Are ‘Survivor’ castaways allowed to bring food earned at reward challenges back to camp?

While there are dozens of aspects of Survivor that take a toll on its castaways, the hunger that they experience is arguably the hardest part of all, eating a single scoop of rice per day, as well as the occasional fish or coconut (only if they’re lucky). Some contestants even go to extreme measures to get a bit of extra food in their belly, such as Austin Li Coon of Survivor 45 who attempted to eat a sea cucumber and a pair of giant fish eyes for a bit of extra fuel — how wild is that?

Fortunately, the beloved competition series offers Reward Challenges, which are “challenges that are used at both the tribal and individual level. Sometimes paired with Immunity Challenges, winning these challenges can provide tribes, individuals, or groups of individuals with items that make life at camp easier, escapes from the game, or a prize that they can enjoy after the game is completed.” The most common prize offered at said Reward Challenges is food, from sandwiches to tacos to pizza and beyond — naturally, this is a massive upgrade from a single scoop of rice!

Earning themselves a massive feast, castaways have a seemingly unlimited supply of food to eat while away at a reward, but Survivor superfans have just one burning question — can they smuggle some of this food back to camp and save it for later?

Longtime host Jeff Probst put all of the rumors to rest in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. Keep scrolling to find out for yourself…

Unfortunately, castaways cannot bring any sort of reward back to camp, unless that was explicitly stated before the Reward Challenge took place. Sometimes, the prize is given to the contestants with the intention of eating it back at camp, but if the prize is a trip to The Sanctuary, all uneaten food must remain there, per the rules of Jeff Probst himself.

“Food rewards must be consumed where they are served and in a specific amount of time,” the longtime host dished. “We don’t let players bring food back to camp. For rewards that take place at camp, the same rules apply ⁠— they have to finish in a certain amount of time and after that, the reward is finished.”

Just because it is against the rules to bring any sort of reward back to camp, that doesn’t mean that contestants haven’t tried. In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Lauren-Ashley Beck from Survivor: Island Of The Idols reflected on a time that her and some of her tribemates tried their luck…

Pouring cocktails from a reward into their water bottles, Lauren and some of her fellow castaways tried sneaking alcohol back to camp after a trip to The Sanctuary, but the camera crew had to intervene when they realized that they were clearly intoxicated.

“We got so drunk, and we were all talking and saying which camera guys we thought were cute,” she reminisced with a grin. “They were like, ‘Oh, can we have your water bottle?’ because they realized we were hammered” — nonetheless, it was worth a try!

Survivor superfans can stream all 45 seasons of the beloved competition series on Paramount Plus now.