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Perhaps the most intriguing combination of returning players on the Heroes side are Cirie and Amanda. Let's examine the latter player first. Amanda made it to the final vote during season 15 only to bungle the final Tribal Council as much as anyone in the history of the game. She stuttered and stammered her way to earning zero votes from her fellow contestants, making Todd Herzog one of the worst champions the game has ever had. His lying was viewed as more open than Amanda's lying, which is exactly the strategy that Evil Loser Russell expected to earn him victory last season only to discover was a one-time only mistake from a prior jury. Amanda was given an opportunity at immediate redemption in season 16, again earning a spot at the final Tribal Council only to receive no votes from her peers. There are a couple of aspects of Amanda's game that are clear. 1) She's a strong contestant who makes savvy alliances that take her to the end of the game. 2) She would never make it as a trial attorney as she seems utterly incapable of convincing others to take her side in a dispute.

Cirie knows this all too well about Amanda, because she was one of the woman's two primary allies during Survivor: Micronesia along with Parvati, who also returns this year. Cirie is perhaps the most oddly defined of the Heroes as she doesn't like to touch bugs and is wildly manipulative. Lazier contestants who use others to advance their goals can be wonderful Survivor players, but they are certainly not Heroes. Either way, Cirie's presence immediately defines her as the villain among the Heroes as well as the person most likely to have an alliance from the beginning due to her previous relationship with Amanda. We suspect that most of the early instigation in the Heroes camp this season will trace back to Cirie.

"I'm a gangster in an Oprah suit." -- Cirie, stealing the words out of the mouths of heroes everywhere

Candice Woodcock is also a contestant on the Heroes tribe. We are told that she appeared in season 13 and that she finished eighth. We have absolutely no recollection of this and strongly suspect revisionist history. How else could we explain a Survivor contestant who made absolutely no impression on us despite making it all the way to the merge? Her bio indicates it may have something to do with the fact that she was banished to Exile Island four straight episodes, which limited her television time. Even so, we just aren't buying that this Candice chick has ever been on the show before.

Okay, that's the Heroes. We'll get to the Villains tomorrow. For now, let's start the recap hour one and we start the only way we could. Probst Sighting! The best reality show host narrates some images from the various highlights of some of the players before we cut to a picture of twin helicopters. Rupert's tie-dye shirt is unmistakable, even from this distance, but the camera pans in anyway. We then cut to see several members of the villains on the other aircraft. If you believe that the editors are always up to something, the first two people to speak are Rupert, who maintains that his goal in life is to show that good always triumphs, and Evil Loser Russell, who says...something. We don't focus on the specifics, because we're too busy laughing as we remember how insanely jealous he was during the live post-game episode after the season finale last year. You know, when he lost. Also, it's fun to imagine how insecure he's going to be around Boston Rob, who will see right through him.

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