SEASON 40: WINNERS AT WAR (Episode 1)

PREVIOUSLY ON....SURVIVOR!

WHAT. A. PREMIERE.

CBS DELIVERED. THESE CONTESTANTS DELIVERED. JEFF IS PROBABLY THE MOST GIDDY ONE OUT THERE (Sorry Adam Klein..you're not the biggest fan on the island this season!) This is going to be one of the most epic seasons of television ever.

And let's dive into some of the spoilers that made this premiere so epic...

We got nice ~dramatic~ shots of all the men and then all the women serving us ALL FACE -the game is ON! and we don't have any losers this season like....

The editing team gave us really nice intimate moments of players who never let their guard down... (SANDRA CLEARLY VERY HURT BY ROB!! AMBER FALLING OFF THE BOAT AND ROB WATCHING AS HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT HER - he truly loves her!!) And then we got an unprecedented, glorious Cheurlin champagne™ toast from a GLEAMING Jeff Probst! ...he seriously cannot contain the excitement!

BUT PERSONALLY SOME OF MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:

• It's nice that they went old school with the challenge - keeping it physical. And come ON GUYS - Boston Rob - he got fat - he got old - BUT HE STILL CRUSHES IT!!

• Ethan really has the reality TV "story" - he won 37 seasons ago, he beat cancer, nearly died twice and is now BACK on the island!? He looks great - and it looks like he's positioning himself in the game to have options!

• Ben hilariously getting sucked into the Boston Rob charm, already throwing Danni under the bus.

• THE FANS ARE GETTING WHAT WE DESERVE!!! A BOSTON ROB/PARVATI ALLIANCE!!! COULD IT BE!?!?!? Only time will tell...BUT exciting to watch arguably the two biggest targets not only survive their first tribal but be the ones who ORCHESTRATED the blindside on our fantasy league's number one draft pick, NATALIE!

• Tony being mad chill - he hasn't hunted for any idols!!! Do you think this will last?!

• Sandra of COURSE already has an idol! LESSSSGOOOOO!!!! AAANDDD THEN finds a spot on the bench in the second challenge!!

• Yul is readyyyy to play! Dropping the poker game alliance "lie" - "rumor" - I don't know what to call it!! Forcing Amber to be the second member on Edge of Extinction, but really shaking up two favorites, Tyson and Kim's game! (Crazy to see Kim on the bottom - we're not used to this!!!)

A Tan Ambuh™

• But for me, best part about the whole episode was that BOTH tribes went to tribal. I always get bummed for the tribe that constantly goes to tribal because the other tribe is way more dominant in challenges. This season feels like both tribes are so evenly cast - it's going to make for a lot of flip flopping from week to week!!

HOW DID WE DO?!

Jill is off to an early lead (67 points) thanks in part to her being the only tribe member to have QUEEN Sandra on her pre-merge team! Brian and Matt who have nearly identical teams trail Jill with 62 points and 60 points respectively. 

The tribe members who took the biggest hit this week were the lucky ones(or so we thought!) to have Natalie Anderson on their team. #1 draft pick turned out to be #1 castaway sent to Edge of Extinction! Kath lost her SOLE SURVIVOR but Amanda (47) and Rachael (48) take this week's losing positions!

But really, it's really anyone's game!

AND if you guys aren't in the know, Entertainment Weekly writer, Dalton Ross posts weekly recaps of what YOU DIDN'T SEE in the episode (including who votes for who and what they say about their vote!). GREAT READ!!!