Game Changers Episode 1: Royal Rumble

20 veteran players sail towards a Fijian island as we are quickly reacquainted with legends like Sandra, Cirie and...Brad Culpepper. Probst greets the cast and tells them they're all back because they have proved they're willing to play hard. (Well, maybe not

Bolting out of the gate

all...but let's not get into that.) The players now have an opportunity to gather supplies, but they are told there's a toolkit underwater for the first tribe to untie it. Ozzy heads straight for it unopposed, as Mana clearly think it's pointless to take him on. Caleb eventually goes, but too late to stop him. Tai is almost crushed by a crate in the scramble, and Sierra picks up a secret advantage envelope.

Mana arrive in camp and introduce themselves, with Michaela asking Troyzan if that's his real name. Tony runs off and declares he's looking for the idol, which leaves the rest of his tribe unimpressed. Caleb and Sandra eventually follow him and let him know he's in trouble. I don't know what he expected.

The most game relevant she's ever been

On Nuku, Zeke is in awe of the legends he's in camp with. Sierra uncovers the slightly-modified legacy advantage, which is immunity at either 13 or 6. She also makes alliances with Brad and Ozzy. Ozzy has a score to settle with Cirie, and although they try to bury the hatchet, he still thinks she's weak. Cirie tries to get reassurance from Tai that she's good, but his pause lets her know she's in trouble.

On Mana, Tony goes off to get water...only he's really digging a spy bunker. Dude, this is the kinda shit that's gonna get you voted off. Troyzan spots it happening and tells everyone. Ciera suggests voting out Tony or maybe his best buddy Caleb, but now Malcolm is wary of Ciera.

Probst explains the first challenge which sees them paddle out on rafts to get keys then come back over an obstacle course. Then they dig up two bags in the sand, unlock the chest containing the third, and put together a ship's wheel puzzle. He also tells them there's a change in the rules this season, and that there will be no revote after a tie - it's straight to an open discussion, and then rocks! You can see the gears turning in Aubry's head as she hears this.

Uhh, should Caleb really be doing this?

Nuku have a slight lead following the rafting section, and send out Ozzy to get the key, whilst Mana send Hali. J.T. and Tai dig the bags out for Nuku, whilst Caleb and Malcolm do it for Mana. Debbie stumbles on the locks and allows Varner to catch up. But then Varner stumbles too (whilst bitching out Jeff for accusing him of panicking). It comes down to the puzzle: Sandra and Ciera vs Zeke and Cirie. Zeke and Cirie get it first and Nuku win immunity. Cirie fans all breathe a sigh of relief.

Ciera feels guilty for blowing the puzzle, and there's now a group at the water well agreeing that she should go since she's been throwing out names. When Ciera walks up, they decide to tell her to vote Michaela. This seems like an easy vote, but Michaela gets freaked out when she hears she's the decoy target, which makes the rest of her tribemates a little scared of her.

You can't contain greatness

At tribal council, Tony says his tribe really put the brakes on his craziness very quickly. Caleb talks about how he's still an unknown quantity. Michaela thinks the first vote shouldn't be easy. Sandra is asked if she's the easy vote, but she says nobody will let her win again and they can use her. Hali mentions challenge weakness, and that gets Ciera worried. Ciera is voted out in a surprisingly straight-forward boot for an all-stars season. And we don't even get to hear her final words.

But with Tony around, the game isn't going to stay slow-paced for long, and he goes to Aubry to put together an alliance containing them, Malcolm, Caleb and Sandra. He talks with Sandra too, and they both agree they need to be with a winner at the end to stand any chance. The action at the Nuku tribe is much slower, with the only slight conflict being Tai's tendency to overfeed the chickens.

RIP winner alliance

Tony is having another restless night so decides to work on his bunker some more. But then he sees Troyzan and Sandra coming and has to bail out. Hearing them talk about him, Tony pops out to interrupt the conversation and doesn't believe Sandra's cover. So now he's not trusting Sandra, and Sandra's patience with his antics are wearing thin too.

Witness the Cirie charm

Cirie is trying to improve her position by making connections with Sarah and Zeke, but neither of them are willing to stick their neck out for her. The social butterfly gives Debbie some advice about how she's coming off, but Debbie decides to ignore it. Classic Debbie! On Mana, Sandra is spilling the beans on Tony to Hali, Troyzan and Varner to make him their target. Tony talks to Aubry, Malcolm and Caleb about voting out Sandra and keeping the tribe strong. The lines are drawn, place your bets now!

Suddenly, it's a contest

The immunity challenge is to swim over to a cage and pull out a giant snake to take across obstacles. Then the throwers will remove discs and toss them onto paddles.  When the tribes get to the cage, Varner tries to help out by staying above. Nuku get the snake first and it is heavy. Varner really starts to struggle with the lifting and goes to the other side of the cage to put more weight on it. Mana, already behind, then lose more time when Hali and Troyzan fall off the balance beam multiple times. Sierra and J.T. take turns tossing rings, but Malcolm is able to mount a pretty good comeback and tie it up at one point. Alas, he is unable to close and J.T. scores to give Nuku a victory.

You're either with her or against her

So Sandra has the numbers to get Tony out, but she's worried that he might have an idol and wants to pull in Malcolm and Caleb for extra security. Sandra tells Tony she's voting for Aubry, but Hali fills Caleb in on the real plan. Tony and Caleb see crystal clear how dangerous Sandra is and make a play for Michaela's vote, since they know she values strength.

At tribal council, Michaela talks about how strong players are needed. But Troyzan says he's hoping to make the tribe less paranoid. Tony responds to this call-out by accusing Troyzan of being the one sneaking off. Tony pledges that he's calmed down, leading to Varner and Malcolm chiming in to say they have got along with Tony much more than they thought they would. Asked what the vote is based on, Varner gives a rather cryptic square peg/round hole analogy.

Still fighting

As the votes are revealed, we see 2 for Aubry, and the rest are all for Tony. They finally got him! Tony makes a remark about them being "sheep lead to the slaughter", as Sandra bitches him out for turning on her and reiterates that she's the queen. Well, that was a hell of rivalry...I just wish it hadn't come this early! But I'm sure there's a lot more heartbreaking boots still to come, so enjoy the stars while you can.

STAR OF THE WEEK: SANDRA DIAZ-TWINE

I am in awe of Sandra. The fact that she can come in with the target she should have and not only survive two votes, but control them, is nothing short of incredible. You wouldn't think it would be possible for a two-time winner to up their game even more, but it happened.