‘Survivor 27’: Filming location revealed, and we have fun with casting

In just two short (or long, depending on your patience level) weeks we’re going to find out who ends up winning “Survivor  Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites.” Since we’re seemingly never satisfied with what we have, which in this case is a show that has improved greatly post-merge, let’s take a look ahead at what could be coming up for the fall.

Word on the street is that producers are angling for a “Favorites vs. Family” theme, and while we can’t confirm that and wouldn’t even if we could, we will at least disclose where it will be filmed. Thanks to a bang-up job by Reality Blurred author Andy Denhart of accumulating information, it appears that producers are angling once again to return to the Philippines … albeit a different part of the country. The Cagayan province is where they will be heading, which does mean that they could either use that or the show’s theme for the title of the season, depending of course on what they want to name season 28 (which starts up filming a few short weeks later).

But now, the fun part: Dream casting! We know that there are rumors out there, but we’re hesitant to believe anything since the cast does not even fly out until after the finale Sunday, and the show can make changes at the last minute. So with that, we’ve assembled a list of ten intriguing choices to play again. They are not necessarily our favorites, but they’d make for a compelling story.

1. Richard Hatch – Predictable choice? Sure, and you may not like him, but we would love to see how the original Survivor would play the game so many years down the road. Who knows? There may be enough distance now between seasons that he has a shot at winning again.

2. Shane Powers – We really just want to see if he goes completely unhinged on the island again. The man was the entertaining “Survivor” character before the trope even existed, and he wasn’t just doing it for air time.

3. Jenna Morasca – You have to feel bad for Jenna after the way she left all-stars. She may have technically quit the game, but she has to be the one exception to the rule about people in her position never returning.

4. Kim Spardlin – We want the show’s most-dominate female winner back, but probably not in a normal all-star season. She’d have to play with some of the best players ever, since otherwise you’re just cheapening her potential as a returning player / great strategist.

5. Abi-Maria Gomes – Every show needs a villain, and we love her willingness to wear the badge of honor of being awful to most everyone in the game last season.

6. Reynold Toepfer – Easily, the only fan we want to see again … mostly to see if he ever has a strategy to go along with his Disney prince-like appearance and mastery at random carnival games during challenges.

7. Rob Cesternino – An interesting choice. We don’t know if we’d want him to come back, mostly because we don’t know what we’d do without his podcast if he did the show and CBS forced him to clam up for months. However, considering the target that would be on his back from day one, it would be an epic beyond epic sundae topped with an epic cherry if he still found a way to go far.

8. Danni Boatwright – Largely so that people remember that there was a season of this show set in Guatemala, and she was a pretty great winner on top of that.

9. Alicia Rosa – It’s not often that you have female characters who are also strategists on the show, so you really have to take advantage of this every chance that you can.

10. Ken Hoang – For one, having Ken on the same season as Rob would be like “Survivor” geek face-explosion levels of awesome. On the flip side, we’re wondering if he could do well with his sort of sneaky game after what Cochran has done this year.

We of course want to hear who you’d love to see back on the show below, or if you’re more of a fan of the elusive all-newbies season. Plus, read our take on Brenda’s downfall last night here. (Full interview with her coming soon.)

Photo: CBS