News of President Donald Trump’s last-minute address to the nation on Wednesday night has upset a particularly passionate demographic: Survivor fans.
Trump announced Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social that he will be speaking to Americans from the Oval Office the following night at 9 p.m. ET—right in the middle of the broadcast of the reality show’s Season 49 finale.
“My Fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST,“ he wrote. ”I look forward to “seeing” you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
CBS said in a statement that Survivor‘s three-hour finale would be delayed in order to air the president’s speech as a special report.
“CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell will anchor and be joined by chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes, reporting from the White House,” the statement read.
The show’s finale, which starts at 8 p.m. ET/PT, “will resume where it left off immediately following the president’s address for Eastern and Central Time Zone viewers on the CBS Television Network and air in its entirety.”
The Daily Beast reached out to CBS Entertainment for comment.
Teeny Chirichillo, a Survivor contestant from Season 47, told the Daily Beast that he empathizes with the Season 49 contestants who won’t “have the nice bow on top to what is an incredibly taxing and emotional process.”
“Because I’ve experienced being on the show, the finale is really an opportunity to celebrate a really intense emotional experience, which is, watching back this incredibly challenging thing you lived through,” Teeny said.
“My heart breaks on behalf of this cast who doesn’t get to watch a cohesive ending to all of their stories, and has to be interrupted by a really complicated and divisive political figure in our society who also doesn’t necessarily uphold the beliefs of all the contestants on the show.”
Other fans of the show were also quick to express their frustrations on social media.
Stephen Fishbach, a former contestant on Survivor: Cambodia and Survivor: Tocantins, said on X: “absolutely wild that Trump is trying to make #survivor 49 last even LONGER, surely this will be the last straw for his supporters.”
“Trump is a deranged man for scheduling a speech in the middle of the Survivor 49 finale,” one X user wrote.
“I could excuse Trump’s bigotry, racism, and war crimes, but delaying Survivor is where I draw the line,” said another.
Another wrote, “Man f–k Donald Trump. Joe Biden would have never interrupted the survivor finale.”
“Interrupting the Survivor finale should be illegal,” said another. “But this is what happens when CBS gets bought by someone up Trump’s [peach emoji, which symbolizes a butt].”
Trump’s Wednesday address was announced shortly after a profile about his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday, in which she said Trump had an “alcoholic’s personality.”
Rumors hint that the address is Trump’s attempt at damage control in the wake of a particularly poor week for the president.
On Monday, Trump, 79, faced backlash across the political spectrum for an insensitive outburst he shared surrounding the murder of veteran director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
Additionally, the president’s approval rating hit a record low this week, with just 36 percent approving of his handling of the economy, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. His overall approval sits at 38 percent, the lowest point in his second term so far.
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