On Wednesday night, another season of "Survivor" kicked off, as 18 players set off on their quest for a million bucks.  But two of the players are very familiar faces.  Veterans Benjamin "Coach" Wade and Ozzy Lusth returned for their third attempt at victory, and both said they would try to make adjustments to their social gameplay.  Coach promised to be less judgmental about his fellow players, and Ozzy promised that he wouldn't go searching for worthless showmances like he did the last time he played the game.

The players were immediately divided into two tribes. Ozzy went to the red Savaii tribe, and Coach went to the blue Upolu tribe.  The two vets then went head to head in a puzzle challenge to win their tribe food and flint.  Both of the vets were humbled quickly by the difficult puzzle, but the Savaii tribe guided Ozzy through the challenge to win the team its first reward.

When Savaii arrived at camp, Ozzy received a warm welcome from his tribemates, and the group spent day one having a beach party and bonding as a team.  But the following day, weak links already appeared.  One vulnerable player was Dawn, a mother of six who struggled with the camp work and found herself having the worst mid-life crisis ever at the hands of Mother Nature.  

Another early target was John…no wait, sorry…Cochran.  Cochran insisted on being referred to by his last name in the hopes that it will become legendary in "Survivor" history.  The guy is a "Survivor" fanatic, explaining that he wrote a prize-winning paper at Harvard University about the show and that he keeps a collection of tribal buffs at home.  Clearly he's obsessed, but his lack of physical ability quickly raised a few skeptical eyebrows amongst the rest of the tribe, especially Ozzy.

Over at Upolu, Coach got a considerably colder welcome from his tribe, and the self-proclaimed "Dragon Slayer" began to feel the pressure.  Still, he kept his head level and slowly began to win over his tribe by teaching them survival skills and helping to build the shelter.  By the end of the day, Coach had formed an alliance with four players: Sophie, Rick, Albert, and Brandon; and he hoped to ride that new alliance all the way to the end.

But unbeknownst to Coach, one of his alliance partners, Brandon, had a big secret.  Brandon is the nephew of the infamous "Survivor" villain Russell Hantz.  Brandon wanted to play the game to redeem his family's name in the eyes of the fans, but he may find it hard keeping his name a secret since he has a tattoo of his last name on his arm!  Brandon plans to keep the tattoo hidden by keeping his shirt on, which would probably make him the first player in "Survivor" history to never, EVER go shirtless. 

But the secret probably won't remain a secret. Eventually he will get caught with the tattoo exposed, and when he does, it will be riveting television (which is more than can be said for the guest appearance by Russell that will inevitably occur.)

Finally, the tribes faced off in an Immunity Challenge that was part obstacle course, part free-throw shooting contest with coconuts.  It was one of the closest challenges ever on the show, but Upolu pulled through when Semhar, a poet on Savaii, struggled to get coconuts into her tribe's basket.  Upolu won immunity, and Savaii was sent to the first tribal council.  

Semhar immediately found herself on the chopping block for struggling in the challenge, so she tried to persuade her tribe to vote Cochran out for his lack of survival knowledge.  Cochran freaked out and frantically tried to convince his tribe to give him a second chance.  In the end, his plea was granted, and Semhar was voted out by an 8-1 vote. 

But this season, the Redemption Island twist that was introduced last season has returned, which means that Semhar will have a chance to return to the game.  Oh, and take screen time from players that are still in the game.  Forgot about that.

So who will join Semhar on Redemption Island?  Will Brandon's secret be exposed?  Can Cochran make the most out of his second chance?  Find out next week!

Reach writer Jeremy here