Now, onto the contestants who did get to live out their dream. Here was what the cast ended up looking like:
- Women – Kelly Wiglesworth (Borneo), Kimmi Kappenberg (Australian Outback), Peih-Gee Law (China), Monica Padilla (Samoa), Abi-Marie Gomes (Philippines), Ciera Eastin (Blood vs Water), Tasha Fox (Cagayan), Kass McQuillen (Cagayan), Kelley Wentworth (San Juan Del Sur), Shirin Oskooi (Worlds Apart)
- Men – Jeff Varner (Australian Outback), Andrew Savage (Pearl Islands), Terry Deitz (Panama), Stephen Fishbach (Tocantins), Vytas Baskauskas (Blood vs Water), Spencer Bledsoe (Cagayan), Woo Hwang (Cagayan), Jeremy Collins (San Juan Del Sur), Keith Nale (San Juan Del Sur), Joe Anglim (Worlds Apart)
The old school players were made up of Kelly, Kimmi, Varner, Savage, Terry, Peih-Gee, Fishbach, and Monica, but the rest were from seasons 25-30 and that was simply too many. Every single contestant on the ballot from Cagayan made the cut and we really didn’t need to see players like Tasha or Woo again. They wouldn’t have been picked had their season been another year prior.
It’s easy to look at those chosen/not chosen now and complain, as we know how the season played out. When the initial cast list came out, I would have swapped Teresa, Stephanie, and Sabrina with Monica, Tasha, and Shirin for the women.
Teresa was from the third season and it just seemed like anyone from old school seasons would get voted on. Stephanie could have made it pretty far in Cambodia because she really did appear to have a good grasp of the game on Redemption Island. I already mentioned why I wanted to see Sabrina back. She was a good character on season 24 and that likely would have remained the case this time around.
Honestly at the time, I probably wouldn’t have included Wentworth either, but now knowing the result and how great of a player she became, I’m glad she was voted on. That’s proof that pre-merge boots deserve to be brought back more often because Wentworth is now a fan favorite for sure.
For the men, I’d have chosen Shane and Jim instead of Woo and either Deitz or Savage since they were similar players. Shane was hilarious on Panama and he’s now been gypped from returning multiple times (he reportedly was supposed to be a villain in Heroes vs Villains, but was replaced by Russell). Jim was very intuitive on his season and it was a bummer that he wasn’t selected.
At the end of the day, Survivor: Cambodia was one of the best seasons in the show’s history so clearly the fans knew best and chose the right group of contestants for the first ever second chance season.
I’m optimistic we’ll see another season like this again, but hopefully it comes a few years down the road and hopefully it’ll include more players from throughout the series rather than the last five or six seasons.
What were your thoughts on the second chance ballot at the time and what are your thoughts now looking at it? Who would you have liked to see included?