Survivor favorites return for All-star season

Cue the tribal music, light the tikki torches, and get ready to vote: "Survivor" is back. For the fourth straight year, the CBS reality staple has returned to television screens across the nation, as the host of diehard, desperate, willing-to-eat-worms-if-it-means-they-last-another-three-days, faceless contestants trying to outwit, outplay, and outlast each other in a grand quest for $1 million.

The latest version, entitled "Survivor 8: All Stars," brings a few changes to the show's original format. There are eighteen contestants instead of the usual sixteen, and as the season's title suggests, all of them are returnees from previous seasons.

This not only delighted the show's devoted fans -- past fan favorites returned with a second chance to compete for the $1 million prize -- but allowed the producers to pick and choose their favorite contestants in order to create a recipe for maximum drama (which will, of course, ultimately result in the highest possible ratings).

The show's first season premiered in the summer months of 2000, when the antics of crusty ex-SEAL operative Rudy Bosche, straight-talking truck driver Susan Hawke, and the extremely naked and outspokenly gay evil villain extraordinaire Richard Hatch captured the attention of the nation. The contestants lied, cheated, and manipulated their way to the grand prize of $1 million.

The first Survivor created a faddish phenomenon like no other reality television show since, bringing in soaring ratings and transforming sayings like "The tribe has spoken!" from cheesy catch phrases into common vernacular. Though the ratings understandably dropped off, the premise remained popular through its next seven installments.

Gone are the boring sheep of yesteryear. This season's installment aims to avoid the disappointment of the initially outgoing type-As who immediately turned into someone else's pawn as soon as the spotlight came on, thereby failing to contribute to the drama that is the show's lifeblood.

Returnees have been chosen for their memorable antics (like Hatch, who has thus far continued where he last left off-- in his birthday suit and refusing to put on anything more than a kilt while on the island), their popularity (fan-favorite Bosche, tattooed surfer dad Lex van den Berghe, and wily businesswoman Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien), or their potential for drama (outspoken Hawke, manipulative "Boston" Rob Mariano, and drama queen Shii Ann Huang).

Noticeably absent, though, are a few familiar faces -- porn-star-turned-Survivor-winner Brian Heidik was either passed over or turned down because he insisted on a hefty contract, depending on one's sources.

And resentment seems to be running equally high among the contestants who were not selected, with at least one former Survivor claiming the ability to pass along hints of what is to come on his website.

The show so far has more or less lived up to its hype. Backstabbing started as early as the first episode, when Hatch caught his female tribemates conspiring to form an all-girls alliance. Former winner Tina Wesson was also voted off, her fellow islanders resenting her previous victory and high-running emotions. The next few episodes saw the departure of the 76-year-old Bosche, who hurt his ankle over the course of one of the show's challenges; previous victor Jenna Morasca, who turned in the towel after angsting over her mother's cancer; and most recently, funny Rob Cesternino, who was voted off when he failed to weasel his way into the dominate alliance.

Viewers have witnessed conspiracy, drama, and the start of what may become a promising romance. With the competition just starting to get hot, more backstabbing is inevitably on the horizon.

Rumors abound among the show's extensive Internet "spoiling" community as to how the game is going to pan out. The predictions range from the accurate (online sleuths successfully nailed Morasca's departure from the show weeks ago) to the ridiculous (according to some sources, Hatch supposedly smuggled some matches onto the island by hiding them in an unreachable crevice).

For some viewers, spoiling the surprise by guessing who will be voted off when ahead of time is half the fun, and supposed "boot lists" have already begun ravaging the Web.

Whether or not these gossipers end up ruining the surprise ending, the ride is what will be worth the fun. "Survivor's" draw has always been that of a guilty pleasure, allowing us to see our fellow "average" Americans at their worst as we whisper to each other over whether or not we'd make the same decisions. I wonder, if given the chance, who wouldn't spend all of their time wearing only a kilt?