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Gervase has picked his niece Marissa to play with him because she is like him. “A younger version of myself.” Marissa was in fourth grade when Gervase’s season was on the air, and naturally she’s very excited to be here.

Gervase claims to have watched “pretty much” every season of Survivor since his season, and saw “the same dumb mistakes made time and time again,” so you know he’s confident he’s not going to make any mistakes like those. Nosiree Bob, not in a million years.

EW leads with the now standard “why are you putting your loved one through this agony? Don’t you like them?” question, and Gervase talks again about how Marissa is the one in his family most like him, and is the closest he’ll get to playing with himself. It’ll be tough for Gervase to beat a younger version of himself. But he probably thinks that if anyone can do it, he can.

On the other hand, he still claims that Marissa won’t do better than him because he didn’t teach her all his secrets. Marissa rubs it in that it has been 13 years since Gervase was on Survivor and it’s a different game now, Zimmer frame. She even says that Gervase’s biggest weakness is his age, although she concedes that he was still able to beat her in a footrace.

Is there a scenario where one votes out the other? “Absolutely,” confirms Marissa. She thinks the distant niece-uncle relationship is a lot easier to betray than a parent-child relationship.

Also, while it has been 13 years, Gervase has not psyched himself up to eat beetle larva. He explains that eating something dead is one thing, but eating something that is alive and fighting to get out of your mouth is something Marissa will have to do.

Assessment: I don’t find Gervase’s claim to be a student of the game who has been plotting a seamless victory for the past 13 years to be convincing, but I’m prepared to wait and see. I like that Marissa talks back to Uncle Gervase, but I don't think she'll have much impact.

Tina and Katie

Tina was the winner of Survivor’s second season in Australia and she was also the first person voted out in Survivor: All-Stars – mostly because she had already won, and then she landed on the same tribe as Jerri Manthey. Tina is playing with her daughter Katie.

Tina enthuses to CBS about how tough her daughter is, and says that “even if she’s not the most athletic person, she has great social skills”. Katie talks about how Tina has skills that she doesn’t. Tina is “much more competitive” and “has relationships with past Survivors,” which worked out so well for her last time she played. But Tina thinks she’ll be able to see how the numbers are going to fall as soon as she hits the beach.

Tina also talks about the “phenomenal” concept behind this season. But when it comes to possibly voting out family, “My philosophy is that this is a game, and our love for each other transcends the game of Survivor.” “We’re going to hug it out at Christmas” translates Katie. “Christmas may be too soon” is Tina’s mock-tart response. Ha!

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