Survivor: The Recent Players Most Likely To Get A Second Chance

Over the last few seasons, Survivor has built an impressive roster of possible returnees, but some players are surer bets for a second chance than others. The “Second Chance” theme is a popular one with Survivor fans. The first Second Chance season, Survivor: Cambodia, was one of the most hyped seasons in the show’s history and is consistently ranked among Survivor‘s greatest seasons. The theme gave a variety of players another opportunity to win the game. The Cambodia cast ranged from early old school boots to newer players who almost won the game and everything in between. The cast was voted in by the fans, and the players made the most of their second chance at the game.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been another Second Chance season in the seven years since Cambodia. There have been two all-returnee seasons in the interim, Survivor: Game Changers and Survivor: Winners at War, but there has yet to be another cast of all one-time players who didn’t win the game. Host and executive producer Jeff Probst has expressed excitement about a potential Second Chance 2 in the past, but the theme hasn’t matched up with the production’s creative direction yet, despite the amount of players who would fit the season perfectly.

Some bona fide locks for an inevitable Second Chance season include Ghost Island‘s near-winner and dominant strategist Domenick Abbate, Survivor 41‘s polarizing “mafia pastor” Shan Smith, and David vs. Goliath‘s beloved fan favorite Christian Hubicki. These three players all guaranteed themselves return trips to the island by the sheer force of their impact on their seasons and are unquestionably at the top of the list to come back. Some other locks include season 37’s Angelina Keeley and Davie Rickenbacker, season 35 runner-up Chrissy Hofbeck, and season 38’s Rick Devens, all of whom made strong impressions on their seasons. A tier below them on the shortlist would be recent favorites like Xander Hastings and Ricard Foyé and memorable characters like Gabby Pascuzzi and Naseer Muttalif.

It’s unclear if anyone from season 39 would be invited to return, given that it invited a firestorm of negative attention due to incidents of unwanted touching that plagued nearly the entire season. The production might want to bury the season from popular consciousness, but it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if some of its less controversial players were invited back for a second chance. Players like Janet Carbin and Lauren Beck came away from the season popular with the fanbase and mostly unscathed by the controversy, and they would be welcome additions to a returnee season.

The greatest aspect of the Second Chance theme, however, is that it gives lesser-known Survivor players another opportunity to make an impact on the show. Survivor: Cambodia‘s biggest story was former pre-merger Kelley Wentworth blossoming from relative obscurity to become one of the show’s biggest stars, and there are plenty of potential early boots who could have a similar trajectory, like season 39’s Molly Byman and Chelsea Walker, season 36’s James Lim, and season 41 wildcard Brad Reese. Hopefully, a Second Chance season is around the corner and gives some of these less prominent players an opportunity to battle it out with the bigger names. Regardless of how the season plays out, it’s high time for Survivor to make another Second Chance happen.

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