Jeff Probst

Jeffrey Lee "Jeff" Probst is the host of Survivor. He also acts as an Executive Producer, working alongside the show's creator, Mark Burnett.

Biography
Probst was born in Wichita, Kansas, but grew up primarily in Bellevue, Washington. After graduating from Newport High School in 1979, he attended Seattle Pacific University and worked at Boeing Motion Picture/Television studio as a producer and narrator of marketing videos.

Probst was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church in 1999. He remarried his parents for their 35th wedding anniversary. He also officiated at the marriage of Jenna Fisher, star of "The Office."

Television Career
In addition to Survivor, Probst previously hosted the FX network's original half-hour show dedicated to answering viewer letters, Backchat along with Sound FX, and a series of afternoon shows surrounding parenting, relationship and medicine. (1996). Probst's also hosted the VH1 series Rock & Roll Jeopardy! from 1998 to 2001, and was a correspondent for the syndicated program "Access Hollywood." He also wrote and directed the Lionsgate released film, Finder's Fee. People magazine named Probst one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2001. He often contributes to Jeopardy! by giving Survivor related clues from the show's venues, has twice appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy!, first in 2001 and again in 2003, and made several cameo appearances during the April 1, 2010 episode.

He was also a frequent guest star on the sketch show MADtv, guest starring once a season since the show's 9th season.

Probst also hosts "Celebrity Superfan Roundtable" for Howard Stern.

In 2007, Probst founded The Serpentine Project, a non-profit organization that empowers youth transitioning out of foster care to reach for their dreams by opening the door to possibilities. The organization recently merged with The Alliance For Children's Rights.

On October 20, 2008, TV Guide reported that Probst is developing a new reality TV series for CBS called Live For The Moment that will feature people with terminal illnesses being taken on "the last adventure of their life" before they die. As of now, no production nor filming took place.

On April 1, 2009, Probst appeared on the CBS reality television special I Get That a Lot, in which he worked a cash register. Probst had extended his contract to host another two seasons of Survivor, contracting him through season 24.

In 2011 it was announced Probst would be hosting a daytime talk show in conjunction with CBS Distribution for launch in 2012.

Probst made a guest appearance on an episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother on October 3, 2011.

He spoke to Entertainment Tonight about both his new talk show and the appearance on HIMYM in this interview: http://www.etonline.com/tv/114801_Survivor_s_Probst_on_New_Talk_Show_HIMYM_Cameo/

Hosting Survivor
He has hosted Survivor since 2000. He later stated that he had worked hard to get a meeting with series creator Mark Burnett, because he believed the show was "something special." He delivers the series' signature catch-phrase to losing contestants, "The tribe has spoken. It's time for you to go."

As the show's host, he made several voice-overs during early seasons. Additionally, Probst is also present in almost all events of the game, such as challenges, Tribal Councils, and twists, where in challenges, Jeff serves as the official referee who also makes commentaries as challenge progresses (for the benefit of the viewers). While officiating a challenge, Jeff reserves the right to disqualify a player at any point during a challenge whenever foul play is caught (as seen in Taking Candy From A Baby, where he disqualified Ben Browning from the Immunity Challenge because he was tripping the members of the rival tribe). The only time that Jeff did not officiate a challenge was during the Reward Challenge of Survivor: Samoa's Hungry For A Win episode, where the castaways conducted the challenge themselves. If injuries occur at any point during a challenge, Jeff would temporarily hold the challenge, while medics check the contestant in question. Depending on the severity of the injury, or if the injured player is forcibly eliminated from the game to seek further medical attention, Jeff holds the right to continue or postpone a challenge.

Over the years, Probst apparently developed a keen eye for body language. At Tribal Councils, whenever he sees an interesting gesture from any of the players (whether good or bad), he immediately notices and makes it a conversation piece, inducing controversy. Also, when players make a fatal, game-changing mistake, he would either criticize or make sarcastic jokes about it.

In Survivor: Pearl Islands, Jeff is revealed to have a distaste for people who quit the game, as seen in Osten Taylor's decision to voluntarily leave the competition. After Taylor left Tribal Council, Jeff was visibly disgusted. This feeling has been consistent over the years, during the double quits of NaOnka Mixon and Kelly Shinn. Despite this, there have been exceptions: first was Jenna Morasca quit Survivor: All-Stars because she was having bad omens about her dying mother. The second is Janu Tornell, who became fed up with her tribe, but decided to "throw a wrench" in her tribe's plan to oust Stephenie LaGrossa by quitting the game at Tribal Council, thus canceling the voting process for that episode. The third time that Jeff was compassionate about a quitter was Kathy Sleckman, when she quit because the constant raining sent her into depression (Sleckman, an avid fan of the show, who applied several times). Nevertheless, Jeff is largely spiteful on contestants who leave the show because they cannot handle the harsh environments anymore, which he felt as a weak reason to leave.

Personal Life
Jeff once dated a former Survivor contestant, Survivor: Vanuatu's Julie Berry. But he revealed in the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they have broken up, but still remained friends.

Trivia

 * While most of the show's memorabilia were auctioned for charity, Jeff keeps the Snuffers as personal souvenirs.
 * Probst revealed that if there are contestants who want to have sex during the competition, they would provide condoms for them, becase Jeff has stated, "We don't want to have Survivor babies." Jeff also stated that players creatively use condoms "for other things."