Advantage super-fans on latest ‘Survivor’?

Host Jeff Probst told reporters last week about the most immediate effect. During their first few minutes on the show, when they saw the returning cast members that were also part of the cast, the fans behaved “like they're at a rock concert, applauding their favorites,” Probst said.

That sort of response would seem to indicate a potentially disastrous season. Who wants to watch a bunch of delirious and giddy fans swooning over people they've watched on TV? Who wants to see more attention-seeking from forgotten stars? Are a combination of fans and has-been contestants such as Jonny “I'll do whatever I can to get my pathetic self on television” Fairplay going to provide the kind of fresh, intriguing entertainment that “Survivor” generally delivers?

Thanks to the nature of the actual game of “Survivor,” they probably will.

For one, the fans and favorites will compete against one another, and initial tribal loyalty has more consistently affected end-game strategy more than anything else over the show's 15 seasons. The groups that live together and compete in challenges together, even for the first few days, offer strangers their first chance at friendship and, more importantly, alliances.

Dividing them into opposite tribes was intentional, Probst confirmed, telling reporters that producers “hoped (fans’) idolatry would turn into animosity, and it did." It also places them initially among peers, and that helps equalize the playing field somewhat.

Still, while the favorites have played the game before and thus have the benefit of experience, they also have a significant disadvantage in that everyone, especially the tribe full of fans, has watched them play the game on TV. Their past strategies, strengths and weaknesses are all now public knowledge, and because of that, there's no way people won't expect Fairplay to lie, or Ozzy to be dominant in individual immunity challenges, for example.

The fans won't have to contend with that until the tribes merge, but that knowledge among all players could shake up the game.

One thing “Survivor” has done spectacularly well for more than eight years is make significant changes without disrupting the central nature of its game or concept. That has kept it as the most-popular show on Thursdays at 8 and solidly in the top 15 most-popular shows, and has allowed it to stay engaging without growing overly familiar.

The only twist CBS has revealed so far for this season is the return of Exile Island, which will host two people from opposite tribes at the same time. They'll both receive the same hidden immunity idol clue, and have to compete against one another to find it.

What will be more essential are small but significant twists that keep the returning cast members from using their experience to their advantage — or worse, growing complacent because they're familiar with the experience and the nature of the game. While the fans will be experiencing everything for the first time, they perhaps have nearly equivalent knowledge, and they'll need the same sort of incentives to not slip into whatever rut they think will work best for them.

With 20 people who know the show inside and out, those twists can help equalize the game, and will be essential to keeping the game fresh. Of course, 20 past cast members and fans of the show will expect twists from the very start, so perhaps the biggest twist would be to have none at all.

Andy Dehnart is msnbc.com's Reality TV Expert and a regular contributor.

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