HOLLYWOOD—“Survivor 48” kicked things off on Wednesday with 18 new contestants vying for that prize while trying to survive in the wilderness. With a two-hour premiere, I wonder what twists or surprises we are getting this season. This is a first as we see reactions from the new contestants as they learn they have been chosen versus the other fluff we have gotten in recent years. Our three tribes are:

Lagi: Joe, Eva, Shauhin, Star, Bianca and Thomas.

Vulva: Sioquoina, Cedrek, Kevin, Stephanie, Justin and Mary.

Civa: David, Charity, Mitch, Chrissy, Kamilla and Kyle.

Mitch just automatically connects to you with his story and his ability to strive to overcome his speech impediment. The first challenge was all about earning supplies for the tribe.  Lagi managed to win the first challenge, as the other two absolutely struggled despite being completely covered in mud. What’s the point there? Kevin and Kyle are going on a journey to try to earn supplies and it looks like Kevin is being considered the weak link, he didn’t even want to go on the journey. Thomas is hilarious and I love his banter, so seeing him align with Bianca that was fun.

Over at Civa, David is a Goliath of a beast, but he is quite loud. Over at Vulva it was obvious they didn’t have the most athletic team with Cedrek, but Sai was playing the game quite hard very fast, tying to build a strong foursome. Civa might be the hot mess tribe of the season, but we’ll see. Kyle and Kevin realized they would have to compete against one another. What is the point of this? It is likely literally placing a target on a player’s back as an easy boot. Just give all the tribes the basic supplies to survive. Kyle broke the bottle and deemed he was out, but decided to help Kevin in the process.

Good thing for Kyle being a standup, and he has a hell of a story to give to his tribe. Mary and Kevin are bonding, and then Sai pulled in Kevin to her foursome, but Mary is not part of this. So who is the oddball out, Stephanie. David and Mitch discovered odd symbols on the trees, as well as a black string that led to…Kyle returned to the camp and explained to his tribemates he didn’t get the supplies. He was honest, but David has an ego that is too big. He is talking too much and not listening. Symbols, letters, and I thought Vulva was going to be a hot mess, that might be Civa.

At least we get to see Lagi, where the guys were working hard, while Eva gathered bamboo and I like her. Joe on the other hand wants to do a steamroll. Yeah, no thanks, that is not something I want to see in my “Survivor” that sounds boring. Mary and Stephanie was not feeling Sai, who they felt was playing way too hard. She kind of was. She did locate the ‘Beware Advantage’ that involved cracking a code, but Justin was by her side as well.

Star didn’t feel a single strong ally and started to search for a potential ally, and she found nothing, but everyone at camp realized that Star was gone way too long and the target on her back started to grow. Eva and Joe continued to bond. Eva’s story is indeed connecting with me; I love her. Kyle and Kamilla have more similarities than I, or either of them ever expected. Oh, yeah, those two are going to be a tight duo. Charity threw Kyle under the bus with Kamilla, and she warned Kyle about it. I like Kamilla, she’s here to play. Chrissy, David, Kyle and Kamilla have formed a foursome, leaving Charity and Mitch out of the loop.

Sai, bringing the advantage back to the camp is not smart to me. She recalled all the symbols over the island and realized those were the clues to the word ‘LISTEN’ and she has the idol, which Kyle, Cedrek and Kevin all know about. We’re likely 40 minutes away from the end of the episode, and we haven’t gotten to the Immunity Challenge or Tribal Council, something interesting is happening, or the strategy is going to feel rushed. This was indeed an elaborate Immunity Challenge.

Lagi was the first team to complete the challenge and obtain immunity, with Vulva making a strong comeback, but it was Civa who had only two pieces to complete, and they managed to seal the victory over Vulva. That I didn’t expect, so it’s an interesting dynamic here. So Vulva is headed to Tribal Council, and I think Stephanie and Sai could be in trouble. This almost feels like a rushed TC, but I hope that is not the case.

Stephanie immediately apologized for not finishing the puzzle, but she did absolutely well in my opinion. Cedrek, Sai and Kevin were ok with Stephanie being booted, but Sai, you’re annoying me a bit. Mary was all about trust and wanted Sai out. What is Justin going to do? We don’t know, but it was obvious he was lying which Sai picked up on it to a degree. Kevin was clued in that Sai was in trouble and decided with Justin to target Sai to get that idol out of her hands and into theirs.

The Tribal Councils have not been super exciting as of late, but Sai gave an immediate reaction to Stephanie and her air sign. Justin is just a bore for me, I’m sorry. He is not giving as a character. Yeah, Sai and Stephanie do not like one another. The tension at this Tribal Council between these two ladies is whew!

I think Stephanie purposefully did that to throw Sai off, and I feel like Sai is about to be blindsided. Nope, it was Mary who was blindsided. So did Kevin or Justin betray Mary? Both of them did, and Mary is on the bottom of the tribe, but I have a feeling she will bounce back. Off to a fun season “Survivor 48” fanatics. New episodes premiere Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.