Survivor: Redemption Island
Encyclopedia
Survivor: Redemption Island is the twenty-second season of the American CBS
competitive reality television
series Survivor
, which premiered on February 16, 2011. Applications were due in January 2010, and filming lasted from August to September 2010. The season was filmed in the vicinity of San Juan del Sur
, Nicaragua
, the same filming location as the previous season
. The show featured returning players Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano
, and 16 new players to Survivor.
Rob Mariano was named the winner in the final episode on May 15, 2011, defeating Phillip Sheppard and Natalie Tenerelli in an 8-1-0 vote. In addition, Mariano won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season," earning the fans' vote over Matt Elrod by receiving 40% of the vote in comparison to 36% for Matt.
's second season, Ghost Island in the Serbian version
's second season
, and the duels in the 2002 Swedish edition
. When a contestant was voted off the tribe, instead of leaving the game, he or she was taken to the area known as Redemption Island. Once there, they had to sustain themselves in the same manner as when living with the tribe; living on limited food, water supplies and shelter. When the next contestant was voted off, that person was also sent to Redemption Island. Those two people faced off in a duel challenge which was watched by two members each from both tribes in an Arena constructed to resemble an old ruined temple. The winner remained in the game, and continued living at Redemption Island. The loser was finally removed from the game and, upon exiting removed his or her buff and threw it in a small fire pit. At a pre-determined point in the game, the person remaining at Redemption Island had a chance to return to the game and be reunited with the remaining players. There were two such returns to the game in Survivor: Redemption Island.
Host Jeff Probst
compared Redemption Island to the Pearl Islands
Outcast tribe, stating that the latter concept did not seem to work well with the audience because the Outcast twist was not revealed to the players ahead of time, and was considered unfair to the remaining players in the game. However, the Outcast tribe survived on the same meager rations as everybody else in the game. With Redemption Island, the players were told at the start of the game of the existence and rules of Redemption Island, and Probst expected that this would have an impact on how the tribes would vote out members. Probst also stated that the change would allow for the newer players to have a chance to recover from early mistakes such as choosing the wrong alliance or making a poor vote at Tribal Council. Entertainment Weekly
s Dalton Ross correctly speculated that due to the Redemption Island duel as part of each episode, all regular challenges in the show were combined Reward/Immunity challenges until the tribes merged. The duels used at Redemption Island were scaled-back versions of previous challenges the show had used, and Probst stated that this was because these challenges "worked well" and eliminated any risk of the challenges going astray. The idea for allowing other players to watch the duel was a last-minute addition made by Mark Burnett. According to Probst, it gave those that attended the duel "valuable information" they could have used in their gameplay strategy, but also could have left them vulnerable to alliance shifts that might have occurred while they were absent from the tribe.
Rob quickly proved to be leader in Ometepe, and kept wary of the hidden immunity idol, including sending one of his own alliance, Matt, to Redemption Island while trying to flush it out. On Zapatera, the bulk of the tribe recognized the threat that Russell could be, and after Ralph was able to secure their tribe's hidden immunity idol, they threw a challenge to be able to vote Russell off; Russell would lose to Matt at the next Redemption Island challenge. Matt would continue to win several more duels against several Zapatera players sent to Redemption after a Ometepe winning streak, who were hampered by loss of cohesion within their tribe.
The tribes merged into the new tribe, Murlonio, with twelve players left in the game, including Matt, brought back from Redemption. Matt discussed blindsiding Rob, but when Rob discovered this, used his alliance to send Matt back to Redemption Island, leaving the old Ometepe still up in numbers, six to five players. They would use these to completely eliminate the remaining former Zapatera tribe, before having to turn on themselves. Rob, in possession of a hidden immunity idol himself, was able to control much of the remaining game, orchestrating the elimination of his alliancemates, starting with Andrea. Though Andrea would go on to win her return into the game from Redemption Island, she was unable to secure any other alliances, and was voted off a second time. The final three were Rob, Natalie, and Phillip; both Natalie and Phillip were criticized by the jury for simply following in Rob's footsteps, and Rob was voted the Sole Survivor on a 8-1-0 vote.
At the reunion, Rob won the fan favorite reward and it was announced that Rob snapped Parvati Shallow
's record of most days played with 117 (Parvati's was 114), although Rob has played four seasons to Parvati's three. David Murphy also proposed to his girlfriend of several months, Survivor: Tocantins contestant Carolina Eastwood, at the live show, and she accepted.
Probst mentioned that both players could have been voted out immediately, but believed "they bring too much experience" to have been initial targets for elimination. Probst commented that some fans of the show were suffering from "Russell fatigue", after Hantz had appeared in three out of the four past seasons, and stated, "[Hantz] embodies Survivor: he's polarizing. You hate him or you love him." On Mariano, Probst noted that "Rob is likable enough" to win the game, but for the same reason "Rob is going to have a tough time if he makes it to the merge."
In the first episode, Probst noted that Hantz and Mariano had a combined 156 days of Survivor experience between them: Hantz having spent 39 days in both Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains, which totaled up to 78 days; while Mariano had also spent 78 days across his seasons of Marquesas, All-Stars, and Heroes vs. Villains.
Matt received four total votes before he was first sent to Redemption Island. He received six total votes before he was sent to Redemption Island for the second time.
Russell was voted out in a 5–1–0 tie-breaker vote between himself, Ralph, and Stephanie. In the initial vote, all three received three votes each, while in the tie-breaker vote, Russell received five votes, Ralph received one, and Stephanie received none.
Because Kristina played the Hidden Immunity Idol, two votes against her did not count.
Andrea received five total votes before she was first sent to Redemption Island. She received four total votes before she was voted out for the second time.
Because Rob played the Hidden Immunity Idol, one vote against him did not count.
Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
There was no Reward Challenge due to the tribal merge.
Mike won Reward for finishing the duel first, but opted to give it up to Andrea, Ashley, Grant, Natalie, Phillip, and Rob.
Sixteen castaways split into two tribes, Ometepe and Zapatera, arrived on the beach on board a Mil Mi-17
from the Nicaraguan Air Force
. After Jeff welcomed the group to the game, he announced that two additional players would be joining them, in which Rob and Russell then arrived in a second helicopter. Jeff went over the two's past history in the game and then the two drew for tribes. Rob drew the orange Ometepe tribe buff, while Russell drew the purple Zapatera tribe buff. Jeff then announced the new twist of Survivor, which was Redemption Island. At Ometepe, Rob caught Kristina looking for a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. Rob then talked to Phillip about keeping an eye out for a woman's alliance on the tribe, since the women outnumbered the men 5–4. However, Phillip was uneasy with the idea and approached Kristina about forming an alliance and siding with the women. Over at Zapatera, Russell made his usual early game move and made an alliance with Stephanie, and talked about taking her to the merge.
On Day 3, Kristina went on a hunt for the Hidden Immunity Idol by herself without any clues and actually managed to find it. Francesca, Kristina, and Phillip then formed an alliance, but Phillip annoyed the women with his aggressive questioning about whom to vote off at Tribal Council. The first combined Immunity/Reward Challenge was won by Zapatera, when Ometepe fell behind early. They managed to catch up, but at the puzzle part of the challenge they fell behind and lost. After the challenge, Kristina told Francesca and Phillip that she had the Hidden Immunity Idol, and she told Francesca of her plan to blindside Rob by getting the other three Ometepe women to vote for Kristina, while their three person alliance votes for Rob. Francesca was concerned that it was too early to vote out Rob, and that they didn't have the numbers to stay in the game. Francesca also wanted to vote out Natalie, as she was seen as the weakest link of the tribe. Rob told the other Ometepe members (Andrea, Ashley, Grant, Matt, and Natalie), that he was concerned that the Francesca/Kristina/Phillip alliance may have already found a Hidden Immunity Idol and they should split their vote between Francesca and Kristina.
At Tribal Council, the Francesca/Kristina/Phillip alliance imploded when Francesca openly said that Rob would not be voted out. This enraged Phillip, who immediately responded and said that Francesca told him to vote for Rob. This angered both Francesca and Kristina, and they decided to change their votes to Phillip, both vehemently denied that they were planning to vote out Rob. Phillip openly voiced that he would be voting for Francesca and announced that Kristina had the Hidden Immunity Idol, shocking everyone else on the tribe and silently infuriating Francesca and Kristina. Kristina admitted that she did had the Idol, but she, along with Francesca, still denied that their plan was to vote out Rob, but instead she would be voting for Natalie, even though she did tell Phillip that she was voting for Rob. Jeff asked Rob whose story he believed. Rob said that, while Phillip was adamant in defending his story, Francesca denied it with equal energy. However, Kristina did not defend herself. Rob asked Kristina to show him the Idol just to confirm that she had it. Upon seeing it, he asked her to give him the Idol, declaring that she would stay in the game if she handed it over and that doing so would show that Kristina was telling the truth, but Kristina said she couldn't hand it over. When the voting came, the alliance of six kept to their plan and split their votes between Francesca and Kristina. With Phillip's flip to the majority, Francesca was voted out and became the first castaway to go to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–3–2. After Francesca left for Redemption Island, Jeff said that there would be a flint at Ometepe's campsite.
