thing.
Survivor 50, come and get it on Spotify.
Wherever you get your music, listen to it.
It's so fun.
When you're having your watch party tomorrow night, turn this on and crank it loud.
I read somewhere that when you were doing Survivor 50 before you shot it, you watched the first-ever episode.
I did.
What went through your brain?
What do you remember?
Well, I had not watched it because I couldn't, I had this like trauma.
I mean, how was it?
Was I okay?
Was the show okay?
And what I remember was when it started the very first season, we just started.
All of a sudden, people just started jumping off the boat and I have to explain what the show's about.
And what I remember about it is it was one take.
You're not gonna get the players back up on the boat and say, jump again.
And so, Survivor has always been that sort of one take, risky, try an idea if it works, do it again if it doesn't, try something else.
But that's what stood out to me is we were making a show By hook or by crook.
It's just a live show.
Yeah, who knows what this show is going to be?
Exactly.
Who knows how it's going to end?
Who knew what it was going to be?
That was it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And right there, and you took it from there.
You also released this book.
Today it's out.
Yeah.
This is by you, and this is all of your...
It's photos.
It's pretty spectacular.
Scott Duncan is our main DP on the show, and these are 1,000 photos from his 25 years.
He's a day-one person.
And if you're a Survivor fan, it's a very visceral experience.
Yeah, I know everyone.
Siri, I love everybody in here.
Here's one of your journals in the back.
I kept a journal in the first season.
We started shooting in one week.
This is an unscripted, live, spontaneous experience.
I will have to react to what is happening as it happens in real time.
Giant monitor lizard in my room.
That thing was huge.
And I didn't even know what they were.
But I woke up in the middle of the night, and this creature is just crawling along.
Yeah.
You've seen everything.
But also, I was going through how many people have been on Survivor now.
Contestants, there were 750.
Yeah.
How did you narrow down who would be on All Stars?
Who would be on?
Oh it was.
We did it for about a year.
We started with 200.
There's so many greats.
I know.
And we left so many people out because we only had so many slots.
Yeah.
But ultimately, you just... One day, you go, okay, this is the group.
Had we stopped the day before, it might have been a slightly different group.
How'd you get Mike White to come back?
Mike texted me and said, like six months before we shot.
He said hey, if you're doing something cool for 50 and if you would like me, I would like to be a part of it.
But you're gonna have to let me know because I have to change my production schedule for White Lotus.
Yes, so I'm sitting in my house going, so we're gonna change the, White Lotus for Survivor.
Wow, look at us.
Mike White is so cool.
I mean, here's a guy with the biggest show in the world.
He's the greatest director.
And he still said, I need this.
I want to try it.
It's fun.
He doesn't have ego in that way.
He doesn't feel like I might get embarrassed.
He's still Mike White.
He's still got White Lotus.
Yes, but there's so many twists and turns and surprises this season.
You'll see on Wednesday some previews, and there's rumors.
I don't know if I can say it.
Can I say it?
You're in the promo.
Okay, good.
I'm in the season of survival.
I'm so excited.
I'm so excited.
Dude, I'm so excited to say, finally, because I kept it a secret.
I'm like, am I allowed?
I don't want to ruin anything for anybody.
Well, here's the thing.
I don't even know if I've told you this, but... the theme of this season's in the hands of the fans.
And they voted on a bunch of things for how the show would play out.
And in the back of my mind, I thought, man, there's some really cool, famous Survivor fans.
I wonder if they'd want to be a part of it.
But I didn't want to ask anybody.
So...
Zach Brown had told me one day.
He said you know I can't do the show, but if you ever need me for a weekend, and I sort of lodged that
Then you and I were here and we had this little game where you said you should be on the show and I go.
I will if you will.
Yes.
And we shook hands and that night I texted you and said I'm holding you to it, and that's when we decided let's have a few celebrities.
So it's you, Mr. Beast, Zach Brown, Billie Eilish.
