This fall's Survivor edition will be a generational clash.
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CBS has announced Survivor: Nicaragua will begin with the competition's 20 castaways divided into two tribes by age.
The Espada tribe, which will wear blue buffs and is named for the Spanish word for sword, will feature 10 contestants older than 40 while the La Flor tribe, which will bear yellow buffs and represents the Spanish word for flower, will consist of 10 contestants who are 30 years of age or younger.
Survivor: Nicaragua -- the 21st edition of the long-running reality series -- will premiere Wednesday, September 15 at 8PM ET/PT and finished filming in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua last week.
Similar to Survivor's last two seasons which were filmed back-to-back in Samoa, next spring's 22nd edition will also film at the location later this summer.
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Survivor: Panama, the show's twelfth edition, previously divided castaways by age but featured four tribes -- younger men, younger women, older men, and older women. However the divisions proved to be short-lived when the four tribes were merged into two via a "schoolyard pick" that occurred during the Spring 2006 season's second episode.
Survivor: Nicaragua's age-based tribal division would seem to be good news for the chances of 67-year-old former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson, who will reportedly will be one of the castaways competing on the season.
While Survivor's history includes several memorable older contestants like Rudy Boesch and Robert "Bob" Crowley, its casts have skewed increasingly younger in recent editions. Last fall's Survivor: Samoa only featured four contestants over 40 -- the oldest of which was Mike Borassi, a 62-year-old who had to be medically evacuated only a few days into the competition.
However that was an improvement over show's prior Survivor: Tocantins edition, which only included three castaways older than 40. Sandy Burgin, a 53-year-old who was the season's oldest contestant, and Jerry Sims, a 49-year-old who was the second oldest contestant, were each voted out of the game at their tribes' second Tribal Council sessions.
CBS has not formally announced Survivor: Nicaragua's cast or confirmed Johnson's participation yet.
About The Author: Steven Rogers