After Ometepe returned to camp from Tribal Council, Phillip felt betrayed by Francesca and swore his loyalty to Rob, while Rob plotted with his alliance to vote out Phillip next. Rob was concerned about the growing connection between Andrea and Matt. Over at Zapatera, Russell added Krista to his alliance with Stephanie. Russell then went on his typical Hidden Immunity Idol hunt, but was beaten to it by Ralph who happened to stumble upon the idol while picking up rocks. Zapatera came from behind to win their second challenge in a row. After Zapatera had won, Matt shook the hands of several of the Zapatera tribe members, which angered Rob. Russell picked up Zapatera's reward as he knew there would be a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within it. He tried to take the clue without anybody noticing, but Ralph did and told the rest of the tribe. Mike and Ralph confronted Russell about the clue, but Russell denied that he had it even though he had already shown it to his alliance. Rob came up with a plan with Ashley, Grant, and Natalie to vote against Matt, but to tell Matt and Andrea that they were splitting the vote between Kristina and Phillip. Rob took Phillip aside and told him that something big was happening at Tribal Council, that he needed to not say anything about the plan at Tribal Council, and that Rob would signal to Phillip whom Rob wanted Phillip to vote for. At Tribal Council, Phillip kept quiet about the plan and voted per Rob's signal against Kristina. Kristina played the Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Phillip and Andrea's votes against her, but Rob's plan came together and Matt was blindsided by a vote of 4–2–0.
When Matt arrived at Redemption Island, Francesca was shocked to see someone from Rob's alliance. After Ometepe returned from Tribal Council, Rob told Phillip that he was in his alliance with Grant, Ashley and Natalie. The next day, the tribes received Tree Mail instructing them to draw marbles to see who would witness the duel on Redemption Island. Zapatera sent over David and Steve, while Ometepe sent over Ashley and Andrea. The duel was won by Matt in a come from behind victory, sending Francesca home. Back at Ometepe, Rob talked to Andrea and tried to reassure her that she was still part of his alliance, but Andrea did not believe him and wanted to find a way to mix things up in the future. Over at Zapatera, Russell's alliance could not find the Hidden Immunity Idol, so they decided to feign like they did have one by having Stephanie constantly carry around her bag, giving the impression that an idol was in her purse. David, Mike, Ralph, Sarita, and Steve all agreed to lose the next challenge on purpose in order to vote out Russell. Julie was reluctant about this plan, as she did not want to give any momentum to Ometepe and she thought she could handle Russell. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, the group of six went through with deliberately losing the challenge, despite Julie's hesitance. Back at Ometepe, Rob found the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol hidden within the reward. At Zapatera, the group of six decided to split their votes between Russell and Stephanie. Russell suspected that the six did throw the challenge and, together with Stephanie, tried to get Julie to flip to Russell's alliance and to vote against Ralph. At Tribal Council, the division between the majority and Russell's alliance was discussed. When it came time for the vote, Julie stuck with the majority and the vote was tied 3–3–3 between Ralph, Russell, and Stephanie. On the re-vote, Russell was voted out in a 5–1–0 vote and was sent to Redemption Island.
On day 9, with Krista and Stephanie away from camp, Ralph decided to show the Hidden Immunity Idol to the rest of the Zapatera tribe. On day 10, the tribes were told to select who would witness the next Redemption Island Duel either by mutual agreement or random draw. Ometepe agreed that Kristina and Phillip could go, while Zapatera agreed upon Ralph and Sarita. The duel was won by Matt for the second time in a row. After the loss, Russell was very emotional, but he regained his composure and let loose on his former tribe by getting Ralph to say that he had a Hidden Immunity Idol and telling Kristina and Phillip that Sarita, Mike, and Steve were in charge of their tribe. While Kristina and Phillip were off at the Redemption Island, Rob came up with a ruse to distract the rest of the tribe so that he could search for the Hidden Immunity Idol. The ruse worked and Rob had the time to successfully find the idol. When Kristina and Phillip returned to camp, Phillip thought he could use Russell's information about Zapatera's alliances and the Hidden Immunity Idol as leverage against Rob and Grant to allow Kristina to remain in the game. However, the ploy failed as Rob and Grant distrusted Phillip even more after his revelation. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Zapatera went on to win their third challenge. Back at Ometepe's camp, Kristina tried to hint that there was a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within Ometepe's reward and that Grant and Rob may have already found it. Rob kept the knowledge of the idol from his alliance and got Andrea, Ashley, Grant, and Natalie to think that Kristina might have the idol and to split the vote between Kristina and Phillip, favoring Kristina to be voted out. However, Grant and the girls were leaning towards voting out Phillip as he was getting on their last nerves. When Phillip asked Rob whom he should vote for at and Rob told him Kristina, Phillip thought Rob went back on his word about keeping Kristina in the game and decided that he needed to make a move at Tribal Council to keep himself in the game. At Tribal Council, Kristina and Phillip lobbied for the other to be voted out. When the vote came, Rob's plan held and Kristina was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–3.
When Ometepe returned from Tribal Council, Phillip was upset that he was the odd man out in Rob's alliance. Phillip decided to try to make a better connection with the women of his tribe, but only made progress with Andrea. Krista and Stephanie from Zapatera and Grant and Rob from Ometepe witnessed Matt win his third Redemption Island Duel. After the Duel, Matt told Grant and Rob that he wanted to go to the final three with them and that he hoped he would rejoin Ometepe. Krista and Stephanie made it clear that they had no loyalties to the Zapatera tribe and they would be willing to join an alliance with Ometepe after the merge. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Stephanie was the caller for Zapatera (at Sarita's urging) and Rob was the caller for Ometepe. In a close battle, Rob came through to win the challenge for Ometepe. While enjoying their reward, Grant and Rob noticed a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within the jar of coffee and worked together to get the clue and conceal it from the rest of the tribe. Rob took the clue from Grant, but then switched it with the first clue that he had, leaving Grant none the wiser. Back at Zapatera, Sarita argued with the rest of her alliance over her picking Stephanie to be the caller when several of her alliance members thought David would have been better. Going into Tribal Council, the alliance of six knew that they would be voting out either Krista or Stephanie. Krista tried to stir things up between the alliance of six by pointing out sub-alliances within the six, but the alliance did not break and she was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–2.
On day 14, Steve was surprised that Krista and Stephanie had voted for him at the previous Tribal Council. When Steve asked Stephanie why they voted for him, she said that they voted for the weakest competitor. At Redemption Island, Krista received her luxury item, a Bible, much to the delight of Matt. At the Duel, Matt won his fourth in a row, witnessed by Andrea, Natalie, Julie and Mike. Before Krista departed, she handed over the Bible to Matt, which made Andrea question how much he had bonded with Krista during their time at Redemption Island and speculated that he could be a danger in the future. The next day at Zapatera, Sarita began to irritate her tribe with an issue regarding her tooth. David told Stephanie that in order to remain in the game, she had to try to break up the alliance and get them to vote for Sarita. Stephanie then apologized to Steve after her vote at Tribal Council and that she really wanted to vote for Sarita as she was the weakest tribe member, but he was unsure about her motives. Over at Ometepe, Phillip confronted Ashley and Natalie about what he felt was their lax attitude around the camp. Rob saw the confrontation was a possible fracture among the tribe that would weaken them overall, so he took Phillip aside to attempt to bring peace between the three. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Grant dominated the challenge by scoring four of the points in Ometepe's shutout of Zapatera. While on their reward, Grant and Rob attempted to read the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol without the others noticing, but were caught by Phillip. Phillip felt betrayed by the two guys for not sharing the clue with him, but decided to keep his anger bottled up until presented with a better opportunity to take revenge. Before Tribal Council, David and Stephanie lobbied hard the rest of the tribe to vote out Sarita instead of Stephanie. At Tribal Council, it was acknowledged that Stephanie was seen as a better competitor, but Sarita was seen as more loyal overall. In the end, David and Stephanie's lobbying did not work and Stephanie was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 5–2.
When Zapatera returned to camp from Tribal Council, the rift between David and Sarita continued. Over at Ometepe, Phillip no longer trusted Rob because Rob tried to keep the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol from him and looked for inspiration from The Book of Five Rings
to break Rob's control of the tribe. David, Ralph, Rob, and Phillip witnessed Matt's continued domination at Redemption Island when he won his fifth Duel in a row. While Phillip and Rob were returning from Redemption Island, Phillip asked Rob what information they wanted to withhold from the rest of the tribe. Rob said he wanted to tell them everything and then used Phillip's question against him in order to sow distrust of Phillip amongst the rest of the tribe. Rob also told the tribe that he thought Phillip would flip to the other side when the merge happens. Back at Zapatera, Ralph thought David would flip to the other side at the merge. The Reward/Immunity Challenge was closely fought, with the lead being traded back and forth several times, but Ometepe eventually prevailed. On the reward trip, Rob found the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within a jar of cookies and managed to get it without any of the tribe noticing. He then tossed the clue into the volcano. At Tribal Council, Zapatera again had a choice between loyalty and strength in challenges with the vote split between Sarita and David, respectively. The tribe chose strength and Sarita was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–2.
