‘Survivor: Cambodia’ preview series: Who should return? (Part 2, pre-All-Stars women)

The wait for “Survivor: Cambodia” a.k.a. “Survivor: Second Chance” is still over a month and a half, and with that in mind, we do have to find a way to occupy our time a little bit. This is what the article we have for you here is for! This is our continuation of our “players deserving another chance” series, where we look back at people who possess such a narrative that would weave itself well into the modern game. We’re breaking these up both by gender and by era, so today we’re looking at the women who came before All-Stars.

Note that our criteria here is simple: There’s no real serious criteria. We’re not concerned with whether or not these people actually want to play again, or if they have played more than once already. We’re mostly just thinking from a casting perspective who would be interesting to see back on the show after many years away.

Colleen Haskell (Borneo) – Most reports out there state that she was approached for All-Stars and quickly declined. For a time after the original series, Haskell did roles on “That 70’s Show” and also in the Rob Schneider film “The Animal,” but disappeared out of the public eye within a year or two after that. There’s a natural curiosity to see anyone from the first season return, and that is amplified when you think of someone like her who is a mystery to even many diehard “Survivor” fans at this point. We have no idea if she still watches the show, or what her strategy for the game would be so many years removed.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck (Australia) – Again, we’re talking here about curiosity versus people who would actually appear if asked (we can’t control decisions here). Hasselbeck, who was known as Elisabeth Filarski when she first appeared, is basically the opposite of Colleen. She is an extremely high-profile person now known for strong political beliefs; the only thing she has in common with her is that she supposedly also turned down doing All-Stars. While she has distanced herself over the years significantly from “Survivor,” she did appear in the “Survivor Survivor” documentary that came about around the time that “Heroes vs. Villains” first premiered.

Teresa “T-Bird” Cooper (Africa) – Next to Shane Powers, this was the biggest travesty of the entire “Second Chance” voting. T-Bird is comparable in some ways to Tina Wesson, which is probably why she didn’t appear on All-Stars in the first place. She’s smart, likable, and a hard worker; basically, she’s what you want to see in a “Survivor” contestant for the most part. To go along with that, she is also someone who we know would be interested in returning to the game unlike the other two ladies mentioned.

Vecepia Towery (Marquesas) – The winner of the show’s fourth season is not exactly known for being an entertaining character or one of the game’s best players, but she did have some good moments and confessionals. Also, she is probably an underrated player since she is one of the masters of the “fly under the radar” strategy. You look at winners like a Brian Heidik or a Tom Westman and you think right away that there is little chance they can have repeat success. Vecepia, meanwhile, is someone who could come back and win again like Sandra Diaz-Twine. We’d like to see her try.

Helen Glover (Thailand) – Helen falls victim mostly to two things: Being on a season highly regarded as terrible (really to the point of CBS seemingly wanting to forget it ever happened), and also filling a similar archetype to Kathy from Marquesas. Helen was a pretty solid player who maybe got a little too caught up in what Brian was saying in the game, but she had the sort of personality and intelligence you want from a “Survivor” player. You would think that she would learn from that experience and be a pretty good player to watch in the event she ever returned.

If you did not see the first part in this “Survivor” series focusing on the men from the early seasons of the show, head over to this link right now! Also, you can sign up here to get some other TV-related updates on just about all we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)