Fans love “Survivor;” however, some people stopped watching around Season 14. Partially due to that, Jeff Probst decided to end the show by Season 17 in 2008.
Explaining that he was burned out and wasn’t keen on only being famous for “Survivor,” the star told then-CBS president Les Moonves that he wanted to quit, Jeff toldThe New York Times (via Heavy). “My Achilles’ heel for a lot of my life was that nobody saw me as a storyteller, that they saw me as a white guy with dark hair who was just a game show host,” He replied. “And that in terms of my own self-image was the thing that could gut me.”
Les advised Jeff to take a break (but not permanently), and told him to think about the loyal fans instead of the ratings. Jeff decided to stay on, and although the ratings have experienced highs and lows, his attention is now on something else. “I feel like I’ve been given the greatest gift and no one really realizes it,” He said so. “[Producer Mark Burnett] and CBS have given us this great franchise, and they let us go make it. And then we bring them back episodes and they say, ‘Great, go make it again.'” And that’s just what Jeff has done — while seeing a lot of success along the way.