HOLLYWOOD—I’m just going to say it; the last few seasons of “Survivor” has been some of the worst for me. This new era decade in the 40s, just haven’t been riveting or as exciting as you would hope. I think season 47 I enjoyed perhaps the most out of all of the most recent seasons 41-49. That’s not good. So, imagine the fan-base reaction to learning for the first time since season 40, ‘Winners At War’ we have a returnee season where players who know how to play the game are going to play the game.

I mean we have icons, and I mean icons, in addition to players audiences/viewers have been begging to see play “Survivor” again. Yes, there are some people on this cast I can do without, and I will call out those names, and I don’t care if anyone likes it or not. I don’t need to see Tiffany Irvin from 46 again, nor Kyle Fraser from 48 or Joe Hunter from 48, or Savannah Louie and Rizo Velovic from 49 or Jonathan Young from 42. I get the show wants to honor those from the recent 5 plus years of the show, but a lot of them are not iconic, there were much better choices at play who were overlooked.

That is a for another time and place, however, we have 24 players with an epic 3-hour premiere. Yes, it was a long night of TV people. You know who I was happy to see again? Genevieve from 47, Jenna Lewis from the very first season of “Survivor.” Coach from ‘Tocantins’ and ‘Heroes vs. Villains,’ Cirie Fields, who has played phenomenal on ‘Micronesia’ and ‘Game Changers’ to get snuffed by twists or too many advantages. Chrissy Hofbeck who was screwed over by a last-minute twist in season 35 that left many in uproar. We also have the return of Colby Donaldson from ‘The Australian Outback’ and Aubrey Bracco who should have won ‘Kaoh Rong’ and I don’t care what anyone says.

The premiere episode, ‘Epic Party’ saw our players were divided into 3 tribes of 8. The montage for the first 10 mins was great, but let’s get the game started please. I was eager to see Stephenie, because I only know her from “Survivor” lore and “The Traitors.” Our tribes are Vatu, Cila and Kalo. Part of Vatu is Colby, Aubry, Q, Kyle, Angelina, Stephenie, Genevieve and Rizo. Cila consists of Rick, Cirie, Emily, Christian, Joe, Jenna, Savannah and Ozzy. Our final tribe Kalo consists of Charlie, Tiffany, Chrissy, Kamilla, Dee, Coach, Mike and Jonathan.

Seeing Cirie break down in tears was gut-wrenching, fans voted on rather to have rice or fight for it. Fans voted for the players to fight for their rice, and fans voted for players to earn their camp supplies also, or did the producers? Vatu won the first challenge winning fire, and for the fight for supplies, Kalo chose Coach, while Cila sent Ozzy, while Vatu sent Q. Oh this should be fun. To go 30 minutes without a commercial is a good sign so far for the pace of the episode.

Stephenie as happy to see Colby again, knowing that she isn’t aware of too many of the new era players. Oh, this friction between Rizo and Colby is fun. Colby is not a fan, and I love it. He annoyed me last see, so to see someone not want to play with Rizo was exciting.

Over at Kalo, Dee was doing a lot of the narrating, with Mike realizing he needed to lower his threat level, as people were geeking out over him. Cila was an interesting one, Joe was getting a narrative, as well as Cirie. I loved Rick Devens, and questions about Savannah rose, and she noted that she was the winner. Being honest, I think that matters. Jenna already pegged Savannah may have had major blood on her hands, and Jenna wanted to go after Cirie already, and started chatting with everyone to go after Cirie. Girl, I love you Jenna, but you might be doing too much.

The bad blood between Ozzy and Coach came front and center, as Ozzy realized he owed Coach an apology for costing him that $1 million prize in South Pacific. Both realized they needed to play as allies, not enemies to get far in the game. Ozzy proved he is still a competitive beast nearly 16 seasons later after his appearance on ‘Game Changers.’ Ozzy had a lead, but Coach realized that he needed more strategy in his pole to grab that key. Coach proved he hasn’t changed, as he stole the key from Ozzy. Ozzy, Coach is going to be the dirty player that he’s always been.

Q and Ozzy discovered they have been placed on Exile Island and cannot return to their camp until the following morning. Wow, this is a game changer because it prevents bonds from those players being formed. I can already see a bromance between Coach and Jonathan. I loved seeing Chrissy going straight into strategy, and started working with Coach, putting a target on Dee. I love Chrissy embracing her villain era, just as Rick and Christian bonded as they hunted for idols. I knew Christian and Emily would connect, but I didn’t see the Rick Devens bond, but I like this trio.

Kyle started playing and connected with Genevieve, as she also chatted up with Colby and Stephenie. However, Aubry I wasn’t sure what she was doing in her convo with Genevieve. I see these ladies are foes doing the season. Oh, I like this, Aubry. So, after being on Exile Island, Q or Ozzy must decide who gets the supplies and loses a vote, the other gets an extra vote, without supplies. Ozzy is playing strategy wise. Q debated, but Ozzy was determined to use that vote to his advantage.

