'Survivor SA' kicks off

The fifth season of Survivor SA premiered on M-Net last night with a ship wrecked on the shore of a remote island in the South China Sea as the 27-day battle for supremacy between the 20 castaways began.

Here are seven points of special interest from last night's episode:

The gruesome challenges of hunger and the harsh elements are surely no fun, but we didn't expect Mark Fish to wuss out so early. The former Bafana Bafana defender meekly said: "I realise now that Survivor has started. I am also contemplating whether I made the right decision to be in this competition. But hey, it's Day1, let's see how we go." Imagine if he had been at Kamp Staaldraad?

Having two sporting icons as tribe captains who can't be voted off has never been done before in the history of the Survivor franchise.

How will it work? Both former Springbok captain Corné Krige and Fish will get to fight for immunity, for rewards and for a place on the tribal council, but they are exempt from being voted off the show.

At the tribal council, however, the two captains will not get to vote, at least not until the very end. They will get one vote apiece at the final council.

The big black guy is all the rage. Sports manager Solly Mathiba, 32, prompted teacher Ashleigh Bryant to exclaim: "They are all so huge. The big hulky guy with the hat ... Oh, my gosh. He could walk all over me." Mathiba was Fish's first pick to join his tribe.

This is the first time that the show is 90 minutes long on the pay channel. It was previously kept to an hour an episode.

There seems to be no prerequisite to be a Survivor castaway.

Who could have predicted that a 53-year-old farrier, a 25-year-old gay wedding planner and a 22-year-old school teacher would be part of one tribe, and an actress, a mortuary assistant and an astrophysics student on the other?

The members of both Krige's tribe and Fish's average just over 31 years in age.

Krige's Tribe: Selatan

Altaaf Sheik, 28, Ashleigh Bryant 22, David de Wet, 53, Gena Alkana, 29, Graham Jenneker, 28, Marsha Wessels, 40, Moyra Makina, 33, Philip Dickson, 32, Shona Macdonald, 24 and Zavion Kotze, 25.

Mark's Tribe: Utara

Buhle Madlala, 34, Killarney Jones, 44, Marian de Vos, 25, Shane Hattingh, 42, Sivu Xabanisa, 23, Solly Mathiba, 32, Sonette Myburgh, 40, Stephen Walker, 25, Vel Bodiba, 26 and Zan Lang, 24.