Come on, Zach.
That's a good group.
It's really fun.
And you all bring, you all throw a different wrench into the game.
It's really cool.
I am so beyond honored, you know, because I told you.
You know, every time I beg you to come on the show and tell me everything.
Just little hints.
But this, guys, I'm telling you, I was so nervous about this.
I don't want to tell you what the thing is or how I'm involved, but I am involved.
And then you called me from Fiji.
Here's how it went down.
Yes!
Jimmy, can you hear me?
Here's how it went down.
I'm like, what is happening right now?
It's so rad.
Thank you for doing it.
It was really, really fun.
It added a great layer.
But also, you said, I said, if I'm going to be on, you have to be on.
Yeah.
And did you?
I mean, I am a man of my word.
I'll just leave it at that.
Do you compete this year?
I just leave it at that.
It's a big, but it's enough of a tease.
Jeff Probst competes in Survivor?
Yeah, I do.
You do?
I do, yes.
Wow!
It was only fitting that I have talked so much smack for so many years that I finally compete, and I'm not gonna say how it went.
I'm only gonna say I have a lot of respect for the players.
What do you want people to remember from everything that you do out there?
I will quickly just say I think you're the best to do it, the best to host any of these reality shows.
And whatever's thrown your way, the leader that we all look to to talk, and you go hey guys, here's what happened.
And I just feel safe seeing you.
I love being able to control the game and make sure it's working, make sure it's all even, make sure everyone's being heard and being taken care of.
It never gets too crazy.
And I just love it.
Every season's different.
And there's tricks and psychological tricks to the game as well.
Well, we, to your point, we wanted we've always wanted Survivor to be a family show.
It's still vicious.
People play a very hard, cutthroat game.
But to your point, if something sensitive were to come up about race or gender or something, we talk about it because it's happening on the show.
But we try to do it in a way where, if you are watching as a family, you can say what would you do if that happened?
How would you two handle that?
And that's kind of the idea behind Survivor is that it's this giant game, it's a human adventure and it's fun for everyone to watch.
The greatest.
I want to show a clip.
Here's Jeff Probst in Survivor 50.
Take a look at this.
You are it.
And the only thing we want in exchange for giving you this spot is everything.
We want your blood.
You got it, Mr. Jeff.
We want your sweat.
Hell yeah.
We want your tears.
We want it all.
And when this is over, every single one of you should be able to look at yourselves and say whether I'm first out or got to the end.
I gave everything to this game.
Yeah!
That's how you make history.
That's how you create a legacy.
Yeah!
Yeah!
That's how you do it, bud!
Before we go, in honor of the big Season 50 celebration, we always happen to have a microphone here.
Would you maybe want to give us a little live Survivor 50?
Come and get it as we go to break?
Yes!
With the Rude Chef Probes.
Oh, my.
All right, ain't no sheep in this pack?
They say work together.
You say that's a trap.
Just one little question what's real and what's not?
Who's gonna get good and who's gonna get gone?
Well, the Welcome back everybody.
I'm Jeff Probst and we're about to play a game of Pictionary, but to do that we're gonna need some contestants.
Let's meet our first team.
She's a cast member on Survivor, and he hosts NBC's Tonight Show.
Seri Fields and Jimmy Fallon.
We got this.
And their opponents.
They're also cast members on Survivor.
It is Ozzy Lost and Charlie Day.
Everybody knows how to play Pictionary.
30 seconds on the clock.
You each take a turn.
Then you're going to have a showdown.
You'll both draw at the same time.
We'll do all this.
They'll be worth double points at the end.
Maybe more points.
May the best team win.
Charlie, you're going to draw first.
Does that sound good?
Yeah, that's good.
All right.
So we have a seat?
Let's do it.
All right, Charlie, you pick any number.
What number should he pick?
Five.
I see five.
Let's go.
Five?
Here we go.
Okay.
Understood.
