The twists that will make Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water unique are no longer a mystery.
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Survivor host Jeff Probst revealed in early June that Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water will be dropping its Redemption Island format in exchange for a new twist. CBS has now officially revealed that Exile Island will be returning in its place.
"Instead of Redemption Island, we decided we have this arena being built: What if instead of [Redemption Island], we use it for something else. Something that will make Blood vs. Water a little more interesting -- a little more bloody?" Probst told Entertainment Weekly at the time.
Exile Island was introduced in Survivor: Panama, the series' twelfth edition, and concluded after Survivor: Tocantins, the show's eighteenth season.
The Exile Island twist will feature a head-to-head challenge where two loved ones must square off in a battle, resulting in the loser getting sent to an isolated part of the island, where he or she must live for about three days until the next challenge comes.
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The winner of each duel will not only earn a reward of some kind for his or her tribe, but that castaway will also be able to select a tribemate to join the loved one over on Exile Island. According to EW, the silver lining of ending up on Exile Island is a clue to a hidden Immunity Idol hidden back at camp.
"You've got to go up against your loved one and here are the stakes. Winner gets reward. Loser goes to Exile Island. Where it's going to really suck. And it's going to suck because you put 'em there! The good news is you at least have a shot at finding the immunity idol," Probst told EW.
"And it's up to you if you want to share that there was a clue or not. The complication is, that clue will lead you back to your beach where the idol is hidden, so you're going to have to dig it up while everybody else is there. So nothing's going to be easy this season, but I really do believe that the game play is ratcheting it up so we have to ratchet up with it, so we're trying to complicate it as much as we can."
The Redemption Island twist was different than Exile Island because castaways were not sent away until they were actually voted out of the game at Tribal Council. The point of Redemption Island was to allow eliminated castoffs to fight in duels and potentially earn a second chance back in the game.
In addition, as previously announced, the cast of Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water was originally comprised of 20 castaways -- 10 males and 10 females. However, the new season will start off with 18 players and an uneven number of men and women because two ladies had unexpectedly dropped out 48 hours before taping began in Nicaragua due to a medical situation.
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"That's just the game. We don't like it that way but that’s the way it’s going to start," Probst told the magazine.
Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water will premiere with a special 90-minute episode on Wednesday, September 24 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS. To find out who the castaways will be, click here.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski