‘Survivor’s’ Jeff Probst says more than 6 Shots in the Dark can be used at once

Survivor fans and players alike will never forget the infamous Advantage-geddon.

We all remember where we were when the legendary Cirie Fields went home without a single vote being cast — a true first for the franchise. The year was 2017, and it was the Final Six of Game Changers. Five out of the remaining six players were immune thanks to Idols and advantages. So as the only player eligible to be voted out, Cirie’s torch was snuffed automatically — and there was nothing she could do about it.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of bad luck for Cirie back then, but the possibility is always there for something similar to happen again. Take the New Era advantage of the Shot in the Dark, for example; players give up their vote to pull a scroll from the same bag containing six in total, with only one granting them safety from that vote. If multiple players use their Shot in the Dark at the same Tribal Council, there’s still only one in six scrolls that will give someone safety.

So what if seven players use their Shot in the Dark at the same Tribal Council? Will the seventh (and every remaining) contestant who tries to pull a scroll just come up empty?

Don’t worry, the Survivor producers are actually prepared for this potential Shot in the Dark-ageddon! While it hasn’t happened (yet), Jeff Probst addressed this exact hypothetical question on this week’s episode of his On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast.

“How frustrating would that be: ‘What the heck?!'” Probst said with a laugh. “No, it’s actually a really good question, and a really simple answer.”

The host went on to explain that, no matter how many players choose to use their Shot in the Dark at the same time, there will always be enough scrolls in the bag, and the odds will always be one-in-six.

“If there are one to six players, then in that bag there will be six scrolls; one will be safe, five are not safe,” Probst said. “So you have a one-in-six shot. If there are seven to 12 players — anywhere in there — then we increase it to 12 scrolls, so you will have two that are safe, and 10 that are not. But it’s still one-in-six — that’s two out of 12, that’s one-in-six odds.”

In the very, very rare case where a merge tribe has 13 or more players, and they all choose to use their Shot in the Dark at the same time, the show is still prepared for that.

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“If you had a situation where you have 13 or more players, then we would increase it to three safe scrolls, and 15 not safe,” Probst said. “That’s 18, but it is still a one-in-six shot that when you reach in, you will grab a safe. Just to give perspective, you could do any multiple you want of one-in-six, you could have a giant bag with thousands of scrolls, so long as the odds are one-in-six, it’s one-in-six. The only reason we just use six when we have six players is that’s all we need.”

So there you have it. At least the future Ciries of the world don’t have to fear Shot in the Dark-ageddon — only a tragic repeat of Advantage-geddon.

For more from Probst on the episode, check out the latest installment of On Fire.