Coronavirus: 'Survivor' Season 41 production in Fiji postponed to mid-May due to safety concerns
'Survivor' is known for its blindsides, and now its given fans and viewers a blindside that none expected, and it doesn't surround the game per se, but the next season. Recently it has been revealed that the series has postponed the production for Season 41 in Fiji due to the growing concern over the Coronavirus outbreak.
According to a letter sent to the series's crew members that was obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Probst revealed that the production for Season 41 of 'Survivor' has been postponed to mid-May.
"Hey Survivor crew, Due to the growing short-term uncertainty surrounding the global spread of COVID-19 and the corresponding desire for the continued well-being of our amazing crew, we have decided to push back our start date for Survivor season 41," the letter revealed.
Continuing, it read, "Though Fiji has no reported cases and is beautifully remote, our crew numbers over 400 and are flying in from over 20 different countries, creating a need for more time to fully analyze and create our new production safety plan. This situation is unprecedented and we are learning more information every day. It is out of concern for the well-being of all of you that we have taken this step."
"Our intention is to begin production after the S40 live show. Therefore, subject to new information, our new planned start date for production would be on or about May 19th, 2020. Our intention is to still to shoot both seasons 41 and 42. We know many of you will have questions and we will start a communication chain to keep everybody up to date," the letter read.
"We are the most experienced international television team in the world and for 20 years we have calmly and successfully managed a variety of production issues. We will navigate this one the same way. Thank you for understanding our need for this extra time to create our plan," Jeff concluded in the letter.
'Survivor' producers' decision to postpone the forthcoming series comes after CBS decided to put a halt on the production of the forthcoming season of 'The Amazing Race' after only three episodes were filmed.
Season 40 will air as scheduled as the season was filmed last May. This week it was Rob Mariano who got the boot and sent to the Edge of Extinction.
'Survivor: Winners at War' Season 40 airs every Wednesday night on CBS. Check your local listings for more information.