'Survivor 34' Cast: Jeff Probst Explains Why Some Questionable Castaways Are On 'Game Changers' [VIDEO]
CBS officially announced the premise for the upcoming 34th season of Survivor Wednesday night as "game changers," but a few contestants in the cast are raising some eyebrows.
Survivor's 34th season is titled Survivor: Game Changers - Mamanuca Islands and will comprise of 20 returning players who have changed the game in some way. Eight members of the cast were revealed during Wednesday night's reunion, including master strategist Cirie Fields, two-time winner Sandra Diaz-Twine, aggressive winner Tony Vlachos, challenge beast Ozzy Lusth and more.
Of course, noted Survivor casting spoiler Martin Holmes (a.k.a. Redmond) has already unveiled the full list of season 34 players, giving fans a juicy tease on what to expect next season. If you don't want to know the full cast, do not read further, but it's safe to assume that many Survivor fans are skeptical about certain players being on this cast.
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In addition to Cirie, Sandra and Ozzy, there are several no-brainers on this cast of "game changers," including Ciera Eastin, Malcolm Freberg, Aubry Bracco, J.T. Thomas, in addition to all-stars like Andrea Boehlke, Jeff Varner, Debbie Wanner, Tai Trang, and this past season's Michaela Bradshaw and Zeke Smith.
But then there's Brad Culpepper, Caleb Reynolds, Hali Ford, Sierra Dawn Thomas, Sarah Lacina and Troyzan Robertson. While some of these players had some standout moments in their respective seasons, it's difficult to see just what makes any of them "game changers."
Survivor host Jeff Probst spoke with Entertainment Weekly recently about season 34 and delved into why such players are in this cast alongside heavy-hitters like Cirie, Sandra and Tony.
"When we put the 20 people together, we tried very hard to get a tapestry of all the different ways you could interpret that so that it wasn't just big heavy-hitters coming out and slugging," Probst said. "There were also nuanced players. There were players that we felt were almost there, but hadn't quite gotten there yet, but what we feel like we have is a group of people who are going to play, and there will be no people sitting back on their heels saying I'm not sure what to do, and the result was fascinating."
It remains to be seen if any of these players with smaller reputations can compete with the best of the best, but fans will have to wait until March 8 for the premiere of Survivor: Game Changers - Mamanuca Islands.
