The premiere of the nineteenth season of CBS’s wildly popular reality series Survivor features a super-sized cast of twenty players, tribal chiefs, two epic challenges, and of course, a game-ending Tribal Council for one of the new players. Here’s a preview of what to expect:
NOTE: ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS
Two Chiefs
According to a CBS press release, “[f]rom the start of the game, Survivor embraces … Samoan culture by incorporating an ancient tradition of electing an individual leader of the village. Without speaking, both tribes must immediately choose one member of their group to become their sole decision maker, their chief.” A CBS promo aired on Monday, August 24, 2009 shows Mick Trimming from the Foa Foa tribe and Russell Swan from the Galu tribe wearing the chief necklaces. It’s currently unknown exactly what role these chiefs will play or if they’ll be immune from the first Tribal Council, but based on past seasons, it is likely that whichever chief ends up at Tribal Council will be safe.
Reward Challenge
In addition to choosing a chief, each tribe must also immediately select four members to compete in a Reward Challenge involving a swimming leg, a balance beam, and a puzzle component. The four castaways that each tribe selects are their most agile, their best swimmer, their strongest member, and their smartest member. For the Foa Foa tribe, Marisa Calihan, Jaison Robinson, and Russell Hantz participate in the physical portion of the challenge, while Elizabeth Kim puts together a puzzle. For the Galu tribe, Yasmin Giles, John Fincher, and Erik Cardona participate in the physical portion, while Shannon Waters’ role is to solve the puzzle. The other six members of each tribe don’t participate at all, highlighting the importance of making the right decisions of which castaways should compete.
As described by True Dork Times, evidence suggests that the Foa Foa tribe wins this challenge. It has yet to be announced what the Reward is, but the strongest possibilities include flint and/or additional food items such as rice, beans, or corn. Since Foa Foa is seen with fire in camp, flint is most likely part of the Reward.
Immunity Challenge
Called “Yank Your Hank,” the first Immunity Challenge of Survivor: Samoa is broken down into three legs. In the first leg, six tribe members will carry ropes over three increasingly steep wooden barriers. The second leg involves pulling a heavy crate up onto the final platform, where the four remaining tribe members are waiting. Those four will then disassemble the crate and use the planks to solve a puzzle. The first tribe to correctly solve the puzzle wins Immunity and is safe for another three days.
Based on the footage shown, it appears that the challenge will be a very close battle between the tribes and either one could pull out the victory.
Hidden Immunity Idols
While there will be no Exile Island this season, the hidden Immunity Idols will once again return. It’s unclear whether or not they’ll make an appearance in Episode 1, but according to the TV Guide Channel’s Survivor: Samoa Preview, there will be one idol hidden at each tribe’s camp. However, the twist is that Galu members will receive clues for the idol at Foa Foa’s camp and vice versa. Therefore, castaways will have to be kidnapped by the opposing tribe in order to have a chance to look for the idol.
Tribal Council
As always, Tribal Council will be a place to be feared by the castaways. This season’s design is based around a traditional Samoan meeting place for chiefs and features dozens of local carvings. The Tribal Council also sports a thatched roof and contains lots of drums, traditional Samoan mats, and a voting pen based on a chief staff.
Who will be the first castaway to have his/her torch snuffed at this season’s Tribal Council? Tune in to find out.
UPDATE (9/17/09): To find out who the first castaway voted out was, and get a full recap of the first episode, click here.
When to Watch
Survivor: Samoa will premiere Thursday, September 17 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS. For more information on the 20 new castaways, see the show’s official Web site at CBS.com.
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