Jeff Probst on episode 6 of 'Survivor: Redemption Island'

[/caption]

Each week, Survivor host Jeff Probst answers a few questions about the most recent episode of Redemption Island.

David made a big argument about how keeping someone who can help in challenges is much more important than keeping someone you can trust, and while I don’t want to minimize the importance of going into a merge with numbers, haven’t we also seen on seasons like Tocantins and Samoa that a united smaller group is often more effective than a splintered larger one? What’s your take?

It depends on the situation. It can go either way. I think this is more about David trying to improve his place in the alliance. He is so good at the oral argument he could argue either side. Sarita is still in trouble. She’s got to pull up her britches and start getting dirty.

Last night Phillip was yelling at Ashley and Natalie for not pulling their weight around camp. We must have seen this exact scene a million times before — with different people — on this show. Put yourself in his shoes and tell me how you would handle it if a bunch of girls were lying around all day plucking their underarm hair out while you were hungry and tired yet still taking care of the camp.

The truth is there is a lot of free time so lying around once in a while is not that unusual. The mistake was not the girls lying in the sun, the mistake was Phillip calling them out for doing it. Phillip helped his case for staying in the game longer but lessened his shot at winning.

I know you worried about it laying things on a bit thick, but I always thought it was hilarious in Tocantins when you’d see Coach out doing his warrior poses and you’d hear the sound of an eagle squawking that had clearly been added in for comedic effect. Then with Phillip last night we heard several lion roars punctuating a few of his comments. How do you guys determine how far you can go in playing stuff like that up for laughs?

Usually it starts when one of our editors (who are uncredited Producers in their own right) finds something humorous and makes a moment out of it. But to make it on the air it has to get past the EPs (Dave Burris and myself), Mark Burnett and then CBS.

I couldn’t help but notice you told the witnesses at Redemption Island to “come on in” as opposed to “come on in, guys.” Don’t tell me you’re thinking of tweaking one of your catch phrases? “Wanna know what you’re playing for?” is already on the endangered species list. Don’t take this away from us too!

Ah, I understand your confusion, Dalton. “Come on in, guys” is reserved only for challenges. “Come on in” is used for duels. I felt it very important to distinguish the two. I came up with hundreds of options but at the end of the day, “Come on in” was so unique in it’s own right that it was the only real choice.

Teaser time! Hit us up with a clue for next week.

Next week – one of the best challenges ever. So good we’ll be using it again next year.

For more from Jeff on last night’s episode, check out jeffprobst.com. To read Dalton’s recap, click right here. To watch an exclusive deleted scene from last night’s episode as well as our pre-game interview with Krista, simply watch the video player below. And for more Survivor scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @EWDaltonRoss.