Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for Season 40 of Survivor .
Survivor: Winners at War is less than a week away and spoilers are revealing the tribes ahead of the premiere, as well as some big season twists . Season 40 will see just two tribes and not three as is sometimes common on the hit CBS series. Twenty former champions of the show are returning and will be split down the middle with 10 players against 10 players for the start of the show.
According to Entertainment Weekl y , at first, the cast thought they were going to be split into teams of men and women, as that’s how they were separated on the island just before filming began. Later the entire 20 cast members came together for a celebratory champagne toast and were then divided into the two tribes.
For the start of the game, the tribes will be as follows:
DAKAL (Red tribe) Tyson Apostol Sophie Clarke Sandra Diaz-Twine Wendell Holland Yul Kwon Sarah Lacina Amber Mariano Kim Spradlin-Wolfe Tony Vlachos Nick Wilson
SELE (Blue tribe) Natalie Anderson Danni Boatwright Jeremy Collins Ben Driebergen Michele Fitzgerald Adam Klein Rob Mariano Parvati Shallow Denise Stapley Ethan Zohn
At one point in the game, the tribes are expected to merge into one group, as per usual with Survivor .
Some of these cast members have played together before, and former alliances and enemies might play a factor in Season 40. Entertainment Weekly noted that two-time winner and now Dakal tribe member Sandra Diaz-Twine has played with Tyson Apostol before on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villians . Sandra also went against Tony Vlachos on Game Changers which could play a major role in how votes go in Winners at War . Tony and Sarah Lacina were close friends during their time on Survivor: Cagayan as well.
Over on the Sele tribe, there are several former connections in play as well. Natalie Anderson and Jeremy Collins played closely together on San Juan del Sur, while ‘Boston’ Rob Mariano and Parvati Shallow also were linked in Heroes vs. Villians . Rob and Ethan Zohn had their issues with one another while on Survivor: All-Stars , but the two men might have to put their differences aside to make things work in Season 40.
As to be expected, husband and wife Rob and Amber Mariano are on opposite tribes, which will also play into how tribes decide to vote before the merge. Their alliances with other cast members will dramatically affect the game and who goes forward.
Jeff Probst will be back to host the monumental season.
Survivor: Winners at War premieres February 12 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.