LOS ANGELES, Calif.–“Survivor: South Pacific,” the 23rd edition of the Emmy-winning series, is scheduled to premiere Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS with a 90-minute episode featuring a Venice man and two Los Angeles residents among the 18 contestants.
The castaways will be divided into two tribes of nine, the Savaii Tribe and the Upolu Tribe, named after the two islands of Samoa.
Each tribe has a past contestant returning to the series. Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth, a 30-year-old surfer from Venice, will be making his third appearance on the series.
“I’m here to play in a humble way, but I’m also here to win,” said Lusth, who will be a member of the Savaii Tribe, along with Semhar Tadesse, a 24-year-old spoken-word artist from Los Angeles.
The other returning contestant is Benjamin “Coach” Wade, a 39-year-old former college women’s soccer coach who teaches music history at Lassen College in Susanville in Northern California and conducts the Susanville Symphony.
Edna Ma, a 35-year-old anesthesiologist from Los Angeles, who will part of the Upolu tribe with Wade, said that, “based on the history,” Wade and Lusth are “more apt to win, so we have to (utilize) them, but not let them get too far in the game.”
Tadesse said, “I’ve been told I’m a bit of a flirt, but really I’m more of a charmer. I grew up in a house with five kids and I was the youngest, so I know how to bat my lashes, I know how to get what I want.”
The winner will receive $1 million.
