Survivor 50 has an “Uncle Jeff” problem

What qualities make for a terrific host? During most of Jeff Probst’s run on Survivorhe was a stable one. He maintained a pleasant however distanced relationship with most contestants, by no means sacrificing authority throughout challenges and tribal councils. In the lead-up to votes, he requested in regards to the gamers’ expertise on the market, but in addition probed for interpersonal rigidity and bought them to disclose emotions they in any other case would not. Probst was by no means flashy, however his abilities in assessing unstated tribe dynamics and testing folks’s talents to lie on the spot continuously made for riveting TV.

That Jeff Probst has been gone for some time now. Sometime across the daybreak of the New Era in season 41, a change that was as soon as gradual all of a sudden sped up. The man we see on our screens at present is sweeter, much less misogynistic, and way more forgiving in nearly each situation. (For one, he simply does not get indignant at quitters like he used to.) But he has additionally misplaced the core seriousness that made him such a grounding power. Jeff has turn out to be “Uncle Jeff” (or “Mr. Jeff,” within the phrases of season 50 contestant Jonathan Young), a vaguely clownish character who likes to be the focal point. He’s nonetheless a legend, after all, so solid members have reverence for the man, particularly the superfan-dominated newer ones. But at tribal council, he is now not an interrogator of character dynamics. He’s extra all for chatting in regards to the recreation itself, particularly no matter kooky twist he cooked up on a given week. When I does ask in regards to the present gamers, there’s nonetheless a stress on acquainted personal-growth narratives and “heartwarming” fandom origin tales. For season 50, that primarily entails asking everybody what it means to them to be on season 50, time and again.

In concept, Probst’s shift in character really matches with the present’s newer route. He has occupied his executive-producer function for greater than 15 years, and over the past 10 seasons, he is pushed Survivor in a brighter and extra family-friendly route. That change tips right down to each casting and the edit. In an interview two years in the past, Probst claimed he did not need to solid villains anymore, as he was “not interested in [the negativity]” and thought the show needed to evolve. From another angle, though, the occasionally sickeningly sweet New Era is exactly the time that the show should have a stern voice at the helm, someone willing to slightly undercut the exuberance of these longtime Survivor obsessives—especially during dry seasons like season 48 and 49, when loyalty-as-strategy reigned supreme and the narrative could’ve used a dose of conflict.

Season 50 has been better than most other New Era ones, and to a degree, Probst has succeeded by leaning on nostalgia. It’s easy to get swept up in the feeling, especially when he allows icons like Cirie Fields and Colby Donaldson the space to speak freely about how this experience has changed them. On a broader level, though, Probst still can’t stop making himself the main character whenever he appears, and it seems like the situation might be worsening.

It’s not just the “comedy” bits, like his nonsensical tribe-swap rap and his impressions of assorted contestants. You can inform he is simply having some dorky enjoyable in these moments, even when they do not land with contestants or viewers. Again, although, these failed bits are emblematic of a bunch who has forgotten who we’re actually right here to see: the gamers themselves. And not all of them have gotten the display screen time they deserve, particularly the female contestants. Every minute he spends using a pre-challenge chat or tribal council as his personal Jeff Probst Variety Show is a minute that could be spent establishing basic plot coherence. (At least once every episode, a player refers to some alliance we’ve never seen established onscreen.)

Probst’s framing of this season’s “In The Hands Of The Fans” theme is also increasingly frustrating. Opinions vary on the creative direction Survivor has taken over the past few years, but many fans would agree that recent seasons have dipped in quality due in part to the prevalence of needless twists, an overabundance of convoluted advantages that entail losing your vote, and the sheer repetitiveness of certain New Era features like the journeys. The season 50 fan votes would theoretically allow the viewership to finally make their voices heard and control the game. But fans really didn’t have much control or even know what they were voting for. Earlier this season, for example, Probst pointed out that fans voted for advantages to having “dynamic power,” a vague enough wording that the producers could run with basically whatever they wanted. “Dynamic” sounds exciting, but so far it mainly just means a bunch more of the same, apart from some Billie Eilish Boomerang Immunity Idols that have either been burned or haven’t paid off yet.

In the last few weeks, Probst has cited the same statistic twice: 63 percent of fans voted for the “I love twists” option. The first time, he used this to explain the “Blood Moon” twist, which was introduced as something “so memorable, so rare it will cause the entire Survivor world to pause and take notice.” Of course, it ended up being yet another split-tribe vote, except with three people going home. That episode felt almost as poor as last month’s widely derided installment with Zac Brown. Would fans have voted for that option if they knew this is what it meant? The same applies to last week’s “Double Duo” twist, one that worked out better mainly because two players went home who kind of needed to (and everyone actually got to vote in one place for once). Even then, Probst couched the twist in the same “blame it on the fans” language, as if to stave off potential criticism because we brought this on ourselves.

Of course, in the end, the host of a show like Survivor It is only one small part of it. No season has failed specifically because of Probst’s hosting, really, though his negligence did add to the awfulness of watching Dan Spilo skate by after allegedly sexually harassing Kellee Kim on Island Of The Idols. But there’s something off-putting about the choice to continue hammering the fan theme when fans had no real clue what twist they were choosing. Shortly before the challenge played out in this month’s “The Blood Moon,” Probst spent a minute and a half lovingly listing Applebee’s menu items like his life depended on it. “You wanted big?” I have asked. “We’re doing our best.” As this messy, entertaining, disappointing, and emotional season moves into its second half, it seems more and more likely he was telling the truth.

Ben Rosenstock is a contributor to The AV Club.