For its 19th go-around, Survivor is heading back to the South Pacific, specifically Samoa, a collection of 10 islands half way between New Zealand and Hawaii. And host Jeff Probst couldn’t be happier. “[It’s] a return to the kind of Survivor that I certainly enjoy doing, which is beach-based,” he says. “It's nice to take a detour and go to Africa and Brazil and do something different, but [being on the water] always feels like we're home.” And here, since Probst was feeling so relaxed and at home, he reveals all about the new season (including the show’s much-publicized “most notorious villain”) and even answers some burning questions (yes, I admit it, I’m an avid fan) that touch upon a strategy he thinks could actually win the game at the final tribal council.

How will the tribes be divvied up this year?
We divide them this year. Sometimes we let them divide themselves [but] this year they are predivided.

Is there anything unique about it or is it like the old days?
Yeah, old days. Just trying to make them as even as possible and this year what we did was we actually gave them their buffs about a day early while they were still in lockdown when they can't talk to anybody.

Was this happening when they're traveling to their location?
No, they get to location beforehand and we keep them for a few days to get them acclimated to the weather and the time change and all that and they hate it because they're literally captive and they cannot speak. If you were to show up, you would see 16, 18, 20 people—depending on the season—walking around not talking and having a handler with them to make sure nobody talks. So this year, the reason we gave them the buffs was to have first impressions form based on nothing. Now you know who's on your tribe and now when we interview you, we're gonna ask you “What did you think when you first saw that person?” And you get things like, “I thought, ‘Oh my god, I'm screwed. I'm with the jackass wearing the parka.’”

How will the customs of Samoa be integrated into the show?
Well, we're going to incorporate the idea of “chiefs” on each tribe because that is something that is a big part of the Samoan culture. We're going to force [the tribe members] right off the bat to choose a leader for their tribe and that leader's going to have to make decisions throughout the game.

Is there any advantage to being the chief? Because nothing has made leadership less desirable on reality television over the years than Survivor has since it gives someone a target on their back.
It's inherent in the role of leadership there are pros and cons and it's no different from real life. When you work with a group of friends and you suddenly become their boss, there are a lot of cons to that. Your friendship is often in jeopardy because you have to make tough decisions that they don't wanna hear. The pro is, you're the one making the decisions. If you're elected leader and you do a good job then theoretically they have no reason to get rid of you and that plays out this year. I was very impressed with how the leaders they selected were actually people that wanted to lead, [but] the leaders are in a precarious position and they know it. But as anybody who is a leader in life knows, if you're a leader you can't not lead.

That reminds me of that guy who was informally made the leader and ended up not wanting it at all. I forget his name, but he was wearing that green shirt during that season you made everyone wear street clothes.
G.C. [from Season 17].

Come to think of it, why did you make them wear street clothes that time? That just seemed like torture to those players.
The real reason [we do that is] you are telling a story. From the minute Survivor begins, it is a story and the story is about a group of strangers from all groups of life who've been abandoned, so if we can put a lawyer in a suit and a model in a sexy dress then you start to associate, “Oh, she's the model.” And that's really why.

And who cares if it's 100 degrees.
Yeah, we don't. I mean, that's the show. You signed up with it, that's the show.

If I ever go on the show I'm gonna tell you I'm a surfer.
Well, that's a great move. That is. People try to smuggle extra underwear and extra socks and, I mean, we do strip searches right before the show and occasionally someone will get away with it. We'll see them at, like, day five and someone will say, “She has pink underwear. Didn't she have blue underwear?” And then we'll figure out that they had an extra pair of underwear, so we have to take their underwear. It gets that sneaky.

Will the Exile Island rules be the same?
No Exile Island. Exile Island was getting too predictable and so we gave it up. I'm sure they'll be expecting it but it's not coming.

Anything else new this season?
We're gonna have a “do it yourself” challenge where I don't show up and they arrive and there's just a box sitting there. Watching what they think it means and how they decide and when to investigate it and what happens afterwards is pretty interesting and a little scary to me I might add because suddenly, “Maybe we don't need a host! Maybe we can do Survivor without Mr. Probst!”