The day 19 treemail arrived announcing the Redemption Island Duel, but unlike previous Duels, the note said that the entire tribe would attend. The tribes headed off to the Duel anticipating a merge. Before the Duel started, Jeff announced that the winner of the Duel would re-enter the game. Despite an injured foot, Matt outlasted Sarita in the Duel. After Sarita departed the Redemption Island Arena, Jeff announced that the tribes had merged. After some celebrating by the castaways, Jeff handed the new tribe a map to a new beach and surprised the tribe by announcing that Redemption Island would still be in play. When the tribe arrived at their new beach, the traditional merger feast was awaiting them. Rob proposed naming the tribe Murlonio, which he claimed was Spanish for "from the sea, united", but in reality did not mean anything and was an inside joke between Rob and Amber Mariano
named after one of her stuffed animals. Mike saw Matt as the linchpin vote at Tribal Council and approached him about joining the former Zapatera tribe along with Andrea. Mike promised Matt to go to the final four with him, even at the expense of his own tribe and the use of the Hidden Immunity Idol. Matt told Andrea that he wanted to vote out the Ometepe tribe, starting with voting out Steve as a diversion, and then voting out Phillip and Rob. Andrea was unsure if she wanted to flip alliances. The next day, Matt was torn between going through with his plan or to stick with Ometepe. At the first Individual Immunity Challenge, Natalie took the win over Mike. The former Zapatera tribe plotted to do something Rob would not have thought of by voting out Grant. Matt decided that he would honor his God and instead of flipping to Zapatera, he would stick with Ometepe. Matt told Rob of Mike's final four and Hidden Immunity Idol offer. While the two were talking, Andrea stopped by and Matt told Andrea that he would not be flipping and revealed his plotting with her to vote out Rob. Andrea felt that Matt had thrown her under the bus to Rob. Rob decided that Matt could not be trusted and that he had to be sent back to Redemption Island. Rob rounded up the rest of the Ometepe tribe to plot to vote out Matt. Mike continued to work on getting Matt to flip even so far as writing a note to Matt promising him final three if he voted for Grant. Matt showed the note to Andrea. Rob took Andrea aside to tell her that the vote was going against Matt. Before the Tribal Council votes were read, Ralph stepped up and told Jeff that he wanted to play the Hidden Immunity Idol on Mike. However, no votes were cast against Mike. Matt stuck with what he promised to Rob and voted against Steve. Andrea and the rest of Ometepe voted for Matt and he was blindsided for the second time and sent back to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–5–1.
The day after Tribal Council, Ralph asked Ashley if he was next on the chopping block and offered his vote for her at the final Tribal Council over Rob should she make it to the top three. Natalie told Rob about Ralph's offer and how Ashley said that she would not tell Rob about the offer. Rob decided that because of that transgression, Ashley would not make it to the final three. Rob tried to keep his Ometepe tribemates from forging alliances with the Zapatera tribe members, even going so far as having separate living quarters and eating times. The former Ometepe agreed to a "buddy system" where none of them would talk to the former Zapatera about the game at all. At the Immunity Challenge, Grant, Rob, Ralph, Mike, David, and Julie moved on to the second round. Grant, Mike, and David then moved to the final round where Grant solved the puzzle first to take the second Individual Immunity Challenge. While the Ometepe alliance was down the beach, Mike and David noticed that tribe's flag had moved, so they started digging around the pole thinking that there was a Hidden Immunity Idol. The Ometepe alliance noticed the digging and raced back to camp to dig for themselves. Rob was concerned that Zapatera might have found another Hidden Immunity Idol. At Tribal Council, the former Zapatera tried to sow doubt into Phillip's mind that he was the sixth man in the Ometepe alliance, but Phillip did not bite and threw it right back at the Zapatera members. When the vote came, Ometepe decided to send Mike to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–5.
When the tribe returned to camp, Rob congratulated Phillip on his stand against Zapatera at Tribal Council and told him that he was not at the bottom of the Ometepe alliance, but at the top of the Ometepe alliance. Ralph approached Phillip and Andrea to talk about the game, but they deflected his attempts. When the tribe arrived at the Immunity Challenge site, they were greeted with the view of cheeseburgers. Jeff told them that anybody who wanted to eat could do so, but they would be out of the challenge. Steve and Phillip opted out of challenge to eat. The challenge came down to a battle between David and the women of Ometepe. After over 45 minutes, David dropped from the bar. Andrea told Ashley and Natalie that she really wanted this challenge. Ashley and Natalie agreed to drop from the bar, giving Andrea the win. After awarding Andrea the Individual Immunity necklace, Jeff told the tribe that they would meet at Tribal Council to vote out a castaway who would meet both Matt and Mike at Redemption Island. Rob was torn between issuing orders to vote out David or Steve. At Tribal Council, the order was for David and he went to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–4.
On day 25, Phillip had a premonition while mediating that made him decide that he had come to a "full circle of trust" with Rob. When the Zapatera alliance enjoyed a relatively substantial meal of rice from their provisions, Phillip thought they were trying to eat all of their rice before they get voted out. He decided that the camp's rice was for all and he took several scoops from Zapatera's can of rice. The entire tribe witnessed the new three-way Redemption Island Duel where Mike and Matt built their towers ahead of David, who became the first member of the jury. On day 26, when Andrea opened Ometepe's can of rice, she discovered that there were maggots in the rice. After the Ometepe alliance sorted out their rice on a blanket, Andrea asked if they could put their rice in the Zapatera alliance's can, but Steve refused. Phillip and Steve had a fierce argument over the matter. Phillip thought Steve was being racist after Steve had called him "crazy", which Phillip equated with the term "nigger
". At the Immunity Challenge, Rob, Julie, Ralph, Andrea, Steve, and Grant moved on to the final round. In the final round, Rob barely edged out Steve for the win. When the tribe returned back to camp, Julie buried Phillip's swim trunks while he was out on a walk. At Tribal Council, the argument between Phillip and Steve was discussed. Phillip thought Steve's tone during the argument had a racist undertone. Steve declared there was no prejudice within him, and that he also played football along with African Americans in his previous years. Jeff then asked who had taken Phillip's swim trunks, to which Julie joyfully fessed to taking them and burying them under a rock. When the votes were cast, Julie was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–3.
When the tribe returned to camp, Steve attempted to bury the hatchet with Phillip regarding their argument, but Phillip thought the apology was self-serving and not entirely genuine. Phillip had another premonition from his great-great-grandfather that he would find the shorts that Julie buried and after looking, he did indeed find them. Over on Redemption Island, Matt was struggling with remaining focused on the game, but his faith pulled him through to a victory along with Mike in the second three-way Redemption Island Duel. Grant suggested to Rob that Andrea be the first of the Ometepe alliance to be voted out as he was concerned that she had some sympathy for voting out Matt. After Jeff described the Reward/Immunity Challenge, he held up a wrapped package and announced that there would be a twist after the challenge. In the first round of the challenge, Grant defeated Rob, Ashley defeated Andrea, Ralph defeated Steve, and Phillip defeated Natalie. In the second round, Grant defeated Ashley and Ralph defeated Phillip. Grant won the last round to take his second Individual Immunity. Jeff then said that Grant could choose two people to share his reward and he selected Rob and Andrea. Jeff gave the wrapped package to the tribe, told them not to unwrap it and to bring it to the night's Tribal Council. The castaways speculated about the wrapped package, thinking it was a set of cards and that they might have to vote out a second person at the upcoming Tribal Council. Rob decided that Ralph would be voted out next at Tribal Council because he was still a threat in the game while he thought Steve had already given up. Rob informed Ashley and Natalie about his and Grant's concerns about Andrea's loyalties and the two girls agreed to vote for Andrea should they have to vote out two people at Tribal Council. Steve approached Ashley and Natalie about having the three girls of the Ometepe alliance blindside Rob, but Ashley and Natalie declined because they wanted Andrea out of the game. When the two girls told Rob about Steve's offer, Rob reassessed Steve's desire to stay in the game and considered voting out Steve ahead of Andrea. At Tribal Council, Steve made one last play to the girls to blindside Rob, but when the vote came, the girls did not flip and Ralph was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–2.
As soon as Ralph departed Tribal Council, Jeff announced that the tribe could unwrap the mystery package. The package contained a set of cards that announced that the tribe would immediately compete in an Immunity Challenge and then vote out a member of the tribe. Rob outlasted Ashley and Steve to win Individual Immunity. The castaways then went straight to the vote where they sent Steve to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–1.
