Can anyone else explain to me how the show can be 39 days long and have a survivor return People have already mentioned the idea of a challenge where the losers can be replaced. Here's a scenario:
Jiffy loves to tell us that fire is life. What if this year's fire building challenge includes all 16 survivors? It could be the ultimate merge twist. All 16 participate in the challenge, with the 10 who get their fires built and lit first getting to continue in the game, and the other 6 heading off to Loser Lodge. In this case, it would make perfect sense that Lil was able to play her way back into the game, and that more than one person could come back.
It could also help reconcile some of the spoilers that are out there. There's spoiler evidence that Shawn and Jon are the last 2 to fly out. Without players returning to the game, then that would have to mean they were two of the next three boots. We also have spoiler evidence that Ryan is a victim of the twist. OK, that would add up to three - the number of boots left before we get to the jury. But...we still have people for whom the spoiler evidence suggests a prejury boot.
4 of those 5 are from the tribe that has won every IC that they have tried to win, and the 5th is the strongest member from the other tribe. Even if there were enough time to boot all of these people prejury, it would suggest an IC run by Morgan, most likely without their strongest player. That just doesn't make sense.
But it would make sense to have Lil, Burton, and possibly Christa (should she be gone this week as some suggest) win their way back into the game, paving the way for Rupert, Jon, Ryan, and Shawn to head to LL. It would not be unreasonable for 3 of those 4 to lose a challenge like a fire build, where strength isn't an asset.
We really do have guidelines here. Believe it or not, the Guidelines make things more fun. Really.