When it comes to the person who has been more responsible for putting each player you have ever seen on Survivor, there is nobody else you need to look for than Lynne Spillman. A casting director for close to 20 years, Lynne has been involved in the casting of every single contestant from the show and has seen the show develop from piles of VHS tapes on her desk right through to the modern days of paperless applications. And in a rare interview, Lynne reveals her thoughts on the cast of the new season of Worlds Apart and why they might just be the closest cast ever assembled, and going over details from which player was recruited twice and just how close we are to an all winners season.

Lynne is heavily involved in the world of casting for CBS and alongside Survivor she also is the casting director for The Amazing Race. This experience has seen her cast close to 1000 people on reality TV, and her experience is second to none.

In our chat with Lynne, she talks about the cast for the upcoming Worlds Apart, why she gets emotional over the earlier seasons, the process of casting for a ‘twist’, how close season 30 was to being all returning players, which legendary player she fought hard for to be on the show who Mark Burnett didn’t want on initially, why she is the worst person to go anywhere with in public, which season has her favourite cast of all time, whether The Amazing Race or Survivor is harder to cast for, which contestant she recruited twice before his season, which player she wants to return the most, the truth behind Amber returning for All-Stars instead of Elisabeth and giving advice on becoming a casting agent and cross over casting between The Amazing Race and Survivor.