'Survivor,' Jeff Probst get two more seasons on CBS

Reality franchise's 23rd and 24th seasons will air in 2011-2012

By Daniel Fienberg Wednesday, Mar 9, 2011 3:42 PM

'Survivor' host Jeff Probst

Credit: CBS

CBS has picked up two additional seasons of "Survivor," keeping the venerable reality franchise in its familiar position through the 2011-2011 season.

In addition, the network has reached an agreement for Jeff Probst to return for the show's 23rd and 24th editions in his current capacity as host and executive producer.

"'Survivor' is a program franchise that continues to stand the test of time. Each season delivers new faces, exotic places, the ultimate social experiment combined with game play, and one of the most engaged audiences anywhere on primetime television," states Jennifer Bresnan, CBS Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming.

For the past two years, CBS and "Survivor" have taken advantage of multi-edition renewals to shoot consecutive seasons at a common location. This announcement made no mention of whether or not that practice would continue.

CBS transplanted "Survivor" from its familiar Thursday home back to Wednesday nights last fall and the result was a "Survivor: Nicaragua" season that averaged 13.6 million viewers and regularly won its 8 p.m. hour. Facing "American Idol" this spring, "Survivor: Redemption Island" has been down and it hasn't been winning its time period, but its average audience of 11.7 million viewers and a 3.4 rating among adults 18-49 have been steady through three episodes, exceeding most expectations and delivering triple-digit grown over the time period last year.

"Survivor" won a special class Emmy as Outstanding Non-Fiction Program and helped spawn the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program category, which the show has never won. However, Probst has earned three consecutive Outstanding Host for a Reality-Competition Program Emmys.

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Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.