Survivor host Jeff Probst reveals how he secretly tallies the votes

“I’ll go tally the votes.” So says Jeff Probst on every Survivor episode after all the players at Tribal Council have put pen to parchment. He then returns a few minutes later — just seconds on TV — with the voting urn and reads said votes. But what happens in those moments in between? How exactly does the host tally the votes?

That was a question posed by a Survivor fan named Sean on the latest episode of the On Fire With Jeff Probst podcast, and one which the host and showrunner fielded… perhaps against his will. “I'll walk you through this because I take this seriously,” Probst says on the podcast. “I really do.”

So what happens? “I take the votes to a private area and go through them and put them in order,” Probst reveals. “And the reason they have to be in order is not just for dramatic impact, but it's also because we're always going to read votes for every player that got a vote.”

Of course, that does not always mean that all the votes get read. “The only votes I don't read are when the only votes left are for the player who already has the most votes. So they already have the majority, so the rest are all theirs and it's not going to change anything. So you have to order them to make sure you accomplish this.”

As for the actual reading of the votes when he gets back to the podium, it’s all about keeping track. “In terms of reading the votes, I'm pretty focused,” Probst says. “And honestly, before I come back with the votes, I kind of center myself because I'm doing math. I know the stakes are big and I don't want to make a mistake.”

He then provides an example using his two cohosts Jay Wolff and Charlie Davis. “So when I'm saying, ‘Okay, that's four votes Jay, two votes Charlie, two votes Jeff. Next vote: Charlie. Okay, that's four votes Jay, three votes Charlie, two votes Jeff.’ You can see how quickly in some of those Tribals you're like, ‘Wait, it was four votes and three, then two, but now they get one.’"

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In the end, Probst does not want to ruin the moment. “I just don't want to mess it up because I know the drama is there. And so I do my very best to be focused, and that's why I don't even think about smiling or giggling or anything like that because I'm just trying to do my job. “

In fact, the entire subject makes the host uncomfortable. “I'll tell you how superstitious I am about this,” he says. “I don't even like talking about it. We had a question the other week where somebody said, ‘Has anybody ever punched you?’ I'm like, I don't want that even out there in the universe!”

For his part, Probst wants it to be all about the snuffee, not the snuffer. “I am very humble in the moment of reading the votes. I'm very much aware this is not about me. Just focus and do your job.”

For more from Probst on the latest episode of Survivor 47, check out the On Fire podcast.