Despite being a well-known Hollywood figure – Nate Moore is one of the brains behind such big MCU movies as Black Panther, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and many more – he was able to keep that a big secret during Season 49 of Survivor. While he didn’t end up taking home the million dollar Survivor prize, he did at least earn a major compliment from host Jeff Probst. In fact, Jeff wrote before the show even hit the 2025 TV schedule that he thought Nate had the skills and chutzpah to win the iconic game, and I honestly would have loved to see it.
Jeff Probst Is Not Typically One For Big Compliments, But He Seemingly Loved Nate Moore
Jeff has been getting more candid of late during the On Fire podcast. One thing I’ve learned is that he keeps notes on all of the contestants, and he had some big ones about Nate Moore. Speaking on the podcast Jeff literally said his gut feeling was that Nate could win at the start.
From casting, I thought he could win it all. He’s perceptive, understands social dynamics and connects easily with people.
When the cast of Season 49 started to align, Moore was in a relatively solid place. He was pals with most and had a cushy alliance with Savannah, Rizo and Sophie. He was kind of seen as the wise old dad on the tribe, but he pulled his weight in challenges, too. He was thoughtful when he spoke, as Jeff himself pointed out, calling it all the total package, or more specifically, a “home run.”
I wrote, ‘Home run.’ So good at understanding social group dynamics. He’s very, very switched on to people and motivation. He comes across as very perceptive and good at connecting with people. So, that might put a little target on him, but he’s very friendly and laid-back.
Unfortunately, you need some luck to make a deep run in Survivor, and Nate didn’t get the luck he needed. After the merge, Sage and Jawan, who were on the outskirts of that alliance with Savannah, Rizo and Soph, decided to flip and vote with the other tribe. Sage specifically wanted Savannah out of the game, but because of concerns Rizo could play his idol for her, they ended up putting the numbers on Nate because it seemed like a safer play.
Most people who voted for him didn’t even seem to want to. Some actively argued against it, but ultimately, they felt the most important move was to eliminate someone from the alliance. That ended up being Nate, who was the one everyone compromised around.
Speaking with TV Insider, Nate Moore was asked what he thought about Jeff Probst saying he was “a home run” for the show. He said he hadn’t listened to the podcast at the time of the interview, but Jeff’s comments, which also included a subsequent, “That’s about as good as it gets for me,” did make Moore “feel good.”
I mean, it makes you feel good whenever anybody has anything good to say! I feel great. Look, I truly have seen this since Season 1. I was so excited to be on, but I think he’s right. You watch the show, and you go, ‘Oh, certain people are good and certain people aren’t good at this game.’ And what you realize is, it is so contextual. The right group of people can make somebody feel like a really good player or a bad player, just by who they’re surrounded with and how those other people are playing.
There is always an element of chance on Survivor. Is your tribe winning or is your tribe a disaster? Are you able to make connections early on? Are you able to stick with your tribemates through a slew of changes, including tribe switches, journeys and more? Honestly, all things considered, Moore felt like he’d landed in a pretty good spot on the show.
And so I thought I got a pretty good draw, but obviously, there was a little bit of a generation gap that I was battling that I don’t think I overcame in the right way. But then I go back and think about other players who I thought were bad, and I go, ‘Oh, maybe in a different season they could have killed it because it’s who’s on your tribe. What happens? Who gels with whom?’ I think sometimes, as fans, we think it’s strategy all the time, and it is some of the time, but you can’t undervalue how much the interpersonal connections and just the reality of you get on with some people and you don’t with others really affects decision making.
Nate notably didn’t tell anyone he was a Marvel producer during his tenure on Survivor. He’d seen Mike White of White Lotus and School of Rock fame be honest about his career and likely hurt his chances of winning since his fellow castaways felt he didn’t need the money during his first run. (White will be back for Survivor 50.) So, he played the stay-at-home dad card on the show.
It’s not strictly a lie, as the producer left Marvel to pursue other gigs following the release of Captain America: Brave New World. And it gave him just enough rope to be able to develop relationships with those much younger than him without having to divulge who he really was.
A little deception never hurt anyone, but I would have loved to have seen Nate Moore play a bit longer. As he noted in the interview, he felt like he would have been a strong contender in some of the individual challenges, and I honestly just really liked his vibes around camp. I also feel like the target audience for Survivor viewers skews older, but we keep seeing more casts with younger and younger players and it was nice to see someone in their forties remain a competitive force.
Maybe the lesson should be that we want more older players like Nate in the future, not fewer.