Day 31's tree mail brought a Sprint
Samsung Epic 4G announcing the next Redemption Island Duel and video messages from the castaway's loved ones. The four on Redemption Island also received a similar phone announcing the duel and video messages from their loved ones. When the castaways arrived at the Redemption Island Duel, Jeff took the phones back and then announced that the first winner of the Duel would get to spend time with their loved one in person. Mike was the first person to win at the duel and won a visit from his mother. Matt and Ralph finished the duel in second and third place to continue in the game. When Mike's mother arrived at the Redemption Island Arena, Jeff gave Mike three choices: he could take the visit from his mother, he could opt to forgo the visit with his mother and instead give Matt and Ralph a visit from their loved ones, or he could forgo the visit with his mother and give the Ometepe Six a visit from their loved ones. All of the loved ones entered the Redemption Island Arena while Mike made his decision. Mike took inspiration from the Bible to give the most good to the most people
and chose to give visits to the Ometepe Six. The Ometepe Six then headed back to camp to spend the afternoon with their loved ones. Back at the Redemption Island campsite, Ralph was upset at Mike's decision while Matt said he couldn't have made the same decision. Mike claimed that the decision was not strategic, but just the right thing to do. On day 32, Rob won the exhausting Immunity Challenge to win his second Individual Immunity in a row. The tribe decided to blindside Andrea at Tribal Council. Before Tribal Council, Phillip complained about a tangled fishing net. He also tore down part of the roof of the Zapatera part of the shelter and threw it in the fire. He did this to reinforce his strategy of playing the villain/annoyance-of-the-tribe in order to be seen as being somebody easy to defeat at the Final Tribal Council. Rob and Grant wavered voting out Andrea or Phillip. In the end, the tribe stuck to the original plan of voting for Andrea and she was blindsided by a vote of 5–1.
When the castaways returned from Tribal Council, Ashley thought she had a strong alliance with Natalie, but Natalie was leaning more towards her alliance with Rob. Rob told Natalie to keep up appearances with Ashley and thought about voting out Ashley next. Over at Redemption Island, Andrea and Matt argued over Andrea's blindside of Matt. On day 33, the Redemption Island Duel was held with Mike, Matt, and Andrea finishing the puzzle ahead of Ralph after he blew a huge lead from the maze stage when he struggled with the word puzzle. The next day, Rob and Grant discussed voting out Ashley. Meanwhile, Phillip and the girls argued over food. Rob reassured Natalie that he would take her to the end. Ashley thought about making a big move and approached Rob about voting off Grant. Rob told Grant about Ashley's proposal and they agreed to vote out Ashley next. However, their plan was left in tatters when Ashley won the combined Reward/Immunity Challenge. Ashley chose Natalie to share the reward. Ashley's win forced Rob to turn against Grant, though he contemplated voting for Natalie to break up the girls' potential alliance. In the end, Rob chose to blindside Grant and he was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–1.
Day 36 saw the final Redemption Island Duel. The castaways lasted 40 minutes before Grant's vase tipped over and he became the fifth jury member. After the one hour mark, Matt's vase tipped off the board and he became the sixth jury member after surviving ten duels and 29 days on Redemption Island. The Duel came down to Andrea and Mike, with Mike being unable to keep his vase balanced, allowing Andrea to win and re-enter the game. When Andrea returned to camp, she started to scramble to remain in the game by making up a story to Ashley and Natalie that Ralph, Matt, and Mike said they would vote for Phillip at the final Tribal Council. Ashley thought Andrea might join her and Natalie in voting out Phillip or Rob. At the Immunity Challenge, Ashley edged out Andrea and Rob to win. When the castaways returned to camp, Rob overtly took Ashley, Natalie, and Phillip aside to tell them that Andrea had to be voted off. Ashley asked Natalie about Rob's plan for the subsequent vote to make sure that the next to go after Andrea would be Phillip. Natalie was concerned about Rob keeping Phillip, but promised to Ashley that her next vote would go against Phillip. Phillip openly reported on the girl's discussions, but then took off for a private conversation with Rob. While the guys were gone, Andrea again lobbied the two other girls in voting out Rob. At Tribal Council, Andrea again lobbied the girls to take control of the game. Before the votes were read, Rob pulled out the Hidden Immunity Idol and played it. However, the Idol was not needed as Ashley and Natalie stayed loyal to Rob and voted out Andrea by a vote of 4–0.
When the castaways returned to camp after Tribal Council, Rob promised the girls that they would go to the final three together. At the Immunity Challenge, Ashley and Rob finished the maze stage, but were stumped by the difficult puzzle. In the end, Rob figured out the puzzle spelled out "Only You Are Safe" to win the final Individual Immunity; guaranteeing him a spot in the final Tribal Council. After the challenge, Rob again told the girls that they were safe and to not tell Phillip about their plans. Ashley asked Natalie to tell her if Rob were to change his plans and Natalie promised that she would. Rob told Phillip that Ashley was going home. Rob took Natalie aside try to convince her to vote against Ashley by pointing out that Ashley may have made a connection with the former Zapatera members on the jury and that she was a threat. Ashley again asked Natalie if Rob had said anything about voting against her, but Natalie lied and said that nothing was going on. At Tribal Council, Natalie was torn between her friendship with Ashley and her loyalty to Rob, but in the end, she sided with Rob and Ashley became the final member of the jury by a vote of 3–1.
Natalie, Phillip, and Rob enjoyed the traditional day 39 breakfast. Phillip told Rob and Natalie that he was never proud of his pink underwear and burned them. At the final Tribal Council, Natalie emphasized her social skills and her loyalty to Rob. Phillip told the jury that Rob was the mastermind of their entire plan while he implemented it. Rob told the jury that he played the game as best as he could so that he could support his wife, Amber Mariano
, and children. The jury spent most of their allocated time to criticize Natalie and Phillip for their blind loyalty to Rob. The jury cast their vote and Rob was finally awarded the title of Sole Survivor after nearly ten years of competing, by a vote of 8–1–0.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
competitive reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series Survivor
Survivor (U.S. TV series)
Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
, which premiered on February 16, 2011. Applications were due in January 2010, and filming lasted from August to September 2010. The season was filmed in the vicinity of San Juan del Sur
San Juan del Sur
San Juan del Sur is a municipality and coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the Rivas department in south-west Nicaragua. San Juan del Sur is popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists....
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, the same filming location as the previous season
Survivor: Nicaragua
Survivor: Nicaragua is the 21st season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. It premiered on September 15, 2010 at 8:00pm, moving to the Wednesday timeslot for the first time since Survivor: Borneo....
. The show featured returning players Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano
Rob Mariano
Robert Carlo "Boston Rob" Mariano is an American television personality, widely known for appearing in several reality shows, including Survivor, and The Amazing Race with his wife, Amber Brkich Mariano. Mariano won Survivor: Redemption Island and the $1,000,000 prize after competing on the show...
, and 16 new players to Survivor.
Rob Mariano was named the winner in the final episode on May 15, 2011, defeating Phillip Sheppard and Natalie Tenerelli in an 8-1-0 vote. In addition, Mariano won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season," earning the fans' vote over Matt Elrod by receiving 40% of the vote in comparison to 36% for Matt.
Redemption Island
The 22nd season of Survivor introduced a new concept, "Redemption Island", to the United States series based in part on concepts already used in foreign versions of the show, as The Island of the Dead in the Israeli version, Isla Purgatoryo (Purgatory Island) in the Philippine versionSurvivor Philippines
The first season of Survivor Philippines premiered on September 15, 2008, and ended its run on December 12 of the same year. Auditions for this season were held in six Philippine cities in May 2008. From these auditions, 18 contestants were selected to participate on the show in June 2008...
's second season, Ghost Island in the Serbian version
Survivor Srbija
Survivor Srbija: Panama is a Serbian version of the Survivor television series, created and broadcast by Fox televizija. In addition to Serbia, the show was broadcast in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Alternativna televizija, Macedonia on A1 televizija and Montenegro on TV In.Featuring 22 contestants ,...
's second season
Survivor Srbija: Philippines
Survivor Srbija: Philippines is the second season of the Serbian version of the Survivor television series, created by Vision Team production company and broadcast by Fox televizija....
, and the duels in the 2002 Swedish edition
Expedition Robinson 2002
Expedition Robinson 2002, was the sixth edition of the Swedish version of Expedition Robinson. As a special twist for the sixth season, the players were divided into tribes by gender with the exception of Camilla and Charles, who were deemed "leaders" of their respective tribes. Along with the...
. When a contestant was voted off the tribe, instead of leaving the game, he or she was taken to the area known as Redemption Island. Once there, they had to sustain themselves in the same manner as when living with the tribe; living on limited food, water supplies and shelter. When the next contestant was voted off, that person was also sent to Redemption Island. Those two people faced off in a duel challenge which was watched by two members each from both tribes in an Arena constructed to resemble an old ruined temple. The winner remained in the game, and continued living at Redemption Island. The loser was finally removed from the game and, upon exiting removed his or her buff and threw it in a small fire pit. At a pre-determined point in the game, the person remaining at Redemption Island had a chance to return to the game and be reunited with the remaining players. There were two such returns to the game in Survivor: Redemption Island.
Host Jeff Probst
Jeff Probst
Jeffrey Lee "Jeff" Probst is an American game show host, executive producer and a reporter. He is best known as the host of the U.S. version of the reality show Survivor.-Biography:...
compared Redemption Island to the Pearl Islands
Survivor: Pearl Islands
Survivor: Pearl Islands is the seventh season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed in 2003 and debuted in the United States on CBS on September 18, 2003....
