During the show's official recap podcast, "On Fire," Jeff Probst revealed that, as Sabiyah Broderick started casually barbecuing her idol and checking on it like she was grilling a burger, he wasn't even sure that was fully allowed. "When she puts it in the fire, yes, there is a part of me going, 'This is fair, right?'" Probst said. "Because all the note says is, 'You've got to burn the wax.'"
More than anything, Probst was just pretty impressed that Broderick even thought to utilize the (mostly decorative) Tribal Council fire as a tool. He explained, "I gave Sabiyah a lot of credit for saying, 'Yeah, the only fire I have in my life right now, Jeff, is at Tribal when I'm going to vote somebody out.' I thought it was really cool."
"Survivor" is, above all, a game that encourages ingenuity, to be sure — and considering that Probst is the show's executive producer alongside Mark Burnett, he knows better than anyone that players need to get creative whenever possible. There's no question that Broderick's move is bold, clever, and genuinely funny ... but in the end, it doesn't save her from getting the boot before all the tribes have even merged.
