It’s 2020 and we’re all at home. Everyone has their own responsibilities and challenges to deal with during this time of self-quarantine, physical distancing and worrying about the future. What we need right now is a distraction, and a growing number of people have found that nothing is more distracting than a game of Survivor Hamilton. What you are about to experience is similar in many ways to the Survivor television show – we have Tribes, Immunity Challenges and Tribal Councils – but we’ve adapted to modern technology in a way that allows people hundreds of miles away to live through the triumph and heartache that is Survivor. (we use the internet)

Over the past few seasons, we’ve seen juggernaut alliances form only to crumble gloriously, lifelong friendships have been tested, twists have shocked favourites, blindsides, tribe swaps, and merges have changed everything, and there’s been oh so much over-strategizing. As soon as we crowned Meg the winner of last season, Fire & Ice, we knew that our next game would pit new players vs returning veterans, but life got in the way, a year passed, and now we’ve returned as timely as ever.

Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New is a celebration of many of our top players from the past who are returning to snuff out old rivalries or re-ignite them, all the while forming new ones. It also marks a significant expansion of our family, which will allow new players to challenge themselves and hopefully share the experience with their loved ones along the way, expanding the SH Fam even further.

So as the game begins this week – our first Immunity Challenge is tomorrow! – we wanted to take the time to introduce you to our two Tribes, 30 people vying for the title of Sole Survivor Hamilton, and let you know what we have in store for you. When thinking about our theme of new players vs returning, we struggled for a long time to come up with the names of our Tribes, and even the name of the season itself. We wanted to invoke not only an intense rivalry, but also a potential changing of the guard as new players bring their own ideas and strategies to compete with SH veterans. We also knew that we wanted to embrace modern technologies such as video and web-conferencing, and so the theme of Old Meets New was born. We began looking at animal rivalries for inspiration for the tribe names, and very quickly settled on the intriguing and eternal battle between cobras and the mongooses (mongeese?) throughout rural India.

We could think of no better animal to represent our tribe of returning players than the snake. Tales of great serpents have been told for thousands of years, typically with descriptions of an ancient existence, with a cunning intellect and a deadly bite, and so we named our “Old” tribe Kobara – meaning cobra in Hindi, the native language of India. Not only has every castaway on Kobara played Survivor Hamilton before, but many are very close friends or family; they have played this game on the same or opposite sides of the vote. They know each other’s tendencies, strengths and weaknesses, and will all have an intense desire to not only go further than last time, but ensure their rivals go out quickly.

We have Kyle and Chris, two brothers with long Survivor Hamilton histories – Kyle with a victory over 39 other players in 2007 on Survivor Hamilton Two, and Chris who always manages to stay in the middle of all the controversy. Together they know everyone in the tribe, but will all those connections help or hinder their games? Jordan is returning in back to back seasons after an unexpected run to the Final 3 in Fire & Ice. Even he didn’t expect to get as involved in the game as he did, and after coming up short of the Final 2 last time, he knows what it takes to make a long run.

Amanda hasn’t played Survivor Hamilton for over 13 years, and so despite having a handful of connections in the tribe, will the attention that the game requires in 2020 be a shock to her system? Speaking of shocks to the system, David C. returns to the game after being stunned to be voted out first in his tribe in Fire & Ice; and so he is desperate to prove that the 5-hour time zone difference for this UK islander will not be an issue this time around. His strongest ally from that game, Silas is also back and we will see how his mix of dominant social and strategic play mixes with his desire to troll the other players and stir up trouble.

Our ultimate troll, Elliott, also weaseled his way back into the game as our resident wildcard. Despite always playing Survivor Hamilton with some of his closest friends, Elliott has shown an inability to remain patient, and would rather create drama for his tribemates (which we’re here for!). The common target for Elliott’s style of gameplay has been Peter, one of Elliott’s closest friends, but a rival when it comes to Survivor Hamilton. How these 2 veterans will work together, or not, should prove to be one of Old Meets New’s early storylines to watch. Will Peter have enough patience to deal with the stress Elliott brings?

Living in BC, 3 hours behind most of the other players is James. Since being voted out early in SH2, James has never forgotten the feeling of being blindsided early, and will be looking to redeem himself in the eyes of his friends and tribemates. But they all thought his demise was very funny last time, so can he trust his allies to have his back this time around? Paul is another player that will be looking to redeem himself, with one poor Immunity Challenge performance after another spelling his doom in Fire & Ice. Of course he has people to align with, but can he help his tribe stay away from Tribal Council?

Two players on the other end of the performance spectrum are Cowin and Chelsea. Throughout Fire & Ice they proved to be challenge beasts, consistently leading their tribe by responding to the challenge posts the quickest. While Cowin was ousted quickly by his tribe after being labelled (correctly at the time) as a wildcard that couldn’t be trusted, Chelsea had a very up and down game. An outcast from the majority alliance in her tribe, Chelsea was voted out, saved by a twist, swapped back to her tribe, voted out her rival, and was promptly voted out next. These two have played together in the past but will need to forge their own paths to survive against all these other returning players.

