Jeff Probst

In late January, Jeff Probst lobbied hard to become the host of "Survivor" (premiering Wednesday, May 31, 8-9 p.m., on CBS), an adventure-reality show in which 16 people - eight men and eight women - are dumped on a remote tropical island and do physical and mental combat with each other for 39 days. The last person standing wins $1 million.

Six weeks after completing a grueling battery of interviews, tests and auditions for the producers and the CBS network, Probst was on his way to the Malaysian island Pulautiga in the South China Sea off the coast of Borneo. The 2-mile-by-5-mile speck in the ocean was populated by a half-dozen Malay national park rangers and thousands of incredibly poisonous sea krait snakes, giant sea turtles, 6-foot-long water monitor lizards, huge pythons, mischievous macaque monkeys and wild pigs.

Billions of insects of all sizes, shapes and danger levels also thrived in the moist climate, where springtime temperatures hovered at about 80 degrees with 80 percent humidity during the day. Probst spent the next six weeks in a small compound of spartan huts - sporting four walls, a metal roof, a bathroom and a bed - along with approximately 120 in the production crew (including 10 camera crews) recording the contestants` every move 24 hours a day.

Initially divided into two groups of four women and four men each, the participants, drawn from all walks of life and ranging in age from 22 to 72, were roughing it without tools in separate jungle camps isolated from each other. On arrival, each contestant was only allowed a change of underwear, two shirts, a pair of long pants, a pair of shorts, a pair of shoes and a hat. One nonsurvival item also was allowed by each team member, who chose things from guitars to Bibles.

Based on a Swedish show called "Expedition: Robinson," the participants were given one task or challenge per day - which could lead to such rewards as a can of tuna or a bottle of beer. Winning a challenge, such as negotiating an obstacle course in the fastest time, would make the victor "immune" from being ousted for the next three days. Each of the 13 episodes concludes with a "tribal council" meeting during which a secret vote eliminates one member from further competition.

While the competitors built their own shelters and gathered their own food, Probst and the production crew lived in relative comfort with an unlimited supply of cold beer and native cooks preparing fish and chicken Malaysian dishes every day.

"During the first three days of the competition, the players were required to catch a rat, kill a rat, skin rat and cook a rat," says Probst. "The good news is that there were zillions of rats scurrying everywhere; the bad news was that you had to eat one of them."

Probst, 35 or so, acted as a narrator and the "giver and taker." He was charged with rewarding successful challengers and breaking the unwelcome news of banishment to those voted off the island. When it finally boiled down to two participants, the seven most recent exiles were brought back to determine the final winner.

"It was an amazing process, since we started with 6,000 applicants and winnowed them down to 16 challengers let loose on the island," he says.

"Fortunately, I was prepped for the job by my wife, Shelley, who happens to be a psychotherapist," Probst continues. "She gave me a lot of insight to human nature when divergent personalities are brought together under extraordinary circumstances. It was fascinating to observe extremely competitive people going to great lengths to achieve their goal. There was great duplicity and deceptiveness. Ethics and morals sometimes evaporated in the jungle during the heat of battle."

Through incredible luck and meticulous planning, not a single contestant was eliminated due to illness or injury. Just in case, a medical team was stationed on the island and a swift military helicopter was on call to transport victims to a mainland hospital within 12 minutes.

The group, mostly singles under the age of 30, included college students, a basketball coach, a salesman, a homemaker, a biochemist, a lawyer, a retired Navy Seal and a neurologist. None wanted to leave the island, even after they were voted out of the big dance.

Besides the millionaire winner, the first person voted out after three days received $2,500 and the runner-up crawled away with $100,000. Everyone else was rewarded with cash prizes awarded on a sliding scale.

"The very last show is very intense because the two finalists are sitting across from the last seven people they were instrumental in removing from the challenge - and asking for their vote," says Probst. "You see a lot of layering going on in terms of politics and human relationships."

Once production wrapped on the practically deserted island, Probst headed home for Los Angeles to get ready for his third season as the host of the cable quiz show "Rock & Roll Jeopardy!" on VH1. Once the pleasant video chore is finished, he reports on July 10 in Vancouver to direct James Earl Jones in the independent feature "Finders Fee" - based on his own screenplay. A psychological thriller, it examines the actions and reactions of five men trapped inside a New York apartment building.

Born in Wichita, Kan., and reared in Seattle, Probst is the son of a recently retired executive for the Boeing aircraft company and the national advisor for the Delta Gamma sorority. While his two brothers pursued business careers, he spent three years at Seattle Pacific University as a communications major before dropping out in favor of a lowly job in Boeing`s huge audio-visual department (through his father`s good offices) to learn the craft of making industrial, training and marketing films from the bottom up.

In 1987, three years later, he branched out on his own to write, produce and narrate films for Fortune 500 companies on subjects ranging from fire safety to sexual harassment. He segued into TV commercials through an agent, then branched out to reporting for the syndicated program "Access Hollywood" before hooking up in New York with FX Networks to host several talk shows, including "Sound FX," "Backchat," "Family Business" and "Garden Variety."

"Rock & Roll Jeopardy!" brought Probst back to Los Angeles, where he also found time to act in the telefilm "Face of a Stranger" and the features "Running Wild" and "Stages."

"There`s a lot going on," he says, taking a deep breath, "and I want a piece of all of it. `Survivor` could just be the ticket."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Eirik Knutzen