The most shocking moment in the highly anticipated live finale of Survivor US Season 50 wasn’t the winner reveal — it was when longtime host Jeff Probst accidentally spoiled the result of the final fire-making challenge before viewers had even seen it play out. And the mishap has had fans rallying for former Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia (JLP) to take over the hosting role, claiming that he wouldn’t have made the same error.
ICYMI, midway through the finale, viewers watched challenge winner Aubrey Bracco decide that Jonathan Young and Rizo Velovic would face off in fire-making to determine who would make the Final Three. However, just before the segment aired, Rizo was brought out on stage to discuss his loss. The camera then cut to a visibly confused cast before the show abruptly went to a commercial break, and when it returned, Jeff admitted he had accidentally spoiled Rizo’s elimination.
“I love doing live television, so in case you’re confused, this is what happened,” Jeff began. “We were going to show you fire making and then have the loser of fire making Rizo come out and talk about how charming he is and if he’d practiced fire making maybe he would have won. Instead we did a Survivor twist, it’s the last twist of the season, we called it a peek into the future so now we’re going to watch Rizo lose in fire.”
Fans call for JLP to host Survivor US
Beloved Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia was replaced by David Genat in 2026, and fans believe Jeff’s live blunder has left the door open for JLP to step into the international role.
“JLP would never do what Jeff just did,” one person wrote on Reddit, with another agreeing on Instagram. “JLP would never give a huge spoiler during the live finale…”
“I cannot believe I am finally about to say this; I never thought I would…but it’s time for Jeff to hang up the hat and for you to take over here in the states,” a third said, with another joking: “They should’ve cut back from commercial and JLP is hosting.”
Interestingly, Jonathan LaPaglia was actually in attendance at the live Survivor Season 50 finale that was filmed at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. But, unfortunately for passionate JLP fans, it wasn’t to make the announcement that he was taking over from Jeff.
What did Jeff Probst say about the Rizo mistake?
The Survivor US Season 50 live finale aired in Australia on Stan from 10am on Thursday, May 21, and it didn’t take Jeff long to address his blunder in post-filming interviews. On CBS Mornings, the next day, Jeff explained to host Gayle King what actually happened.
“What’s happening when you’re doing a Survivor finale is you’re running the show — the episode — and then you’re doing these live hits where I come out, and I talk to one of these players. I’m not watching the show,” he said.
“I’m backstage getting ready for my funny question with Rizo about it. ‘If only he had practiced fire-making.’ So I come out, we’re all set up on the stage, we’ve got an empty seat for Rizo. I don’t think anything’s weird.”
Jeff said that when he felt the shocked reaction from the audience he knew something had gone wrong.
“It wasn’t until I started talking to Rizo about losing in fire — I’m telling you, we had 1,200 people here, I could collectively feel the energy go to an emoji like this [shocked face].”
“We have a big team, mistakes happen. We just got ahead of ourselves. And none of us saw it,” he added.
Stream Survivor US Season 50 on Stan.
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