Outcast tribe, stating that the latter concept did not seem to work well with the audience because the Outcast twist was not revealed to the players ahead of time, and was considered unfair to the remaining players in the game. However, the Outcast tribe survived on the same meager rations as everybody else in the game. With Redemption Island, the players were told at the start of the game of the existence and rules of Redemption Island, and Probst expected that this would have an impact on how the tribes would vote out members. Probst also stated that the change would allow for the newer players to have a chance to recover from early mistakes such as choosing the wrong alliance or making a poor vote at Tribal Council. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s Dalton Ross correctly speculated that due to the Redemption Island duel as part of each episode, all regular challenges in the show were combined Reward/Immunity challenges until the tribes merged. The duels used at Redemption Island were scaled-back versions of previous challenges the show had used, and Probst stated that this was because these challenges "worked well" and eliminated any risk of the challenges going astray. The idea for allowing other players to watch the duel was a last-minute addition made by Mark Burnett. According to Probst, it gave those that attended the duel "valuable information" they could have used in their gameplay strategy, but also could have left them vulnerable to alliance shifts that might have occurred while they were absent from the tribe.
Season summary
Sixteen new castaways, which were already divided into the two tribes, Ometepe and Zapatera, were brought to Nicaragua to compete in the 22nd season of Survivor. They were joined by two all-stars, "Boston" Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz, who drew buffs to determine which tribes they would be on, Ometepe and Zapatera, respectively. The tribes were then told about the game's new twist "Redemption Island", where voted-out players would go and compete in challenges for a chance to be brought back into the game.Rob quickly proved to be leader in Ometepe, and kept wary of the hidden immunity idol, including sending one of his own alliance, Matt, to Redemption Island while trying to flush it out. On Zapatera, the bulk of the tribe recognized the threat that Russell could be, and after Ralph was able to secure their tribe's hidden immunity idol, they threw a challenge to be able to vote Russell off; Russell would lose to Matt at the next Redemption Island challenge. Matt would continue to win several more duels against several Zapatera players sent to Redemption after a Ometepe winning streak, who were hampered by loss of cohesion within their tribe.
The tribes merged into the new tribe, Murlonio, with twelve players left in the game, including Matt, brought back from Redemption. Matt discussed blindsiding Rob, but when Rob discovered this, used his alliance to send Matt back to Redemption Island, leaving the old Ometepe still up in numbers, six to five players. They would use these to completely eliminate the remaining former Zapatera tribe, before having to turn on themselves. Rob, in possession of a hidden immunity idol himself, was able to control much of the remaining game, orchestrating the elimination of his alliancemates, starting with Andrea. Though Andrea would go on to win her return into the game from Redemption Island, she was unable to secure any other alliances, and was voted off a second time. The final three were Rob, Natalie, and Phillip; both Natalie and Phillip were criticized by the jury for simply following in Rob's footsteps, and Rob was voted the Sole Survivor on a 8-1-0 vote.
At the reunion, Rob won the fan favorite reward and it was announced that Rob snapped Parvati Shallow
Parvati Shallow
Parvati Shallow is the $1,000,000 winner of the reality television series Survivor: Micronesia after receiving votes from Eliza Orlins, Jason Siska, Alexis Jones, Natalie Bolton, and Cirie Fields. She had previously competed in Survivor: Cook Islands where she placed sixth, and later was the...
's record of most days played with 117 (Parvati's was 114), although Rob has played four seasons to Parvati's three. David Murphy also proposed to his girlfriend of several months, Survivor: Tocantins contestant Carolina Eastwood, at the live show, and she accepted.
Contestants
Redemption Island featured the return of Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz, who both previously appeared on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Their feud was a running storyline in early episodes of that season. This was Mariano's fourth appearance on Survivor and Hantz's third. While the other sixteen players were initially assigned tribes prior to the start of the game, Rob and Russell drew buffs to determine which tribe they joined. Neither had special immunity at Tribal Council, debunking Internet forum rumors that had confirmed the presence of Mariano and Hantz prior to an official announcement but speculated at an initial long-term immunity.Probst mentioned that both players could have been voted out immediately, but believed "they bring too much experience" to have been initial targets for elimination. Probst commented that some fans of the show were suffering from "Russell fatigue", after Hantz had appeared in three out of the four past seasons, and stated, "[Hantz] embodies Survivor: he's polarizing. You hate him or you love him." On Mariano, Probst noted that "Rob is likable enough" to win the game, but for the same reason "Rob is going to have a tough time if he makes it to the merge."
In the first episode, Probst noted that Hantz and Mariano had a combined 156 days of Survivor experience between them: Hantz having spent 39 days in both Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains, which totaled up to 78 days; while Mariano had also spent 78 days across his seasons of Marquesas, All-Stars, and Heroes vs. Villains.
| Contestant | Original Tribe | Merged Tribe | Voted Out | Redemption Island | Finish | Total Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francesca Hogi 36, Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... |
4 | |||||
| Russell Hantz 38, Dayton, TX Dayton, Texas Dayton is a city in Liberty County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,242 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:... Samoa Survivor: Samoa Survivor: Samoa is the nineteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season premiered on Thursday, September 17, 2009.... & Heroes vs. Villains |
3 | |||||
| Kristina Kell 46, Malibu, CA |
7 | |||||
| Krista Klumpp 25, Columbia, SC Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan... |
6 | |||||
| Stephanie Valencia 26, Long Beach, CA Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257... |
8 | |||||
| Sarita White 36, Santa Monica, CA Santa Monica, California Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and... |
6 | |||||
| Matt Elrod Returned to game |
4 | |||||
| David Murphy 31, West Hollywood, CA West Hollywood, California West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood... |
8 | |||||
| Julie Wolfe 50, Oceanside, CA Oceanside, California -2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Oceanside had a population of 167,086. The population density was 3,961.8 people per square mile... |
6 | |||||
| Steve Wright Steve Wright (offensive lineman) Stephen Hough Wright is a former American football offensive tackle and offensive guard. A 1977 graduate of Wayzata High School, he played college football at Northern Iowa and then played ten professional seasons for four teams from 1981–1992... 51, Huntington Beach, CA Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population... |
9 | |||||
| Ralph Kiser 45, Lebanon, VA Lebanon, Virginia Lebanon is a town in Russell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 3,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Russell County.-Geography:Lebanon is located at .... |
9 | |||||
| Grant Mattos 29, West Hollywood, CA West Hollywood, California West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood... |
10 | |||||
| Matt Elrod 22, Nashville, TN Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home... |
10 | |||||
| Mike Chiesl 31, Del Mar, CA Del Mar, California Del Mar is an upscale beach town in San Diego County, California. The population was 4,161 at the 2010 census, down from 4,389 at the 2000 census. The San Diego County Fair is hosted on the Del Mar Fairgrounds every summer. Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "by the sea", because it is located... |
6 | |||||
| Andrea Boehlke Returned to game |
5 | |||||
| Andrea Boehlke 21, Random Lake, WI Random Lake, Wisconsin Random Lake is a village in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,551 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Random Lake is located at .... |
9 | |||||
| Ashley Underwood Ashley Underwood Ashley Underwood is an American women's basketball player and pageant contestant from Benton, Maine who competed in the Miss USA pageant in 2009. In 2011, she appeared on Survivor: Redemption Island.-Early life:... 25, Benton, ME Benton, Maine Benton is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,557 at the 2000 census. The town was named for Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.-Geography:... |
3 | |||||
| Natalie Tenerelli 19, Acton, CA Acton, California Acton was founded in 1887 by gold miners who were working in the Red Rover Mine. It was named after Acton, Massachusetts by one of the miners. Two of the best-known gold mines located in Acton were the Red Rover mine and the Governors mine. Mining of gold, copper, and titanium ore continued into... |
1 | |||||
| Phillip Sheppard 52, Santa Monica, CA Santa Monica, California Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and... |
17 | |||||
| Rob Mariano Rob Mariano Robert Carlo "Boston Rob" Mariano is an American television personality, widely known for appearing in several reality shows, including Survivor, and The Amazing Race with his wife, Amber Brkich Mariano. Mariano won Survivor: Redemption Island and the $1,000,000 prize after competing on the show... 34, Pensacola, FL Pensacola, Florida Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752... Marquesas Survivor: Marquesas Survivor: Marquesas is the fourth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it aired from February 28 - May 19, 2002 on CBS. Thirteen episodes aired, plus a mid-season recap and live interview with Rosie O'Donnell... , All-Stars Survivor: All-Stars Survivor: All-Stars is the eighth season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed in 2003 and debuted in the United States on CBS on February 1, 2004 after Super Bowl XXXVIII. It was set on the Pearl Islands of Panama, where the previous Survivor: Pearl Islands had just finished... , & Heroes vs. Villains |
6 | |||||
- The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway received during Tribal Councils where the castaway was eligible to be voted out of the game. It did not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.
Matt received four total votes before he was first sent to Redemption Island. He received six total votes before he was sent to Redemption Island for the second time.
Russell was voted out in a 5–1–0 tie-breaker vote between himself, Ralph, and Stephanie. In the initial vote, all three received three votes each, while in the tie-breaker vote, Russell received five votes, Ralph received one, and Stephanie received none.
Because Kristina played the Hidden Immunity Idol, two votes against her did not count.
Andrea received five total votes before she was first sent to Redemption Island. She received four total votes before she was voted out for the second time.
