Survivor host Jeff Probst reveals moment chaos ensued as he explains jaw-dropping live TV spoiler

Survivor host Jeff Probst has recalled the moment he realized something had gone awry after he accidentally revealed a massive spoiler live on air. 

Probst, 64, revealed the winner of a final-four fire-making challenge live on-air, before the segment actually played - with groans from the audience ringing out as a result.

The long-time host broke down the shock moment during an interview with CBS Mornings with Gayle King alongside the cast as he described how the frenzy of live television led to the accident.  

'What’s happening when you’re doing a finale is you’re running the show - the episode - and then you’re doing these live hits where I come out, and I talk to one of these players. I’m not watching the show,' he told King. 

Probst was preparing to speak with Rizo Velovic on stage and thought all was going according to plan when he appeared on stage - until the audience reacted otherwise. 

'I’m backstage getting ready for my funny question with Rizo about it, "If only he had practiced fire-making." So I come out, we’re all set up on the stage, we got an empty seat for Rizzo. I don’t think anything’s weird.

'It wasn’t until I started talking to Rizo about losing in fire... I’m telling you, we have 1,200 people here, I could collectively feel the energy go to an emoji like this,' he said, gasping with his hands on his face.

'That is what happened!' King said. 

'But I don't know what's happening!' he insisted.  'And I'm looking down, and I see D on the end saying,' he said, his hands motioning across his neck. 'I still don't know! And so what happened, I'm still not sure. We have a big team. Mistakes happen, but we just got ahead of ourselves and none of us saw it.'

'Rizo even told me later, he goes, "I was standing next to you going, I don’t know why he’s going to send me over to the jury, I haven’t even lost yet!" Live TV!'

King was impressed with his ability to improvise and commended his ability to pivot.  

'I thought you handled it so brilliantly, because you came out and said "Look, this is what happened, so now what we're going to do is this." You just told the truth and we just moved on but you were so good in how you did it!' 

'I was taking notes,' King continued. 'If that happens to me, I'm going to do what he did!' 

Wednesday's live finale into a cringe-worthy moment that fans will not soon forget after Probst accidentally revealed contestant Velovic had lost the crucial fire-making challenge before viewers had even seen the pre-taped segment.

'Camp life is also about fire-making,' Probst said as Velovic stood beside him onstage in Los Angeles.

Then came the slip. 'I don’t know if there’s something in there to think about, anyway, Rizo, you’ve become the final member of our jury. Take a spot over here,' he said, inadvertently confirming Velovic had been eliminated.

He started to speak again before suddenly halting mid-sentence, with fellow contestants quickly pointing out the gaffe, saying, 'The fire hasn’t happened yet.' 

'Huh?' Probst answered, as others frantically tried to explain.

'I'm not even sure what's happened,' he added.

'Keep going,' someone said off-camera.

A commercial quickly followed. Someone in the audience filmed the chaos that ensued, with contestants seen laughing and a visibly confused Probst walking around and interacting with showrunners. A post of the clip has received more than 1 million views.

Once back on-screen, Probst cracked that the gaffe had merely been a 'peek into the future.'

'I love doing live television. In case you’re confused, this is what happened,' he began.

'We were going to show you fire-making, and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about how charming he is and if he had practiced fire-making, maybe he would’ve won.'

’So now, we’re going to watch Rizo lose in a fire to Jonathan,' he added.

Velovic, 26, later framed the blunder as 'a memorable moment' in a Thursday interview with USA Today.

'I'm a part of history. I never thought that would have happened to me,' he said.

'Survivor history!' he similarly joked to Entertainment Weekly.

He recalled how he came to the realization in real time - and followed Probst's lead.

'I’m playing off Jeff, and Jeff is talking about fire and I was like: Well, I’m not trying to reveal it. So I’m like, "Win or lose, I’m proud of how I played."'

'And Jeff’s like, "Sit your a** on the bench."

'And I’m like, "Well, this is awkward."'

Velovic added that he thought he and Probst 'recovered well.'

'I made a little joke with Jeff live on stage. I thought it was fine.'