If you don’t want to learn of a potential twist for season 39 of Survivor, stop reading now. If you don’t mind, keep scrolling. It doesn’t give away much about the season itself. But it will remove a small shock factor from whenever CBS officially confirms it. The reveal comes from Martin Holmes at “Inside Survivor.” As I said, CBS has not confirmed anything. But Holmes seems to have reliable sources, as his theme/twist/cast reveals tend to be spot on.
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According to Holmes’ articleSurvivor icons Boston Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine will be returning for season 39, though it’s not in the capacity you expect. From the article,
While details remain scarce at the moment, it’s believed that Rob and Sandra will be acting as “advisers”rather than active players in the game. The Survivor veterans are there to offer advice and guidance to the crop of new castaways competing on the season currently filming in Fiji. Unlike John Cochran in Game Changers, who shared advice with Debbie Wanner as part of an Exile reward, this is expected to be a season-long twist, not just a one-off appearance.
If true, that is…interesting. As we’ve seen from the current Edge of Extinction season, it’s hard for the story to focus on the new players when there are established, well-liked players in the game as well. And now that would be the case with two of the biggest names and they’re not even competing in the show?
My initial reaction is not a positive one. A season with 18 or 20 players already results in a few players “going purple” if you will. Add in Rob and Sandra and that seemingly can only make it worse. That being said, however, these two are iconic for a reason, multiple reasons actually. Sandra is of course the show’s only two-time winner, and Rob has had his fair share of big moments as well.
Watching these two advise and critique gameplay would, by itself, be supremely entertaining. But that could only come at the expense of the other players. Rob’s competed four times, Sandra three. I don’t know that we necessarily need more of them if they’re not even contestants.
But like with any new twist or theme, it’s unwise to pass final judgement before seeing the finished product. I was uncertain about the Edge of Extinction theme. And while I’m still not crazy about the twist itself, the season as a whole has been quite enjoyable for the most part.
Season 39 is currently filming and will air in fall 2019. Edge of Extinction continues its run, airing Wednesday nights at 8/7 ct.