Because Rob played the Hidden Immunity Idol, one vote against him did not count.
The game
| Episode title | First air date | Redemption Island | Challenges | Voted out | Vote | Finish | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eliminated | Reward | Immunity | |||||||
| "You're Looking at the New Leader of Your Tribe" | February 16, 2011 | colspan="2" | 4–3–2 | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
|||||
| "You Own My Vote" | February 23, 2011 | Francesca | colspan="2" | 4–2–0 | 2nd Voted Out Day 5 |
||||
| "Keep Hope Alive" | March 2, 2011 | Francesca | Matt | Francesca | colspan="2" | 3–3–3 5–1–0 |
3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
||
| "Don't You Work for Me?" | March 9, 2011 | Matt | Russell | Russell | colspan="2" | 4–3 | 4th Voted Out Day 11 |
||
| "We Hate Our Tribe" | March 16, 2011 | Matt | Kristina | Kristina | colspan="2" | 6–2 | 5th Voted Out Day 13 |
||
| "Their Red-Headed Step Child" | March 23, 2011 | Matt | Krista | Krista | colspan="2" | 5–2 | 6th Voted Out Day 16 |
||
| "It Dont Take a Smart One" | March 30, 2011 | Matt | Stephanie | Stephanie | colspan="2" | 4–2 | 7th Voted Out Day 18 |
||
| "This Game Respects Big Moves" | April 6, 2011 | Matt | Sarita | Sarita | None | 6–5–1 | 8th Voted Out Day 21 |
||
| "The Buddy System" | April 13, 2011 | Matt | None | 6–5 | 9th Voted Out Day 22 |
||||
| 6–4 | 10th Voted Out Day 24 |
||||||||
| "Rice Wars" | April 20, 2011 | Matt | Mike | David | None | rowspan="2" | rowspan="2" | 6–3 | 11th Voted Out Day 27 |
| David | |||||||||
| "A Mystery Package" | April 27, 2011 | Matt | Julie | Julie | rowspan="1" colspan="2" [Andrea, Rob] |
rowspan="1" | 6–2 | 12th Voted Out Day 30 |
|
| Mike | None | 6–1 | 13th Voted Out Day 30 |
||||||
| "You Mangled My Nets" | May 4, 2011 | Matt | Ralph | Steve | (Andrea, Ashley, Grant, Natalie, Phillip, Rob) |
rowspan="2" | rowspan="2" | 5–1 | 14th Voted Out Day 32 |
| Mike | Steve | ||||||||
| "Too Close For Comfort" | May 11, 2011 | Matt | Andrea | Ralph | rowspan="3" colspan="2" [Natalie] |
rowspan="3" colspan="1" | 4–1 | 15th Voted Out Day 35 |
|
| Mike | |||||||||
| Ralph | |||||||||
| "Seems Like a No Brainer" | May 15, 2011 | Matt | Grant | Grant | None | rowspan="3" | rowspan="3" | 4–0 | 16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37 |
| Mike | Matt | ||||||||
| Andrea | Mike | ||||||||
| 3–1 | 17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38 |
||||||||
| "Reunion" | May 15, 2011 | Jury Vote | 8–1–0 | 2nd Runner-Up | |||||
| Runner-Up | |||||||||
| Sole Survivor | |||||||||
- In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.
Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
There was no Reward Challenge due to the tribal merge.
Mike won Reward for finishing the duel first, but opted to give it up to Andrea, Ashley, Grant, Natalie, Phillip, and Rob.
Episode 1: "You're Looking at the New Leader of Your Tribe"
- Reward/Immunity Challenge: The tribes would push four blocks along a track which would form a set of stairs to the first level of a temple. The tribe would race to the first level where one tribe member would cut a series of ropes which would release a second set of stairs to the top level of the temple. The tribe would then race to the top level of the temple where there would be a block puzzle. The first tribe to complete their puzzle would win.
- Reward: Flint
Sixteen castaways split into two tribes, Ometepe and Zapatera, arrived on the beach on board a Mil Mi-17
Mil Mi-17
The Mil Mi-17 is a Russian helicopter currently in production at two factories in Kazan and Ulan-Ude...
from the Nicaraguan Air Force
Nicaraguan Air Force
The Nicaraguan Air Force continues the former Sandinista air units. Before 1979 the Nicaraguan National Guard had some air units .-Air force:...
. After Jeff welcomed the group to the game, he announced that two additional players would be joining them, in which Rob and Russell then arrived in a second helicopter. Jeff went over the two's past history in the game and then the two drew for tribes. Rob drew the orange Ometepe tribe buff, while Russell drew the purple Zapatera tribe buff. Jeff then announced the new twist of Survivor, which was Redemption Island. At Ometepe, Rob caught Kristina looking for a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. Rob then talked to Phillip about keeping an eye out for a woman's alliance on the tribe, since the women outnumbered the men 5–4. However, Phillip was uneasy with the idea and approached Kristina about forming an alliance and siding with the women. Over at Zapatera, Russell made his usual early game move and made an alliance with Stephanie, and talked about taking her to the merge.
On Day 3, Kristina went on a hunt for the Hidden Immunity Idol by herself without any clues and actually managed to find it. Francesca, Kristina, and Phillip then formed an alliance, but Phillip annoyed the women with his aggressive questioning about whom to vote off at Tribal Council. The first combined Immunity/Reward Challenge was won by Zapatera, when Ometepe fell behind early. They managed to catch up, but at the puzzle part of the challenge they fell behind and lost. After the challenge, Kristina told Francesca and Phillip that she had the Hidden Immunity Idol, and she told Francesca of her plan to blindside Rob by getting the other three Ometepe women to vote for Kristina, while their three person alliance votes for Rob. Francesca was concerned that it was too early to vote out Rob, and that they didn't have the numbers to stay in the game. Francesca also wanted to vote out Natalie, as she was seen as the weakest link of the tribe. Rob told the other Ometepe members (Andrea, Ashley, Grant, Matt, and Natalie), that he was concerned that the Francesca/Kristina/Phillip alliance may have already found a Hidden Immunity Idol and they should split their vote between Francesca and Kristina.
At Tribal Council, the Francesca/Kristina/Phillip alliance imploded when Francesca openly said that Rob would not be voted out. This enraged Phillip, who immediately responded and said that Francesca told him to vote for Rob. This angered both Francesca and Kristina, and they decided to change their votes to Phillip, both vehemently denied that they were planning to vote out Rob. Phillip openly voiced that he would be voting for Francesca and announced that Kristina had the Hidden Immunity Idol, shocking everyone else on the tribe and silently infuriating Francesca and Kristina. Kristina admitted that she did had the Idol, but she, along with Francesca, still denied that their plan was to vote out Rob, but instead she would be voting for Natalie, even though she did tell Phillip that she was voting for Rob. Jeff asked Rob whose story he believed. Rob said that, while Phillip was adamant in defending his story, Francesca denied it with equal energy. However, Kristina did not defend herself. Rob asked Kristina to show him the Idol just to confirm that she had it. Upon seeing it, he asked her to give him the Idol, declaring that she would stay in the game if she handed it over and that doing so would show that Kristina was telling the truth, but Kristina said she couldn't hand it over. When the voting came, the alliance of six kept to their plan and split their votes between Francesca and Kristina. With Phillip's flip to the majority, Francesca was voted out and became the first castaway to go to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–3–2. After Francesca left for Redemption Island, Jeff said that there would be a flint at Ometepe's campsite.
Episode 2: "You Own My Vote"
- Reward/Immunity Challenge: One at a time, a castaway would swim across a pool, climb up a tower, and then jump off the tower to smash a tile. The smashed tile would release a key which the castaway would retrieve. Once five keys were retrieved, one castaway would use the keys to unlock a box that contained a ball. Two castaways would then toss the ball to break five tiles. The first tribe to break all five tiles would win.
- Reward: Fishing gear
After Ometepe returned to camp from Tribal Council, Phillip felt betrayed by Francesca and swore his loyalty to Rob, while Rob plotted with his alliance to vote out Phillip next. Rob was concerned about the growing connection between Andrea and Matt. Over at Zapatera, Russell added Krista to his alliance with Stephanie. Russell then went on his typical Hidden Immunity Idol hunt, but was beaten to it by Ralph who happened to stumble upon the idol while picking up rocks. Zapatera came from behind to win their second challenge in a row. After Zapatera had won, Matt shook the hands of several of the Zapatera tribe members, which angered Rob. Russell picked up Zapatera's reward as he knew there would be a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within it. He tried to take the clue without anybody noticing, but Ralph did and told the rest of the tribe. Mike and Ralph confronted Russell about the clue, but Russell denied that he had it even though he had already shown it to his alliance. Rob came up with a plan with Ashley, Grant, and Natalie to vote against Matt, but to tell Matt and Andrea that they were splitting the vote between Kristina and Phillip. Rob took Phillip aside and told him that something big was happening at Tribal Council, that he needed to not say anything about the plan at Tribal Council, and that Rob would signal to Phillip whom Rob wanted Phillip to vote for. At Tribal Council, Phillip kept quiet about the plan and voted per Rob's signal against Kristina. Kristina played the Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Phillip and Andrea's votes against her, but Rob's plan came together and Matt was blindsided by a vote of 4–2–0.
