Survivor Spoilers: S29 and 30 in Nicaragua and Blood vs. Water 2

It's official: the twenty-ninth and (presumably) thirtieth seasons of Survivor will be leaving the Philippines and returning to Nicaragua, the site of the 21st and 22nd seasons of the show (two of the least-liked by fans, I should add). (Image credit CBS)

The Espada beach from Survivor: Nicaragua.

I've been reading rumors about Nicaragua for several days in Survivor Sucks, although I wanted to wait until I knew for sure to post; Cambodia seemed all but confirmed a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, however, a video linked from YouTube was posted on Survivor Sucks. The video was posted on YouTube on the 4th, and is a thirty-second clip of people walking on the beach.

It doesn't prove much by itself, but the description reads:

"While walking through the jungle in Nicaragua with Sandra looking for this rumor of perfect surf over the mountain we came to close to the Survivor TV show that is being filmed. This will be aired in/around September this year 2014. We could hear the work being done and people chopping but didnt see any game players , rats !"

Then today, a trusted spoiler named castaway208 (who spoiled the One World twist, as pointed out by Reality Blurred) posted the following:

Sorry guys, it's true- Nicaragua is the location. There was a chance they could have gone inland but it didn't happen. 

Another poster linked to this article by the Del Sur News posted over a month ago, which says that Clover Bay S.A., which worked with Survivor last time it came to Nicaragua, is closing a number of beaches in the area that fits with the video. It looks like it's official.

Also mentioned by Reality Blurred, a San Juan de Sur Facebook user posted the following back in February:

“Survivor (The T.V Show) is coming back to Nicaragua this May for 6 months,” adding that “Again they are taking over two popular surf beaches (POPULAR surf beaches) that will NOT give access to anyone for surfing, fishing or beach going.”

Needless to say, this is not anyone's top pick for a location. At least we can have water challenges, hopefully.

Click here for the full Reality Blurred article.

But that's not all.

Another spoiler at Survivor Sucks named Redmond says that, contrary to initial plans, Survivor 30 will not be Heroes vs. Villains II, or even a returning player season. The current CBS plan is to have both S29 and S30 as all newbies, due to the huge success of Survivor: Cagayan.

According to Remond:

As far as I was told production had/have two ideas on the table: 

Heroes vs Villains II with all returnees, production had a early draft list of people they'd potentially like to see play again (Malcolm, Abi Maria, Ciera, Alicia Rosa are the main names I heard. Richard Hatch and Jonny Fairplay are names I heard way back before any theme was on the table as two people producers want back at some point - no idea if it they'd actually have used them for HvV II). As far as I'm aware none of these players were actually contacted other than the initial email that was sent out to all ex-players a few months back. 

All Newbies. This is the other idea and the one that I believe they are going ahead with. Due to the success of Cagayan the producers are now on an all newbie kick. They held more casting calls and appear to be pushing ahead with it.

I wouldn't completely rule out them switching back to returnees at last minute (you can't ever rule things out with Survivor) but right now it's heavily leaning towards newbies. Filming for S29 is scheduled for late May/early June so they'll most likely want the S30 cast decided before they fly out.

This was back on April 26th. But as of the 29th, newbies was looking even more likely:

Everything is completely quite on the returnees front. And while I wouldn't be shocked if they go back to returnees, right now I think it's highly unlikely.

All signs point to newbies. 

This is not necessarily confirmed yet, and it's still possible for the producers to change their minds, but all new players is looking pretty likely. In addition, Redmond says that they're leaning to season 29 being Blood vs. Water II, with all new players. This has been supported by tweets and YouTube videos throughout the last few months.

That's all the information anyone seems to know at the moment; when I learn more, I'll tell you.

And keep in mind, there's no way I'm ever going to post boot or game spoilers (I'm not going to learn them, either), so this is a safe place to read information.

Check back tonight for my Cagayan episode 11 recap!