'Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs Favorites': New cast and intel revealed!

Image credit: Monty Brinton/CBS[/caption]

Survivor will try to follow up its best season in years by reviving a concept from one of its best seasons ever when Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs Favorites premieres Feb. 13 on CBS. And the names of both the new fans and returning favorites can now be officially revealed. This marks the show’s second Fans vs Faves venture after Survivor: Micronesia, widely considered one of the program’s strongest offerings. And one of the Fans from that season, Erik Reichenbach (who was most famous for giving up his immunity necklace and then being voted off), will now be making the jump to the Favorites. He will be joined by another person who gave away immunity only to be voted out, Brandon Hantz (Survivor: South Pacific).

Also on the Favorites tribe will be John Cochran (South Pacific), Dawn Meehan (South Pacific), Phillip Sheppard (Redemption Island), Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island), Francesca Hogi (Redemption Island), Corinne Kaplan (Gabon), Brenda Lowe (Nicaragua), and Malcolm Freberg, who began filming on the new season only two-and-a-half weeks after he came in fourth place on Survivor: Philippines. (The seasons were shot back-to-back in the Philippines in the spring of 2012.)

All of the returning players come from relatively recent seasons and will be playing for the second time. None come from the first 15 seasons of the show, and only Erik and Corinne did not appear in one of the previous five installments. (Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs Favorites marks the show’s 26th season.) According to host Jeff Probst, the emphasis on more recent returnees is no accident. “We realized that we had to make a decision,” Probst told EW.com. “Do we only bring back our oldest iconic stars, or do we begin to birth new stars. And when we sat down with the list and said, okay let’s look at the people that we haven’t brought back yet, we felt like we had a really good group. And it was a bit of a turning point for us to say, we’re now going to look at the next generation of Survivor all-stars.”

Of course, many of these all-stars are known more for their big gaffes in the game. In addition to Erik and Brandon handing away immunity, Cochran made a hotly-debated flip that led to his demise, and Francesca was the very first person voted off her season after she openly took on Boston Rob. In fact, after seeing whom he was playing against this time around, Cochran fretted about the company he was keeping. “I was looking around all the CBS stuff to see if I could find a logo for the season somewhere because I’m dying to know what this season is subtitled because it sure isn’t being called Greatest Survivor Players of All-Time,” Cochran told EW.com right before filming began in May 2012. “I’m afraid it’s going to be some sort of unflattering thing like Dunce Island where we have to wear dunce caps instead of buffs or something. Because there are a lot of people that made weird moves or poor moves like me.”

As for the 10 new players who will comprise the “Gota” tribe taking on the “Bikal” tribe of Favorites, they include Miss Missouri 2011, a firefighter/EMT, a female racecar driver, and former United States Marine Corps Sgt. Shamar Thomas, who gained a measure of Internet fame after a video posted of him berating New York City police officers for excessive force during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. (The full list of 20 new and returning players is below.)

And while Survivor: Caramoan will not feature the 21 straight days of rain that fell on the contestants last season, Probst promises that “The weather is a problem. This is a difficult season. The Survivors get pummeled. And there are evacuations. There are things out of the norm that happen this season that will be very memorable. I was on the boat a lot, going back and forth between camps.”

Probst also teases that love will be in air this season. “There’s also some romance early on which continues to blow my mind! It knocks me over that people want the jungle love! As much as you can’t believe we still do a final three, I can’t believe romance happens in front of other people in a game like Survivor.” (He’s right — I do hate the final three format.)

A full list of the cast can be found below. Also, make sure to check out our photo gallery of the new cast. We also give our take on the returning players on the new InsideTV Podcast. And for more Survivor news and views all year long, follow me on Twitter @DaltonRoss.

The cast of Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs Favorites

Favorites/Bikal tribe

Andrea Boehlke

Previous Season: Survivor: Redemption Island – 13th castaway voted out/ 8th Jury Member

Age: 23

Current Residence: New York, N.Y.

Occupation: Entertainment Host and Writer

Brandon Hantz

Previous Season: Survivor: South Pacific – 15th castaway voted out/7th Jury Member

Age: 21

Current Residence: Katy, Texas

Occupation: Chemical Disposal

Brenda Lowe

Previous Season: Survivor: Nicaragua – 11th castaway voted out/3rd Jury Member

Age: 30

Current Residence: Miami, Fla.

Occupation: Paddleboard Co. Owner

Corinne Kaplan

Previous Season: Survivor: Gabon – 12th castaway voted out/4th Jury Member

Age: 33

Current Residence: Los Angeles

Occupation: Clinical Consultant

Dawn Meehan

Previous Season: Survivor: South Pacific – 11th castaway voted off/3rd Jury Member

Age: 42

Current Residence: South Jordan, Utah

Occupation: English Professor

Erik Reichenbach

Previous Season: Survivor: Micronesia – 13th castaway voted out/6th Jury Member

Age: 27

Current Residence: Santa Clarita, Calif.

Occupation: Comic Book Artist

Francesca Hogi

Previous Season: Survivor: Redemption Island – 1st castaway voted out

Age: 38

Current Residence: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Occupation: Attorney

John Cochran

Previous Season: Survivor: South Pacific – 13th castaway voted out/5th Jury Member

Age: 25

Current Residence: Washington, D.C.

Occupation: Harvard Law Student

Malcolm Freberg

Previous Season: Survivor: Philippines – 15th castaway voted off/8th Jury member

Age: 25

Current Residence: Hermosa Beach, Calif.

Occupation: Bartender

Phillip Sheppard

Previous Season: Survivor: Redemption Island – Made it to the final 3

Age: 54

Current Residence: Santa Monica, Calif.

Occupation: Chief Executive Officer of Enter Software Sales

Fans/Gota tribe

Alexandra “Allie” Pohevitz

Age: 25

Current Residence: Oceanside, N.Y.

Occupation: Bartender

Edward “Eddie” Fox

Age: 23

Current Residence: East Brunswick, N.J.

Occupation: Fireman/EMT

Hope Driskill

Age: 23

Current Residence: Jefferson City, Mo.

Occupation: Pre Law Student (Miss Missouri 2011)

Julia Landauer

Age: 21

Current Residence: Stanford, Calif.

Occupation: Racecar Driver

Laura Alexander

Age: 23

Current Residence: Washington, D.C.

Occupation: Administrative Officer

Matt Bischoff

Age: 38

Current Residence: Cincinnati, Ohio

Occupation: BMX Bike Sales

Michael Snow

Age: 44

Current Residence: New York, N.Y.

Occupation: Event Planner

Reynold Toepfer

Age: 30

Current Residence: San Francisco, Calif.

Occupation: Real Estate Sales

Shamar Thomas

Age: 27

Current Residence: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Occupation: Iraq War Veteran

Sherri Biethman

Age: 41

Current Residence: Boise, Idaho

Occupation: Fast Food Franchisee