Jeff Probst reacts to that idol melting at Survivor Tribal Council"When she puts it in the fire, yes, there is a part of me going, 'This is fair, right?'"
By Dalton Ross
October 11, 2023 at 09:30 PM EDT
http://ew.com/tv/survivor-45-jeff-probst-tribal-council-sabiyah-idol-melting/
Tribal Council is an iconic part of Survivor. And while the Tribal Council set may change each and every season, one thing that always remains is the fire pit that sits in front of the contestants nervously awaiting their fates to be delivered by host Jeff Probst. But the aforementioned fire pit became more than just a cool-looking scene-setter and lighting tool on this week's episode of Survivor 45. It became a tool in the game.
Sabiyah Broderick of the Lulu tribe had found a hidden immunity idol that was encased in wax that needed to be melted away in the tribe fire. The problem was, Lulu had lost every single immunity challenge, meaning they had no flint, and therefore no fire with which to melt the wax. So Sabiyah went to plan B: bringing the wax-encased idol to Tribal Council and placing it in the fire so it could melt off during Tribal.
Jeff Probst on 'Survivor 45' | CREDIT: ROBERT VOETS/CBS
It was a sequence of events that Probst and his team never saw coming. "We never considered that somebody would find this idol and still not have fire, and then be smart enough adapting to use the Tribal Council fire," the host and showrunner says on Survivor's official On Fire podcast. In fact, as it was happening, Probst had to internally double-check with himself if it was even allowed. "When she puts it in the fire, yes, there is a part of me going, 'This is fair, right?'" Probst says. "Because all the note says is, 'You've got to burn the wax.'"
Probst ultimately gives the player props for showing such ingenuity: "I gave Sabiyah a lot of credit for saying, 'Yeah, the only fire I have in my life right now, Jeff, is at Tribal when I'm going to vote somebody out.' I thought it was really cool."
Little did Sabiyah know at that point that the idol was only good for that night's Tribal Council. However, if she chose to give up her vote, it would extend the idol's power up until all the three tribes moved to the same beach. That twist forced Sabiyah to make an immediate decision while at the voting urn.
"I thought it was really interesting that you then get to see Sabiyah, she's just accomplished this amazing goal, and she's got it, and she's got her vote back," Probst says on the podcast. "Now she goes up in the booth and you watch her in real time read the note and realize, 'Oh my God, this is only good for one Tribal unless I give my vote up again.' But because she had gotten the idol, she had gotten her vote back. So it was this great rising tension in the drama, and she decides to make a big time move and risk it. Which really, you have to, right? I mean it's an idol. You've got to go for it."
Sabiyah did indeed go for it. Unfortunately, she did not know that Emily Flippen had informed Kaleb Gebrewold that Sabiyah had turned on him, so the two flipped the vote back on Sabiyah. Had she not used the idol and sacrificed her vote, it would have been a 2-2 tie, and who knows what would have happened. Instead, she did not vote and was voted out 2-1.
To hear Probst and cohosts Rick Devens and Jay Wolff also discuss the new Godwill Advantage and everything else that went down this week on Survivor 45, check out the latest episode of On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast.
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