Overall, as a country, we’ve just experienced the longest survivor drought since 2001, but the good news is that it’s almost over.

Sure, 2020 was weird for a lot of reasons, but the lack of one of our most popular and reliable reality shows was definitely one of them. Thanks to the pandemic, Survivor couldn’t start filming season 41 in time last year. It was one of the first major productions to announce a shutdown on March 11, 2020, and CBS released a statement with plans to resume production on May 19, 2020. Obviously, this did not happen.

That meant that after the epic Winners At War ended in May, we were suddenly without survivors. It was the first time in almost 20 years that we didn’t have a season premiere in the fall, followed by the first time in 20 years that we didn’t have a new season premiere in the spring. But luckily for all of us, Survivor is on its way back.

Jeff Probst just announced in a new video that the production in season 41 will finally start.