I played 'Survivor' 3 times. Here are 9 things even superfans don't know about finale night.

• I've played "Survivor" three times and filming finale night is always an interesting experience.
• Castaways are assigned rooms backstage and aren't allowed to have alcohol during filming.

It's hard to describe the emotions players feel about ending a season of "Survivor," simply because everyone feels wildly different come final tribal council and the live reunion show.

The one who just won a million is thrilled. The finalist who convinced themself they had a chance at the win will be sour and moping. The jury tends to be chipper, bitter, or both.

As you might guess, day 39 and beyond plays out differently than the game that preceded it.

Here's a few behind-the-scenes tidbits that might surprise even the most hardcore of fans:

Jeff Probst usually picks the order of the jury questions

The new open format with juries has obviously changed things, but back in my day (most recently, "Game Changers," which aired in 2017), the executive producer and host would visit the jury members individually on morning 39 to discuss what they intended to throw at the finalists.

This was presumably so no one could surprise Probst in the 11th hour.

During that process, I was also given some sense of when I'd be called up. I was told I was batting lead-off in "Survivor: Caramoan" in 2013 — though I don't remember why. It had something to do with my questions, though.

When Probst walks off with the votes, we really don't see him again until the finale

With many aspects of the show, viewers at home don't see scenes exactly as they play out. But in this case, what you see is exactly how it happens on the island.

Probst flashes his dimples, thanks us for a "great season," then walks off into the night. That's it. We don't see him again until the finale.

The jury and finalists sit awkwardly for a few minutes before producers come on stage and announce the game has ended. The jury is usually in a great mood. The finalists who just got ripped to shreds? Not so much.

Prepping for the live finale is a full-day affair

Months after the season has aired, it's time to film the live finale.

Typically filmed in LA, the live reunion airs late at night Wednesday on the East Coast. Players might assume they'll have that entire day to themself before getting to set, right? Wrong.

Television producers long ago learned not to trust "talent" to show up on time. Thus, for a nighttime shoot, we castaways were required to get on a bus to CBS Studios around 10:00 a.m.

We'd spend the rest of the day backstage signing merchandise, meeting families that come through, playing cards, eating a massive spread of sushi (it's always sushi), and gossiping about the cast. Speaking of ...

We'd get assigned rooms, which felt like an attempt to minimize backstage drama

For dressing rooms backstage, we were broken up into groups. Upon arrival, we'd find our name and a few others taped to the doors.

I think the primary motivation behind these splits is so that we're sharing rooms with people we like. It works great for us and the producers both, who have enough going on without managing bad blood from the island.

Thing is, relationships between castaways can change in the months between playing the game and shooting the live finale. Technically, we're not supposed to talk to and hang out with each other before the finale, but just about everyone does.

Sometimes those interactions sour what was previously a healthy relationship — and CBS has no way of knowing beforehand.

One season, I arrived backstage to discover that a pair of friends-turned-mortal-enemies had been placed in the same room. Whoever assigned this group together had no idea the dynamic had changed since the show started airing.

That was a fun 15 minutes until the rooms could be reshuffled.

No alcohol is allowed before the finale

This makes sense, of course, but the rule is taken more seriously than you might think on finale day.

It's not just that there was no beer or wine available while we waited. Upon boarding the bus for the finale, castaways were patted down and we had our bags searched for booze before heading to the studio.

These measures are relatively new, to my understanding. Sounds like a certain group at their finale had too much fun backstage and ruined it for the rest of us ...

The atmosphere wildly varies during each finale

I've been to my three finales, plus a few others doing work for CBS. No two had the same energy.

Some casts are all great friends. Some can barely stand to look at one another and clump into small groups like high-school cliques.

Most trend toward the middle, with most everyone getting along and chatting happily, and a few malcontents being polite but keeping to themselves. In general, it's a positive atmosphere backstage.

But there is the occasional outlier.

Pre-jury members were in the audience for the 'Caramoan' finale — and, yes, it was wildly uncomfortable

In case you missed it, or have put up a mental block around this epic awkwardness, the finale of "Survivor: Caramoan" put the pre-jury in the audience instead of on the stage.

Many of us assumed the reason for this was that Brandon Hantz (understandably) did not attend the event, and the show was trying to minimize his absence. After the finale, Probst told Entertainment Weekly that this change was due to "a new stage" with a design that "couldn't accommodate" the typical number of people.

But the decision was unprecedented — this format had never happened before. What really stung, however, was that the cast wasn't given advance warning of the change.

Understand that friends and family of these players have flown in for this event, that everyone they know back home was expecting to see their loved one on network television for probably the last time, that they've spent a lot of time planning nice outfits — and then they discover just hours before the finale that they won't even be on stage.

Most of the pre-jury laid into Probst hard about this bait-and-switch in the hours before the finale, which was a sight in and of itself.

To his credit, Probst seemed surprised by their reaction and, once he understood their angst, looked genuinely remorseful. The show hasn't tried that format since.

One of the most surprising things I remember on finale night is seeing makeup for the first time in weeks

You can't help but develop a casual relationship with the crew who's been documenting your life for over a month. Even if you don't know everyone's names, you recognize all the faces by the end.

Keep in mind, the crew is roughing it too. They're not starving or smelling of death like the castaways, but they're out in the elements, sweating and straining and working their tails off in the middle of the jungle.

This doesn't lend itself to putting on your face in the morning.

But on the last night, when the jury was waiting to come into tribal council, many of the producers had their makeup done.

The jury members were in shock — these people we'd come to know reasonably well had never looked like this before. The women with makeup on generally responded by shaking their heads at us, with one calling us "idiots" for being surprised.

In our defense, it'd been 39 days since we'd seen makeup.

Contestants are supposed to get done up before the finale — but former player Jeff Kent does not go to makeup

To end on a lighter note —

"Survivor: Philippines" featured a handful of returning players and two well-known celebrities, one of which was MLB legend Jeff Kent. He was voted out just after the merge, when he hilariously commented that he'd earned $60 million playing professional baseball.

Anyway, it's about an hour before the finale begins, and we're waiting our turn to go to hair and makeup. It was Kent, myself, and a couple of others sitting in a dressing room together, chatting about nothing in particular.

One of the producers walks in and says to Kent, "It's time to go to makeup."

"No," Kent responds without looking up.

The producer looks like he's been slapped in the face. "Jeff, you have to go to makeup."

"No."

"Your contract states —"

Kent starts laughing at this point. "I'm not putting makeup on. What are you going to do to me?" The implication being that Jeff Kent absolutely does not need his "Survivor" consolation prize money.

The producer stared blankly at Kent for several seconds, clearly at a loss for what to do. He eventually gulped and turned to me instead. "Malcolm, go to hair and makeup."

But I'm not particularly stoked about wearing makeup either. And if Kent can say no …

"I'm not going either."

"Malcolm, get your ass to hair and makeup right now!"

I immediately stood and shuffled down the hall, because I, unfortunately, do not have Jeff Kent money, and very much needed my consolation prize.

Representatives for CBS and Jeff Probst didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Insider was unable to reach Kent for comment or confirmation on Freberg's recollections.