Episode 3: "Keep Hope Alive"
- Redemption Island Duel: The two castaways would use rope to tie together sticks in order to make a pole to retrieve three keys. The first castaway to retrieve all three keys and unlock three locks would win.
- Reward/Immunity Challenge: Three members from each tribe would be strapped to a large wheel. Three other tribe members would spin the wheel, which would cause one strapped in castaway at a time to be dunked head first into water. While under water, the castaway would take water in the mouth, which they would then spit into a tube. Once the tube was filled, a ball would be released. One tribe member would then solve a slide puzzle. The first tribe to have their puzzle solved would win.
- Reward: Two chairs, two pillows, tarp, three blankets, and a lantern
When Matt arrived at Redemption Island, Francesca was shocked to see someone from Rob's alliance. After Ometepe returned from Tribal Council, Rob told Phillip that he was in his alliance with Grant, Ashley and Natalie. The next day, the tribes received Tree Mail instructing them to draw marbles to see who would witness the duel on Redemption Island. Zapatera sent over David and Steve, while Ometepe sent over Ashley and Andrea. The duel was won by Matt in a come from behind victory, sending Francesca home. Back at Ometepe, Rob talked to Andrea and tried to reassure her that she was still part of his alliance, but Andrea did not believe him and wanted to find a way to mix things up in the future. Over at Zapatera, Russell's alliance could not find the Hidden Immunity Idol, so they decided to feign like they did have one by having Stephanie constantly carry around her bag, giving the impression that an idol was in her purse. David, Mike, Ralph, Sarita, and Steve all agreed to lose the next challenge on purpose in order to vote out Russell. Julie was reluctant about this plan, as she did not want to give any momentum to Ometepe and she thought she could handle Russell. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, the group of six went through with deliberately losing the challenge, despite Julie's hesitance. Back at Ometepe, Rob found the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol hidden within the reward. At Zapatera, the group of six decided to split their votes between Russell and Stephanie. Russell suspected that the six did throw the challenge and, together with Stephanie, tried to get Julie to flip to Russell's alliance and to vote against Ralph. At Tribal Council, the division between the majority and Russell's alliance was discussed. When it came time for the vote, Julie stuck with the majority and the vote was tied 3–3–3 between Ralph, Russell, and Stephanie. On the re-vote, Russell was voted out in a 5–1–0 vote and was sent to Redemption Island.
Episode 4: "Don't You Work for Me?"
- Redemption Island Duel: The two castaways would stack wooden blocks like a line of domino tiles while avoiding ropes that would topple the tiles that were already stacked. Once all of the blocks were properly stacked, the castaway would start a chain reaction which would release a ball that would smash a tile. The first castaway to break their tile would win.
- Reward/Immunity Challenge: The tribes would send out one tribe member at a time to complete tasks involving tools. At the first station, a crowbar would be used to open a crate that contained a shovel. At the second station, the shovel would be used to dig up a hachet. At the third station, the hachet would be used to chop through a log that would release two saws. At the fourth station, two tribe members would use the saws to saw through a wall to make planks. At the fifth station, two tribe members would use the planks to complete a ramp. Finally, the entire tribe would ascend the ramp, one tribe member would untie a hammer and then use it to hammer in three nails that would break three tiles. The first tribe to break all three tiles and place their tools atop the board would win.
- Reward: A BBQ set, steak, sausage, bread, vegetables, and condiments
On day 9, with Krista and Stephanie away from camp, Ralph decided to show the Hidden Immunity Idol to the rest of the Zapatera tribe. On day 10, the tribes were told to select who would witness the next Redemption Island Duel either by mutual agreement or random draw. Ometepe agreed that Kristina and Phillip could go, while Zapatera agreed upon Ralph and Sarita. The duel was won by Matt for the second time in a row. After the loss, Russell was very emotional, but he regained his composure and let loose on his former tribe by getting Ralph to say that he had a Hidden Immunity Idol and telling Kristina and Phillip that Sarita, Mike, and Steve were in charge of their tribe. While Kristina and Phillip were off at the Redemption Island, Rob came up with a ruse to distract the rest of the tribe so that he could search for the Hidden Immunity Idol. The ruse worked and Rob had the time to successfully find the idol. When Kristina and Phillip returned to camp, Phillip thought he could use Russell's information about Zapatera's alliances and the Hidden Immunity Idol as leverage against Rob and Grant to allow Kristina to remain in the game. However, the ploy failed as Rob and Grant distrusted Phillip even more after his revelation. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Zapatera went on to win their third challenge. Back at Ometepe's camp, Kristina tried to hint that there was a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within Ometepe's reward and that Grant and Rob may have already found it. Rob kept the knowledge of the idol from his alliance and got Andrea, Ashley, Grant, and Natalie to think that Kristina might have the idol and to split the vote between Kristina and Phillip, favoring Kristina to be voted out. However, Grant and the girls were leaning towards voting out Phillip as he was getting on their last nerves. When Phillip asked Rob whom he should vote for at and Rob told him Kristina, Phillip thought Rob went back on his word about keeping Kristina in the game and decided that he needed to make a move at Tribal Council to keep himself in the game. At Tribal Council, Kristina and Phillip lobbied for the other to be voted out. When the vote came, Rob's plan held and Kristina was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–3.
Episode 5: "We Hate Our Tribe"
- Redemption Island Duel: The two castaways would race to retrieve puzzle pieces and then assemble them into a cube. The first castaway to assemble the cube would win.
- Reward/Immunity Challenge: One castaway from each tribe would be a caller to navigate their blindfolded tribe members through a maze to collect four bags of puzzle pieces. Once all four bags were collected, the caller would use the pieces to solve a word puzzle. The first caller to solve the puzzle would win for their tribe.
- Reward: Coffee, tea, creamer, sugar, honey, pastries, and donuts
When Ometepe returned from Tribal Council, Phillip was upset that he was the odd man out in Rob's alliance. Phillip decided to try to make a better connection with the women of his tribe, but only made progress with Andrea. Krista and Stephanie from Zapatera and Grant and Rob from Ometepe witnessed Matt win his third Redemption Island Duel. After the Duel, Matt told Grant and Rob that he wanted to go to the final three with them and that he hoped he would rejoin Ometepe. Krista and Stephanie made it clear that they had no loyalties to the Zapatera tribe and they would be willing to join an alliance with Ometepe after the merge. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Stephanie was the caller for Zapatera (at Sarita's urging) and Rob was the caller for Ometepe. In a close battle, Rob came through to win the challenge for Ometepe. While enjoying their reward, Grant and Rob noticed a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within the jar of coffee and worked together to get the clue and conceal it from the rest of the tribe. Rob took the clue from Grant, but then switched it with the first clue that he had, leaving Grant none the wiser. Back at Zapatera, Sarita argued with the rest of her alliance over her picking Stephanie to be the caller when several of her alliance members thought David would have been better. Going into Tribal Council, the alliance of six knew that they would be voting out either Krista or Stephanie. Krista tried to stir things up between the alliance of six by pointing out sub-alliances within the six, but the alliance did not break and she was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–2.
Episode 6: "Their Red-Headed Step Child"
- Redemption Island Duel: The two castaways would use a grappling hook to retrieve three bags that hold a ball. The castaways would then use one of the balls to work a labyrinthLabyrinth (game)Labyrinth: The Computer Game is a graphic adventure computer game, inspired by the Jim Henson fantasy film, Labyrinth. The game was developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by Activision in 1986 for the Apple IIe and IIc, Commodore 64/128, and MSX2...
. The first castaway to finish the labyrinth would win. - Reward/Immunity Challenge: Two castaways from each tribe would shoot balls from a slingshot while the other members of the tribe tried to catch the balls. For every ball caught, the castaway would score a point for their tribe. The first tribe to score five points would win.
- Reward: A trip to a mountain overlooking San Juan del SurSan Juan del SurSan Juan del Sur is a municipality and coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the Rivas department in south-west Nicaragua. San Juan del Sur is popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists....
and a picnic lunch
On day 14, Steve was surprised that Krista and Stephanie had voted for him at the previous Tribal Council. When Steve asked Stephanie why they voted for him, she said that they voted for the weakest competitor. At Redemption Island, Krista received her luxury item, a Bible, much to the delight of Matt. At the Duel, Matt won his fourth in a row, witnessed by Andrea, Natalie, Julie and Mike. Before Krista departed, she handed over the Bible to Matt, which made Andrea question how much he had bonded with Krista during their time at Redemption Island and speculated that he could be a danger in the future. The next day at Zapatera, Sarita began to irritate her tribe with an issue regarding her tooth. David told Stephanie that in order to remain in the game, she had to try to break up the alliance and get them to vote for Sarita. Stephanie then apologized to Steve after her vote at Tribal Council and that she really wanted to vote for Sarita as she was the weakest tribe member, but he was unsure about her motives. Over at Ometepe, Phillip confronted Ashley and Natalie about what he felt was their lax attitude around the camp. Rob saw the confrontation was a possible fracture among the tribe that would weaken them overall, so he took Phillip aside to attempt to bring peace between the three. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Grant dominated the challenge by scoring four of the points in Ometepe's shutout of Zapatera. While on their reward, Grant and Rob attempted to read the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol without the others noticing, but were caught by Phillip. Phillip felt betrayed by the two guys for not sharing the clue with him, but decided to keep his anger bottled up until presented with a better opportunity to take revenge. Before Tribal Council, David and Stephanie lobbied hard the rest of the tribe to vote out Sarita instead of Stephanie. At Tribal Council, it was acknowledged that Stephanie was seen as a better competitor, but Sarita was seen as more loyal overall. In the end, David and Stephanie's lobbying did not work and Stephanie was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 5–2.
