‘Survivor: San Juan del Sur’ finale: Could Jeremy Collins, Josh Canfield, Natalie Anderson return?

Every season of “Survivor” before the finale, we like to sit down, look at the cast’s performance this season, and one one simple thing: Could there be any returning players from this group?

At the moment, we’re in a weird situation when it comes to this. It feels like CBS has moved away from the All-Star season mold for the time being, but we do feel like there will be another one eventually. We don’t see “San Juan del Sur” being a “Guatemala” situation where no one (besides Stephenie) is asked back, but at the same time, this is not “Cagayan,” where we thought that Tony, Spencer, and Kass should all be brought back in a heartbeat, and there were at least three or so others likely to receive a phone call at this point.

This season, there are only three people we feel pretty confident about getting at least a phone call from CBS. Note that we’re thinking here from a production point of view, not whether or not these people would actually want to return. (With this being said, probably only about 5% of “Survivor” players we’ve interviewed over the years said they would not want to return.)

Near-locks to be asked back

Jeremy Collins – One of the season’s big characters, and in between his athletic ability and his confessionals, this is a player we see the show getting back in a heartbeat for another season.

Likely to be asked back

Josh Canfield – Had he lasted maybe another episode or two, we’d call him a near-lock as well. Like Jeremy, there is more game for him to play. He also is a very good narrator for the show, and a major fan to boot. These are all things that production and fans both want in their returning-player casts.

Natalie Anderson – How can you not want Natalie back? She’s a huge personality, and she has proven herself to also be a great player. You can argue that maybe there has already been enough of the Twinnies on CBS, but if she manages to win this season, we feel like it will move her into the near-locks category.

Could be asked back

Baylor Wilson – A win would help her here. The show does not have many young women who have a reasonable strategic game; while Baylor doesn’t seem to have a good reputation around game as a hard worker, we have seen proof that she is making moves. (We’d still pick Ciera over her.)

Missy Payne – We feel like Missy could be a really good player in another season, especially without having to also be concerned over her daughter. She does seem to have a blind spot (we saw that with Jon), but if she was a little more cutthroat, she’d be dangerous on another season.

Keith Nale – He’s not a good player by any means, but he is a big character. Just remember that the show did bring back Big Tom, and Keith is basically the reincarnation of that. Remember that after All-Stars, Tom had actually played more days of “Survivor” than anyone else.

Outside possibilities

Either Wentworth – Both Dale and Kelley were screwed over by the tribe swap this season, and we feel like they both left some unfinished business out there. They could be good additions to another season if you want a redemption story, or if you are arranging a season of pre-merge boots.

We’ve set up a poll below in case you want to have your own voice heard on this subject. Also, you can click here to read our interview with Jon Misch, or here to sign up now for some further TV updates courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)