I’m normally against a few castaways returning (especially since we’ll probably have an all-stars for season 40), but David and Aubrey are two of my favorites, so I’ll suck it up. I don’t remember Joe or Kelley at all.
I think last season proved that regardless of what the premise is, the quality of the season ultimately comes down to the quality of the castaways. I’ve heard rumors about what the twist is, but nothing specific, so please no spoilers on it.
I might be wrong (just read the same rumors I believe, nothing 100% sure) but the description you posted basically explains it.
I’m fully prepared for the Edge of Extinction island to make this a really stupid season, but maybe that way I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I fully expect Extinction Island to be pointless and irrelevant. I don’t tune in for the goofy gimmicks, though, so no harm no foul for me.
Joe was essentially the next Malcolm, if you remember Malcolm. (Googling both, Malcolm’s back-to-back seasons were 25 and 26, Joe’s were 30 and 31.)
IIRC, Joe was bigger than Malcolm. Taller and heftier.
He was dominating challenges in his 2nd season, until he passed out on a balance challenge. Jeff was talking about balls and poles during the challenge.
On the same season, Kelly Wentworth played a HII when she had nine votes against her. Sneaky Sneaky. Andrew Savage went home.
Decent opening episode. Too bad we didn’t get an hour and a half like last season, that was a really good opener. Too soon to say who I like the chances of out of the non-returnees… maybe Rick?
I felt bad for Reem at first - it’s no fun getting on the island and immediately becoming an outcast and being targeted - but man did she do a bad job of playing the game. Instead of figuring out a way to flip the votes or even just apologizing she just kept doubling down on being upset.
The ending was nice and creepy, though I think it would’ve worked better if they hadn’t explained it at all at the start of the episode.
Will be curious to see how many people end up voluntarily quitting… I’m thinking in the 2-4 range, I can’t see many people giving up. But it’s also hard to say without knowing exactly what supplies they’ll get … obviously if they don’t give them food people may end up quitting, or be forced to from starvation and getting medically evacuated.
It seemed like a textbook tutorial on how NOT to play the game…
I’m wondering if it’s going to be one person at a time, or if we’ll end up with a dozen people there. Frankly, if it’s just one person, being the first person out would be my dream. A chance to be in a survival situation, that I can leave at any time, and I don’t have to deal with any other people? Sign me up.
I don’t know anyone’s names yet, and I won’t for another few episodes (I wasn’t sure which one was Wendy and which one was Reem until tribal). The only standout to me so far was the news anchor guy.
Not mentioned: I really like the secret advantage found on the boat. Give someone a choice of options and having a limited time to use it is a lot more interesting that a boring HII. The “steal a reward” is the most interesting. Do you use it get some brownie points with your tribe, at the expense of pissing off a bunch of people you may soon find yourself sharing a tribe with?
Yeah, I liked that too. He seems to be in a good position so I assume he just ends up stealing a reward. It’s entirely possible he never gets a chance to use it though (if he’s not in danger at tribal, but his tribe also doesn’t lose a reward).
Apparently this was left on the cutting room floor. Maybe it is in a secret scene.
So is Edge of Extinction just going to be another Exile Island? Secret from the rest of the players, and they’ll unexpectedly just drop one of the voted off back into the tribe post-merge?
I’m guessing kind of yes. My guess is that roughly 6-8 people will gather there and then compete for one shot to get back in.
I hope we don’t cut to it too often in the episodes leading up to the “return moment”. I hated exile island because it took time from a 42 minute show.
Actually, I was thinking of Redemption Island, not Exile. Exile was where someone from the tribe who lost the reward challenge got sent to Exile island, but was guaranteed to return. Redemption was where whoever was voted off at Tribal went to an island, had a competition with the current resident of Redemption, and after a bunch of those the last man standing returned to the game.
Originally Posted by magnusblitz
Decent opening episode. Too bad we didn’t get an hour and a half like last season, that was a really good opener. Too soon to say who I like the chances of out of the non-returnees… maybe Rick?
I felt bad for Reem at first …but man did she do a bad job of playing the game. Instead of figuring out a way to flip the votes or even just apologizing she just kept doubling down on being upset.
In a game with Hidden Immunity Idols and Secret Advantages, moving everybody’s stuff is a very bad idea, even on the first day. Only reason to touch anyone’s stuff is to save it from fire or maybe high winds. Or to find their Idol or Advantage 
Although that wasn’t a secret either. The only one where people secretly returned was Pearl Islands, and I don’t think there was a special name for where they went. The audience didn’t even know it was going to happen.
Right, so my question is will Extinction just be a secret Redemption, or a secret Redemption where all the losers congregate and have one big challenge for one person to get back in the game, or something completely different?
In the opening sequence, while still on the boat, our new cast spotted Kelly and recognized her from 100 yards away, and got all starstruck? Seriously? If I was in an elevator with her I’d have no idea who she was, even with the aid of Wikipedia. I suppose it’s possible that Survivor fans/players are operating on a whole different plane…
It’s worse than that though. Reem claimed she’s been watching since day 1, but she didn’t realize (a) don’t interrupt people at TC, especially to challenge their points, (b) be nothing but apologetic when told what you did wrong, (c) if you think you’re going to be voted out, find out who else is vulnerable and vote for them, don’t do a throwaway vote for someone safe. Because if she had voted for Wendy instead of Kelly, she would have forced a tie instead of losing.
But Reem strikes me as the type of person who thinks it’s always better to seek forgiveness instead of permission. Who’ll always “help” out whether you want them to or not, or whether it’s appropriate or not, then go with the whole “Fine! Forget it! I’m just trying to be helpful” when you as them to stop.
Well yeah, a lot of new players are superfans. And even those who aren’t will watch past seasons to get tips how to play the game.
And if you’re on a boat with 14 players, which is too few, and another boat comes cruising towards you with 4 people in it, it’s a pretty reasonable assumption that they’re also players, and possibly/probably returnees, since they almost always introduce the returnees to the new players as a group in the opening sequence. So it’s not that they would have recognized Kelly in an elevator, it’s that they assumed there were returnees in the boat, and Kelly was recognizable as a returnee to fans.
I’ve noticed that’s been a big change recently. It seems like for a while, a big chunk of the cast would be aspiring actors who had never seen the show before.