Ranking every all-returnee season in Survivor history

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NEW YORK – MAY 9: Survivor All-star cast members “Boston Rob” Mariano proposes marriage and Amber Brkich accepted on the set of the Survivor All-stars Finale at Madison Square Garden May 9, 2004 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images) /

All-Returnee Survivor Seasons – Number 5: All-Stars (Season 8, 2004)

As mentioned on the opening slide, Survivor: All-Stars was a huge deal for fans of the show. We had dreamed of when it’d come to fruition and while it’d have made more sense for it to have been held in season 10, we got it in season eight.

While All-Stars was a monumental season, it didn’t live up to the hype. The cast wasn’t great, but the producers did the best they could, as some former favorites like Colleen Haskell and Elisabeth Filarski (now Hasselbeck) didn’t want to return.

All-Stars wasn’t great television, but it did give us the love story of Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, who teamed up on day one and ended up falling in love on their journey to the final tribal council.

Rob and Amber made a lot of people mad on their way to the end and that made All-Stars tough to watch, both at the time and in the present day. Rob ruined some friendships in the process and did not receive those players’ votes when push came to shove, which led to Amber winning All-Stars and still getting heat for it years later.

Throw in the uncomfortable situation between Sue Hawk and Richard Hatch during the pre-merge and All-Stars is a bottom tier season and the worst all-returnee season.

But without it, we wouldn’t have the other four all-returnee seasons, so it’s important for sure.

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