Live Donald Trump Address to Overlap with Season Finales of ‘Survivor’ and ‘The Floor’
Former President Donald Trump is set to deliver a live, primetime address to the nation on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET, leading all four major broadcast networks to preempt their regular schedules for the event.
Trump announced the address just six hours before its airing, prompting significant adjustments for network schedulers. White House officials have indicated that the speech will focus on the former president’s accomplishments over the past year.
However, the timing of the address complicates matters for reality television enthusiasts, as it coincides with the season finales of two popular shows: Survivor and The Floor.
CBS will interrupt the three-hour finale of Season 49 of Survivor to broadcast Trump’s speech. The network announced that the finale, slated to begin at 8 p.m. ET, will pick up where it left off immediately after the address for viewers in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.
The speech is expected to last under 30 minutes. However, given Trump’s reputation for lengthy addresses, the exact timing of when fans will learn whether Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Sophi Balerdi, Savannah Louie, Kristina Mills, or Rizo Velovic has won remains uncertain.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell will anchor coverage of the speech, with chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes providing insights between segments of the reality show hosted by Jeff Probst.
At the same time, Fox is airing the season finale of The Floor, hosted by Rob Lowe. Scheduled to run from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m., the finale features the final 16 contestants competing for a grand prize of $250,000. It remains unclear if Fox will similarly pause its programming to air Trump’s speech.
ABC and NBC have holiday specials planned for the same evening. ABC will present the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball, while NBC will feature Christmas in Nashville, starring Trisha Yearwood.
The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball is set to air from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, while Christmas in Nashville is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET. Disney plans to pause the Jingle Ball and resume the program after a delay.
NBC anticipates that Trump’s speech will last around 13 minutes. Following the address, NBC News will air a special segment, then transition to Christmas in Nashville, ultimately making up for lost time with a shortened rerun of NBC’s Year in Review 2025.
