"Survivor: Worlds Apart" (CBS)
NOTE: XFINITY.com is the place to be for all of your “Survivor: Worlds Apart” scoop! I delved deep into the Nicaraguan wilderness on a mission to bring you all kinds of stuff including behind-the-scenes tidbits, pre-game interviews with the cast, insights from “Survivor” host Jeff Probst and Challenge Producer John Kirhoffer, a look at the first Tribal Council, and much more. I’ll be cranking out this goodness daily in the weeks leading up to the premiere, so be sure to follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for up-to-the-minute updates on all of this season’s “Survivor” fun.
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It’s hard to believe, but tonight is the premiere of the 30th season of one of the most popular and influential reality shows of all time. I’ve been providing “Survivor” coverage for XFINITY since season seventeen (“Survivor: Gabon”) and have never felt the need to write an article like this before. That should tell you how impressed I was during the first three days of filming.
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Best Original Cast Ever? “We have, maybe the best collection of combined smarts and game savvy that we’ve ever had.” – Jeff Probst Jeff and I don’t agree on everything, but I’d like to second that quote. As I sat to figure out the order to present my pregame interviews, I knew I wanted Shirin first and Max last. From there, I figured I’d alternate between the more interesting and least interesting interviews. But, as I started transcribing, I realized that the dull interviews were few and far between. |
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The First Challenge Will Have You Talking As a way to show how the different Collars think, the first challenge was designed with several different choices. Will they unlock or untie the ladder? Which puzzle should they choose? This opens it up to a wide variety of strategies that you’re sure to be debating with your “Survivor” friends the next morning. |
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The Game Is Afoot During my “Survivor” visits, we spend about an hour at each of the tribe camps. Of the eleven camp visits I’d done before “Worlds Apart,” only one of those resulted in seeing tribe members actually engaging in strategy conversations. (I watched “Coach” Wade and Sophie Clarke plotting their moves in “South Pacific.”) But this time? All three of the tribes were already heavily playing the game. |
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Water Challenges Are Back Nicaragua is kind of awesome. The people are wonderful, it’s only a three-hour flight from the United States, and there’s delicious Tona beer. However, the surf tends to be too rough for Challenge Producer John Kirhoffer and his crew to host water challenges. They tried to work around this in “Survivor: Nicaragua” and “Survivor: Redemption Island” with a weird pool, but it just wasn’t the same. I’m happy to report that a pleasant little cove has been located that is perfect for their needs. |
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The First Tribal Is a Doozy You only see five minutes of Tribal during an episode of “Survivor,” but the whole process usually takes about two hours. I’d seen five Tribals in person before “Worlds Apart,” and they were all pretty tame affairs where the person being sent home was never in doubt. That is not the case this time around. I’m not sure what they’ll show tonight, but if they ever decide to use a full Tribal as a DVD extra, this would be a good one to start with. |
Don’t miss the 90-minute premiere of “Survivor: Worlds Apart” on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 8 pm ET on CBS.
Tags: jeff probst, survivor, survivor worlds apart
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