Returning players on Big Brother and Survivor do indeed have an advantage

Entertainment Weekly

EW analyzed every season of Big Brother and Survivor that featured a mix of new and returning players, and the results were clear. According to Dalton Ross, “the evidence for Survivor is even more damning (than Big Brother). Eight new players out of 93 have made it to the final two or three of a combo season, for a success rate of 8.6 percent, while a startling 11 out of 39 returnees — 28.2 percent — have gone all the way to day 39. That means you are approximately 3.5 times more likely to make it to day 39 as a returning player than you are as a new one.”