Jonathan is a player that was a part of some big moments in Fire & Ice, but ultimately played a similar game to Paul in terms of challenge performances. While Jonathan made the merge, he mostly went along with the majority, and so we’ll be interested to see if he switches up his game plan with many more potential connections on Kobara.

Lastly, we come to Graham and Bryan. These two started on the same tribe in Fire & Ice, and both went out in extremely disappointing fashions, one before and one after the merge. Graham had thought he was headed for the merge in a majority alliance, but he and his alliance could not overcome the two Hidden Immunity Idols that sent him packing. Bryan never received a vote against, but was eliminated from Fire & Ice when the two major alliances were deadlocked and players were forced to “draw rocks”, which did not go his way. They both may feel their demises were unfair, so what will they do to change their fortunes?

Watch Kobara meet together as a tribe for the first time:

Ultimately, Kobara is a tribe full of strong connections, and Survivor Hamilton history. There is at most one degree of separation between each of these players, and so no one will seem like an easy first target. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that because of the strong friendships, everyone in the tribe will feel both safe and in danger at the same time. Whoever is voted out first will undoubtedly feel the sting of a knife in the back, and we couldn’t be more excited to see what happens when they are forced to choose.

Like the pre-historic mammals that entered a world full of reptiles, our new players will also find themselves needing to adapt or die. Nevala is the Hindi word for mongoose, and we’ve all seen pictures or videos of those small mammals standing up against snakes (or crocodiles!) and winning battles over territory. We knew that these hardy, team-oriented creatures would be the perfect mascot for our tribe of new players, and also a worthy adversary for Kobara.

Despite the majority of the group being completely new to Survivor Hamilton (despite what they’ve heard about the game) 2 members of Nevala have actually “played” the game before. Wayne was included 15 years ago in a game that doesn’t resemble the current version in any meaningful way, and Damien played in SH2 but was eliminated so early that your host forgot he was even in that season. It’s all worked out for the best though, and we may see Wayne and Damien taking a leadership role for those who have little experience with the journey they are about to take. Sharon comes to the game as someone who wished she had been able to play previously, so she should have some idea of what she’s getting into, and may be an early challenge favourite.

Speaking of experience, Jim is our oldest castaway, and the father of yours truly. He has heard about Survivor Hamilton for years, and despite his name being on the masthead he has never had the chance to play. It will be very interesting to see if the generational divide has any impact for Jim, and for his step-son Ross as well. Ross, at 21, is the youngest player this season and as an energetic student may struggle with the attention required in some phases of the game.

Another of our younger castaways is Marishka, who has joined the game without any connections whatsoever. She will have the perfect opportunity to forge her own path and could be valuable for an alliance looking to add a vote. Andre’s is another vote that will likely be up for grabs, though he has also indicated that his competitiveness will be an advantage for his tribe. There are a few ways to play the game. Some focus on the personal aspect, and others on their challenge performances, and we may see two very different strategies from Marishka and Andre.

There are also several players on Nevala that had close friends or family participate in past seasons. During Fire & Ice, April had to endure endless hours of game talk from her husband Graham’s long run and eventual demise. Ian would hear tales of his brother-in-law Jordan’s Survivor Hamilton journey at our family gatherings. After Meg & Stevie’s alliance dominated Fire & Ice, their friends Ruth and Sasha were quick to sign up to Old Meets New with the hope of writing their own tales of glory. David M. and Jon have both known about Survivor Hamilton for years and years, and watched their friends battle it out, but never wanted to play themselves. That is until their arms were twisted by a mutual friend or two.

We also have Shareed in the game, who loves Survivor but really has no experience at all with Survivor Hamilton, and Dave who joins us because of his deep adoration for group competitions. How wildcards like Shareed and Dave, as well as players like Andre and Marishka vote in the early weeks will have a huge impact on the direction of this Nevala tribe. They are all figuring out how to play this game on the fly, and how they adapt to victories and hardship will be the most exciting part of this new season.

Watch Nevala meet for the first time as a tribe below:

What Now?

So far you’ve been introduced to our two new tribes, Kobara and Nevala, as well as the overall goal of this game – which is to Outwit, Outlast and Outplay 29 other competitors to win the right to be called Sole Survivor Hamilton. So now the game begins.

Our first Immunity Challenge will be held tomorrow, Monday, May 4^th, with a challenge in the form of a brain-teaser posted on survivorhamilton.ca between the hours of 5-9pm EST. The winning tribe will be the tribe that has the most correct answers sent to the host in the shortest amount of time. The results will be posted later that night, and the losing tribe informed that they will be required to vote for Tribal Council on Wednesday.

Your host will collect all the votes by 8pm EST on Wednesday, and the results will be revealed to the tribe via web conference, which will be recorded and posted on the website along with a brief writeup. Then the process will begin again with another Immunity Challenge on Thursday and another Tribal Council on Saturday. This schedule will continue for around 15 weeks until we are down to one.

I look forward to meeting with the tribes for the first time tonight via web conference, and we simply cannot wait for the challenges and the voting to begin!

Here we go.

MH

Next Episode