Given his history with success with older women, I wouldn't be surprised if Malcolm seeks Dawn out for an alliance.

I can already see Francesca's eyes rolling every time Phillip speaks. I don't know if there's still bad blood between them, but if there is, expect them to gun for each other right at the first episode.

With this cast, I just can't imagine how Jeff could say S26 is going to be as good or better than this past season. Here's hoping the fans are good, and like FloPo mentioned, maybe Malcolm with team up with them and kick some butt!

I just can't imagine how Jeff could say S26 is going to be as good or better than this past season

Money.

OFG gave a great breakdown of how all these second-chancers blew it originally, so these are just my opinions of these returning "faves".

Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island) - Champion of Redemption Island, or at least the player who won her way back into the game at the end. Inoffensive returnee, I liked her the first time and thought she was one of those players who just never get her game going. Don't mind that she's back, would rather it was Stephanie though.

John Cochran (South Pacific) - Lovable underdog pre-merge, had no road to victory with his original tribe and made a power move at the merge, and then utterly failed to try to follow it up. Not looking forward to this at all.

Malcolm Freberg (Philippines) - Gold. Glad to see him back. Per his exit rounds we didn't get to see his snarky side in the Philippines, I wanna see his snarky side.

Brandon Hantz (South Pacific) - Never wanted to see him again.

Francesca Hogi (Redemption Island) - Likeable enough player who got caught inbetween an alliance-mate who threw her under the bus and an alliance-mate who threw her to the curb, and then she ended up being the first visitor to Redemption Island.

Corinne Kaplan (Gabon) - I'm assuming she's here because Randy already got his second chance.

Brenda Lowe (Nicaragua) - Yeah, Asian eye-candy. She does have personal magnetism but didn't really pay that much attention to the game.

Dawn Meehan (South Pacific) - I did like her, a sensible older player who had the misfortune of being on a tribe which would be ruled by the young and Ozzy-struck.

Erik Reichenback (Micronesia) - Likeable kid, by the time he won himself the crown of making the worst mistake ever it was obvious he wasn't going to win anyway, I've always suspected he just went with it to be memorable.

Phillip Shepard (Redemption Island) - No thanks, never wanted to see him again. He started the game with no clue what the game was about and managed to finish it the same way.

John Cochran (South Pacific) - Lovable underdog pre-merge, had no road to victory with his original tribe and made a power move at the merge, and then utterly failed to try to follow it up. Not looking forward to this at all.

Wow, this is really a contrasting viewpoint of Cochran, at least from mine. Maybe that is why they brought him back?

Loveable underdog: See, I didn't see one thing that made him a loveable underdog...I saw that CBS and Jiffy kept forcing him upon us, and I found him extremely un-loveable. I didn't see anything redeeming about him either.

"Had no road to victory with his original tribe". Totally disagree with this. At first it seemed as though he had no road to victory. But, he was in a tribe with multiple alphas, and if he had played his cards right, he could have made it...perhaps. And, as I recall, Dawn was his ally, and he even got Jim on board with him. And, by the end, he had Ozzy giving him the HII. So, I saw someone that was on the sure road to end game had he remained loyal.

I saw that he was the one that deemed his tribe unworthy and flipped from a tribe where he could have possibly outlasted. He flipped to a tribe where he was on the bottom.

Regardless, he's a very controversial character that I think we can all agree got far too much attention from everyone involved on the show. I really didn't like his sad sack story, and in the end felt that he was more a villain than anyone in his tribe was. Just saying.

LAST EDITED ON 12-26-12 AT 01:33 PM (EST)

I see Cochran the same way as Dabo does, except I'm looking forward to seeing if he learned anything at all or if he will play the same way. I think he's smart enough to change his gameplay.

Not a real fan of Cochran either but he really didn't have a chance with Ozzy et al because he was constantly undermined and belittled, he had nothing to gain by sticking it out with his original tribe as he would just have been taken for a ride and then discarded. Jim only saw Cochran as a pawn and was harsh to him. Cochran needed to make a power move to show he was deserving of votes if he got to the end, and the intent was good but execution was poor. That's why I'm intrigued to see if he learned anything as I will always respect someone for trying to make a move instead of just riding along with the majority. Andrea, for example, tried to make a move and fought hard to stay in the game while Ashley and Natalie just sat around all day picking at armpit hair, so I'm happy to see someone like her make it as a returning player over a sheep.

Eta: wouldn't have minded seeing Jim Rice again, either, but Cochran fit the second chances motif better.

>Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island) - Champion
>of Redemption Island, or at
>least the player who won
>her way back into the
>game at the end.
>Inoffensive returnee, I liked her
>the first time and thought
>she was one of those
>players who just never get
>her game going. Don't
>mind that she's back, would
>rather it was Stephanie though.

Totally agree, especially about casting Stephanie in her place.

>John Cochran (South Pacific) - Lovable
>underdog pre-merge, had no road
>to victory with his original
>tribe and made a power
>move at the merge, and
>then utterly failed to try
>to follow it up.
>Not looking forward to this
>at all.

Lovable is much too strong a term but he had this "abandoned puppy" story that got way too much inportance. He thought he was good at this game but failed the first time. It happens so let's see if he learned something. In the same category, I'd have chosen Spencer though.

>Malcolm Freberg (Philippines) - Gold.
>Glad to see him back.
> Per his exit rounds
>we didn't get to see
>his snarky side in the
>Philippines, I wanna see his
>snarky side.

>Brandon Hantz (South Pacific) - Never
>wanted to see him again.

Totally agree on both.
When will CBS realize that the Hantz clan is pestilence? Only if we ignore them so this is the last I'll say on the nephew.

>Francesca Hogi (Redemption Island) - Likeable
>enough player who got caught
>inbetween an alliance-mate who threw
>her under the bus and
>an alliance-mate who threw her
>to the curb, and then
>she ended up being the
>first visitor to Redemption Island.

First boot...A wasted spot. So many better choices could have been made here.

>Corinne Kaplan (Gabon) - I'm assuming
>she's here because Randy already
>got his second chance.

An Insider clip showed Corinne saying that the Marcus-Jacquie connection would be dangerous so she did have some game. I'd like to see her play in a season when the main theme wasn't to turn Sugar into a sweetheart.

>Brenda Lowe (Nicaragua) - Yeah, Asian
>eye-candy. She does have
>personal magnetism but didn't really
>pay that much attention to
>the game.

I can't agree here. She got the boot because she tried to turn the tables on Sash and misread Na'Onka. Who knew that Na'Onka was on a suicide mission that would destroy the season at the same time?

>Dawn Meehan (South Pacific) - I
>did like her, a sensible
>older player who had the
>misfortune of being on a
>tribe which would be ruled
>by the young and Ozzy-struck.

I'm ok with seeing her back but Peih Gee and Tracy would have been slightly better choices.

>Erik Reichenback (Micronesia) - Likeable kid,
>by the time he won
>himself the crown of making
>the worst mistake ever it
>was obvious he wasn't going
>to win anyway, I've always
>suspected he just went with
>it to be memorable.

The best choice of all, I think. There was something wrong with that kid but he was fun.

>Phillip Shepard (Redemption Island) - No
>thanks, never wanted to see
>him again. He started
>the game with no clue
>what the game was about
>and managed to finish it
>the same way.

Well, we knew he'd be back so let's hope he learned something...besides redeeming his edit.

Ils sont fous, ces Romains!

A lot of people would be happier if he'd just learned to change his underwear.

Of course he's changed underwear: The old ones were sold on eBay...

These people, with the exception of Malcolm are clearly NOT favorites!

A favorite would be Rupert or Ozzy or Boston Rob. Even Rob Cesternino and Stephen Fishbach. I don't know if I will be able to watch the likes of Cockroach, Francesca, Corrine and Brandon Hantz again - what losers! Malcolm's only salvation will be that he is a Fan of the show and will know these characters from past seasons, and possibly, they will NOT know who he is.

Not looking forward to the casting blunder of S26. Sometimes I think EpMB throws this crap at us to make us want to say goodbye to Survivor for good!

Like I said, they weren't originally picked as favorites. It was a second chance edition. I think it may have been all second chancers, and then stuff happened so they added newbies.

I suppose it is hard to make something catchy out of Newbies vs. Obnoxious Screw-ups plus Malcolm -- so it was the lazy way out to make it fans vs. faves v. 2.

