"It might be the hottest spot in all of Fiji:" Survivor 49 fame Jeff Probst explains why he doubled over at the hottest spot in Fiji

Survivor 49 host Jeff Probst was visibly doubled over in exhaustion after calling off a severe reward challenge on the day 11 episode released on Wednesday, October 29, 2025.

The players were divided into three tribes in a physically intense challenge as contestants had to push a heavy cart, stack sandbags, climb ladders, knock down bamboo targets, and then finish with four hits on poles.

Right after declaring the event, Jeff walked off to the side, hands on his knees, looking like he was ready to collapse. One contestant, Rizo Velovic, asked the Survivor 49 host,

Jeff, you out of breath, too?

Jeff replied to him, 

It’s no joke, man.

Rizo then shot back at him, saying one of his iconic lines: Welcome to Survivor.

However, the longtime Survivor 49 host explained in his podcast that the challenge location might be the hottest spot in all of Fiji, adding that it makes everyone feel like they are in a sauna due to its density.

Jeff Probst addresses the challenge in Survivor 49 in his podcast

Jeff Probst finally addressed the moment when viewers saw him double over from exhaustion during Survivor 49 on Thursday, October 30, 2025, episode of his Survivor podcast, On Fire with Jeff Probst.

He revealed that the challenge took place in one of the hottest and most suffocating locations in Fiji, which has tested both cast and crew for years.

The island where that challenge took place is the single hottest spot we ever shoot in Fiji. It might be the hottest spot in all of Fiji. I don’t know why. I’ve asked people on our team, and I never get a good answer.

Even after 17 seasons of filming in the country, this particular area continues to disturb him, as he says:

I’m sure there’s someone listening right now saying, ‘Probst, it’s a basic barometric pressure thing.’ It is so dense, that one spot. It’s like you’re in a sauna and someone is pouring more water on the coals. I’m not exaggerating.

He went on to paint a striking picture of how deceiving the journey to the challenge location can be, as he describes saying Here's what happens adding:

You have this amazing boat ride — beautiful skies, the wind blowing your hair back, you feel amazing. And then you step off the boat and walk into this dense forest.

According to Probst, that’s when the real suffering begins, when there is an unsaid competition between the crew to see who complains first, as he said: 

The cliché is, everybody says, ‘Man, it’s so hot today.’ And we all know we say it, and we all try not to say it — ‘I’m not gonna complain about the heat today.’ And then you walk in and go, ‘But my God, it’s hot! It’s so hot again today!’

During the podcast, his cohost and Survivor: Cambodia winner, Jeremy Collins, intervenes, delivering his experience on the show, comparing Cambodia's heat to Fiji, offering some perspective, saying:

I’ve been to Cambodia. And, to me, Cambodia is the hottest place on Earth. I’ve been to Fiji. There’s no way it’s hotter than Cambodia.

Probst then says with a laugh that he also agrees that Cambodia was the hottest place.

Survivor 49 airs every week on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm ET on CBS.

Stay tuned for more updates.