For us everyday people, when we have problems we want to talk about, we have multiple options. We can go to our friends, family, or a therapist, among some examples. These are all people who we know are there to help us through issues and implicitly will not try to pull one over on us. In Survivor, the contestants are not afforded any of those luxuries. The players may have friends but those friends are also competitors vying for the same million dollar. The closest thing players get to therapy is a date with tribal council.

From very early on, it’s been clear that tribal council is Jeff Probst’s baby. It makes sense considering that pre-Gabon it was the spot where he had the most creative control. Over the years, he has gotten better and better at extracting information from players who are unwilling to give it up. If tribal council is therapy, Jeff Probst is the therapist who is going to dole out tough love.

Jeff has stated in the past that wanted tribal council to feel important. The darkly lit set and somber mood sets the tone for the players who are there to vote one of their own off the tribe. Every season, Jeff tells the tribe at their first tribal, behind each of you is a torch. Grab a torch and approach the flame. Dip it in and get fire. This is part of the ritual of tribal council, because in this game, fire represents life. Once your fire is gone, so are you”. This serves for the players as a reminder of the stakes.

There is a great story from the early days of Borneo from the first time Pagong went to tribal council. Apparently, the tribe had decided together to vote out Jeff Probst as a joke. Since Probst wanted tribal council to be treated with respect and honor, this sent him over the edge and he lost his shit at the tribe. The ringleader of course, was Greg Buis, who was reportedly such a nuisance to Probst at tribal council that Probst decided to alter the way he handled the process because of Greg.

Very early on, the feel of tribal council was indeed very somber. Take a look back at Sonja Christopher’s boot back in the very first episode of Borneo. It feels more like a funeral than anything else. Even Probst looks absolutely crushed that anybody has to be eliminated from this game.

Nowadays, he practically takes glee whenever someone is sent away in a big twist. It’s an interesting contrast that allows us to understand the evolution of how Probst and the players understand the process of eliminating someone from the show.

Tribal council is an interesting setting in Survivor lore. It’s the spot where players are kicked out of the game. It’s also the spot where grievances between tribe members can be aired out like it was Festivus Day at the Costanzas.

Picturing Frank on Survivor is a hobby of mine.

In theory, at tribal council, members of a tribe would get to speak their mind on specific issues and iron out any problems within the team. In practice, it doesn’t happen quite that way. Even though tribal council is supposed to be a place to talk everything out, the game doesn’t magically stop. Over the years, players have seen what happens to contestants who talk a little too much at tribal council and have learned to speak as cryptically as possible. Jeff Probst has to really probe for any juicy material and more often than not, players will be cagey with the kind of information they give out.

One of the masters of talking without really saying anything at tribal was Brian Heidik. Every time Jeff would ask him a question, Brian would respond with platitudes that sounded good but meant nothing. It visibly annoyed Jeff but at the time, he hadn’t reached a point where he would needle people until they satisfied him with an answer. I think that Brian’s way of approaching tribal council was an important stepping stone for Jeff. It helped him learn that sometimes, he was just going to have to keep pressuring people until they talked. Since then, it is something he has vocalized to players when they are not giving him any material. He won’t step until you say something with at least some substance.

Of course, at the other end of the spectrum, some players make Jeff’s job easy. In South Pacific, Jeff probably never had to worry about working too hard at tribal council because he could ask almost any question and it would set Brandon Hantz off. These types of contestants are much rarer but they provide lightning at tribal council but speaking their mind even at the expense of their game. Whether Brandon was yelling about Mikayla being a temptress or Edna being spared only because of a promise and not because he liked her, Brandon was sure to speak his mind on everything. It isn’t good gameplay but it’s probably a good way to get on Jeff’s good side and give yourself good chances to be asked back.

On very rare occasions, tribal council actually becomes a group therapy session. Most recently we saw it happen in Survivor: Game Changers during the Jeff Varner tribal council. It’s in moments like these that Probst really shows how much he has evolved as the host of Survivor. The tribal itself has been written about more than anything else on the show in recent memory and I don’t plan to linger on it. It should just be noted that the way Probst let everything breathe when necessary, let the players have their say and really pressed on Varner when he tried to backpedal on his comments was excellent. It was truly the perfect handling of a very tricky situation in a very heated moment and Jeff Probst took care of it with grace and tact.

That’s the biggest thing about tribal council. In theory it’s cheesy and kind of corny. Everything feels so serious when the show has completely drifted away from pretending that the show if life or death (outside of Caleb nearly dying for salt and pepper). It shouldn’t work anymore considering the tone shift of the series.

Yet it does and for one reason, Jeff Probst. He handles his job there better than any host on television does anything. Try for a minute to picture Julie Chen managing a tribal council. She can barely keep control of the Big Brother houseguests when she has to talk to them live a few minutes every Thursday. Jeff Probst knows how to work a tribal council after 17 years and thank god for that. Otherwise, the show’s tool to vote people off might have gotten stale a long time ago. Instead, the audience still wants to hear the same four words the players fight to avoid…

“The tribe has spoken”.