Castaway: Samurai Rivals

Castaway: Samurai Rivals is the second season of Castaway. There were 16 contestants, 8 male and 8 female. A viewing link to the season, complete with cast bios and an episode by episode commentary can be found here.

Pre-Season
Dear   Veronica.

The first attempt at Surveillance and Viewership Experiment #006, alternatively named   "The Castaway Project"   was wildly successful. Due to it's popularity among the public,   Darius   and I have to decided to let you continue the project, renewing it for a second season if you will. The novelty of the "contestants" not knowing they're being filmed hasn't quite worn off just yet. No one will fall for a free luxury cruise after the countless news reports, so I'd suggest coming up with a fresh scheme.

Yours Sincerely,

Your "Producer",

Mikoto.

Season
There's been an other case of 16 individuals signing up to some sort of package holiday and disappearing without a trace. After the success of "Castaway" it's hard to say whether this is a copy-cat criminal or if the original team are active once again. Anyhow, this time around, the 16 individuals were specifically targeted in a series of cryptic emails. In essence they were told that they were eligible for a free, all-inclusive trip to a remote part of China. If they could make it home on their designated return flight, they would receive a lump sum of $100'000. Naturally, all of them agreed and they were sent a boarding pass the following week.

The plane the 16 individuals were travelling in crashed in a remote forest cut off from the rest of Chinese civilization. 8 of the castaways awoke at the site of their plane crash. The other 8 castaways somehow awoke at the entrance of an ancient temple. After the castaways spent a few days regrouping they eventually journeyed out to find any other people in the same situation as them. They of course found each other, and to the shock of them all, their mortal enemy was standing in front of them.

The Twist
The twist of the season is "Samurai Rivals". This means that each of the 16 castaways has an atrocious relationship with someone on the other tribe. The pairs of rivals go as follows:
 * George Pickett and Chris Spooner
 * Heidi Spina and Toyohiro Kanedaichi
 * Margaret Bennett and Jack Rogers
 * Renly Tyrell and Robar Royce
 * Sanson Friedland and Aisa Friedland
 * Sienna Wike and Caleb Brim
 * Tanya Desire and Riley West
 * Trina DiLaurentis and Elizabeth Franklin

Trivia

 * This season used characters submitted by the brantsteele subreddit instead of an original cast, which would become the norm from season 3 onward.


 * This is the first season to mention Veronica Goldenrod and Mikoto and Darius Gray.