Host Jeff Probst isn’t shying away from the obvious demographic trend that has emerged on this season of “Survivor.” In his field notes posts on Instagram, Probst acknowledged that women are being voted off early on “Survivor 51.”
After the first four episodes, four women had been voted off the show. They are Jenna Doore, Aaliyah Puglia, Patt Cannaday, and Ana Sani. Rob Antonson later left the show, but he quit, citing an injury despite being medically cleared, a decision that was controversial. First, he tried to vote himself off the game, but that request was rejected.
What did Probst say about the trend?
Jeff Probst Opined That ‘Tribe Dynamics Dictate Everything’
Probst weighed in on the trend in the field notes that he posted to Instagram.
“Another woman voted out this episode,” Probst wrote on Instagram. “This season, we started with 11 women and 10 men. Then Lewis was sent to Exile so we technically started the tribes with 11 women and 9 men. And yet, the first four vote outs at tribal were all women.”
So what does the host make of that? “This is an example that tribe dynamics dictate everything,” he writes. “More women at the start of the game doesn’t necessarily mean more women at the end of the game. Nothing is ever that easy or that clean.”
Probst offered praise for Doore in his field notes. He called her “really interesting and intriguing. She brings you in with her storytelling.” He added that Doore was a “great communicator.” Probst also had positive things to say about Cannady, calling her a “good storyteller” who “makes friends fast.”
He dug into strategy.
“The decision to switch from two tribes to three has to be made months in advance of actually shooting,” Probst wrote. “Because our challenge builds take several weeks of construction and the construction teams need to know if they’re building two lanes or three.”
Probst continued, “Rob’s quit from last week also impacted the switch. When we put this switch on the schedule, we anticipated even numbers on all tribes. But when Rob left, he reduced the numbers by one.”
‘Survivor 51’ Started the Season With More Male Than Female Contestants
Other female contestants ignited the process of ousting the women who were kicked off the show, EW noted. There were more female contestants this year than male contestants, Probst pointed out in his field notes.
Entertainment Weekly noticed that gender has become an issue before. Men won 12 of 15 seasons between seasons 26 and 40, EW pointed out. EW dug into some of the strategy decisions this season: “Sharonda Cox flipped the script to save Eric Macksoud. And then, Thien An Nguyen was the one who suggested switching last week’s vote from Mike Pinsky over to Pat,” the publication reported.
Probst told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t aware of the past trend until the publication presented him with the statistics.
“I did not realize that,” he told Entertainment Weekly previously after being shown that data. “Wow. I have zero idea. I need to pay more attention! I wonder if you merely pointing it out will impact the future. I’m serious. Sometimes, that is all it takes.”
This time, he’s bringing it up on his own through the field notes.
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Jeff Probst Muses About Women Being Voted Off Early on ‘Survivor 51’