CBS has finally formally revealed the 20 former castaways who will be competing on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, the twentieth season of the long-running reality series that will premiere with a special two-hour episode on Thursday, February 11 at 8PM ET/PT.

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The cast consists of Survivor: The Australian Outback's Colby Donaldson and Jerri Manthey; Survivor: Marquesas' "Boston Rob" Rob Mariano; Survivor: Pearl Islands' Rupert Boneham and Sandra Diaz-Twine; Survivor: Palau's Tom Westman and Stephenie LaGrossa; Survivor: Panama's Danielle DiLorenzo and Cirie Fields; Survivor: Cook Islands' Candice Woodcock and Parvati Shallow; Survivor: China's James Clement, Amanda Kimmel and Courtney Yates; Survivor: Gabon's Randy Bailey and "Sugar" Jessica Kiper; Survivor: Tocantins' "Coach" Benjamin Wade, Tyson Apostol, and "J.T." James Thomas; and Survivor: Samoa's Russell Hantz.

The castaways will begin the competition as two tribes of 10, with the "Heroes" being "defined by their decisions of integrity," courage and honor, and the "Villains" having "mastered their skills of deception, manipulation and duplicity," according to CBS.

The "Heroes" tribe will be comprised of Boneham, Clement, Donaldson, Fields, Kimmel, Kiper, LaGrossa, Thomas, Westman and Woodcock; while the "Villains" tribe will consist of Apostol, Bailey, DiLorenzo, Hantz, Manthey, Mariano, Shallow, Diaz-Twine, Wade and Yates.

While online spoilers that identified the returning castaways had been circulating online for months, CBS officially unveiled the cast during a Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains preview that aired last night as part of the network's live broadcast of the 36th Annual People's Choice Awards.

"We're coming up on the twentieth season of Survivor -- it has been a decade of amazing locations, incredible adventures and unforgettable characters," said Survivor host Jeff Probst while introducing the clip.

"This season we're bringing back some of your favorite past competitors -- 10 heroes going up against 10 villains in a knock-down, drag-out brawl."

The clip preceded to show the 20 castaways arriving in Samoa -- where Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains filmed back-to-back with Survivor: Samoa in Samoa this past summer -- via four helicopters. The castaways were then met by Probst on the beach.

After the clip aired, several castaways were shown in the audience at the live awards show.

CBS formally confirmed that Survivor's upcoming twentieth season will be dubbed Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and feature 20 castaways who had previously appeared on the long-running reality series at the conclusion of last month's live Survivor: Samoa reunion show.

For almost half of the show's cast, it will be their third time competing on Survivor.

Boneham, Donaldson, Manthey, and Mariano previously returned to and competed on the Spring 2004 eighth-season All-Stars edition while Clement, Fields, Kimmel, and Shallow participated in Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites, the sixteenth edition which aired in Spring 2007.

In addition, LaGrossa also competed on Survivor: Guatemala as part of a twist in which she and fellow Palau castaway Bobby Jon Drinkard returned for the show's Fall 2005 eleventh edition.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
Christopher Rocchio is an entertainment reporter for Reality TV World and has covered the reality TV genre for several years.