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Spoiler alert! The following contains details from the Season 50 finale of CBS's "Survivor."LOS ANGELES — Jeff Probst needs a spoiler alert.The longtime host of CBS's reality competition juggernaut "Survivor" has hosted 49 finale episodes before the epic three-hour finale for Season 50. But during the Wednesday, May 20 episode, he made one of the biggest on-air gaffes in the series' history.During the second hour of the three-hour "Survivor 50" finale — cutting between pre-recorded footage from Fiji, where the show filmed in 2025, and a live audience in a Los Angeles theater — Probst accidentally revealed major contestant departures before viewers at home saw it unfold.The episode, which started with five remaining contestants, had whittled its survivors down to four — Aubry Bracco, Jonathan Young, Joe Hunter, and Rizo Velovic. After winning immunity, Bracco secured one spot in the final three. She chose Hunter to join her, leaving Young and Velovic to compete in a fire-making challenge for the final spot.Both men competed in fire-making challenges in previous seasons of "Survivor" (42 and 49, respectively) and were nervous about their chances of winning. In the moments before the challenge was set to begin, the episode cut back to the live audience in Los Angeles, where Probst had Velovic join him on the stage.He spoke to Velovic about his history in the game, his family, and the legacy he hopes to leave. Then he told Velovic to take his seat as the final member of the "Survivor" jury, indicating he lost the fire challenge.An awkward moment ensued — the other eliminated contestants on stage told Probst that no one had seen the challenge yet, forcing the show to cut to a commercial.When the episode returned, audience members were jokingly cheering, "You got this Rizo!" during the spoiled fire-making competition. Probst later acknowledged his error, admitting that it was another "twist" in the game before the actual fire-making challenge aired, and Velovic lost to Young."It was a pleasure to know you were going to lose fire and then watch you lose fire," Probst said to Velovic when he brought him back out after the fire-making challenge aired.The episode then resumed as scheduled.'It's going to be a memorable moment'After the finale concluded, Velovic, 26, called the live hiccup "cinema.""I'm a part of history," he told USA TODAY after the finale concluded. "I never thought that would have happened to me."Ultimately, the incident was harmless, with Velovic adding he and Probst were professionals about it."We played it off, and it's going to be a memorable moment," Velovic said.Hunter, 46, applauded Probst for handling the moment like a professional and for it taking 50 seasons of "Survivor" for this to occur."Everyone talks about Jeff's whatever that was, but they don't talk about how for every single season for over 25 years, every tribal, every challenge, he never misses a beat," Hunter told USA TODAY on the red carpet. "He leaned into it. There's no one better than Jeff Probst, and I couldn't be more proud of him."
