Survivor's next set of castaways will have to wait a bit longer for their marooning.
Season 41 of the CBS reality competition show was set to start filming in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji on March 24, but the show is pressing pause for a couple of months due to concerns over coronavirus.
"Due to concerns and uncertainty surrounding the spread of COVID-19 globally, CBS and the producers of Survivor have taken the precautionary measure to delay production on the 41st season, which was set to begin filming later this month in Fiji. Pending worldwide events, the plan is to return to production on May 19th. The health and safety of the castaways and production members is our top priority."
Season 41 is currently set to premiere in September, while season 42 would have begun filming in May for a premiere in February. (The current season was filmed beginning in May 2019.)
Jeff Probst announced the news in a letter to the crew, noting that they intend to still shoot both season 41 and 42.
"Hey Survivor crew, Due to the growing short-term uncertainty surrounding the global spread of COVID-19 and the corresponding desire for the continued well-being of our amazing crew, we have decided to push back our start date for Survivor season 41," the letter began.
"Though Fiji has no reported cases and is beautifully remote, our crew numbers over 400 and are flying in from over 20 different countries, creating a need for more time to fully analyze and create our new production safety plan.
This situation is unprecedented and we are learning more information every day. It is out of concern for the well-being of all of you that we have taken this step. Our intention is to begin production after the S40 live show. Therefore, subject to new information, our new planned start date for production would be on or about May 19th, 2020. Our intention is to still to shoot both seasons 41 and 42.
We know many of you will have questions and we will start a communication chain to keep everybody up to date. We are the most experienced international television team in the world and for 20 years we have calmly and successfully managed a variety of production issues. We will navigate this one the same way.
Thank you for understanding our need for this extra time to create our plan."
EW was first to report the news, and their report states that if there are no further delays past the May 19 goal, both seasons will still premiere when originally planned.
The Amazing Race has also been affected, with production shutting down at the end of February after three episodes of season 33 had been filmed.
Many other productions and events across the entertainment industry have also been impacted by the spread of coronavirus, and you can keep up with all of the latest information in our guide to all of the cancellations and postponements.
Season 40 of Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.