In researching a trivia question just now, I came upon a YouTube montage of hundreds of clips of contestants being removed. In each one, Probst says, “[Name], the tribe has spoken.” He extinguishes the contestant’s torch, then says, “It’s time for you to go.”
I’d always remembered the contestant putting out his/her own torch, after Probst said something like, “The tribe has spoken. Please extinguish your torch.”
Am I misremembering? Or was this changed long ago?
Here’s the first tribal council ever in Survivor. Jeff put out the torch. I don’t ever remember the player putting out the torch, so I think you’re misremembering.
Maybe you’re conflating that with the tribe member lighting their own torch in the tribal council fire? Another long-time Survivor tradition that Probst makes a big deal about (“fire represents life and your life in this game”).
BTW, I read an interview with Probst and/or Burnett a long time ago, where they said they very purposely have Jeff use the same words & actions from season to season. Basically they want every interaction with Jeff to be ritualized. Even the annoyingly redundant phrase “Once again, Immunity is back up for grabs.”
He also doesn’t put out the torches of people who take themselves out of the game, or who are medevacced out. No snuffing for losers or the terminally unlucky.
The ritualized quotes also give an advantage to the true fans of the game. A few years ago during the ‘fake merge’, fans who pay attention weren’t fooled because Jeff never said “Drop your buffs”. And in this season, when the surprise was going back to a two-person finale, Spencer picked up on it because Jeff didn’t give the canned speech about the winner getting a chance to speak to the jury.