Jeff Probst's Survivor 50 Finale Spoiler Has Fans Losing Their Minds

The finale of "Survivor 50" didn't promise a ton of surprises when it aired on Wednesday, May 20 ... and yet, host and showrunner Jeff Probst managed to ruin what might have been the night's only shocking moment.

Rumors swirled, weeks in advance of the finale, that Aubry Bracco would be crowned Sole Survivor and walk away with the Mr. Beast-boosted $2 million prize; those rumors turned out to be 100% true. The reason Bracco was able to make it to the very end of the show is almost exclusively because she won the final Immunity challenge, which meant that she got to choose who sat alongside her at the final tribal council. Bracco chose Joe Hunter to go with her and decided that the other two remaining players, Rizo Velovic and Jonathan Young, would make fire to decide their fate. Pretty standard "Survivor" stuff, and the fans voted for fire-making over a vote (according to Probst, who spent all of "Survivor 50" touting that this season was "in the hands of the fans"). 

Because the reunion was a weird mix of live footage and pre-taped moments that actually went down during the final episode shot on location in Fiji, Probst, in the live footage, brought Velovic out on stage to join the jury as its final member. Probst did this before the fire-making footage aired. Scrambling to deal with it, Probst joked about the situation after they cut to a commercial. "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 how maybe, if he'd practiced fire-making, maybe he would have won," Probst said. "Instead, we did a 'Survivor' twist — it's the last twist of the season." Sorry to Probst, but fans hated it.

On X, users had questions, including "We Were Liars" showrunner Carina Adly Mackenzie. "50 seasons into Survivor, Jeff Probst just spoiled the result of the biggest climax of the finale... live on the air, during the finale," she wrote. "I can't believe we just witnessed that. What do you mean it's live with NO DELAY[?]" @colinstone agreed and appeared to have some expertise on the matter to boot. "I worked in live TV and don't understand how this was logistically possible. It's not like someone hit the wrong button," he said on the platform. "Everyone has a headset on and someone noticing even 15 seconds in advance would be ample time to reframe Jeff solo to throw to the ads."

In general, though, fans were just ... understandably angry. Some, like @calesreputation, though Jeff Probst did this on purpose to avoid future live reunions (we'll circle back to that whole thing shortly), writing, "Jeff Probst purposely spoiling who lost the fire making challenge just so he could have an excuse to never do another live finale again. B*TCH you're not slick." @hatsune_mitski echoed that, posting, "jeff probst spoiling who wins fire making in the survivor finale after bragging about doing the live reunion HIS WAY is so funny."

Others just wanted him gone, whether that means getting fired or something more creative. "Jeff probst needs to be launched into the sun idc, spoiled fire making, constantly making bad decisions with production, can't take criticism, is way too active with the players, need him gone," @ImpavidCabello wrote. Another user, @infinitesarros, chimed in too, writing, "OMFG FIRE JEFF PROBST WTFFFFFFFF this is a joke like as if this wasn't enough of a disaster you SPOIL the challenge????"

Perhaps the funniest part of Jeff Probst's incredibly embarrassing screw-up during the "Survivor 50" finale is the fact that he tweaked the reunion to fit his preferences, even after the fans reportedly voted for a live ceremony (which was common in earlier seasons of "Survivor" and hasn't been a guarantee since then). As he told Variety:

"This year, the way we're doing it, I'm pretty excited about it. We reimagined how we were going to do it, and it feels very fresh, big, and equally fun. When we sat down initially, the first thing I suggested was, what if we don't do a reunion show and instead, we take that time and sprinkle it in throughout the final episode? I think it's gonna be more fun and exciting to take pauses along the way."

In retrospect, that is ... hilarious. Talk about being hoisted on your own petard. Still, let's be honest: "Survivor" fans have been mad at Probst all season. While some of the show's finest players ended up falling victim to silly twists and turns and others produced legitimately good television by repeating "Survivor" history (in amusingly absurd ways), Probst kept undercutting that by bringing on celebrities like Zac Brown for lengthy segments or adding in ridiculously weighty rewards and twists. (Remember the "power broker" advantage where, after winning a single challenge, Jonathan Young got to decide the fate of not one but two players?!) "Survivor 50" began with so much promise before swiftly fizzling out, yet, in its very last moments, Probst managed to mess everything up once more. If he somehow does get fired (he won't), maybe let Cirie Fields host the show? Just saying.