Returning Players

Returning Players
Survivor Gameplay
Description	Former castaways compete for another shot at winning the title of Sole Survivor.
Appearances	All-Stars Guatemala Micronesia Heroes vs. Villains Redemption Island South Pacific Philippines Caramoan Blood vs. Water Cambodia Game Changers Edge of Extinction Winners at War Survivor 45 In the Hands of the Fans

Returning Player seasons offer the opportunity to former contestants to play the game of Survivor again.

Origins

The idea of former players returning originally occurred in Survivor: All-Stars. Executive Producer Mark Burnett wanted to showcase "the best of the best" after the ratings increase of Survivor: Pearl Islands. During pre-production for All-Stars, Burnett wrote down the series' most likable, villainous, and memorable players on a legal pad and shortlisted eighteen names within minutes.

All-Stars

"All-Stars" seasons feature casts comprised entirely of returning players. The eponymous season, All-Stars, saw 18 returnees divided into three competing tribes.

The All-Stars twist was revived for the ten-year anniversary season, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. This season divided the returnees based on their heroic or villainous reputations.

Survivor: Cambodia featured a "Second Chance" theme, consisting of contestants who played only once and lost; and its cast was entirely chosen by viewers through an online poll.

Survivor: Game Changers featured former contestants who contributed to the evolution of Survivor strategy and gameplay.

Survivor: Winners at War, the twenty-year anniversary season, consisted of former Sole Survivors returning to try and win for their second (or third) time.

Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans is set to feature another All-Star cast, spanning all eras to celebrate 50 seasons and over 25 years on air.

Fans vs. Favorites

Although initially intending to produce a second all-stars season, Burnett pushed for Survivor to experiment with different twists in their 16th season. The result was the "Fans vs. Favorites" twist that saw a tribe of ten returning players pitted against a tribe of ten "superfans". Survivor: Micronesia and Survivor: Caramoan both utilized this format.

One Returnee per Tribe

Also informally known as the "Captains" format, this format features two to three former castaways, each being assigned to a tribe of new players. Survivor: Guatemala, Survivor: Redemption Island, Survivor: South Pacific, and Survivor: Philippines followed this format.

Survivor: Edge of Extinction expanded on this format, bringing back four former castaways and assigning two to each tribe of new players. Meanwhile, Survivor 45 went in the opposite direction, giving one former castaway a second chance after being medically evacuated on the very first day of Survivor 44, where he was the only returning player on the entire cast, and by extension his tribe as well.

Blood vs. Water

Another type of "Returnees vs. New Players" format is the couples format, where returnees would compete against people they personally know. It was first used in Survivor: Blood vs. Water, where ten returning castaways would compete against their loved ones, similar to the "Fans vs. Favorites" format. However, each castaway would compete individually, so a castaway would still be in the game even after their partner was voted out. The twist would play its part when a castaway could opt to replace their partner on Redemption Island before a duel took place, thus allowing their partner to take their place on their tribe. While the Blood vs. Water twist would return in Survivor: San Juan del Sur, it was done with all new players and no Redemption Island.

Returning Players by Season

Season	Returned from Season	Season	Returned from Season
			None
	None		None
	None		None
	None
	None		None
	None		Current season

"Imported" Castaways

The Australian series began the practice of bringing former contestants from other countries, particularly those who debuted in the American version. This was used to the fullest extent in Survivor: Australia v The World where former contestants from the Australian version were pitted against players from the American, Finnish, French-Canadian, New Zealand, and South African versions.

Thus far, five American castaways have been imported into the Australian franchise, namely Russell Hantz, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Cirie Fields, Parvati Shallow, and Tony Vlachos.

List of Returning Players from Foreign Versions

For lists of returning players from respective international franchises, refer to the following articles:

• Returning Players/Australian Survivor
• Returning Players/Expedition Robinson
• Returning Players/Koh-Lanta
• Returning Players/La Isla: El Reality
• Returning Players/Survivor México
• Returning Players/Survivor South Africa