Yep.
Pretty confident.
And go.
All right.
It's a person, Jeff, Jeff, Jimmy.
It's a, he's a, what is that?
It's a tiny little leaf.
Oh, it's Adam.
Adam and Eve, naked man, running, beach, castaway.
It's a, it's a fig leaf.
It's a fig leaf.
It's a bikini.
It's a merkin.
It's a, it's a, it's a speedo.
Come on!
You did good!
Didn't panic.
Didn't panic.
That's a nice speed-up.
You're down to four seconds.
You're good.
You're good.
You're good.
Oh, my God.
Well done.
Well done.
Jimmy's drawn now.
All right, here we go.
What number?
Whoever yelled five, no.
You just did five.
Okay, here we go.
Hmm.
Yeah.
You got it?
Got it.
Yep.
Okay.
I'll hold it.
I feel good.
Mm-hmm.
Serene, come on.
All right, I'm ready, I'm ready.
Come on, partner, we got this.
Serene!
Ready?
I'm ready.
Okay, here we go.
It's a tall man, it's Jeff.
It's the idol necklace, the immunity necklace.
Immunity idol.
Hangman.
It's...
TV.
It's a TV host.
It's Immunity Idol on TV.
It's Survivor.
It's Survivor 50.
It is... It's Idol.
It's TV.
It's Jimmy.
It's both.
Jimmy, let's just explain, though, what was this intending to be up here, this part?
That was the American flag.
Oh, okay.
That helped?
No.
Oh, the Olympics.
Olympic medal.
Gold medal.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sorry, sorry.
That's right, that's right.
All right, Ozzy.
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
You got the next one.
Come on up.
I'm drawing next.
You got it.
Jimmy said balls.
Okay.
I think I can do better.
All right.
You shouldn't think of balls first.
I'm hearing 10.
10.
10.
10.
10.
Now looking at it, it looks crazy.
I'm sorry.
See?
Now looking at it.
Okay.
Good luck.
Tell me when.
All right, go.
30 seconds on the clock.
Triangle pyramid.
Survivor player.
Oh, it's a martini.
Oh, my God.
It is.
I mean...
Wait, Ozzy.
Ozzy can draw?
That's pretty good.
That's fantastic.
What else could that be?
I'm taking this home.
This is really good.
That was for you.
I thought it was the Olympic rings.
Okay.
Alright, Sri, you're up.
Sri, you got this.
Alright, come on.
What number, guys?
What number?
Eight?
Somebody say eight.
Okay.
Sri, we got this.
We got this.
Eight is the number.
Oh, my God.
Wow.
Really?
Okay.
Looking good for Ozzy and Charlie.
Maybe.
Okay, tell me when, Jeff.
Gold medal.
Go!
Okay.
He can't see.
Oh boy.
Okay.
How about this?
Popsicle?
That's it!
I'm going to make this last round worth 1 million points.
So it doesn't matter what's happened.
This is it.
So pick somebody and pick somebody to draw.
Definitely you to draw.
I'm drawing.
Definitely you to draw.
Okay.
Who's drawing?
I'm drawing.
You saw the martini?
Yeah, I saw the martini.
Okay, good.
So, all right.
Three of you are over there.
Versus three.
Yeah.
You guys are going to draw the same clue at the same time.
Whichever one of us gets it first wins the whole thing.
Which number?
All right.
Seven.
All right.
Let me see.
Let me see.
Let me see.
Okay.
Got it?
Yes.
Neither one of you look like you really are psyched about this.
No, no, we got this.
Start the clock.
No, Ozzy's locked in.
And begin.
All right, head, neck, body.
This is it.
Pac-Man.
This is Pac-Man.
Map.
Oh, NF Snow Angel.
This is why they're on Spider-Man.
You're really?
They're so good.
Partner, come on.
We got this.
Congratulations, buddy.
Congratulations.
My thanks to Jeff Probst.
