Survivor: Blood vs. Water

Survivor: Blood vs Water is the 27th installment of Survivor. It features previous contestants competing against their loved ones.

Production
Jeff Probst stated during the Survivor: Caramoan reunion that he was leaving to film Survivor: Blood vs. Water on May 13, 2013. He stated a "game changing" twist would be involved. He then confirmed the season would begin airing on September 18, 2013, with a 90-minute premiere. Casting call was the same, and shortlist contestants included: contestant Ashley Underwood, who couldn't compete due to both her partner and her back-up partner being unable to play. Former  winner, Tom Westman, was asked but declined. Greg Buis from the original Survivor also declined the offer to appear again . Bobby Jon Drinkard from  and  participated in the casting, but was cut. Tom Buchanan and Lex van den Berghe, both from and, declined due the production of their new reality television program, Family Beef.

contestant R.C. Saint-Amour was originally slated to be on this season with her father, Craig. Upon arriving on location (24 hours before "Day Zero"), the older Saint-Amour's blood pressure sharply shot up, and was confined in a hospital in Makati City. They were replaced by Candice Woodcock-Cody and her husband. RC states that the theme of the season was initially "blood pairs vs. water pairs", but the production decided to change to "returnees vs. loved ones", when she and her father had to be replaced by Candice and John.

Twists

 * Returning Players: In mid-May 2013, it was revealed that this season would feature returning players.
 * Couples Format: Players will be paired with a competing family member or loved one on the cast. Every castaway will be playing individually, so they will remain in the game even if their family member is voted out. This season, the pairs will be comprised of returning players and their loved ones, where the returnees would be put in one tribe, while all of their loved ones would be put in another.
 * Day Zero: A day before the actual game starts, the 10 pairs will be sent out at sunset to 10 different locations to live by themselves for the night, under the notion that the pairs will be placed in the same tribe. They will then all meet up to be officially welcomed by host Jeff Probst and start the game the next morning.
 * First Impressions: Moments after meeting each other, each team will vote one member off their tribe. They will be sent to Redemption Island.
 * Redemption Island: 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 on Redemption Island they can take their loved one’s place before a duel.
 * Hidden Immunity Idol: 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.

Trivia

 * With the Day Zero twist, Blood vs. Water is the second longest season, following, which was filmed in 42 days instead of the standard 39.
 * The US Survivor franchise is the second version to adapt a couples format, following the Philippine version, which had pairs of celebrities, each with a pre-existing relationship.
 * Instead of revealing the location during the previous season's Reunion Show, Jeff showed a clue, which was a short clip of blood spreading in water. The second clue was the same as the first, only with the season logo shown for a split second afterwards.
 * This is the first time Survivor has filmed three consecutive seasons on the same country, with, and Blood vs Water all being shot in the Philippines.
 * This is the second season that is filmed in another location within a previous host country. and  were both filmed in Brazil, albeit in different locations; namely, Rio Negro and Rio Novo, respectively.
 * This is the ninth season to feature returning players.
 * This is the third season in a row to feature returning players. This is the longest consecutive streak of seasons with returning players.
 * This is also the third season in a row to feature returning players who were eliminated before the merge/jury phase.
 * This is the first time to have two back to back seasons with half the castaways being returning players.
 * It was revealed in Ashley Underwood's interview that all participants had a partner, and a back-up partner.
 * This is the first season to feature returning winners but not have four returning winners.
 * Other seasons to feature former winners are and  each had four previous winners competing.
 * This is also the first time that previous winners are competing in a season with new players.
 * This season marks the return of Redemption Island, which had been absent since.
 * This is also the first season to feature Redemption Island and female Returnees.
 * This is the first season to feature both Redemption Island and returning players but have more than 2 returning players.
 * This is also the first season to feature Redemption Island in a 20-castaway format.