Jeff Probst says Survivor 51 will begin the show’s “Open Era”, in which past formats, twists and conventions are no longer guaranteed to return. He says the change was prompted by the pressure of following the landmark 50th season and is intended to keep the programme unpredictable as it enters its next decade.

Probst says production may revive older ideas, introduce themed or unevenly balanced seasons, and abandon familiar structures such as standard tribe sizes or final-three formats. He also rules out bringing back the unpopular Change History, while stressing that players can no longer study previous seasons to predict the game’s mechanics; the article also teases a new recurring twist involving potentially millions of dollars.