Why Survivor 47's Finale Will Look a Little Different This Year

Survivor fans get ready, because the season 47 finale is going to look a little different this year.

Survivor 47’s finale will be split into two parts running for two hours each, Us Weekly can confirm. Part one will air on Wednesday, December 11, at 8 p.m. The second part will follow one week later on December 18 at the same time.

Entertainment Weekly was the first to break the news.

While no extra details about what the finale will entail were released, fans can assume the typical course of action will commence including the reading of the votes and the aftershow. The addition of the two-part finale will make season 47 run for 14 weeks instead of its traditional 13.

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Like all seasons in the new era (since Survivor 41), the format has included Jeff Probst reading the jury’s votes and crowning the latest Sole Survivor directly from Fiji. Survivor previously did a live reunion show where the votes were read in front of a studio audience but have not done so since season 39. (Survivor: Winners At War had their reunion over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Typically, the Survivor finale runs for about three hours. However, the show has expanded from one hour to 90 minutes in the regular season for Survivor 45, due to the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. While the strikes ended that same year, Survivor has continued with the new format occasionally throwing in two-hour episodes throughout the season.

The new finale format isn’t the only change Survivor has made this season. During the November 13 episode, fans were delighted to see an old tradition return when Probst, 58, introduced the jury to the players and viewers at home.

“We’ll now bring in the first member of our jury,” Probst said as Sierra Wright walked in shooting a glare at the players who voted her out.

Since season 41, the show cut the moment when the jury would walk into tribal council and showed them already sitting in their seats. Probst recently opened up about the decision to bring back that special moment in the current season.

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“Well, I could make up a really interesting story about how a group of us sat around a fire discussing the pros and cons of having the jury walk into Tribal Council,” Probst said in a November interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I could describe in vivid detail how things got passionate as we debated very late into the night over several cans of Milwaukee’s Best! And how at one point, [challenge producer] John Kirhoffer even stood up on a table and like a Survivor preacher proclaimed, ‘We need to see the jury walk in so we can all heal!’”

Currently, Genevieve Mushaluk, Gabe Ortis, Teeny Chirichillo, Rachel LaMont, Sam Phalen, Andy Rueda, Caroline Vidmar, Kyle Ostwald and Sue Smey are still in the running to claim the title of Sole Survivor. Ostwald has become this season’s challenge beast as he’s won three individual immunity competitions so far. Meanwhile, Smey and LaMont both hold hidden immunity idols and if played, they can save themselves from being voted out and getting their torch snuffed.

Survivor airs on Wednesdays on CBS at 8 p.m. ET