Survivor: Caramoan - Checking Out the New Castaways

The series premiere will be this coming Wednesday night, February 13, at 8pm ET/PT. As always, the blog party post will be up and running! Laurie is running the blog pool (she rocks, y'know) and you can get aboard with that by contacting her at lifeguardlaurie at gmail.com.

I checked out the returning "Favorites" in this post a bit ago. Tonight I'll be looking a bit more at the newbie "Fans." While I'm not huge on returning players on reality shows, I think I'm actually looking forward to watching some of the returnees this time around. Well, that is, except Brandon Hantz. He can't have changed enough for him to ever be in good graces with me. I'd like him to be the first one off, thank you very much.

For a peek at the new castaways, check out the Jeff Probst cast assessment --

My own quick assessments from reading their bios on the CBS website:

Laura Alexander: Age 23, from Washington D.C. Um, well. She seems to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder. Unless she's too abrasive, some of her qualities might lead to a win. That's not to say she's someone I think I'll like.

Sherri Beithman: Age 41, from Boise, Idaho. Hmm ... in her bio, she twice refers to herself as "lovable." That makes me not love her all that much. I could be wrong, though. I guess she could be lovable. Maybe.

Matt Bischoff: Age 38, from Cincinnati, Ohio. Ah, the weird beard dude! His inspiration in life is the man who grew the longest beard ever (17.5 feet). Okaaay. He thinks he's going to play a good social game. I think he's going to be easy to differentiate from the other new male castaways until I get the names down.

Hope Driskill: Age 23, from Jefferson City, Missouri. A recent college grad hoping to use winnings from the show to finance law school. I kind of like this kid. She seems bright and athletic. She might do well.

Eddie Fox: Age 23, from East Brunswick, NJ. Homeboy in da house! He's eye candy and a fireman, too. Huh ... not far away from where I live, either. Hummahumma! Ahem. Actually, in reading his bio, his chances look good. If anything, he might be not sneaky enough, I say.

Julia Landauer: Age 21, from Stanford, California. Racecar driver, eh? She apparently has turned 21 since the season was filmed, so she's but a child. Despite being a child, I think I'm going to like her and she just might be a strong competitor. We'll see.

Allie Pohevitz: Age 25, from Oceanside, NY. Oceanside would be on Lawn Guyland (Long Island for the non-natives) as that's the only ocean side New York has. She's a bartender and probably of the ilk we'd see on Big Brother. For some reason, the word "annoying" comes to mind as I read her bio.

Michael Snow: Age 44, from New York City, NY. I'm not sure if film, theater, knitting and photobombing are great qualities for competing to be the sole Survivor. I do think his social game might be good. But if his physical game sucks, he's gone.

Shamar Thomas: Age 27, from Brooklyn, NY. My gosh, my little corner of the world is getting well represented in this cast -- NJ and NYC Metro Area! I'm of two minds about this guy. On one hand, he could very well do well. On the other hand, it seems with all he's out to prove, all may backfire.

Reynold Toepfer: Age 30, from San Francisco, California. He's the wild card player according to the Jeff Assessment. He claims (twice) to be a charmer and says he "dazzles" people. Let us be the judge of that.

So, there you go. Ten new "fans" aboard the cast. Most are young. They're all fans of the show. I think it's going to be an interesting season. Your thoughts?