‘Survivor: China’ Contestants Announced

On Monday, CBS announced the cast for the 15th installment of Survivor, which includes – as usual – an eclectic group of people. Survivor: China will premiere on Thursday, September 20 – only one month away.

Unlike most of the other Survivor seasons, the contestants will begin in downtown Shanghai. From there they will go to Mi Tuo Temple on HuangPu Mountain for a Buddhist ceremony – there, they will be told to leave all their worldly possessions behind and clear their minds so they can scheme and plot and stab each other in the back. OK, these are Buddhists, not Machiavellians, so they probably won’t talk about that last stuff.

After the ceremony, the contestants will be left in the Land of 1,000 Lakes in the Jiangxi Province, on two separate islands. The two tribes will be Fei Long (Flying Dragon) and Zhan Hu (Fighting Tiger). Each tribe will receive a copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War for, according to CBS, “tribe motivation and assistance throughout the game.”

Survivor: China will feature the hidden immunity idols again, but this time they’re hidden in plain sight, with one at each camp. It looks like Exile Island will not be making a return, however.

A new twist this season is that after each reward challenge, the winning team can kidnap somebody from the losing tribe until the immunity challenge. Host Jeff Probst will give that person a note to pass along to one of the winners in private – it is up to the kidnap victim to decide who gets the note. That note will contain information about the hidden immunity idol.

So who are the 16 contestants? The basic information about them is as follows:

JEAN-ROBERT BELLANDE
Age: 36
Hometown: Las Vegas (originally from Long Island, N.Y.)
Occupation: Professional Poker Player


JAMES CLEMENT
Age: 30
Hometown: Lafayette, La.
Occupation: Grave Digger


DAVE CRUSER
Age: 37
Hometown: Simi Valley, Calif.
Occupation: Former Model


JAIME DUGAN
Age: 22
Hometown: Columbia, S.C. (originally from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
Occupation: Student


TODD HERZOG
Age: 22
Hometown: Pleasant Grove, Utah
Occupation: Flight Attendant


ERIK HUFFMAN
Age: 26
Hometown: Nashville, Tenn. (originally from Greenville, S.C.)
Occupation: Musician


AMANDA KIMMEL
Age: 23
Hometown: Los Angeles (originally from Kalispell, Mont.)
Occupation: Hiking Guide


PEIH-GEE LAW
Age: 29
Hometown: Marina Del Rey, Calif. (born in Hong Kong)
Occupation: Jeweler


SHEREA LLOYD
Age: 26
Hometown: Atlanta (originally from Pontiac, Mich.)
Occupation: Elementary Teacher


DENISE MARTIN
Age: 40
Hometown: Douglas, Mass. (originally from Revere, Mass.)
Occupation: School Lunch Lady


ASHLEY MASSARO
Age: 28
Hometown: East Northport, N.Y.
Occupation: Professional WWE Wrestler


CHICKEN MORRIS
Age: 47
Hometown: Marion, Va.
Occupation: Chicken Farmer


LESLIE NEASE
Age: 38
Hometown: Tega Cay, S.C.
Occupation: Christian Radio Talk Show Host

In looking at this group, I can already see a few who may have some… disagreements. The professional poker player and the WWE wrestler might not see eye to eye with the Christian radio host, for example. And the poker player was featured as a “bad boy of poker,” so that tells you something about how he puts forth his personality at the poker table.

We’ll have more info about the contestants between now and the premiere, so keep checking back right here on RealityNewsOnline!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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