But then who would say, “Worth playing for?”
Yeah, exactly. You know?

I'm waiting for someone, when you say that, to actually say to you, “Eh, whatever.”
I used to get fan mail that would actually say, “You know, I really enjoy the show but I gotta ask you, do you know you say the same thing all the time?” And I think it took some people quite a while to figure out that that was sort of the joke, that there are 15 lines that I say every episode. And so now when I say it for [the players], the look on their faces is usually a smile because we're now in on this very corny line that you know I'm gonna say…It's just fun.

Who’s the bad guy this season?
Russell Hantz [a 36-year-old oil tankering company owner from Dayton, Texas] is, I think, gonna go down as one of the most notorious villains we've ever had. And that is saying something considering we've been on 19 seasons and 300 and some people have played the game. He, from the get-go, says, “I'm gonna lie, cheat and steal.” I think deep down he's a fairly evil dude. He's got an awfully charming way about him and he's so up front and honest about his intentions that I found myself thinking, “I think I would align with this guy in spite of the fact he just told me he's going to lie to me.”

Looking at the backstabbing aspect of the game and the way people get upset about it, I’ve always wondered why players don’t use a poker analogy to explain their actions. When you play poker and someone bluffs you—which is, in essence, lying—you get frustrated because you fell for it, but you don’t necessarily get mad at the person because that’s the game you’re playing. And yet I’ve never heard anyone on the show say, “This is like poker—would you get mad at me if I had bluffed you?” Why do you think that strategy isn’t regularly used on the show?
It's a brilliant question. I don't know the answer but I wonder it often. When you get to the final Tribal Council you have to tell a story and you have to do it to a group of people who you just made sure have no chance at the money, so they're mad at you. So you're only chance is to tell a compelling enough story as to why you got rid of them and your analogy is exactly it. “The game is lie, cheat and steal and I know you guys are mad at me but I'm asking you to take just a minute and separate your anger and appreciate that I worked really hard to outfox you guys and I know the person sitting next to me didn't irritate you or vote you off but that's because they didn't do anything. I did it!” People don't do that and people get so afraid. It's the one part of the game that is the most difficult, and that is how do you vote people out and then get them to vote for you to give you the money?

The only thing you have to do, arguably, is validate their feelings. There’s a difference between saying “I’m sorry,” and “I’m sorry it happened.” And then use the poker analog—and the best pokers players are the best bluffers—and how can you argue with that?
Well, I mean, clearly you're a fan of the show because that speech would give you a shot. What often happens at final Tribal is the jury gets up and they go on a rant because they're miserable and the finalists just apologize. They don't do the second half, which is, “I'm sorry you're upset. It was hard for me, too, but I hope you appreciate that, as hard as it was, it was a good move and it was done by me. I engineered it and I'd like to be rewarded for it because that's the implicit agreement when we came out here was that we're all gonna do this and the winner who plays the best gets the money.” [But] often, the person who gets the money is the person who pissed the least amount of people off.

Another burning question I have is why does everyone always get so psyched to see a beer as a reward when water is so scarce—plus alcohol is obviously dehydrating?
I think it's flavor. I really do. People ask often, “Why don't these guys use better judgment?” For instance, when we have an auction, why does everybody get so excited that they can bid on a beer rather than a protein shake or something like that? And I think the truth is you lose your sense. You're not rational often and you're so incredibly starved for food and flavor that the thought of a cold beer not only sounds good, [but] it brings memories of home and you're thinking of a barbecue and the hot dog that goes with it and you just want that cold beer so bad you'll pay $300 for it! And I'm amazed! I mean, we'll put up chocolate and peanut butter [and] we know that's gonna sell every time. Every single time. There's nothing in it. I mean, the peanut butter's got a little protein but all it really does is screw your system up so badly that for the next 24 hours, you know, you're in the woods.

Survivor: Samoa premieres Thursday, September 17, 8/7c, CBS.