Jeff Probst explains why he started rapping on “Survivor 50 ”(exclusive)

Something very, very odd happened on this week's episode of Survivor 50 . When the three tribes showed up for what was disguised as a reward challenge, they surmised that it could potentially be a tribe swap. They were correct. But never in a million years (or seasons) could they have guessed how exactly the news of that swap would unfold.

Instead of simply delivering his iconic "Drop your buffs" line signaling a new stage of the game, Jeff Probst instead asked the contestants to start snapping their fingers in rhythm to create a beat. And then Probst — and I assure you this is not a typo — began rapping.

And that rap went a little something like this…
"Now this season's in the hands of the fans
They're calling the shots, it's out of our hands
They picked the buffs you're wearing today
And the rice and supplies, well, they said 'No way'
And now it's time to drop another fan vote
The dangerous kind, this one will cut your throat
So are you ready to drop your plans?
Are you ready to drop your hands?
Are you ready to drop your bluffs?
Because the fans have spoken, it's time to… Drop your buffs"

It was such a wonderfully weird moment, and the only thing that would have made it any better is if he had delivered that rap while jet-skiing around the Statue of Liberty or skydiving to a waiting motorcycle in the desert. But why was the most decorated and respected reality television host in the world all of sudden dropping more bars than T-Mobile in the Lincoln Tunnel? Clearly, we needed answers, so went straight to the aspiring LL Cool J(eff) to get the straight dope on his dope ass rhymes.

"Me rapping is really just me having skin in the game," Probst tells Entertainment Weekly. "I asked the players to bring it, and I want them to know I'll bring it too."

While the host is not exactly expecting an invitation to collaborate on Kendrick's next diss track, he wanted his players to see that he was as committed to the concept of having fun on season 50 as he and the other producers were asking them to be.

"You can criticize the rap," he says. "I'm not a rapper. But my moment with them was to say, 'Let's play. Let's have some fun this season.' And they did, and we do."

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As to when inspiration struck the host to start rhymin' and stealin', Probst reveals, "That rap came early in the morning of that day."

Hold on, he really just decided that morning to do that, and then wrote, memorized, and delivered the most epic reality TV rap since the heyday of Chill Town's Mike Boogie?

"100 percent," the host confirms. "And then I debated it and then I talked to [executive producer] Matt Van Wagenen."

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The trick is, unlike pretty much every other reality TV show, Survivor does not do do-overs. It's not like Probst could announce the tribe swap in rap form and then do it the traditional way as well in case it did not work. "I said, 'If we do it, we're doing it,'" the host says. "Because I can't say, 'Well, that was kind of fun. Now let's just do a normal one.' And we did it!"

Not we. He. And he managed to get through it in one take, managing not to get too distracted by the shocked contestant faces starting back at him. "I concentrated as hard as I could to not mess it up," he says. "And the finger snaps were a little off and that was throwing me off. And then when I saw it in the edit, I laughed out loud and said, 'That's what I want! I wanna be held accountable in the same way the players are.' But I'm telling you, it was a last-minute thing."

Of course, Probst needed a rehearsal audience before delivering the real deal to make sure he was not completely out of his mind. And there was the moment of nervous anticipation as he waited for that initial feedback.

"Oh yeah," he acknowledges. "I workshopped it for [ challenge producer John Kirhoffer ] and everybody. I go, 'Listen, I got a crazy idea.' I rapped it, and I waited, and there's that moment where they might say, 'I don't think you should do it.' And everybody said, 'I think you should do it.'" (Had this otherwise-tremendous-in-every-way Survivor crew denied us the pleasure of watching Probst rap on national television, I honestly don't know if I would ever be able to forgive them.)

The reason the rap got the thumbs up from the crew was not just due to the freestyle stylings of the burgeoning MC, but rather a matter of practicing what everyone had been preaching. "The reason everybody agreed I should do it is what I said earlier," Probst says. "It's skin in the game. We asked the players on camera and off, 'You gotta give us everything. I don't mean most everything. I mean, every single thing .' That's why this season's probably gonna go down as the greatest season of all time."

Whoa… greatest of all time? That's a bold prediction, but if the first three episodes are any indication, it very much could be in the running alongside other stellar seasons like Micronesia and Heroes vs. Villains . And who knows if this is even the last Survivor 50 musical foray for the host. He also released an epic arena rocker on major music platforms titles "Survivor 50 Come and Get it."  Which is all part of Probst going and getting it himself.

"I'm not expecting a Grammy," he explains of the hair metal anthem. "I wanted to do a rock song. And I decided this is the only season it makes sense. We went to Henson Studios, now Chaplain Studios. It was a super fun day and night, and we got great musicians and we made this song. Survivor is a metaphor for so many things, but one of the ideas is: live your life. What is it you wanna do? That's what I'm saying. For some people, it's doing a rock song. For somebody else, it's learning how to knit. It doesn't matter. Just f---ing do what you wanna do!"

In the end, it's all about Probst just leaning more into being Probst, and having absolutely no problem being the butt of the joke. "I don't take myself seriously on Survivor to the point of 'Oh, I don't wanna be embarrassed.' I'm embarrassed all the time."

If the host can make people smile the same way they did when he was delivering votes back to the United States in the most absurd and ridiculous manner possible, then he has done his job. "I'm in on the joke," he notes, "but I take Survivor very seriously as a show and an experience. And both are true. I want to have fun every day, but I spend all year trying to create a game with our team that will kick your ass and keep you uncertain."

And it seems one way to keep players uncertain is to deliver their instructions via a rap.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly