The Paris Olympics, which were fantastic by the way, ended with a little nod to Los Angeles’ upcoming hosting gig in 2028. Movie star of all movie stars, Tom Cruise, jumped from the top of the Stade de France and landed in the middle of the stadium, where he took the Olympic flag from Simone Biles and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, then jumped on a motorcycle. After boarding a plane, he was later shown parachuting onto the Hollywood sign and making some changes to make the iconic landmark look like the Olympic rings. The over-the-top spectacle was well received by most viewers and went instantly viral, but for fans of Survivorsit also evoked some additional feelings.
The act of grabbing something in a really conspicuous and outrageous way and dropping it off somewhere else using an elaborate video package with strange means of transportation is the Jeff Probst special. At the end of each season of Survivorseach jury member votes for the person they want to see win. These votes are then placed in a special ballot box. Nowadays they are read out immediately at the Tribal Council, but if Survivors was at the height of his popularity, they were read out during a reunion special. For a time, the show went through a phase where Probst would collect these votes, leave the set, and travel back to the United States in an elaborate video montage that involved an unusual method of travel.
Entertainment Weekly contacted Probst after Tom Cruise’s Olympic appearance, and of course they weren’t the first to message the longtime host. He had texts from friends almost immediately, and he was clearly enjoying it. Here’s what he told the paper…
I really liked the comparisons. A lot of people wrote to me and said, “Probst, Tom Cruise is doing a Survivor! Tom Cruise is doing his version of getting the votes back from the island!” And my first question was, wait a minute, is he imitating me or have I been imitating him for years?
Survivors Fans will never stop arguing about what was the best/most ridiculous stunt Probst ever pulled, but for my money it has to be season 6. At the end of Survivor Amazonhe grabbed the votes and jumped onto a waiting jet ski. Then he did a funny little quick spin to kick up water, and a montage was supposed to show him riding the jet ski from Brazil to New York City. That’s more than 3,000 miles if you count his hometown. Afterward, he took the subway to the Ed Sullivan Theater and watched the reunion special.
Maybe the Tom Cruise stunt is a little more extreme, but he once flew a propeller plane back to the US, parachuted out and got on a motorcycle to ride to the CBS studios in Los Angeles. It was a really funny moment, but in hindsight Probst is willing to admit that he’s not exactly Tom Cruise, which he said after watching the Olympics…
Man, I’m no Tom Cruise. The guy jumped on his motorcycle and rode through the streets and then jumped out of a helicopter. I’m surprised he didn’t hit a bad guy! That was a lot of fun.
Some fans demanded Survivors to reinstate the elaborate vote counts for years, but there was no longer a need for them since the reality competition show changed its format during Covid. The seasons got shorter, lots of new twists were added (arguably too many new twists) and, most importantly for the context of this story, the vote count reunion show was filmed immediately.
This means the contestants are much more honest and raw in their feelings, and the finalists don’t have to wait months to find out who won or who cheated them in the final vote. It’s also probably much cheaper to film, but with the highly anticipated 50th season coming up, where all the cast members will be back, some fans believe we could get a more standard reunion show. If that’s the case, there’s a good chance we’ll get another epic montage with Jeff Probst. Fingers crossed.
