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Outwitted, outlasted, outplayed: now what?

By CHASE SQUIRES
Published February 17, 2005

[Photo: CBS]

Survivor: Palau has a record-high roster of 20 contestants, three of whom will be gone by the end of the first episode tonight.

	[Photo: CBS]
	For Survivor: Palau, host Jeff Probst promises a show packed with more surprises and twists than ever.

Jeff Probst is in love. He's excited about the 10th installment of Survivor. And when he's on the island, he's the boss. Always.

That's all he's saying.

Probst, host of the CBS reality series since its debut in 2000, talked with reporters in a conference call last week. He promised that Survivor: Palau will have more water challenges, more contestants, more physical demands, more head games and more "firsts" than any of the nine previous installments.

The surprises, however, are a close-kept secret. The network isn't sending advance copies of the show to critics, and Probst was coy with the details.

In fact, Probst was willing to reveal more about himself than the show.

For starters, the handsome, unflappable, once-divorced, khaki-clad, island-hopping symbol of civilization is now off the market. His romance with Survivor: Vanuatu castaway Julie Berry is the real deal.

Word of the relationship between Probst, 42, and Berry, 24, got out in December.

"It's going great. It's definitely set a new standard for me as far as what I want in a relationship, and I hope it's the last time that I really consider it. I'm very happy," Probst said.

Probst didn't exactly say marriage, but he didn't shut the door either.

"I'm just saying you never know where things are going to lead," he said. "I definitely am in love, and it's not like we're just dating. I hope it lasts forever."

Probst denied that there was anything between him and Berry while the show was being taped. And he said his questions during auditions reduced Berry to tears when he prodded her about her revelation that she had recently met a sister she had been separated from by adoption.

But he said even as Berry left the audition, there were sparks. At least in his mind.

"What I thought as she left was, "That may be the most beautiful woman I've ever met,' " he said. "She left the room crying and definitely didn't think much of me."

Probst said Survivor creator Mark Burnett has given him the green light to take Berry along with him the next time the show is filmed, and Probst said he would consider it, if Berry can fit the trip into her schedule.

Because for all its bug bites, rainstorms, rat-infested food, coconut scavenging, sweat, dirt and smells, island life is romantic, Probst said.

Witness "Boston" Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, who fell in love during Survivor: All-Stars.

Probst said after the game, sharing a bus to the airport, he looked over at the pair, left haggard and thin from a grueling competition.

"They were exhausted, and they'd been through this brutal game," Probst said. "And there they were, arm in arm, wiped out, dead asleep to the world. And I was looking at them thinking, "That is a really envious position.' I looked at two people in love and thought, "What a great experience.' "

Probst said the new Survivor season will follow the tradition of trying to build on the season before. Minor adjustments to the rules and the setups lead to twists, tough new physical challenges, and a theme of individuality and difficult choices.

"We'll try to force them to make choices, and we'll tell them nothing at the beginning," Probst said.

Three of the record-high 20 contestants will be gone by the end of the first episode, he said. Two will go without a vote or a challenge. They won't even get a chance to play.

It's difficult, Probst said, to keep the popular franchise evolving and keep contestants off balance as they try to outwit, outlast and outplay each other to the $1-million grand prize. The key, he said, is to keep them - and viewers - guessing.

Before each season, Probst said, the crew reviews notes from previous installments, looking for ways to tweak the game.

This time, contestants might think they know the rules, but they don't, he said. Starting with Survivor: All-Stars, producers gave castaways few supplies. They get even fewer this time.

"It's the first time we've just opened the show back up again, just (said) open it up and let's go for it," Probst said. "What we hadn't done is give them no information. Almost always, we give them a little bit. We say, "Here's the lay of the land, here's Tribe A and here's Tribe B, here's a map to water. This time, I literally show up and say "There's your beach, have a good time.' "

It might not be that extreme. A CBS news release says the castaways are promised two machetes and a map directing them to water. As they prepare to row ashore, Probst also notes that there are two immunity idols on the beach for whoever gets to them first.

"By not giving them any information, it's "Are we one tribe? I don't know.' We didn't say you were one tribe, we didn't say you're not one tribe. Are you going to be two tribes? You might be three tribes. You could be men vs. women, tall vs. short, old vs. young - you don't know," Probst said.

Amid the confusion, hunger and thirst, he also promised "a real nice cat fight" in the first few episodes.

With the tallest cast ever - including a world class athlete, a personal trainer who shaves his entire body daily, a 6-foot-8 dolphin trainer and three lawyers - Probst said maintaining control of the game, and maintaining his professionalism, was paramount.

Flirting with him, he said, is a waste of time. So is arguing.

"I try to establish early on that I'm not going to take any s-- from anybody," Probst said. "This is like a football game: You may not like my call, I'll tell you I've been wrong and I'll probably be wrong again, but zip it. I don't want to hear it. Mark (Burnett) has pretty much entrusted me, especially with challenges, to call them like I see them, and that's what I do."

The official Web site for "Survivor: Palau" is at www.cbs.com/survivor Learn more about the South Pacific nation of Palau at www.visit-palau.com

PREVIEW: Survivor: Palau, 8 tonight on WTSP-Ch. 10.

[Last modified February 16, 2005, 11:58:02]