Sheree Fields, Ozzy Lutz, Charlie Davis, the champs, and Jeff Probst.
There's so many things.
I want to talk Survivor.
I can't not wait to get into this with you.
I can't believe you're going back, or you went back.
I don't want any spoilers, but, anyways, I do, kind of.
But, anyway, I want to get into other things.
I want to, as they say, give you your flowers for White Lotus.
You were amazing.
Thank you for doing that.
What you've created, what you've written, what you've done.
Every season, a different great story.
Dude, you crushed everyone.
It's just amazing.
No, please.
I'm not too nice.
Congratulations on all of it.
I heard a rumor that the idea behind White Lotus, or parts of it, came from a trip that you went on with Jennifer Coolidge.
Is that true?
It is.
Yeah, it is true.
Jennifer Coolidge and I are, yeah, we're friends.
Yeah.
And like we went on this safari and it was like two weeks, and like we like slept in the same bed even.
Like, I spent all, like, two full weeks with her.
I mean, it was awesome.
I mean, she's so fun, and she's so funny.
She's the funniest person.
But, like, it's, like, I don't know.
She's just, you know, like, getting through life is a bit hard.
You know what I mean?
There's a lot in the purse.
There's a lot of stuff in her purse.
Of course there is.
And like we, and she also like veers a little on paranoid.
So like we'd go out and she'd be like, wow, look at those pack of lions.
And then she'd be like, do you see how they're looking at us?
I know that look.
We got to get out of here.
I'm not kidding.
We got to get out of here.
She thought the lions were gonna kill them.
I know they only make that face when they're trying to kill you.
That's so fun.
I was like whatever I've done in my life and I'm here watching her freak out about these lions.
I was like I've done something right.
Yeah.
She's so, yeah, original character.
And then you just go, I'm just going to come up with an idea for a thing.
Well, she's amazing.
And I just like you know, just to give her a really meaty part that she could really like sink her teeth into.
Yeah, and she crushed it.
But so many parts.
Everybody.
There's so many parts.
Murray... Bartlett.
Bartlett.
Oh, my God.
I mean, he... Parker Posey.
I mean, Paul Goggins.
Everybody who does your things.
I mean, you must be... Do you not leave your house anymore?
Because I feel like everyone wants to be in your show.
I mean, it was, yeah, going to Halloween parties used to be more fun.
I got to be honest.
Yeah.
I got to be honest.
Like, now I'm like, I have to go to the bathroom.
Get in your car and take off.
I don't know, yeah.
Well, the thing is like when you have a show that people want to be on, which is so yeah, I feel very, you know, like obviously grateful.
Yeah, of course.
But, like, it's also a bit, you know, you feel you're rejecting everybody in town.
You're not.
You love everybody.
Yeah, of course, exactly.
They have to be right for the part.
Yeah, you're just writing a story and trying to find the right people for it.
It's so brilliantly done, and it's fun, and the locations are amazing.
And again, the rumors saying that the new location is Paris.
Oh, it's France.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry, I was... It's not... I was off.
We'll be partying in Paris, but it's not necessarily Paris.
Oh.
Ooh la la.
But, yeah, I'm stoked.
I'm gonna be there for the next 10 months.
Yeah, so it'll be.
I mean, do you think about that when you write this and you think of these ideas?
Like, where am I gonna spend the next 10 months?
Definitely.
For sure.
Of course.
Yeah, right?
Because you're like, yeah.
Yeah, I'm very spoiled at this point.
It's actually, yeah, it's... I can't.
I feel like it's a life hack, man.
Because you go to the nicest hotels, and when you go there, they give me a really nice room.
And then in the room, there's a white lotus cake for me to eat.
I mean, there's champagne.
Yeah, I'm such a dirt bag.
No, no.
You work hard.
You deserve everything.
You famously do a great job of the attention to detail.
Also, the secret of no one really knows what the season's going to be about.
