Survivor is back in the 2024 TV schedule with Season 47, and one of the most popular TV shows got off to an eventful start with the first couple of episodes. In the latest episode, contestant Rachel LaMont unsuccessfully attempted to steal some rice and was called out on camera. After the broadcast, host Jeff Probst opened up about her "mob boss move" and provided some extra context about the rule breaking.
During an immunity challenge, Rachel LaMont not-so-subtly pocketed some of the rice that the castaways were transporting from the ocean to the beach before retrieving a ball from within the bag. While the theft wasn't in accordance with the rules of Survivor, the title of the episode being "Epic Boss Girl Move" was a pretty clear sign that it was a noteworthy move that fans should pay attention to.
In fact, it was so noteworthy that Jeff Probst dedicated several minutes of the On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast to what went down. He said:
I looked at it and said... 'Do we show this?' My feeling was 100%, because again, this is character. Rachel tried to steal rice in front of me, in front of 20 camera operators, in front of the challenge department, all our judges, in front of Vanessa [from] Standards and Practices, in front of all of our producers. That's a mob boss move, and I respected it.
A "mob boss move" might not be respected in all reality TV competition shows, but Survivor is an exception as far as Jeff Probst is concerned. It's also worth noting that it helped Rachel stand out from the pack in the episode, which is important early in a Survivor season. Probst continued:
Who really knows the real reason Rachel did that? Maybe it was just to get some rice, or maybe Rachel did it to show another part of her personality. Maybe she wanted people to know, 'Hey, I'm not as quiet as you think.' And maybe it's who Rachel really is. Maybe it's not Rachel at all, she just wants others to see that part of her because the game is always afoot. But I have to say one thing, for fans and players. From a producer standpoint, there's a very fine line when it comes to having fun and messing with the integrity of the game. What Rachel did was fun.
Castaways stealing rice might not get such a tolerant response from Jeff Probst and the production team if it happened on a regular basis, and the minor rule against it might have to turn into a major rule. But it's hard to imagine that Rachel didn't know that she'd be caught by multiple people, if not on camera. The longtime Survivor host elaborated:
It was playful, it was in front of everyone. She knew what she was doing, she knew it was almost certain that she'd be caught, and when she got caught, she had a very playful attitude about it so there was no issue at all with me regarding that moment. But I will say... we have a couple of very clear rules about what is and is not allowed, and if a player were to break one of those very few rules, we'd have a very different situation and a very different side of me comes out.
If Rachel was argumentative or belligerent, I imagine that Jeff Probst either would have had a different reaction in front of the camera in the episode (which you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription) or would have more candidly condemned it on the podcast after the episode aired. And if you missed what happened, check out the clip below:
@cbssurvivor ♬ original sound - Survivor
That's all in good fun, right? Competition might get more cutthroat as the season progresses and more castaways are eliminated, but for now, there were just laughs about Rachel's attempt to pilfer some rice. In light of how much Survivor contestants make, that could change.
Tune in to CBS on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET for new episodes of Survivor, or stream via Paramount+. The first 46 seasons – which of course includes our picks for the best Survivor seasons – are available on the streamer as well, so there's plenty of Survivor for any fan to visit or revisit between new episodes.