“We made a decision not to bring any of the winners from Winners at War because we had just seen them and it was a big season,” the CBS competition series’ longtime host Jeff Probst explained of the reasoning for their absence on the Oct. 22 episode of his On Fire podcast, which he cohosts with winner Jeremy Collins. “And I know a lot of people are going to miss players like Jeremy, but that was the reason why. That simple.”
In other words, just because a contestant is popular, it doesn’t mean they were guaranteed to be asked to return. However, some contestants didn’t want to return, particularly Rob, who also recently appeared on Traitors.
“At this point, I’m kind of just hanging out,” Boston Rob told People in April. “I don’t have a desire to go back and compete in that realm right now. I’m going to take a little break, the kids are off for the summer.”