Probst kicks off the season by telling us that we're in Guatamala, surrounded by Mayan Ruins, Crocodiles, Jaguars, and Poisonous snakes (oh my!) We're told that 18 strangers and walking to their new camp where a "Big Surprise" awaits them - by now the news is filled with reports that the "surprise" is that 2 former castaways will be joining the cast two "incredibly popular" stars - my guess is that it's gonna be Colby and Stephanie. We'll see.

ay, ya, ya, ya ya, ya ya ya yooooo.. ay, ya, ya, ya ya, ya ya ya yooooo.. ay, ya, ya, ya ya, ya ya ya yooooo.. blah blah blah. duh duh dunt!

The survivors start out in the middle of some ancient ruins, and Probst says "you're going to live in these ruins just like the Mayans did." OK - first of all, they weren't "ruins" when the Mayans lived there. And second of all, doesn't that strike you as a TERRIBLE idea?

Tribes:
Nakum (nah-koom), wearing yellow
Yaxha (ya-shaa), wearing blue

Here comes the big surprise: the two secret players are Bobby Jon and Stephanie. Heck, why didn't I keep of that? Duh. OK, as you may remember, those two were the last surviving two from the season where one tribe was completely decimated by the other.

Bobby Jon joins Nakum
Stephanie joins Yaxha

Probst says this place is dangerous as hell, crocs live in every body of water. The teams enter into a long trek contest to see which team gets the "better" camp.

The Yaxha team heads out and spends some time trying to learn to pronounce their tribe name. They do the usual wandering around with the compass and being lost. Ex-NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom is member of Yaxha, and he confides in us that he isn't going to tell anyone that he played in the NFL for 9 years. My guess is that he gets away with it.

Dark falls on Guatamala and Yaxha looks to be taking a break.

Read the rest of this Recap at ZEBRALITY