‘Survivor Cagayan: Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty’ revealed during ‘Blood vs. Water’ reunion

During the finale for “Survivor: Blood vs. Water,” we know that there were many things that viewers were looking forward to beyond just seeing the reunion … but mostly what the theme for the next season was going to be.

But before we got to the reveal, let’s talk about the rest of the reunion. Of course, Jeff Probst gave a ton of airtime to Rupert despite him being the first person to leave the game, and then a huge segment for Cochran that was basically a giant reminder to watch “The Millers,” Thursday nights on CBS! We love Cochran, but he had to even know in his brain that people were not going to be a big fan of that. Then again, “Survivor” reunions are always like this, and at least Jeff Probst acted like everyone existed. (Plus, they were all on the stage this time! Hooray.)

For those keeping tally, the weirdest moments including Aras trying to advertise his Twitter on live TV, Kat talking about plastic surgery for herself, Tyson’s tuxedo shirt that we want to claim was inspired by our look on “Beauty and the Geek” (but probably not), and also Colton randomly hugging Marissa some of the time. We could probably watch these reunions for two hours just because we find them so strange and fun.

But, there was a sad moment in there as the show did choose to address the recent passing of Tina’s son and Katie’s brother, and the two explained just how going through this experience together made them stronger to tackle something this tragic in real life. We want to again applaud them for being so brave as to share their story publicly, and not shy away from a hard subject during what is often a pretty silly finale.

As for grading the reunion, it had a little of everything, and while there were some annoying moments including Marissa and Gervase being almost completely ignored, it was at least a much-improved outing from recent seasons. Grade: B+.

Now, we turn to next season. The title is “Survivor Cagayan: Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty,” which is a pretty long name. It’s also a theme that we’ve been wanting to see for some time, admittedly with returning players rather than new ones. But this does suggest three tribes (which we like), and we’re happy for all newbies again!

If you want to read some more coverage from the “Survivor” finale, just be sure to click here. We have our review of the final episode and more there.

Photo: CBS