Throng

SURVIVOR: GABON
Thursday, October 16th at 7:30pm

The 17th instalment of the Emmy Award-winning Survivor series returns to 3 when Survivor: Gabon premieres on Thursday, October 16th at 7:30pm on 3.

Marooned in the wilderness, 18 individuals will embark on an amazing African adventure, battling extreme conditions and interacting with wildlife such as elephants and gorillas, while attempting to forge alliances with strangers from diverse backgrounds.

Although this is Survivor’s second outing to the continent of Africa, where it spent its third season, host Jeff Probst says comparatively Survivor: Africa was more like spending time in a zoo than being out in the wilderness.

"It's a reserve and the animals are used to having people around all the time, so it wasn't that big of a deal to them," says Probst of his experiences in Survivor: Africa.

"In Gabon, they told us in advance that this would be completely different. These animals were not used to seeing anybody around and if you see an elephant, it's a big deal because you just don't know how they are going to react," he adds of the new upcoming season.

Probst says that during the filming of Survivor: Gabon a giant elephant came within 50 yards of the crew.

"It was thrilling and scary at the same time," he says. "This elephant will stomp on you. There were moments in the filming when the Survivors interacted with the animals and it felt like being in a Spielberg movie."

According to Probst, at one point, a 12-foot python slithered into the camp, and someone had the idea of using it as a prop for a promo shot with the host.

"They put the snake around my neck and I was holding the head while it was moving and I kept reminding myself that this was not a, quote, trained L.A. snake, unquote, but one that just crawled out of the jungle," he says.

"I held him for about five minutes while I had flashbacks to another promo about three years ago doing the snake thing with a [so-called] trained snake. It bit the trainer, a full on clamp on the wrist. [On our shoot] we got some great still shots of me with the snake, but I wasn't going to tempt things for too long."

With this being the second time the hit reality series visits Africa, what can fans expect from Gabon?

"Good vs. evil emerges as a major theme this season. I think the audience will quickly identify with one group or the other," Probst teases.

Will the group of deceitful castaways outlast those individuals who play from their heart or will the forces of evil prevail? Will temptations interfere with logical decision-making? More importantly, which side will come out on top?

Make sure to tune in as the contestants get divided into two tribes and these questions start to get answered, Survivor: Gabon premieres on Thursday, October 16th at 7:30pm on 3.