'Survivor' fans to pick among 32 candidates for Season 31's "Second Chance" 20-person cast

Survivor's next cast of all returnees will be chosen entirely by its fans.


CBS has announced that in a Survivor first, fans will be deciding which 20 castaways -- 10 males and 10 females -- will be competing on the 31st edition of the series dubbed "Second Chance" this fall.

Fans will be able to vote among 32 candidates -- 16 men and 16 women from Season 1 through Season 30 -- beginning May 6 through Wednesday, May 20 at 9PM ET/PT. Voting has opened on cbs.com/survivorsecondchance, where personal videos of each former castaway can be found explaining why he or she deserves to play the game again and potentially receive redemption.

The castaways up for review, however, are not all-stars despite having memorable storylines. None of them have ever taken home the $1 million prize, and a lot of them never even made it on the jury post-merge. The list of possibilities include a wide range of well-known heroes, villains, underdogs, and wild cards.

Survivor host Jeff Probst will reveal the voting results during Survivor: Worlds Apart's finale. During Season 30's live reunion show on Wednesday, May 20 from 10-11PM ET/PT, the 32 people will be sitting in the audience with their suitcases ready to go. The live reveal will end with the chosen castaways leaving the studio, boarding a bus and heading out to start filming.


"The idea of a 'Second Chance' season started brewing during our first season, the moment Kelly Wiglesworth lost to Richard Hatch, in the summer of 2000," Probst said in a CBS statement. "Since their respective seasons ended, these players have been begging for another shot, and this is a fun way to allow our loyal fans to be involved in the creative process."

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Probst explained how the 32 players they selected had a great game inside of them even though they didn't make it far or warrant appearing on an all-stars edition. Timing was also on the producers' side, as this marked the first time Survivor's shooting schedule allowed them to pull this off. They are apparently shooting earlier in the year than they normally do.

A concern longtime Survivor fans might have is that all recent castaways could be chosen since the players are fresh on their minds. Some fans who tune in now also might not have watched the show back when it premiered 15 years ago.

"The people who are watching the show are telling you who they want. So if they choose everybody from the last five seasons, let's go. I'm good with that. We have great people. I look at the people on this list and I'm happy to have any collection of 20... really, honestly, ultimately I don't care," Probst told EW.

"It'd be great if we had it diverse going back to Season 1 all the way to Season 30, because that would represent our entire run. But if that's not what they decide, that's okay."


What Probst may not have noticed -- or at least covered up well -- is the fact Mike Holloway and Carolyn Rivera are both in the running to compete next season when their job isn't done on Survivor: Worlds Apart just yet. So was this a huge spoiler for fans currently watching?

"Oh my God, I didn't even think of this! You've just caught me off guard! (Laughs) As you would expect from Survivor, we found a way to add a little twist, a little layer of mystery, into the 'Second Chance' voting. So the definition of 'Second Chance' is, contestants who have only played once and never won," Probst explained.

"So, that means either Mike and Carolyn both lost, or one of them could be, ultimately, ineligible... And the good news is, if it was Carolyn who won and she had a bunch of votes but wasn't able to play, then whoever was the eleventh woman would suddenly be in the game and that would be fun for them."

Below is the list of the 32 candidates Survivor fans will be voting on for Season 31's cast:

Season 1 called Survivor: Borneo

 - Kelly Wiglesworth (Runner-Up)

 
Season 2 called Survivor: The Australian Outback

 - Jeff Varner (10th place)

 - Kimmi Kappenberg (12th place)

 
Season 3 called Survivor: Africa

 - Teresa "T-Bird" Cooper (5th place)

 
Season 7 called Survivor: Pearl Islands

 - Andrew Savage (10th place)

 
Season 12 called Survivor: Panama

 - Terry Deitz (3rd place)

 - Shane Powers (5th place)
 

Season 15 called Survivor: China

 - Peih-Gee Law (5th place)            


Season 18 called Survivor: Tocantins

 - Stephen Fishbach (Runner-Up)
 

Season 19 called Survivor: Samoa

 - Monica Padilla (7th place)              


Season 22 called Survivor: Redemption Island

 - Natalie Tenerelli (3rd place)

 - Stephanie Valencia (14th place)
 

Season 23 called Survivor: South Pacific

 - Jim Rice (12th place)

 - Mikayla Wingle (14th place)

 
Season 24 called Survivor: One World

 - Sabrina Thompson (Runner-up)

 - Troyzan Robertson (8th place)

  
Season 25 called Survivor: Philippines

 - Abi-Maria Gomes (5th place)

 
Season 27 called Survivor: Blood vs. Water

 - Ciera Eastin (5th place)

 - Vytas Baskauskas (10th place)

 - Brad Culpepper (15th place)

 
Season 28 called Survivor: Cagayan

 - Woo Hwang (Runner-up)

 - Kass McQuillen (3rd place)

 - Spencer Bledsoe (4th place)

 - Tasha Fox (6th place)
       
       
Season 29 called Survivor: San Juan del Sur

 - Keith Nale (4th place)

 - Jeremy Collins (10th place)

 - Kelley Wentworth (14th place)
 

Season 30 called Survivor: Worlds Apart -- currently airing

 - Carolyn Rivera (still playing the game)

 - Mike Holloway (still playing the game)

 - Shirin Oskooi (8th place)

 - Joe Anglim (10th place)

 - Max Dawson (14th place)






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski