Hey Survivor Fans,

My favorite part of the year is quickly approaching: the end of Big Brother and the beginning of Survivor. For anyone who has been living under a rock, this season of Big Brother has been insane…and not in a good way. I can’t wait for it to be over. The amount of racist and bigoted remarks made over the 24/7 live feeds at the very beginning of the season was unprecedented in Big Brother history and it seemed like these horrible actions wouldn’t catch up to the girls who said them. Fortunately for us – and unfortunately for them – two of the three girls have lost their jobs in the real world due to their ignorant remarks but have yet to leave the BB world and find out about it (the 3 rd girl works for her mother’s realtor agency so that’s the only reason she hasn’t lost her job). Aaryon Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman are in for a world of hurt once they leave the BB house. The one thing that I will say in their defense is that they shouldn’t have been casted for this type of show to begin with (24/7 live feeds type of deal) and everything they will experience outside of the house will be partially CBS’ fault…but I don’t think CBS cares because any publicity is good publicity. I unfortunately predict that next season’s cast will overshadow this season’s in terms of controversy just because of the ratings boosts these racists gave the franchise. Yeah, the viewers watched because they were outraged, but the numbers don’t lie and more people watched this season than in recent years.

Why should you care? Because Big Brother 12 winner Hayden Moss is a contestant on Blood vs. Water!

So the cast list has been released. 10 former survivors, 2 survivor winners, 1 Big Brother winner, and 1 former professional athlete. Here is what you need to know about these players before the premiere.

1. Gervase Peterson – Gervase was in the first season of Survivor. He was part of the first Pagonging in survivor history (where everyone from one tribe is systematically eliminated post-merge by the other) and showed up to his final tribal council with a target painted on his back. Even though he and his tribe lost the game, he was a very good player who understood the game in the same way Richard Hatch did. He and his buddy Joel tried to organize an alliance before the merge to counter the Tagi tribe, but his fellow tribe mates were so turned off by the idea that they voted Joel out…and in turn sealed their own fates. He knew the game and was charming enough to worm his way into the final 7. I expect really good things out of him in this season.

2. Tina Wesson – Tina won the final vote against Colby in Survivor: The Australian Outback, but returned to All-Stars to be the first one voted off (Jerri was on her tribe and was hungry for revenge). Tina does not get enough credit for her win because people couldn’t fathom how she could be better than Colby. Here is what she did: coming into Survivor 2 the fans were really disappointed that Richard, the villain, won the previous season. Tina was one of these people. She showed up on day 1 and immediately started this dialogue about how the “good people” need to win and the “deserving” need to stay together. Now, of course this is BS, but her fellow tribe mates ATE IT UP! Especially Colby. She was also very strategic and was always digging for valuable information. Back then, ties were broken by past votes, so during the episode 2 reward challenge Tina made small talk with Kimmi from Kucha (Tina was Ogakor) and casually brought up who got the 1 other vote last night at tribal. Kimmi’s loose lips ended up costing the ENTIRE KUCHA TRIBE the game. When Mike fell into the fire, the tribes merged 5- 5 and they broke the tie by voting for the person Kimmi named 20 days earlier. I do not think Tina can win the game again with a “good people should win” strategy because the game has transcended that paradigm years ago, but she clearly has game and I expect some good stuff from her.

3. Rupert Boneham – Rupert has a very good track record of going far in this game by relying on his fishing and survival skills to support his tribe. In Pearl Islands, he had no game. In All-stars he had no game. But then Heroes vs. Villains happened and out of nowhere, he had game! He got his rival Candice booted by faking a hidden immunity idol! His social skills really suck but he does learn new tricks. He is also a huge Sandra fan and has voted for her to win the game both times she’s played. I like him for that, but I will be very surprised to see him win the game. I do not think that he will make final 3 let alone final 5.

4. Aras Baskablahblahblah – Aras is the yoga instructor from Survivor: Exile Island. He won the final two against Danielle DiLorenzo. Aras’ game is to be nice to everyone and play up his physical abilities. It isn’t multi-dimensional. Because of this, people thought he was an undeserving winner. I don’t agree or disagree. It just is what it is. His main ally in Exile Island was Cirie Fields, “the mom from the couch”. She did the strategizing for him and he won the tribal immunities for her. They were a dynamic duo and I don’t think Aras stands a chance of making it to the end without another “Cirie” by his side. Not just an ally, but a strategic mastermind and social player lynchpin in the tribe’s dynamics…I don’t know if anyone out there will want to be that for him. He is naive and gullible and will be taken advantage of in this game.

5. Candice Woodcock – Okay. Candice sucks. I’m not gonna lie about it. Candice participated in the Cook Islands season of Survivor. Once described as “the most racist season of Survivor ever” when tribes were created and divided along racial lines. She was the one to mutiny with Jonathon Penner and rejoin the white people on the Rotu Tribe. Because she did this, her old tribe Aitu got a fire lit under their ass and won every challenge afterwards. They trusted her so much, and believed in her, that her betrayal was enough motivation for the Aitu 4 to become the Final 4. What this shows is that even though Candice is an opportunist to the 10 th degree she can also build solid, real and genuine relationships with the other castaways, which is key in this game. In survivor Heroes vs. Villains she wasn’t able to build relationships with her co-contestants. They just saw her as flat and wedged between two opposing alliances. Unless she can forge actual relationships again, I don’t think she will go very far. According to a pre-show interview with Colton Cumbie, Candice has been an ice queen during casting, not smiling at the oher castaways or saying hi…looks like she’s closed off just like in season 20.

