'Survivor' Premiere Recap: Whose Second Chance Ends in the First Week?

Warning: Spoilers ahead for tonight’s season premiere of Survivor.

Watching the premiere of Survivor: Cambodia brought up so many feelings. Nostalgia, of course — seeing faces like Kelly Wiglesworth and Jeff Varner and Terry Deitz. Some annoyance, upon seeing the likes of Abi-Maria Gomes and Kass McQuillen.

But principally, we felt excitement, because what Jeff Probst told Yahoo TV before the season looks to become reality — that Second Chance will change and evolve the game in a way we’ve never seen before.

Not only are there a ton more emotions floating around (a need for redemption, yearning to be liked, desperation to be clever), but everyone is at DEFCON 1. It’s like everyone came here with the words of The Wire’s Omar Little ringing in their ears: “It’s either play or get played.”

This isn’t Survivor; it’s like Survivor on steroids, or alternate-universe Survivor, or something. Everyone is already playing at such a high level that it bears little resemblance to the bumblings of Max and Rodney on last season’s Worlds Apart. Even Keith Nale, of all people, has come with strategies in his head. This is the same Keith who did not seem to even know that he was on a reality competition show on San Juan del Sur.

So, just from the premiere, this figures to be an all-time, epic season of Survivor. The first episode already ended with one blindside — just a couple handfuls more to go.

Here’s a rundown of the premiere, including our live tweets:

We love Jeff Probst, but he can get a little dramatic sometimes. If you believe him, none of these 20 players have slept a wink since they last played Survivor.

Probst recounts some of the players’ stories, like how Kelly Wiglesworth lost by one vote to Richard Hatch, and how Andrew Savage has an amazing life except that he never won Survivor. And Jeff Varner? He wants redemption for the infamous Peanut Butter Incident from Australian Outback:

We start off with the players divided into two tribes, Ta Keo and Bayon. Here are the two lineups:

Ta Keo: Abi, Jeff, KelleyWent, KellyWig, Peih-Gee, Shirin, Spencer, Terry, Vytas, Woo

Bayon: Andrew, Ciera, Jeremy, Joe, Kass, Keith, Kimmi, Monica, Stephen, Tasha

They are immediately plunged into a challenge: a race to gather as many supplies as possible from a nearby boat onto their rafts. But they face a dilemma: Stay and get more stuff, or start rowing for another, farther boat with a big bag of rice on it.

Both tribes take about the same time to gather supplies, but as they make for the other boat, KellyWig starts swimming for the rice. She’s a little far, though, and Joe from Bayon starts swimming for it, too. Unfortunately, Ta Keo’s raft is a little ahead, and Woo makes a swim for it as well. Woo reaches it first, and Ta Keo gets the rice.

Getting to Know You: Ta Keo, Day 1

At first, everyone’s just happy to be at camp, making shelter. Terry takes charge of that, with KellyWig, Woo, and Vytas helping. Terry is trying to make sense of things, as he’s an “old school” player. “New school” players start scheming and making alliances right away.

But Terry is determined not to make that mistake again, and approaches Spencer. Spencer is also determined not to make his own mistakes again, namely being kind of an aloof, haughty jerk. He vows that this time, he’ll have more one-on-one conversations in the first day than in his first few days on Cagayan.

Another person who swears she’s different is Abi. Except she seems the same, particularly when she starts ranting about her missing bag with a not-valuable leather bracelet in it. The more things change, the more Abi stays the same.

Bayon is also building their shelter, with Keith taking a lead role. If you don’t recall, Keith was… how do we put this nicely? Oh, forget it. Look, the guy was totally clueless in San Juan del Sur, and how he made it to fourth place is still a mystery.

“I’m not going to change a lot, but maybe tweak a little bit,” he says. Good luck with that, Keith.

Well, he might be able to coast like he did last time, since Jeremy wants to align with him. Jeremy wants to align with all the dudes, because in his season, he was targeted for being strong. Now he wants to get with Tasha, with Joe, with Andrew. They can roll strong together. “It’d be so dumb for someone to mess this up,” Jeremy says. Famous last words.

Meanwhile, Stephen watches from afar, totally out of place. The guy is smart and quite the student of Survivor. He can smell trouble. And not fitting in with anyone could be major, major trouble.

The Masks Come Off

Over at Ta Keo, Vytas is flirting with the women, just as he did on Blood vs. Water. Except this time, they’re not buying what he’s selling. Shirin is not feeling him, at all, and starts talking to Spencer and Jeff about Vytas’s “connections.” Erm, OK. It’s concerning, though, that Jeff seems to actually be listening to her. Ruh-roh.

Shirin is not the only one putting on a whisper campaign. Abi found her missing bracelet… in Peih-Gee’s bag. Instead of asking, rationally and politely, how it might’ve gotten there, Abi starts insinuating that Peih-Gee is up to no good.

But Peih-Gee isn’t about to engage in some high school drama. She straight-up tells Abi that she never took the bracelet. As if Abi cared about the “truth.” Didn’t you watch the seasons after yours, Peih-Gee?

Over at Bayon, Joe and Andrew are trying to make fire, and Joe succeeds! Maybe not a good idea, though. Also maybe not the best move is leading everybody in a round of yoga, or as they call it in this tribe, Joega.

Elsewhere, Stephen is lurking in the swamp, looking for a hidden immunity idol. He knows everyone else knows he’s doing it. That’s OK.

Back to Ta Keo: Jeff is already struggling with the physical realities of the game… on Day 2! So he has to start strategizing. He can see that there’s a divide between the “old school” and “new school” players, or as he calls them, “shelter people” and “beach people.” Shelter people include himself, Terry, and Woo. Beach people are the likes of Abi and Kelley Wentworth.

Speaking of KelleyWent, she’s also skulking about for a hidden idol, and actually finds a clue to one. Apparently, an idol will be hidden at the upcoming immunity challenge. The hard part will be looking for it — and acquiring it — without anybody noticing.

Challenge Time

Just like this is a Second Chance season, this is a second-chance challenge — specifically, a redo of a challenge from Borneo.

The challenge is a water race that involves lighting torches, then carrying the raft onto the beach, then fashioning a long pole to retrieve a key. That key unlocks a gate, and the winning team lights a final torch.

As the cameras show us, the hidden idol is underneath the raft stand. Will KelleyWent find it?

When the race starts, the two tribes are neck and neck, but Ta Keo gets out to a lead with Keith’s fire is snuffed in the water.

KellyWig takes charge of making the pole, though she totally misjudges how long it has to be the first time. Meanwhile, the other Kelley is surreptitiously looking around for that hidden idol.

Bayon catches up, and Joe starts making a pole. He’s got a better handle on how long it needs to be (maybe because he just played last season), and is successful at retrieving the key.

In the hullabaloo, KelleyWent manages to spot the idol and grab it without anybody noticing!

Then Probst has even worse news for Ta Keo: Tribal council starts immediately. No scramble time!

Probst chats with Ta Keo about the big expectations on their shoulders — not just for themselves, not just from their friends and family, but from the fans that voted them in.

They also talk about the old school vs. new school divide on the tribe, and whether they can really learn from the mistakes they made last time. Abi thinks she’s not the firecracker she once was, which LOL. Even funnier is how Probst is mixing in first names and last names as he interrogates Ta Keo members.

With that, everyone votes.

Probst tallies, and it’s close — between Abi and Vytas. He reads the final vote, and it’s:

Vytas looks stunned; even though this is the first elimination, it feels like a blindside. That smarmy, women-loving act didn’t work this time. Looks like new school might have the upper hand on Ta Keo. Watch out, #shelterpeople!

Power rankings:
Ta Keo — KellyWent, KellyWig, Spencer
Bayon — Joe, Jeremy, Keith

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.