On Monday (Jan. 10), CBS announced 16 of the 18 contestants who will be appearing on “Survivor: Redemption Island.” In addition, CBS revealed that the final two contestants will be former castaways.
This presumably serves as a tacit confirmation that the big twist for “Survivor: Redemption Island” is exactly what fans thought it was and that CBS’ decision to treat the twist as a surprise is just drawing out non-existent suspense.
We, however, will not spoil the identity of those two returning castaways, if you haven’t heard already, though CBS promises that the announcement will be confirmed later this week (probably at the network’s presentation to the Television Critics Association press tour).
“Survivor: Redemption Island” will premiere on Wednesday, February 16 and will introduce the Redemption Island twist used on other international “Survivor” formats. Of that twist, CBS explains “Each week at Tribal Council when a castaway is voted off, they will be sent to an isolated island called “Redemption Island,” where they will live alone in exile. To stay on Redemption Island, they will need to compete in a duel against the next person eliminated at Tribal Council and sent to the Island. The winner of each duel earns the right to continue fighting for an opportunity to return to the game and the chance to compete for the title of Sole Survivor; the loser is sent home.”
After dividing tribes by Old and Young last season, this season will return to standard tribal divisions as the 18 castaways are broken down as Ometepe and Zapatera tribes.
This isn’t the first time “Survivor” has mingled established players with neophytes. Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard were brought back from “Survivor: Palau” to play on “Survivor: Guatemala,” while teams of fans were matched against series favorites for “Survivor: Micronesia.”
We’ll be posting a full photo gallery of the new “Survivor” stars in a bit.