When Jeff Probst isn't stirring up drama in the jungles of Fiji, you can find him at his home in the hills of Studio City, still thinking of new ways to challenge the “Survivor” contestants.
In Sunday Funday, the people of Los Angeles tell us step by step their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“Almost every idea I have is 'Survivor' related,” he said. “Even if you listen to a conversation between two people and realize that there's a bit of hierarchy involved in their relationship, it might spark an idea: How do we achieve the same thing on 'Survivor'? How do we create a scenario where you have some kind of power over another person?
And while he may sound a bit like a mad scientist formulating elaborate social experiments, his methods are working: Probst continues to host and produce a thesis-worthy reality show with a cult following of millions.
So, when season 45 of “Survivor” begins on September 27, he is as excited as ever to share his work with the world, but he is equally excited to spend quality time with his wife, Lisa Ann Russell, and their two children. , Ava and Michael.
“The one and only difficult part of 'Survivor' is that I filmed it on an island, many, many, many, many hours away,” he said. “If I could photograph it in my backyard, it would be heaven.”
This is how Probst would spend a perfect day off in Los Angeles
6am: Have a cup of coffee on the back patio.
I love getting up early while everyone is still sleeping because I feel like I'm stealing some time. I'll make a cup of coffee and immediately head out to the backyard with our dog, Stevie. And I love just walking around with her while she smells things. I often have some of my best ideas when I'm in that newly awakened state. Everything seems possible. It's definitely the closest thing to meditating that I do.
7:30 am: Walk through the canyon.
If it's not scorching hot, we'll go down to Fryman Canyon – which you may not be familiar with, but is a smaller version of Runyon Canyon. It's a lot of fun and you can do the circuit in about an hour. Sometimes I go with a friend and a lot of times I just go with Stevie, and there are a lot of other dogs. I usually listen to a podcast; right now I'm listening”You must remember this“, Karina Longworth talking about the movies of the 90s. And you could listen to “In” with Kara Swisher, something that's a little more news-oriented or interview format.
10 a.m.: Play doubles with friends.
Now we come to the best part of my Sunday, which is tennis with friends. I started playing tennis about five years ago with a group of friends and that group of friends has now grown. And we are all addicted to playing and improving. So this idea of Sunday morning doubles has really become a regular part of the weekend for those in town.
In addition to fun and exercise, tennis requires a lot of strategy, so you are always learning something new. And because of the concentration required to play, you can't think about anything else, so it's a great way to clear your mind. No matter what industry you are in or what problems you may be facing, when you play tennis, you are simply trying to figure out how to get the ball back on the court.
In terms of courts, Golf and tennis in Weddington It is very close to me; You just have to reserve them in advance. Sometimes we play at someone's house. If we're lucky, we might end up in the Los Angeles Tennis Club, which is really nice. And no, I don't like pickleball. I can't do pickleball; I'm trying to learn tennis. I'm upset with the pickleball trend.
2 p.m.: Browse the vinyl at Freakbeat Records
Whenever I'm feeling ambitious, I'll stop by. Freakbeat Records. And the reason I go there is mainly to try to impress our musician son, Michael, by finding some weird rock album he's craving. But the trick about Freakbeat Records is that the staff is amazing and they really know their music… and they don't suffer fools. So if you're looking for a new indie release, they'll love you and answer all your questions. But if you're a guy like me looking for a decent copy of “Led Zeppelin IV,” you get that look of… yeah, you're on your own. So it's always a challenge to my ego when I go in there.
Every time I find something and bring it home, I remember how far he is from me in this game of musical knowledge. He'll look at me like, “Oh, you're trying so hard.” But you know, as a parent, anything to engage with. We have a son and a daughter, and any time I can get involved with my son in music, or my daughter in art and animation, it's a win, even if I'm the butt of the joke.
3:30 p.m.: Sunday afternoon cartoons.
My daughter, Ava, is an entertainer; She is in her last year of high school, but that is her passion. So there are some shows that we watch together and bond over. The last one was “The owl house.”
And the really fun thing is that we're not just watching an animated show. I'm bonding with my daughter over something she does and she can tell me why that nuance of that character is so good and things I wouldn't notice. I remember what art form she is and the type of storytelling she likes. And it's a half hour, but it's a half hour where we're completely invested in something and I know her a little bit better. I don't know if she knows how much she means to me. But yeah, between that and looking like a fool in the record store, that's half my day.
4:30 pm: Pick up everyone's dinner.
We never formally declare it, but we might as well do it, because Sunday is eat-whatever-you-want day. And it happens organically every weekend: I'm the designated Uber driver and I just say, “What do you want?” and everyone places their order and then I go pick it up. There are no rules, no judgments, order what you want.
I will often end up hitting five boys for a hamburger for one person, and then Joan is in third for a salad for another, and then some sushi for me and my wife Teru Sushi. It's fun because I like having a purpose and I like that we are at a place in our lives where our kids are old enough to be able to tell us what they want today. And then we all meet in the kitchen, eat, and then go back to what we were doing.
7 pm: End the day with some quality time.
The last part of the evening may seem boring, but it creates very close bonds for [my wife and me]. We love to end a Sunday with a bottle of wine or a glass of tequila and whatever show we're watching at the time. We're watching “Righteous Gemstones” right now and we love crime documentaries, like the last one we really enjoyed, as disturbing as it was, was “Jared From Subway.”
We devour great dramas like “White Lotus.” We're not biased about that, but Mike White is a good friend (and was on “Survivor”) and watching his success is a lot of fun. We will watch season 2 again because we don't want to wait any longer for season 3.
10:00 p.m.: go to sleep
At 10 o'clock we finish and go to bed. We used to stay up much later and then we began to realize that in the last few hours we were not doing anything; We're just waiting to go to bed. So now it's 10 o'clock, it doesn't mean we're asleep at 10, it just means we've given in to this idea of, “Let's go to bed when we're done.” Let's get up when we're ready.”
I would say that if I get even half of this on any given Sunday, then it's an absolutely perfect way to end the weekend.
