Finale for Eventful ‘Survivor’ Season on CBS Dec. 18

Season 39 of Survivor ends Dec. 18, with one castaway awarded $1 million. Remaining in the hunt on the CBS reality program are Lauren Beck, Janet Carbin, Dean Kowalski, Noura Salman and Tommy Sheehan.

This season is themed “Island of the Idols,” with past winners “Boston” Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine residing on a separate island from the contestants, and mentoring the players who are sent to the Island of the Idols.

The two-hour Dec. 18 episode is titled “Mama, Look at Me Now.” A one-hour reunion special follows.

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Jeff Probst hosts. The season is set in Fiji.

Cast member Dan Spilo, a Hollywood talent manager, was removed from the game. He’d been warned for inappropriate touching of other cast members, then had an incident involving a crew member. Probst informed the remaining players of Spilo’s departure at the end of the Dec. 11 episode.

CBS said it will add an “on-site professional” to the set so contestants can report future incidents, and sensitivity training for cast and crew.

Previous season-end Survivor reunion programs were live, but the Dec. 18 one will be taped hours before it airs. Spilo will not be in the reunion show.

Probst, Mark Burnett and Matt Van Wagenen are executive producers on Survivor.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.