The voted out contestant will not immediately go home but is outcast in an island with limited food and shelter, preparing for a duel as well as redemption.
- Dec 20, 2010
AceShowbiz - "Survivor" has done all-star editions, pitted the young and the old, and put heroes and villains at each other's throat. In its 22nd year, the reality show is in need of a big twist in the rule and so the producers came up with "Survivor: Redemption Island". Fresh off crowning Jud 'Fabio' Birza as the "Nicaragua" winner, CBS releases the trailer while EW publishes an interview with host Jeff Probst.
The trailer shows a familiar terrain because the new season was also shot in San Juan del Sur Beach in Nicaragua. But there will be a separate island which would accommodate the outcast. "How it works is very simple," Probst explained to EW. "When you're voted out at Tribal Council, you don't go home. You're not out of the game. You go to Redemption Island and you live alone."
"And at a certain point in the game another person will join you. You will compete in a duel. The winner stays. The loser goes home. So you're continuing to live out there on your own with very basic supplies. But you're still in the game. And at a certain point you'll be allowed to reenter the game and have a shot at the money."
Probst admitted that they did try a similar format previously but there was a flaw. "We did a haphazard version of Redemption Island a few years ago called the Outcasts and it didn't work and it didn't please the audience and there was one fundamental flaw: We didn't tell people up front it was going to happen," Probst said.
"I just told everybody [at the opening] it's going to happen," the host said after filming. "Make no mistake: When you're voted out, you're not going home, and somebody that you vote out could come back and bite you in the ass. So I have no problem with people coming back into the game because everybody knows up front. A rule can't be unfair if you know going in. It's an equal opportunity."
Saying this is exciting, Probst had to admit, "We have no idea what's gong to happen. It's a big risk. It could fail miserably. I don't think it's going to." The new season which was shot in August will premiere on February 16, 2011.