6. Tyson Apostle – Tyson is the professional cyclist from Utah and is the un-Mormon-like Mormon. He gets naked. He makes fun of people behind their backs AND to their face. And he likes to see people cry. The problem with Tyson is that he isn’t very good at the strategic part of the game. He has the social, political and athletic parts down, but he doesn’t seem to get how the social and political aspects mesh together and how his position in the game relates to it. In Tocantins, Tyson lost because he was cocky. In season 20 he lost because he didn’t understand the numbers aspect the way Russell and Parvati and Boston Rob did. I don’t know how he will fair this time around because some people just aren’t cut out to be that strategic in a quantitative way. I personally would love to see him make final 5 because I love his confessionals and want to hear from him in every episode. He is a comedian at heart and I love that in my survivor contestants (my faves are Sandra, Boston Rob, Cirie, Courtney in China, Fabio and Corinne because they’re all comedians).

7. Laura Morett – Laura was known for being the Queen Bee of Galu in Survivor Samoa. She had the game in her hand when the merge happened and watched it slip away due to Russell’s idols and her own alliance’s dysfunction. She was rivals with Shambo and got the short-end of the stick in the editing because of it. Shambo was known for being delusional, stupid and annoying, and she blamed Laura for characterizing her as such…no Shambo! Laura was just stating the obvious. You are ALL of those things. Even though I am defending Laura, I AM NOT A FAN! She came off as an entitled, elitist bully. She hid behind religion a lot, and I despise players that use the bible to bond alliance members. Its taking everything too far and it always leads to people characterizing each other as good and their rivals as evil, when in reality they’re all evil. All 20 contestants. Let’s not fool ourselves here. I think she will do well in the game because she is very strong emotionally and Galu relied on her strength for leadership.

8. Monica Culpepper – Monica was the hot mom in Survivor One World. She is married to a retired football player who used to play for the Buccaneers, Brad Culpepper. The story goes that Brad applied for and was cast for Survivor One World but couldn’t make it or something, so they cast his wife. She started the game outside of the 5-girl Salani alliance (Kim, Chelsea, Sabrina, Kat and Alicia) but according to post-game interviews, she wiggled her way into the final 4 of that alliance, replacing Kat and Alicia. During the tribe swap, Colton took her out because of this.

9. Colton Cumbie – Colton was one of those characters on TV that was hard to watch. The things he said made me cringe (“I’m a republican so I don’t believe in handouts”…didn’t Sabrina just “hand out” that hidden immunity idol to you?). According to Monica, Colton was very different during camp life in front of people’s faces. She had no idea how vile his thoughts were until watching the show. Colton was the (child) dictator of the Monano tribe and used his hidden immunity idol as leverage for everything. He didn’t work around camp. He didn’t perform well in challenges. And he gave away tribal immunity in order to immediately vote off a personal threat – a move that cost all of the men the game. But he was an amazing strategist. He apparently wanted to go to the end with Kim (the eventual winner) and felt threatened by Monica’s position in the game. He took her out because he wanted Kim to have one less ally to work with in order to force Kim to work with him. It didn’t work and karma eventually caught up to him in the form of appendicitis. Because people have now seen his private confessionals and know how he works, HE WILL NOT MAKE THE MERGE. He may be an easy win for virtually anyone in the finals, but he is too aggressive and untrustworthy for the others to allow him to get there.

10. Kat Edorsson (sp?) – Kat was a hybrid tomboy/dumb blond, and she was really endearing to watch. The problem with Kat is that she has no political or strategic game. And even her social game isn’t that great. She is a good physical competitor. I can see her being on the outside of many alliances, but who knows. We never really got to see much of her strategy. Only her emotions. Regardless, she should be fun to watch because of how emotional she is about everything. I suspect that they invited her back because she’s dating Big Brother 12 winner, Hayden Moss.

11. Hayden Moss – Big Brother is a much tougher social game and Hayden should do well in Survivor, IF he can stomach the hunger, sleepless nights and insane weather conditions that Big Brother contestants are immune from. Hayden’s game in Big Brother was to reach out to the outsiders and bottom feeders to give them hope that the game wasn’t over for them…when in actuality he was the lynchpin in a 4-person secret alliance and everyone else’s fates were sealed. He’s a nice guy, and in these types of games that can get you very far. He is also a college athlete that just missed out on going pro, so he’s a challenge threat. Because the tribes are split former survivors vs. loved ones, he has an automatic leg up on the competition. He’s actually lived the lies, deceit and backstabbing that the loved ones have only witnessed on TV.

12. Bradley Culpepper – We’ve had a handful of professional athletes on survivor: Grant from Redemption Island, Jeff from Philippines and Steve from Redemption Island. They all focus on the honor and integrity part of the game and aren’t really up for the deceitful aspects that a winning game requires. BUT, since retiring, Brad earned his JD and is now a lawyer, and lawyers can do very well on survivor. We’ve seen Yul Kwon and John Cochran both win and players like Andrew Savage and Deena Bennett take the game by the horns. I predict that he will either lead the loved ones tribe to some victories and they’ll all obsess over him, or he will fall on his sword for his wife, or maybe even sacrifice his game for a close ally. He’s basically Andrew Savage 2.0 in my prediction. Win big or go home.

Let the Games Begin.