Survivor: Blood vs. Water

Cast revealed:

Galang:
Tyson Apostol (Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains)
Aras Baskauskas (Panama)
Rupert Boneham (Pearl Islands, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains)
Candice Cody (Cook Islands, Heroes vs. Villains)
Monica Culpepper (One World)
Colton Crumbie (One World)
Kat Edorsson (One World)
Laura Morett (Samoa)
Gervase Peterson (Borneo)
Tina Wesson (Australia winner, All-Stars)

Tadhana:
Rachel Foulger (Tyson's girlfriend)
Vytus Baskauskas (Aras' brother)
Laura Boneham (Rupert's wife)
John Cody (Candice's husband)
Brad Culpeper (Monica's husband, former NFL player)
Caleb Bankston (someone Colton presumably pays to say he's his boyfriend)
Hayden Moss (Kat's boyfriend, Big Brother 12 winner)
Marissa Peterson (Gervase's niece)
Ciera Easton (Laura's daughter)
Katie Collins (Tina's daughter)

Premieres September 18th.

Yeah, my first reaction was to groan and complain that I wasn't interested in watching yet another tribe of former players destroy a team of new players, but this does offer a different type of dynamic that could be interesting. It's not just a matter of voting someone off because they're useless or a threat, but to remove a potential advantage another player could have down the line. Plus, I would think these first-time players will have a lot more familiarity with the show than a lot of new players we've gotten recently, not only because they have a loved one who played, but because they have a loved-one who has a vested interest in ensuring they are prepared.

And if Coltonwasn't bad enough:

Redemption Island is back.Anyone voted out will be sent there and will then compete in a three person duel. The last place finisher in each contest is out of the game for good, while the top two remain.

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Couldn't that have stayed dead? I'd much rather have reward challenges than have to spend the first 15 minutes on this. Though, they did add a couple interesting twists:

Anyone voted out will be sent there and will then compete in a three person duel. The last place finisher in each contest is out of the game for good, while the top two remain. However, if someone's loved one is still in the game they can take their loved one's place before a duel.

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The person who finishes first in each duel will also get to give a clue to the location of a hidden immunity idol to any person from either tribe that they choose.

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I suppose that could create some strategic elements thatmightmake the Redemption Island challenges worth watching...

And, aside from changing the first 15 minutes of the episode, it really hasn't done much else. In every case, the person who returns from Redemption Island is almost immediately voted back out. In the first season, each person who came back from Redemption Island (Matt and Andrea) were voted out the very episode they returned. The second time they used it, Ozzy returned both times and only survived one Tribal Council each time. The impact it has on the actual gameplay is very slight, but the amount of time devoted to it is significant.

Granted, that might be a little different this time around due to the whole loved one angle, but it still isn't worth spending so much time with people who already got voted out, nor worth seeing people who couldn't "outlast" get back into the game. Not to mention how it changes the entire dynamic the Tribal Councils and makes them less suspenseful. If they're going to insist on having this failed idea, I wish they'd at least do what Top Chef does and have all the Redemption stuff exist as online content, separate from the game, until the player returns.