Billie Eilish collaborated with Jeff Probst on Boomerang Idol for 'Survivor'

Jeff Probst reveals how Billie Eilish helped create a new ‘Boomerang Idol’ twist for Survivor season 50.

Longtime Survivor host Jeff Probst has revealed how pop superstar Billie Eilish helped inspire a new gameplay twist for the show’s milestone 50th season.

Speaking to People Magazine at The Tribe Has Spoken: An Evening with Jeff Probst and Survivor 50 Castaways event at The Paley Museum, the 64-year-old host explained that the singer collaborated with the production team to develop the “Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol.”

According to Probst, the show’s producers presented several possible ideas to the 24-year-old Grammy-winning artist before she ultimately chose the concept that became the new game-changing advantage.

“We sent her a couple of ideas, and she decided which one she liked; she said, ‘I like the Boomerang,’” Probst recalled. 

“Then we kind of wrote out the clue, and she approved that as well. It was really fun to collaborate with her. She was enthusiastic about it.”

The twist debuted during the first two episodes of Survivor season 50, when returning contestants Genevieve Mushaluk and Christian Hubicki discovered clues leading to separate Boomerang Idols hidden on their tribes’ beaches in Fiji.

Unlike traditional immunity idols, the Boomerang Idol introduces a strategic challenge: the player who finds the clue must secretly give the idol to someone on an opposing tribe. 

The recipient can use it to avoid elimination at Tribal Council, but if they are voted out without playing it, the idol “boomerangs” back to the original finder.

Moreover, the mechanic adds a new layer of strategy, allowing players to build alliances across tribes or gamble on their rivals’ elimination.

In the season premiere, Mushaluk passed the idol to Ozzy Lusth, while in the following episode, Hubicki handed his idol to Aubry Bracco.

Probst said the collaboration with Eilish felt fitting given the singer’s well-known admiration for the long-running reality competition series. 

In her 2022 song TV, Eilish even references the show with the lyric, “I put on Survivor just to watch somebody suffer.”

The host added that Eilish has also previously expressed interest in appearing on the show herself.

“I saw an interview where Billie said she might want to play,” Probst said. “The invitation is there. It seems unlikely because it’s a long commitment, but Billie’s always welcome.”

Survivor airs on CBS and is available for streaming on Paramount+.