Trivia

• Of the 104 returnees, 74 have competed twice, 23 have competed three times, 6 have competed four times, and 1 has competed five times.
• Rob Mariano is the first castaway to return for both a fourth and fifth season.
• Jenna Morasca, Michael Skupin, Colton Cumbie, and Michele Fitzgerald are the only returning players to never be voted out.
  • Out of these four, Michele is the only one to have reached the Final Tribal Council every time she competed.
    • Natalie Anderson has also reached the Final Tribal Council in all her appearances, but was voted out and re-entered the game on Winners at War.
  • Conversely, Colton is the the only one of these four to never reach the Final Tribal Council in any season he competed in.
  • Amanda Kimmel, Russell Hantz, and Sandra Diaz-Twine each played their first two seasons without being voted out, but were each voted out in their third season.
• Kelley Wentworth is the only returning player to celebrate her birthday each time she competes.
• Amber Mariano and Ethan Zohn currently hold the record for the longest period between appearances on Survivor, with 32 seasons.
  • In addition, Amber holds the record for the longest period between their original and most recent appearance, with 38 seasons.
• Caleb Reynolds and Bruce Perreault are the only players who attended their first Tribal Council on their second seasons, as they did not attend Tribal Council at all in their first seasons prior to them being medically evacuated.
  • In addition, Bruce is the only castaway to be the sole returning player of a season.

Seasons and Twists

• Heroes vs. Villains currently has the most castaways return in future seasons, with ten.
• The Australian Outback has the most first-time castaways return in future seasons, with eight.
  • The Australian Outback has also introduced the highest number of eventual three-time players, with five.
• Contestants from The Australian Outback and contestants from Heroes vs. Villains have returned a combined thirteen times for subsequent seasons, the most among contestants from other seasons.
• The Australian Outback and Pearl Islands have both been represented in every all-returnee season.
• Three seasons have had their final four return in future seasons: Borneo, Panama, and Cagayan.
• All four returning players from Tocantins (J.T. Thomas, Stephen Fishbach, Coach Wade, and Tyson Apostol) have reached the Final Tribal Council on one of their Survivor appearances.
• All four returning players from Millennials vs. Gen X (Adam Klein, David Wright, Zeke Smith, and Michaela Bradshaw) have been on an auxiliary tribe on one of their Survivor appearances.
• Throughout his Survivor career, Ozzy Lusth is the only person to compete in all four different types of seasons: an all-new players season, a season consisting of half new players and half returnees, a one or two returnee per tribe season, and an all-returnees season. Ozzy has also been to both Exile Island and Redemption Island.
  • Aras Baskauskas and Candice Cody are the only other contestants who have been to both islands.
  • Of the three, Ozzy is the only person to return from Redemption Island (doing it twice in South Pacific).
  • Tyson Apostol is the only castaway to have played in seasons featuring Exile Island, Redemption Island, and the Edge of Extinction, but has only spent time on the Edge of Extinction.
• Stephenie LaGrossa is the only female contestant to be a returnee in a season with one returnee per tribe.
• Every season prior to Edge of Extinction has produced at least one returning player.
  • However, no players who debuted in Caramoan have returned. The only returnees from this season, Andrea Boehlke and Malcolm Freberg, were on it as returnees themselves.
• In all three seasons that had a tribe of returning players against a tribe of new players:
  • A Tribe Switch occurred, creating tribes with both new and returning players.
  • Post-switch, the tribe originally consisting of new players won every Immunity Challenge.
  • The Sole Survivor and at least one runner-up were returning players, and no new players received votes from the jury.
• In every all-returnee season with at least one previous winner, a winner was the fifth person eliminated: Richard Hatch in All-Stars, Tom Westman in Heroes vs. Villains, J.T. Thomas in Game Changers, and Tyson Apostol in Winners at War.
• Among the nine seasons that featured a mix of new and returning players, Edge of Extinction and Survivor 45 are the only seasons where all the returning players were voted out before the Final Tribal Council.
  • Due to the Edge of Extinction twist that allowed players to stay in the game after being voted out in Edge of Extinction, Survivor 45 is the first season with mixed players to not feature at least one returning player still in contention in the season's finale episode.
• Andrea Boehlke has received more votes over her Survivor career than any other returning player, with 36 total votes.
• Cirie Fields, Aubry Bracco, Rob Mariano, and Parvati Shallow are the only contestants to make it to the finale episode of a season on three separate occasions. It should be noted, though, that none of them have competed in an Immunity Challenge in all three of their finales; Cirie lost the fire-making challenge which opened the finale of Panama, and the other three were on the Edge of Extinction and, each having lost their respective re-entry duels, failed to return to the game.