Q shared what happened with Ozzy and Coach, he explained his ‘tale,’ but confessed to Kyle that he has no vote. Back at Cila, Ozzy returned to the game empty-handed, but Christian put on his thinking cap to try to start a fire using glasses, and OMG it worked. Cirie was taken back that Rick informed her that Jenna is already talking about taking her out. Cirie alerted Ozzy that Jenna is targeting her, and they realized they have to align together. Ozzy and Cirie working together is music to my ears. He revealed he has an extra vote. The Cila tribe has a great dynamic.

That was a quick turnaround on Colby regarding Rizo. Over at Kalo, Jonathan realized he needs to be play more strategic this time around and tossed to Mike about going after Dee. Tiffany, Dee and Kamilla bonded as a trio, and I like those ladies, as Tiffany was worried about Chrissy. So, with the Immunity Challenge, two tribes are safe, 1 goes to Tribal Council. Kyle got injured while performing the challenge and it looked serious with his ankle, but it meant, the challenge was stopped, but it resumed with Kyle continuing in the game but barely moving. However, Cirie struggled, but finally got the ball to connect, with Cila playing catch-up.

Emily and Christian started to work on the puzzle, but they were no challenge for Kalo and Vatu who secured their victory, which means Cila was in trouble. This is interesting because it looks like a battle between Cirie and Jenna, old-school players going toe-to-toe people. Cirie was feeling the heat, and Jenna was out for blood right away, and she didn’t realize she had others a bit concerned about the moves she would make in the future.

Joe realized that Jenna is better at challenges than Cirie, and that was something that Savannah liked. Joe was focused on Cirie and Ozzy, but it’s concerning that Ozzy might be the better player to go for. This could be a very interesting Tribal Council, where Joe feels like he is haunted by Kyle and Kamilla hoodwinking him. Too much focus was on the history of “Survivor” instead of people calling ‘A Spade a Spade’ and we are getting the OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC music. We will have like 50 mins so what else is happening in this episode?

Jenna played too hard, she was voted out first, and Ozzy tried to show grace, but Jenna Lewis wanted none of it. Maybe the tribe realized how hard of a player she was and took the strike at her first, a bit bitter. Back at Vatu, Kyle was moving around on his injured foot, while Stephenie and Genevieve started to look for idols, not knowing if there are even any in the game, and it was Genevieve who found it and she informed Kyle she found the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol, you must send it to another person on a different tribe. If the person they send it to gets voted out with the idol gets voted out, Genevieve gets the idol back.

Tiffany is not going to NOT play an idol after being voted out with one in season 46. Genevieve decided to send the idol to Ozzy, not realizing this is Ozzy 2.0. He’s going to ensure if he has an idol it is played. Genevieve you won’t be getting that idol back. Rick and others started to think Ozzy was playing old-school “Survivor,” but little do they realize, he’s playing a different game. Ozzy discovered an idol in his bag, he CANNOT use the idol on anyone else, and it can be played until the final 5.

So here we go with this Journey crap again, which I hoped wasn’t part of the game. Mike, Savannah and Colby went on the solo journey. The trio discussed Coach’s tactics in the game, only 2 people can play the game. Make a decision or draw rocks, and Mike draw the wrong rock. They are basically playing Jenga, so who makes things topple they lose their vote, the winner keeps their vote. Colby struggled and it fell, he lost his vote, Savannah kept hers. Savannah and Colby sort of bonded, but she discovered also that she got a dynamic advantage which is a secret block-a-vote.

The fans did not vote for this crap, that is the producers rigging the game as much as possible. Mike decided to stir the pot by pointing out to the tribe what Coach did at the challenge. I think Mike might have made an enemy by doing that. Coach was pissed, so I cannot wait to see this war between Ozzy and Coach continue this season. Colby was honest about losing his vote. Damn, just forgot Q lost his vote also.

Back at Cila, Savannah had to explain what unfolded and that she kept her vote, but she left out she has an advantage. Rick came out swinging that Savannah has an advantage, yeah, you’re not playing with rookies. This is a 3-hour premiere, but the pacing is perfect and many things are being set in play, and I love it so far. After the disastrous season we got with “The Traitors,” “Survivor” is proof why it has had 50 seasons: more than any other reality competition series to date.

Uh-oh, Jeff arrived to Vatu’s camp as they wanted to examine Kyle foot, and it left the players concerned. Kyle’s Achilles Tendon was in serious danger, which could lead to permanent damage. It was obvious Kyle wanted to stay and continue to compete, but it was apparent his time in the game was over. So, a tribe of 8, becomes a tribe of 7 and guess what, 2 people don’t have votes. This changes the game for many players on Vatu. Oh, this premiere episode feed me in way that reality competition series haven’t done in months. “Survivor” is back baby! New episodes air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.