Since Survivor first brought back players in its eighth season, fans have loved and looked forward to seasons featuring returnees. Former castaways returning to the game gave them a chance at redemption and for viewers to watch their favorite players on-screen again.
While every returnee season goes down in Survivor history as iconic in its own right, there have definitely been a few duds and standouts over the course of the 13 seasons to feature them. At the end of the day, only one returning player season can be deemed the greatest of all time, and a lot of them have been regarded as unmemorable or random.
Edge Of Extinction (Season 38)
Team captains has always been a strange Survivor twist, but two team captains per tribe was even weirder. Not only are captains usually targeted first by newbies in mainstream Survivor, but double captains led to even more lack of trust of those returning to the game.
Edge Of Extinction wasn't just bad because of the returnee aspect, it was bad because of the Edge itself. Having eliminated players starve on a boring version of Redemption Island was not something that fans wanted, and the outcome of the twist was upsetting and made viewers question the integrity of the game.
Caramoan: Fans Vs Favorites (Season 26)
Survivor struck gold once with the Fans Vs Favorite theme but failed to repeat history in its second iteration.
Caramoan was Survivor at one of its lowest points. The Favorites tribe was random and not nearly as iconic as season 16's, and Brandon Hantz's meltdown was ridiculous and uncalled for. When it came to Final Tribal Council, it was obvious that Cochran was going to be the winner, and if it had been Dawn or Sherri fans would have surely been devastated.
Guatemala (Season 11)
Guatemala reunited Bobby Jon and Stephenie from the previous season's cursed Ulong tribe. The two served as team captains and were somehow not targeted by their peers, and instead looked at for guidance.
Despite an interesting premise and the introduction of returning player captains, Guatemala's elements made a lot of the season unremarkable. The harsh conditions led to fatigue and exhaustion in the players, causing the game to be lackluster. Couple that with Stephenie's fall from grace and the season as a whole goes down as middle of the road and mostly forgettable.
South Pacific (Season 23)
Survivor did two seasons of returning player captains back to back, and the match-up of Coach versus Ozzy seemed strange and unbalanced.
Not only had the two never played each other before, but their styles of gameplay were completely different. Ozzy was adored by his tribe-mates and even envied, while Coach's tribe found him to have cult leader energy. The season was the opposite of thrilling and mostly predictable, but it was nice to see Coach lose to alliance that bested him.
Redemption Island (Season 22)
The Russell v.s. 'Boston' Rob rivalry first began in Heroes Vs Villains, with Rob getting the short end of the stick and being eliminated before the merge. When the two met again as captains of season 22, it was clear that the battle for the most notorious villain had just begun.
The highs of the season came in the form of Rob's dominating game and his much-deserved first win after four attempts, but the rest of Redemption Island was boring. The pagong-ing of the Zapatera tribe led to predictable tribal councils, and many of the new cast were annoying and unwise to think they could defeat Rob at his own game.
Game Changers (Season 34)
Game Changers had a bit of a bizarre cast. Some of the returning players could be in the Survivor Hall of Fame (Cirie Fields, Ozzy Lusth) while others seemed to come out of left field and were the only ones available to play again (Hali Ford, Sierra Dawn Thomas).
Not only was the cast odd, but the way the season went down was disted and disappointing. From Tony, Sandra, and Malcolm's early boots to Jeff Varner's out-of-touch and disrespectful outing of Zeke Smith, the season left a sour taste in many fans' mouths, even if it had a few exciting moments and memorable blindsides.
Phillipines (Season 25)
While the theme of Survivor: Phillipines at first seemed a little random (three tribes led by captains of players who were medically evacuated), it led to a decent season with a satisfying winner.
The first few episodes were comedy gold due to the Matsing's tribe streak of bad luck and the season only got better and funnier with Penner's commentary and Lisa's antics. Ultimately, Final Tribal Council was a little too easy for Denise, as her fellow competitors were long shots to ever be crowned Sole Survivor.
All-Stars (Season 8)
Survivor's first all-star season left a lot to be desired and has more than its fair share of moments fans cringe at watching back nearly 20 years later.
Despite the season's outdated aspects, it featured the first gathering of former players and led to the greatest showmance in Survivor history. Amber and 'Boston' Rob's dominance of the game made future players rethink couple alliances, and ended in marriage and four children.
Blood Vs Water (Season 27)
Blood Vs Water was a controversial twist for Survivor to implement but was also one that made viewers wonder why it wasn't done sooner.
The high stakes of watching loved ones (and returning players at that!) compete against one another led to heartbreaking betrayals, emotional reunions, and a less annoying use of Redemption Island. Overall, the season was thrilling, even if it was obvious from the start that a returnee was going to take home the grand prize.
Micronesia: Fans Vs Favorites (Season 16)
The first iteration of Fans Vs Favorites united fans and veteran players, causing a battle of the brains in of who knew the game of Survivor best.
It was unsurprising that returnees dominated, but the way the season went down was so unbelievable and exciting that it's one fans tend to go back to rewatch. From the memorable blindsides to the forming of the Black Widow Brigade, Micronesia left nothing to be desired and had a deserving winner in Parvati Shallow.