Three castaways go home the first night.

Apparently, when the cast first arrives on the island they are split into groups of two. These groups search for the two camps The group that arrives at camp last is immeadiately booted.

I'm not really sure if I like this idea because two of the more interesting (and/or hot) people could be off the show in the first ten minutes. We'll see.

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) With its "vote-off-the-strong-first" strategy and its easily toppled women's alliance, "Survivor: Vanuatu" failed to stir up much passion among the fans of the long-running CBS reality show. Even host Jeff Probst has difficulty mustering up any enthusiasm for the tepid season, damning the cast as the most "normal" in "Survivor" history.

"There's several of those people that you'd invite to your barbeque and you'd never known they'd been on 'Survivor' if you didn't know them, because they're schoolteachers or they're husbands or whatever," He explains. "As a result, we didn't have any standout characters."

While "Vanuatu" failed to deliver much drama before its emotionally raw final Tribal Council, things start off with a major shocker in the first episode of "Survivor: Palau," which premieres on Thursday, Feb. 17 on CBS. For the first time in the show's 10-season history, the contestants -- 20 this time, the most ever -- are just dumped at their destination, denied even basic supplies, or instructions.

"We've done the physical part where we give them nothing," Probst says. "We started that with All-Stars. What we haven't done is give them no information. Almost always we give them a little bit, we'll say, 'Here's the lay of the land, here's Tribe A and here's Tribe B, here's a map to water, here's this.' This time, I literally show up and say, 'There's your beach. Have a good time.'"

The contestants don't know whether they're playing as one team, as 20 individual groups or as two or three teams whose identities haven't been revealed yet. They don't know if their beach is a temporary home or if they should begin establishing residence. They also don't know when Tribal Council is, or how many people will be voted off. In fact, Probst can reveal that within the first hour, three players are eliminated from the game. Two of the castaways, in fact, won't even make it to the first elimination challenge. After making it through interviews and the show's lengthy screening process, two of the Final 20, won't even get to play the game.

"It's a brutal, brutal beginning to this season," he says.

Prone to giving out the most cryptic of hints, Probst warns viewers to expect a catfight in an early episode and to enjoy some of the best underwater photography in the show's run. He notes that this was the tallest "Survivor" cast yet and that the season's record number of competing attorneys produces a unique dynamic.

After last season's half-hearted attempt to include the Vanuatu natives in the show's challenges and rewards, "Palau" will integrate a bellicose element torn from Palau's war-damaged past.

"You cannot go to Palau and not see the remnants of World War II, because they're everywhere," says Probst of the sunken ships just below the ocean's surface and the wrecked Japanese planes in the jungles. "You don't have to look. We didn't have to do a ton of set dressing."

Without giving any kind of specifics, Probst also says that he tried to inject undercurrent of "choice" into the season's activities, forcing the players to make more game-breaking decisions than usual, though he admits that most viewers probably won't notice the change.

"More things happen for the first time this season than have ever happened before," promises Probst, nebulously. "That's what struck me as the season went on and on. I'd make my little notes and think, 'Wow, never happened before ...' Some of them are twists. Some of them are things that happened organically in reality. Some of things that happen as a result of challenges. There are more things that you've never seen before this season."

I read that the first man and woman to get to shore get immunity. From there, they pick teams and the last two to get picked are eliminated.

10 tens of 2 people are created randomly, and the last team to arrive at their destination (each team will be given a map, a la The Amazing Race twist, and have to make their way to their destination) will be given the boot, which then cuts the field to 18 players, and then the 3rd person who gets the boot is cut at tribal council for the losing tribe.

The crazy song lady was an easy target to be left behind in the first boot-off, while John was just a little too over-eager to jump ship.

You also knew that Jolanda's big mouth and bossiness sealed her fate.