Dear “Survivor” 49 castaways, please stop calling Jeff Probst Uncle Jeff, Uncle J, Uncle Jeffrey and/or any other iteration you come up with!
Perhaps it was the Season 49 premiere of “Survivor” or its second episode when I first heard a castaway refer to the host in this way. I have hated this new moniker ever since.
The new nickname seems to mostly be said by Jawan Pitts and Kristina Mills, two of the Black contestants on this season. I am desperately hoping it does not catch on with the other players. I’ve always hated when Black people invite white people to the proverbial “cookout” once they have been deemed cool enough, and this feels like an extension of that. He doesn’t need to be your “uncle.” He’s just Jeff!
Probst addressed his new name in September, and he seems to love it.
“I don’t know where that came from. I think that’s just a coincidence this season,” Probst told Dalton Ross, the editorial director of Entertainment Weekly. “But it’s better than granddad. I was called a ‘grandad’ by Dee [Valladares] after she won. And we’re here at the after show and she said to me, ‘Jeff, this is really surreal. I grew up with you; you were like a father figure, I mean, now it’s more like a granddad.’ So I’ll take Uncle Jeff all day.”
Even former “Survivor” contestant Q rolls his eyes once he hears it. “Every single time I hear that, I just cringe,” Q said on a TikTok video.
Fans like me absolutely hate it.
Please make it stop! I do NOT want to hear this phrase on Season 50.
“Survivor” 49 airs on Wednesdays and is streaming on Paramount+.
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