The landmark “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” had plenty of famous guest stars, including the likes of MrBeast. Celebrating the anniversary of the show after 25 years and 50 seasons, the production team rolled out the carpet to a number of high-profile figures but one of the most memorable was Zac Brown — despite the fact that his appearance initially caused some controversy.
The country singer not only provided some advice from his own expertise in fishing but also rewarded winning players with an intimate performance. Now, Brown and Probst have revealed exactly how his cameo on “Survivor” actually came about.
Zac Brown Appeared on ‘Survivor’ After a Chance Meeting With Jeff Probst Thanks to Dave Grohl
As it turns out, Brown’s appearance in the 50th season came about after he met showrunner and executive producer Probst at a party held at Dave Grohl’s home. The Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer had hosted a barbeque at his residence in Hawaii that both Brown and Probst were invited to.
This led to a long conversation between the pair that eventually ended up with Brown asking if he could take part in the reality series at some point in the future.
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Probst recalled meeting Brown. He said, “We started talking for like three hours about life and Survivor, and then on his way out, Zac turned to me and said, ‘Hey, I would love to play this game, but I’ll never have a month that I can leave with my schedule and my family. But if you ever do a shortened version, or you need me for a day or two, let me know.’”
According to Probst, he later called Brown when the idea of including celebrity cameos for the 50th season was in development. “And then he said, ‘Do you want me to bring my guitar?’ I said, ‘Zac, if you want to play music, that is literally the cherry on top of the greatest reward of all time.’”
During an interview with Parade, Brown elaborated on the meeting and how much of a fan he is of “Survivor.”
“I had just gotten back from my first spearfishing trip in Fiji,” he explains. “I started telling him how much I love the show, and I started showing him some pictures from my trip. And he was just like, ‘This is incredible.’ And I was like, ‘Man, if I could ever show up and maybe teach some of the people that don’t know how to spearfish on an episode. If I can participate in any way for an episode or something, I would absolutely love to be part of the show.’”
Jeff Probst Defended Use of Celebrity Guests in ‘Survivor 50’
When the 50th season of “Survivor” was announced, it quickly became clear that a whole bunch of celebrities would be involved. Rather than competing in the show, though, they would make brief appearances.
This led to some criticism from fans who felt that the spotlight was being taken away from players unnecessarily. Probst subsequently defended the inclusion of celebrity guests and promised they would not overshadow the series.
“Once we committed to turning the game design over to the fans, the next question became: ‘How far can we go with this idea!?’” said the host. “We knew some of ‘Survivor’s biggest fans happen to be celebrities, so we thought sprinkling a few of them in with their own unique twists felt like a fun way to make the game even more unpredictable! It definitely caught the players off guard in some really exciting ways, and added another layer to this celebratory season.”