There is no way to explain this casting as a true F v F season, and there's no real justification for it at all.

I think they have been saving the real favorites for a true All Stars at maybe S30 and then be done, but who knows if they'll survive that long after this. Jeff is still asking for applications, but I wonder ... by now there should be strong rumors about the next location, as it's only 2-3 months away from filming.

This is an interesting returning cast. I can not say any of them would be one of my favorites. I can say I like a few and dislike a few. Even though I always say I do not never want to see one player or another it is fun to have someone to root against. For me this will be Philip and Brandon. I have a few I like which I will be rooting for. These are Andrea, Malcolm, Dawn, Eric and maybe Brenda.
I am not crazy about this returning cast I would have much rather had Troyzan. Something tells me I will be rooting for the fans this season. We will have to wait and see.

LAST EDITED ON 01-02-13 AT 11:06 PM (EST)

"Make other plans for Wednesday evenings" - check.

Yeah, like... they should have called it "Fans vs. Villains" or something. And not even the awesome villains! (Fans v. Not-very-bright-villains?)

Swap Malcolm for Colton, Andrea for Abi-Maria, and Dawn with... someone.

Voila.

I know that Andrea Boehlke, Malcolm Freberg, Francesca Hogi, Brenda Lowe, Dawn Meehan are the favorites of many viewers.

I also know that Phillip Shepard, John Cochran, Brandon Hantz are Probst's favorites.

That's all they really need to call them Favorites.

On my part, they were mostly boring even if Andrea and Brenda were good looking.

The two I am moderately happy to see again are Erik and Corinne. They weren't boring but I never expected to see either again.

Brandon Hantz is a damn wackjob and I'd a hell of a lot rather seen RussHell for a 4th time than Brandon for a 2nd. After Willie going psycho on Big Brother I think JiffyProbe's chances of getting any more Hantzes on Survivor after they get done with S26 are pretty much shot to hell.

Just got a tweet from TDT saying that the cast is being announced tomorrow. Seems rather unusual to have it on a Friday...

Either they're hoping most people will miss seeing the weaklings being used to give this season's Creator's Pet an easy road to the win, or this group is so horrible that they're hoping it'll get lost in the football previews.

...maybe that's more of an and than an or.

It's your fault that we will have to listen to BH's confessionals again. You said the H word.

I'm going to assume that this cast of fans is about average...a solid C. Like the cast of Redemption Island.

Based on that, let's see how this class of alleged Favorites goes.

Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island) - I'm not entirely sure what exactly she succeeded at besides snuggling up to Captain Clueless and being voted out twice. But she did make Top 6. C+

John Cochran (South Pacific) - The nerd screwed up the season. Let's see if he learned from his mistakes. A-

Malcolm Freberg (Philippines) - Almost a solid contributor - but serious flaws in his game. Like Ozzy but more humble. A-

Brandon Hantz (South Pacific) - Every time CBS cast a Hantz, it got worse. From Russell I (awesome) to Russell II (still pretty good) to Russell III (a dud with no chance) to born-again Hantz (did one thing right and acted like a dope the rest of the time) to he-who-shall-not-be-named (a dud who flushed his chance down the toilet.) Guessing this one will be even worse. F

Francesca Hogi (Redemption Island) - She got voted out first. That's all I need to know. D

Corinne Kaplan (Gabon) - The Queen of Mean. Of needless mean. Of obnoxious, venomous, total-lack-of-strategy mean. D-

Brenda Lowe (Nicaragua) - Fell apart by trusting a loose cannon. Stuck on a tribe with several. C-

Dawn Meehan (South Pacific) - Tough, but doomed. A lot of potential. Won't get it done on her own. B+

Erik Reichenback (Micronesia) - Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. Bonus for irony. Negatives for being an idiot. B-

Phillip Shepard (Redemption Island) - Biggest accomplishments on the island: Pink underwear. Making up words. Mispronouncing names. Bragging about his past in a non-specific way. Dropping the N-word. Getting Ralph to vote for him. D

Average grade: C. I might stick out this season after all.

I just found out (EW) that Shambo and Matt (RI) were asked to be in this case. Both declined.