Returning Players

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Returning Players
Survivor Gameplay
Description	A twist that former players are brought back to the game for another chance against new players or other returning players.
Appearances	All-Stars Guatemala Micronesia Heroes vs. Villains Redemption Island South Pacific Philippines Caramoan

Returning Players in Survivor offer the opportunity for former contestants who have won or been voted out to return for another shot to become the Sole Survivor.

Origins

The idea for former players to return 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 a matter of minutes.

History

All-Star Seasons

Although proving to be a success for fans of the show, some critics argued that the survival aspect had been completely removed in favor of strategy and exuberant challenges. Fans also responded negatively to players who returned that had no plausible reason, and that they were merely reservists (most notably, Amber Brkich who had been a backup to Elisabeth Filarski and Colleen Haskell)

Fans of the show overall enjoyed and accepted the plausibility of "returnees" as long as there was a justification for them to return, something that would be later questioned in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains with Candice Woodcock.

Versus New Players

It appeared that later on in the series' run that the more popular a contestant was with the audience (regardless of placement) there would be a higher probability in returning for a second shot. During the events of Survivor: Guatemala, two former castaways from Survivor: Palau, Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephenie LaGrossa joined to tribes of new contestants for a shot at redemption after being members of the infamous Ulong tribe.

With Survivor experimenting with different twists, the Production team opted to have ten well-known players go against "die-hard" fans of the show which would produce Survivor: Micronesia and become one of the series' most popular installments. Survivor: Caramoan would later adopt the same format.

During Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: South Pacific, returnees were once again brought in as unofficial leaders of their tribes in the advent of the Redemption Island twist. The reasons differed from previous justifications of former survivors; Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz were brought back to settle their rivalry from Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, whilst Coach Wade and Ozzy Lusth were brought back to improve on their weak social games.

Survivor: Philippines introduced three previous contestants, Russell Swan, Michael Skupin and Jonathan Penner, all of whom were evacuated due to medical reasons. They joined three tribes of five.

Success in the Game

It should be noted that during every season thus far that has featured returning players, at least one has made it to the Final Two/Three in every season. These players include Rob Mariano (All-Stars and Redemption Island), Amber Brkich (All-Stars), Stephenie LaGrossa (Guatemala), Amanda Kimmel (Micronesia), Parvati Shallow (Micronesia and Heroes vs. Villains), Russell Hantz (Heroes vs. Villains), Sandra Diaz-Twine (Heroes vs. Villains), Coach Wade (South Pacific), and Michael Skupin (Philippines).

Reception

Fan reception has evolved from universal acclaim, to mixed, to negative over the series' run.

Returning Players by Season

Season		Returned to Future Season	Season		Returned to Future Season
		File:S1 richard t.jpgFile:S1 rudy t.jpg File:S1 susan t.jpgFile:S1 jenna t.jpg			File:S2 tina t.jpgFile:S2 colby t.jpgFile:S2 amber t.jpg File:S2 jerri t.jpgFile:S2 alicia t.jpgFile:S2 michael t.jpg
File:Africa.png		File:S3 ethan t.jpgFile:S3 lex t.jpg File:S3 tom t.jpg	File:Marquesas.png		File:S4 kathy t.jpgFile:S4 rob t.jpg
File:Thailand.png		File:S5 shiiann t.jpg	File:Amazon.png		File:S6 jenna t.jpgFile:S6 rob t.jpg
File:Pearl Islands.png		File:S7 sandra t.jpgFile:S7 jon t.jpg File:S7 rupert t.jpg	File:All-Stars.png		File:S8 robm t.jpgFile:S8 rupert t.jpg File:S8 jerri t.jpgFile:S8 colby t.jpg
File:Vanuatu.png		File:S9 eliza t.jpgFile:S9 ami t.jpg	File:Palau.png		File:S10 tom t.jpgFile:S10 stephenie t.jpg File:S10 bobbyjon t.jpg
File:Guatemala.png		File:S11 stephenie t.jpg			File:S12 danielle t.jpgFile:S12 cirie t.jpg
File:Cook Islands.png		File:S13 ozzy t.jpgFile:S13 parvati t.jpg File:S13 jonathan t.jpgFile:S13 candice t.jpg			File:S14 yauman t.jpg
		File:S15 courtney t.jpgFile:S15 amanda t.jpg File:S15 james t.jpg			File:S16 parvati t.jpgFile:S16 amanda t.jpgFile:S16 cirie t.jpg File:S16 erik t.jpgFile:S16 james t.jpgFile:S16 ozzy t.jpg File:S16 jonathan t.jpg
		File:S17 sugar t.jpgFile:S17 corinne t.jpg File:S17 randy t.jpg			File:S18 jt t.jpgFile:S18 coach t.jpg File:S18 tyson t.jpg
File:Samoa.png		File:S19 russellh t.jpgFile:S19 russells t.jpg			File:S20 russell t.jpgFile:S20 coach t.jpg File:S20 rob t.jpg
		File:S21 brenda t.jpg			File:S22 phillip t.jpgFile:S22 andrea t.jpg File:S22 francesca t.jpg
File:Survivor south pacific logo.jpeg		File:S23 brandon t.jpgFile:S23 cochran t.jpg File:S23 dawn t.jpg			None
		File:S25 malcolm t.jpg			None

Trivia

• Survivor: Micronesia currently has the most returning players out of all seasons, with 7.
• As of Survivor: Caramoan, Survivor: One World is the only season that has no players returning in another season.
• Coincidentally, all 3 returning Asian-American contestants are currently the only representatives of their season.