“The backlash around Jonathan being axed has VERY MUCH been noted.”

A blind item posted by the popular entertainment Instagram account DeuxMoi has suggested that there are some big changes coming to both Survivor US and Australian Survivor.

The account, which notably posts gossip items that often aren’t verified or confirmed, so take the following with a grain of salt, said that Australian Survivor will air in the US as it’s released in Australia.

It also noted that the US series will be increased from 26 days to 39 days, and it will be scaled back to one season per year, rather than two. The gossip piece added that Australia would produce an international season each year, much like the current Survivor: Australia v The World.

“Paramount Global is in conversations around restructuring Survivor between the US and Australian networks (CBS and 10),” the blind reads.

“The format they’re working towards will see: – US Survivor returning to the old-era format (39 days, destination locations, etc) based on a single season order per year, to air in H1. The H2 slot would be replaced with Australian Survivor (airing date-and-date with Australia).
Jonathan LaPaglia and Tony Vlachos on Survivor: Australia v the World. Image: Ten.
“In addition to their regular season, Australia will continue to produce a global format once per year, will air natively on 10 in Australia but will see simultaneous release on Paramount+ across all territories. The licensing would afford more players and a longer game (likely adopting US new era).

“There’s some licensing rights to untangle, but everything is moving fast, and they’re aiming to announce at the Paramount (AU) upfront in September.”

The blind item finished off by suggesting that current host Jonathan LaPaglia, who was recently fired and replaced with David Genat, could return to front one of the seasons.

“For the AU fans, the backlash around Jonathan being axed has VERY MUCH been noted and that’s priority #1 once the season orders and licensing are sorted.”

The DeuxMoi blind item. Image: Instagram.

Fans respond to the potential changes to Survivor US and Australian Survivor

While the prospect of an extra season of Australian Survivor each year is exciting for fans down under, users on the Survivor subreddit remain sceptical — doubting that Survivor US would be reduced by a season or that Australian Survivor would ever air in a prime-time slot on a US network.

“Tough to believe Jeff would give away half the year to the Aussies in the name of changes he’s never seemed that interested in going back to,” one user wrote, referring to Survivor executive producer and host Jeff Probst, who had a hand in shortening the US iteration from 39 to 26 days in 2021.
The Survivor: Australia v The World post-merge cast. Image: Ten.
“I don’t believe this, and I also don’t think I’d like it. Australian Survivor is so good right now and this would drastically change it bc CBS would not air 3 Survivor episodes per week during their broadcast season. Even if they were willing to air multiple episodes a week, it would almost definitely be the American version over the Australian version. Upside would be 39 day US season + JLP [Jonathan LaPaglia] returning to Aussie version, but that reads like fanfiction tbh. I find this super hard to believe,” another user wrote.

A third pointed out that DeuxMoi is notoriously known for posting gossip that doesn’t end up being true.

“I don’t know why anyone in this day and age believes anything DeuxMoi posts. They’re a modern-day National Enquirer without the aliens and Elvis spottings,” they wrote.

We guess we’ll know for sure next month, after the Channel 10 Upfronts!