Survivor 45: Jeff Probst Isn't Holding Back On Episode 4's Shocking Conclusion

Contains spoilers for "Survivor" Season 45, Episode 4 — "Music to My Ears"

Host Jeff Probst didn't mince his words about the conclusion of the latest "Survivor" episode, which saw another player quit — the second time this has happened so far this season. 

At the end of Episode 4, former Lulu player Sean Edwards, who ended up joining the Reba tribe after an unexpected swap, left the game by begging his new teammates to vote him out. (The vote wasn't unanimous, which will almost certainly cause problems amongst the remaining Reba tribemates going forward.) On the post-episode podcast "On Fire," Probst was pretty clear that he thought Edwards' decision was kind of a cop-out. Though Edwards said that he wanted to return home to spend more time with his family, Probst wasn't convinced.

"Sean had been playing a very clever game," Probst said on the podcast. "He's a very clever guy. I'm going to be super clear: This was another engineered quit. And I ought to be honest, I think Sean tried to craft a narrative that worked for him because ... Sean wasn't exhausted. He wasn't worried about food or bad sleeping. This was a sudden discovery, as in that exact moment at Tribal he realized, 'Whoa, hang on. I think I got what I needed. I'm good, thanks so much.' I realize — no disrespect to him — I realize he's missing his family, but it's not like you're out there for another six months. It's barely two more weeks."

In that same podcast, Jeff Probst even revealed that had Sean Edwards not left the game, he probably wouldn't have been voted out. According to Probst, interviews with the other Reba players suggested Nicholas "Sifu" Alsup — an original Reba member who remained in his tribe post-swap — was on the chopping block. Beyond that, though, Probst thinks Edwards could have been more honest about his reasons for quitting and even invoked the season's first exit. In the Season 45 premiere, Probst and the Lulu tribe were all stunned when Hannah Rose quit the show, telling everybody that she simply hated the discomfort involved with "Survivor" and wanted to go home to a real bed and her normal life.

"So the reason Sean frustrated me is that I don't think he owned it," Probst said. "Hannah, equally frustrating, but she owned it. She said, 'Look, I hate everything about 'Survivor.' Sean romanticized it. And I am happy that Sean's in love. ... I'm just saying that romanticizing it felt to me like maybe a way to soften the idea of being voted out fourth in a game you imagined winning."

"I'm not beating up Sean," Probst continued. "I really am not. If he found a deeper connection to his husband, that is ultimately what 'Survivor' is about — the experience. I'm just saying, owning it is also part of the experience."

Apparently, Sean Edwards kind of agrees with Jeff Probst and regrets quitting "Survivor" — but he also pushed back on the host's comments. In an exclusive interview with Dalton Ross, the resident "Survivor" expert over at Entertainment Weekly, Edwards said that his gut feeling at the moment was authentic, and while Probst's thoughts on the matter are fair, he does think only he can fully understand his decision.

Edwards went on to tell Ross that while he stands by quitting overall, he thinks he could have been clearer about his reasoning — especially considering that he quit to spend more time with his husband, but contestants who get voted off have to go directly to Ponderosa, a holding area where they remain until the game is finished. "I will say there definitely is, as I've been able to process this experience and come back from it — it's been months since it's been filmed — I'll be honest with myself and with everyone else, that there definitely is an intense feeling of regret about my decision," he said. "And it's okay to have regrets." Throughout his interview, Edwards made it clear that he cherished his brief time on "Survivor," but he also revealed that his intense instinct suggested his time was simply finished.

"I think a lot about how I wish I could have been more flexibly minded in that moment to be able to say, 'Hey, "Survivor," this has been a great experience. It's not really fulfilling what I initially came out here for, but now as a player of the game who loves this game, now I can turn up and play the game instead of asking for this adventure of a lifetime,'" he explained. "So definitely, looking back, I wish I could have been more in that space. I just wasn't. And I have to find a way to come to terms with that."

As Sean Edwards told Dalton Ross, his impromptu decision shocked everyone, considering that he'd never once expressed any desire to leave "Survivor." Even beyond that, Edwards revealed to Ross that if Sifu Alsup had been voted off and he'd had more time to think it over, he likely would have discovered the drive to stay in the game.

"I also believe that if I wasn't voted out and went back with the girls [from the Reba tribe], that that's just more time for me to consider my decision and was that the right thing?" Edwards mused to Dalton. "And I think with time, I would've maybe come to this place of like, 'You know what? No, I want to play this game. I love this game. I'm here to play.' And so I think, again, that moment of Tribal Council just really completely got me, and I ended up getting myself, if that makes sense." People get played and blindsided a lot on "Survivor." This time, it seems like Edwards blindsided himself.

New episodes of "Survivor" air every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS.