The Emmy-winning host of CBS’ longrunning series Survivor (Sept. 27 on CBS), whose motto is “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast,” returns for the 45th season of the competition. The new season of the complex social game, filmed in Fiji, will be expanding to 90 minutes as 18 new players face one of the most intense versions of Survivor ever. In the end, only one will remain to claim the title of “Sole Survivor” and a $1 million prize.

With Survivor starting its 45th season, do you think you’ve seen it all?

You would think that after 23 years I would say that I’ve seen it all, but I know I haven’t and it’s for one simple reason: people are unpredictable. That’s what I’ve learned. When you put people in a crisis situation like Survivor, where you’re forced to survive in a real jungle while simultaneously conspiring against each other, it’s impossible to ever predict what any one person might do because every single person comes into the game from a very specific place.

Their upbringing has impacted things, their friendship circle, the success they’ve had in life, how they were parented— all of that makes each person unique. And so, in every single decision point, it is a unique person making a unique decision, so you can never say, “Oh, well in this situation, everybody will do this. We’ve seen that,” because you just don’t know.

This fall is going to be the fifth season of the “new era.” How does differ in the new

era?

Our long-term goal was to introduce so many new twists that players would be forced to live in a constant state of uncertainty. It doesn’t ultimately matter if you have a twist, it’s the uncertainty that’s driving everything. As a player, how do I know that what I think is happening is really happening? So, it’s a bit meta but our idea was if we could create enough uncertainty, then the uncertainty itself would become the biggest obstacle.

How does the new 90-minute format change things?

It doesn’t affect the game at all, but the audience will see a huge difference in the depth and variety of the storytelling because 90 minutes allows us to show more reality scenes at their beaches. It allows us to show an “Immunity Idol” hunt for instance, where we can take you much deeper into the hunt for the idol and the drama that comes with the discovery of an idol. It also allows more conversations with me and the players pre-challenge, and longer tribal councils.

After so many seasons, what makes you keep showing up?

I get a front-row seat to the thing

I love the most, watching humans behave. I am endlessly fascinated by taking a group of people and putting them in a real crisis situation. Even though there are cameras there, there’s no help. You’re dropped in a jungle, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a pot, a machete and a flint. If you’re unlucky, you won’t even have that, you will have nothing. How are you going to do night one, let alone night 25?

So, that’s what I like. And when you look at Survivor, the number of the different types of people that we have on in a season, it’s all kinds of people that if you just looked at them from afar you would say, “Why are you going to do Sur

vivor? You don’t look like a survivor.” But anybody can do Survivor, it’s all about what you have inside of you.

You’re going to go home a different human. And that’s what’s so rewarding at the end when I can ask somebody, “What did you get out of this?” and tears start coming down their face as they tell you their story. And it’s never about finding an idol or a blindside, it’s about being reminded about what they care about, being reminded what’s important to them and the things they’ve discovered, and not to give up on themselves, and that if I just push myself a little harder, I actually can do this thing that I didn’t think I could do. It’s incredibly rewarding.

It does change people’s lives.

An example from early on is Boston Rob and Amber, who met and fell in love and had kids. Where were they ever going to meet in normal life? And yet on Survivor, these two people came together and have been together for like 20 years and have four beautiful girls. It’s amazing. What’s really interesting about Survivor is the alliances.

We had this guy Yam Yam, this woman Carolyn and this young student Carson. You would never put those three people together and say, “Well, they’re clearly going to get along and become friends.”

But on Survivor, you’re forced to accept differences, and to use those differences to make each of you stronger. And once you do that, you realize, “Oh, my gosh, we’re so much better as a group than we would be as individuals.”

Does the show change the crew’s lives too?

I’ll give you an interesting stat about our crew. When [creator] Mark Burnett came on location, we put this giant banner, like 40 feet by 60 feet, on a bluff. It said: “20 years, 40 seasons, 60 babies.” Those 60 babies, which are now 68 babies, were made by people who met on Survivor. We’re at almost 70 children made from our crew; that blows my mind. It’s a testament that we’re one big family, we’ve been together so long.

How do you think you would fare if you were on the other side as a player?

The only advice I ever give to a player is that you have to play Survivor to win, which means you can’t play to not lose. That means you’re going to have to take chances even when you aren’t certain of the outcome. So, the question I always ask myself is: Could I take my own advice and play risky? And when I’m really honest, I don’t know. Because it’s easy to say, “Play big,” but then you go, “God, if I’m wrong, I’m out and I want to be here another day.” But I still circle back to the same logic which is: Well, then you’re just a loser waiting to happen.

What are some of your favorite moments from the show?

I think if I had a favorite moment, it would be Cirie in the season we did called “Game Changers.” There’s a moment in a water challenge where Cirie can’t get up on a balance beam, and the challenge continues and her tribe loses, and the challenge is over. But instead of ending the challenge we say, “We’re not going anywhere.” And we trace her story back to when she first applied to be on the show and she said, “I told myself, I’m going to get up off the couch and quit watching Survivor and become a player on Survivor.”

And I said something about that to her while she’s in the water. I said, “Cirie, this is why you got up off the couch 12 years ago was for a moment like this. We got nothing but time, so let’s just stay with you.” It’s one of the most beautiful moments because her tribe rallies behind her, they help her get up on the platform and they wait until she crosses that balance beam. They had lost, it was insignificant in terms of the outcome, but it was incredibly significant in terms of Cirie and the inspiration she provided for people at home watching with the idea that if you don’t give up on yourself, what could you achieve?

That remains the defining moment for me of why I ultimately love Survivor, is that on any given day anything can happen, and you can amaze yourself. Cirie has never won Survivor, she never will, but she’s in the Survivor Hall of Fame and on every single Survivor fan’s Top 5 list of all-time favorite players because of moments like that.