Fans love “Survivor;” however, some people stopped watching around Season 14. Partially because of that, by 2008 and Season 17, Jeff Probst wanted to be done with the show.
Explaining that he was burned out and wasn’t keen on only being famous for “Survivor,” the star told then-CBS president Les Moonves that he wanted to quit, Jeff told The New York Times (via Heavy). “My Achilles’ heel for a lot of my life was that nobody saw me as a storyteller, that they saw me as a white guy with dark hair who was just a game show host,” he said. “And that in terms of my own self-image was the thing that could gut me.”
Fortunately for Jeff, Les advised the host to take some time away (though not permanently) and told him to forget about the ratings and instead think about the fans who had stuck with them. Jeff decided to stay around, and while the show’s ratings have continued to experience highs and lows, he’s focused on something else. “I feel like I’ve been given the greatest gift and no one really realizes it,” he admitted. “[Producer Mark Burnett] and CBS have given us this great franchise, and they let us go make it. And then we bring them back episodes and they say, ‘Great, go make it again.'” And that’s just what Jeff has done — while seeing a lot of success along the way.
