Each Wednesday, millions of people wind down by watching a group of castaways try to outwit, outplay, and outlast each other on CBS’s “Survivor.” But when “Survivor” host Jeff Probst has free time of his own, he’s watching a different kind of unscripted entertainment.
“If I have 15 minutes, my go-to is going to be a police interrogation, almost always,” Probst told me of his daily routine while filming the show’s landmark fiftieth season.
The host said he’ll watch real interrogation videos on YouTube because he loves studying how detectives work.
“You are watching a human walk into a room wondering, how much do these detectives know? What they don’t know is in most cases, the detective knows a lot more than you think, but they want to see what you’re willing to share,” Probst explained.
“Then you watch a great detective or a team of detectives slowly build this box, and the box gets smaller and smaller and the guilty person starts to realize, ‘I’m never going home. They know what I did,'” Probst continued.
“I love those subtle shifts in power dynamics — watching how people respond, what tells they have, and how they give away their truth.”
After spending 26 years and counting holding court at Tribal Council, Probst has plenty of experience being the interrogator.
Probst said his coworkers can tell when he’s getting in “the zone,” preparing to draw conflict and moving anecdotes out of the castaways at Tribal Council.
“All I’m really thinking about is just reminding myself, ‘These 13 people are still in the game. They voted out seven people; they’re tired, they’re hungry,'” he told Business Insider of his mindset.
Being fully present allows Probst to think on his feet while engaging with the castaways.
“I actively choose to be in the moment,” Probst said, launching into an example.
“I see that you’re sad. I could tell when you walked in, your body language, you’re hunched over. The question is, am I going to bring it up? Are you going to bring it up? Is somebody else going to bring it up? Are we going to talk about it or not? I don’t know. Let’s find out!”
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