It’s been said before and I’ll say it again, Survivor: Guatemala is the forgotten child of the Survivor franchise. Ask any random person who has knowledge about the show to name all of the seasons, odds are Guatemala will be one of the last seasons they remember. The further time gets away from the season, the more it seeps out of people’s memories, replaced by more recent seasons and players.

A huge reason for our collective blind spot for Guatemala is that Jeff Probst hated his life during filming. The show had gone to warm locations before but they had never encountered the muggy, damp climate of Guatemala and it took a toll on both the players and production. After wrapping the show, numerous cameramen, sound people, and other members of production quit their jobs to find something else to do. It was a miserable experience for Probst and he has been on record as saying they would never return to such a climate. When he ranked the first 19 seasons as part of the Heroes vs Villains pre-game, Probst listed Guatemala 16th with his reasoning being “why not?” That tells you all you need to know about how he feels concerning this season.

Tying into Probst’s dislike, the other huge part of why Guatemala is so easily forgotten by the fans is that no first-time players from the season has ever returned on the show. Stephenie LaGrossa got her third chance in Heroes vs Villains but she had already played once before. None of the new players from Guatemala have ever been brought back for another season of Survivor. This puts them on the same level as the fans tribe in Caramoan as the only new players in a season to not have a single person brought back.

Not even Jim Lynch, I know, I’m surprised too.

With the Caramoan fans tribe, you can sort of understand the reasoning. I have said before that Reynold Toepfer deserves another shot at the game and a lot of people like Eddie Fox. They are perfectly fine contestants but not necessarily the most dynamic and they are the “cream” of that tribe’s “crop”. It’s perfectly reasonable the production doesn’t really want to bring any of them back. The same couldn’t be said about Guatemala’s cast of first-timers because they had some truly dynamic characters that deserves a second shot but seem to have been forgotten in the sands of time.

Consider our most recent season, Game Changers. Supposedly, the cast was comprised of people who impacted the show in the past, even though it featured people like Michaela Bradshaw and Troyzan Robertson, so why not include Gary Hogeboom in there? The guy was part of multiple firsts in the Survivor franchise, firsts that are actually tangible and could be explained to the audience with a montage.

Most notably, Gary was the first player to ever find and play an idol. Of course, the idol in Guatemala does not operate like a modern idol but it was called a hidden immunity idol and is considered to be the first of its kind. Also, Russell Hantz loves to claim that he was the first player to find an idol without any clues but Gary did that in Guatemala. He was able to spot Judd Sergeant looking for it in the trees after he told the tribe it was “definitely, by far, on the ground” and from there, Gary found it for himself. How about the Mr. Greatest of all-tiiiiiiime?

In terms of casting, Gary was also the first stunt-casting that production ever attempted. Prior to appearing on Survivor, Gary spent multiple seasons in the NFL as a quarterback, including starting for the Dallas Cowboys. While he wasn’t a household name, he was a fairly recognizable public figure that received his fair share of media during his time in the league. Considering his stature, there was a fair chance that Gary might be identified by his tribe mates. Because of that, Gary holds the distinction of being the first to conjure up the strategy of lying about his identity that many future celebrities would also use on the island. How’s that for game changing? Feels like a little more than Hali Ford ever did.

“Gary Hogeboom? Never heard of the guy”.

On top of having the resume, Gary had the personality. His insistence on keeping up his lie even when Danni Boatwright has him pegged squarely is funny. That he thought admitting he went to the same small-ish school as Gary Hogeboom but that he wasn’t Gary Hogeboom was hilarious. His repertoire with Amy O’Hara is fantastic throughout the season. In terms of gameplay, Gary was actually a pretty astute player who was also an asset in challenges. Gary was a surprisingly good Survivor player.

If production is worried about Gary’s age in terms of bringing him back, then I have another option for them. His name is Jamie Newton and he is the recipient of one of the most complicated edits the show has ever created. Jamie is full-parts a crazy person as much as he is a nice guy who just wants to do the right thing and it’s compelling.

The early stages of the Jamie Newton experience are when Stephenie and Bobby Jon Drinkard are introduced. Jamie is one of the few to outright state he does not want a returning player in his game because they have a huge advantage in having played before. A few days down the road, who is Jamie allied closely with? Stephenie LaGrossa. Just the living contradiction that is Jamie Newton at work.

During the tribe portion of the season, Jamie finds himself in a rivalry with Bobby Jon. In the challenges, they get up in each other’s faces and yell gibberish at each other whenever given the opportunity. They get so into it that I am certain slash fiction about them has been written on the web but I am not going to go ahead and look for it. Jamie does not like having his manliness challenged and feels threatened by Bobby Jon who feels the same way in return.