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The upcoming 31st season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor, which was filmed in summer 2015 in Koh Rong, Cambodia and scheduled to premiere on September 23, 2015. Unlike previous seasons, which were completely cast by producers, this season will feature 20 contestants selected by public vote from a producer-picked pool of 32 players from past seasons, all of whom had played once and not yet won. The 32 candidates were revealed on May 6, 2015, the same day that voting began, and the final cast was revealed on May 20, at the reunion of the preceding season, Survivor: Worlds Apart. After the reveal occurred, the chosen cast members immediately began the trip to Cambodia.It is the tenth season to feature returning players, and the third to feature a cast consisting entirely of returning players, after Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Though this season will be the 31st to air, it was the 32nd to film, being switched with the preceding season in the production cycle, also filmed in Cambodia.
This season marked the first time in which the final cast was not selected by the producers, instead being chosen by an online public vote from a pool of 32 past players chosen by producers. According to host and executive producer Jeff Probst, 75 former contestants were initially considered regarding returning for this season. On Twitter and in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Probst revealed that Greg Buis from Survivor: Borneo, Ian Rosenberger from Survivor: Palau, Shannon "Shambo" Waters from Survivor: Samoa, Roberta "R.C." Saint-Amour and Jeff Kent from Survivor: Philippines were contacted to return but all of them declined the offers. Josh Canfield from Survivor: San Juan del Sur wrote that he was contacted but was unable to participate due to his role in the Broadway production of Doctor Zhivago.Jaclyn Schultz from San Juan del Sur stated that her fiancé and fellow San Juan del Sur castaway Jon Misch was contacted, but was cut after not responding to a voicemail from the producers in time.
Voting was conducted on the CBS website, and was open to residents of the U.S., Canada (where the show is simulcast on Global) and Australia (where the show airs the following day on Go!). On the website, each candidate was featured in a video displaying a series of clips from their original season followed by a plea to voters as to why they should be selected for Cambodia. Registered voters were required to submit ballots of exactly ten men and ten women, and each voter could only submit a ballot once every 24 hours. This public voting process was similar to one CBS used in 2006 for the all-star edition of reality program Big Brother.
When the candidates were revealed, two of them—Mike Holloway and Carolyn Rivera—were still competing in Survivor: Worlds Apart. It was announced that, if either of them were revealed to be the winner, they would be deemed ineligible for Cambodia and, should they be among the top ten vote receivers of their gender, their spot would be given to the person on their ballot with the 11th highest vote total. Holloway ended up winning Worlds Apart while placing in the top ten among male candidates for Cambodia, thus the 11th place male candidate joined the cast instead. Probst has since stated that, out of respect for the contestants, there is no intention to reveal the final vote counts or ranks.
MEET THE SEASON 31 CAST