Last season was pretty dark and deep.
Sorry.
No, it felt good.
It was good for my therapist.
Yeah, I was like, you know, Thailand, we were like, yeah, we're a little spiritual.
So, yeah, there was some kind of, yeah.
Have you ever been to stuff?
Sorry, stuff, yes.
Have you been to Thailand before you wrote this?
I had been on The Amazing Race, actually.
Of course.
I got eliminated on The Amazing Race with my dad in Thailand.
You and your dad were friends.
Yeah, you had to go back and settle the score.
Now it's all good in Thailand.
But let's talk about Survivor.
Now, you've been on The Amazing Race.
I remember telling you how impressed I was with you back then.
Oh, thanks.
I believe you did it twice, right?
Yeah, I did it with my dad.
It was amazing.
It was the best, and it made me cry.
Oh, man.
It made me weep.
It made me cry.
And then you went on Survivor.
I go, who is this guy?
Like really, who is Mike White?
What's wrong with him?
Yes.
You don't get cake when you go on Survivor or Champagne.
Yeah, I don't know.
Why would you go back?
I don't, I honestly, well, you know, Survivor 50 is a huge, that's a huge deal.
It's like, you know, it's a cultural milestone.
And, like you know, I have you know it's like I don't want to like miss out on something that could be super cool.
I never thought it would work with my schedule, but then, when I found out the dates, I was like I actually could go.
That would be so gnarly to go again.
Because I had a great time the first time and I was like but then you don't realize.
Then you get back on there and you're like oh, it's like childbirth.
Like you don't realize, you forget how actually totally hellish.
Not that I've given birth to a child, but like
No, no, no.
You know what I mean?
Like, it's so, it's actually so, it's quite hellish.
It is.
It's quite hellish.
It is quite hellish.
It's like, unless you really want it and you want to just like sit in the dirt, in the mud and like yeah, die starve basically.
Yeah.
But this year, this year, you know, at the hands of the fans, which is the slogan for this one the fans got to vote on different parts of the game.
And the fans are, they suck.
The fans are, like, cool.
They're, like, sadistic.
I mean, yeah, great.
Thanks, fans.
Love fans.
I mean, I love fans.
Thank you, fans.
But the fans chose to not give you food?
No, they didn't do anything.
I love you, fans.
Come on.
They wanted you to suffer.
Boo.
What do you want?
A cake and champagne?
I mean, it's a bit extreme.
Okay.
Yeah, maybe, you know, a little bit of rice.
A little kernel of rice.
I mean as a superfan who's played?
I mean, what do you think is the biggest misconception that people have with actually being on the island?
Because I watch from home.
You know I'm a fan.
Jeff knows I'm a fan.
And I can never actually do it.
What is that?
Okay.
Well, I mean, obviously, it's really hard.
And then.
But you know, the truth is like the hardest parts were the parts that there were no cameras.
As long as, like, there were cameras, I was like, oh, okay, the camera's going to be life.
Like, I'm suffering, but, like, people are going to watch this suffering.
It's like, I'm not suffering a lot.
Like, there's, like, it's like...
It's like the moments where you're like waiting to go to a challenge and you're sitting under like a tent and there's like a PA yelling at you and you're like there's no cameras.
You're just in the dirt.
You're like, why did I do this?
It's like, where are the cameras?
Someone has to watch my suffering.
I need cameras to suffer.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's the great Mike White in Survivor 50.
Take a look at this.
Mike White.
With the success of White Lotus that you write and direct.
You could be anywhere right now, but you're here with us.
What is it about Survivor that brings you out here to do it again when you don't need to?
I have major FOMO issues.
And I knew this was gonna be an epic party and I didn't want to hear about it from Angelina and Christian in a month from now.
And I was like, if you guys are gonna be down there, I'm gonna be down there, too.
And, yeah, I want a front-row seat.
I'm stoked to be here.
Thanks for the invite.