Episode 7: "It Don't Take a Smart One"
- Redemption Island Duel: The two castaways would compete in a game of concentrationConcentration (game)Concentration, also known as Memory, Pelmanism, Shinkei-suijaku, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards...
. One at a time, the castaways would turn over two tiles from a field of twenty. Should they undercover a pair of matching symbols, they would score one point. The first castaway to score five points would win. - Reward/Immunity Challenge: The tribes would run an obstacle course of a hay stack, a rope crawl, a rope blocked pathway, a net crawl, and two brick walls. Along the way of the course would be three stations where two balls in a bag is suspended in the air on a metal spring. The tribes would have to work together to reach the ball and free it from the spring. At the end of the course, the tribe would untie the bags and shoot the six balls into a basket. The first tribe to shoot all six balls into the basket would win.
- Reward: A ride aboard an Mil Mi-17Mil Mi-17The Mil Mi-17 is a Russian helicopter currently in production at two factories in Kazan and Ulan-Ude...
to an active volcano and a picnic of fruit, vegetables, cheese, candy, cookies, crackers, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
When Zapatera returned to camp from Tribal Council, the rift between David and Sarita continued. Over at Ometepe, Phillip no longer trusted Rob because Rob tried to keep the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol from him and looked for inspiration from The Book of Five Rings
The Book of Five Rings
is a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts in general, written by the samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi circa 1645. There have been various translations made over the years, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than only that of martial artists: for instance, some business leaders find its...
to break Rob's control of the tribe. David, Ralph, Rob, and Phillip witnessed Matt's continued domination at Redemption Island when he won his fifth Duel in a row. While Phillip and Rob were returning from Redemption Island, Phillip asked Rob what information they wanted to withhold from the rest of the tribe. Rob said he wanted to tell them everything and then used Phillip's question against him in order to sow distrust of Phillip amongst the rest of the tribe. Rob also told the tribe that he thought Phillip would flip to the other side when the merge happens. Back at Zapatera, Ralph thought David would flip to the other side at the merge. The Reward/Immunity Challenge was closely fought, with the lead being traded back and forth several times, but Ometepe eventually prevailed. On the reward trip, Rob found the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol within a jar of cookies and managed to get it without any of the tribe noticing. He then tossed the clue into the volcano. At Tribal Council, Zapatera again had a choice between loyalty and strength in challenges with the vote split between Sarita and David, respectively. The tribe chose strength and Sarita was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–2.
Episode 8: "This Game Respects Big Moves"
- Redemption Island Duel: The two castaways would brace themselves with their arms between two walls while standing barefoot on two foot pegs. Every 15 minutes, the castaways would move down to smaller foot pegs. When the castaways reached the third set of foot pegs, they would try to remain on them as long as they could. The last castaway to remain on their pegs would win.
- Immunity Challenge: Each castaway would have to stand on a small wooden log while balancing a ball on a wooden disk. At regular intervals, a ball would be added until the castaway would be balancing three balls. Should any of the balls fall off the disk or if they step off the log, the castaway would be out of the challenge. The last castaway to not drop a ball or step off the log would win.
The day 19 treemail arrived announcing the Redemption Island Duel, but unlike previous Duels, the note said that the entire tribe would attend. The tribes headed off to the Duel anticipating a merge. Before the Duel started, Jeff announced that the winner of the Duel would re-enter the game. Despite an injured foot, Matt outlasted Sarita in the Duel. After Sarita departed the Redemption Island Arena, Jeff announced that the tribes had merged. After some celebrating by the castaways, Jeff handed the new tribe a map to a new beach and surprised the tribe by announcing that Redemption Island would still be in play. When the tribe arrived at their new beach, the traditional merger feast was awaiting them. Rob proposed naming the tribe Murlonio, which he claimed was Spanish for "from the sea, united", but in reality did not mean anything and was an inside joke between Rob and Amber Mariano
Amber Mariano
Amber Joy Mariano is an American television personality and winner of Survivor: All-Stars, after appearing as a contestant on one of its predecessors, Survivor: The Australian Outback...
named after one of her stuffed animals. Mike saw Matt as the linchpin vote at Tribal Council and approached him about joining the former Zapatera tribe along with Andrea. Mike promised Matt to go to the final four with him, even at the expense of his own tribe and the use of the Hidden Immunity Idol. Matt told Andrea that he wanted to vote out the Ometepe tribe, starting with voting out Steve as a diversion, and then voting out Phillip and Rob. Andrea was unsure if she wanted to flip alliances. The next day, Matt was torn between going through with his plan or to stick with Ometepe. At the first Individual Immunity Challenge, Natalie took the win over Mike. The former Zapatera tribe plotted to do something Rob would not have thought of by voting out Grant. Matt decided that he would honor his God and instead of flipping to Zapatera, he would stick with Ometepe. Matt told Rob of Mike's final four and Hidden Immunity Idol offer. While the two were talking, Andrea stopped by and Matt told Andrea that he would not be flipping and revealed his plotting with her to vote out Rob. Andrea felt that Matt had thrown her under the bus to Rob. Rob decided that Matt could not be trusted and that he had to be sent back to Redemption Island. Rob rounded up the rest of the Ometepe tribe to plot to vote out Matt. Mike continued to work on getting Matt to flip even so far as writing a note to Matt promising him final three if he voted for Grant. Matt showed the note to Andrea. Rob took Andrea aside to tell her that the vote was going against Matt. Before the Tribal Council votes were read, Ralph stepped up and told Jeff that he wanted to play the Hidden Immunity Idol on Mike. However, no votes were cast against Mike. Matt stuck with what he promised to Rob and voted against Steve. Andrea and the rest of Ometepe voted for Matt and he was blindsided for the second time and sent back to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–5–1.
Episode 9: "The Buddy System"
- Immunity Challenge: The castaways would dig a club out from under the sand. They would then use the club to smash a tile. The first six castaways to smash their tile would move on to the second round. In the second round, the six castaways would dunk their head in a trough of water and collect water in their mouths. They would then crawl under the trough and spit the water into a tube. The first three to fill their tubes would move on to the final round where they would solve a block puzzle. The first castaway to solve their puzzle would win.
The day after Tribal Council, Ralph asked Ashley if he was next on the chopping block and offered his vote for her at the final Tribal Council over Rob should she make it to the top three. Natalie told Rob about Ralph's offer and how Ashley said that she would not tell Rob about the offer. Rob decided that because of that transgression, Ashley would not make it to the final three. Rob tried to keep his Ometepe tribemates from forging alliances with the Zapatera tribe members, even going so far as having separate living quarters and eating times. The former Ometepe agreed to a "buddy system" where none of them would talk to the former Zapatera about the game at all. At the Immunity Challenge, Grant, Rob, Ralph, Mike, David, and Julie moved on to the second round. Grant, Mike, and David then moved to the final round where Grant solved the puzzle first to take the second Individual Immunity Challenge. While the Ometepe alliance was down the beach, Mike and David noticed that tribe's flag had moved, so they started digging around the pole thinking that there was a Hidden Immunity Idol. The Ometepe alliance noticed the digging and raced back to camp to dig for themselves. Rob was concerned that Zapatera might have found another Hidden Immunity Idol. At Tribal Council, the former Zapatera tried to sow doubt into Phillip's mind that he was the sixth man in the Ometepe alliance, but Phillip did not bite and threw it right back at the Zapatera members. When the vote came, Ometepe decided to send Mike to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–5.
- Immunity Challenge: The castaways would hang from a bar over a pool of water. After twenty minutes, the castaways could only hang upside down with their legs over the bar. The last castaway to hang on to the bar would win.
When the tribe returned to camp, Rob congratulated Phillip on his stand against Zapatera at Tribal Council and told him that he was not at the bottom of the Ometepe alliance, but at the top of the Ometepe alliance. Ralph approached Phillip and Andrea to talk about the game, but they deflected his attempts. When the tribe arrived at the Immunity Challenge site, they were greeted with the view of cheeseburgers. Jeff told them that anybody who wanted to eat could do so, but they would be out of the challenge. Steve and Phillip opted out of challenge to eat. The challenge came down to a battle between David and the women of Ometepe. After over 45 minutes, David dropped from the bar. Andrea told Ashley and Natalie that she really wanted this challenge. Ashley and Natalie agreed to drop from the bar, giving Andrea the win. After awarding Andrea the Individual Immunity necklace, Jeff told the tribe that they would meet at Tribal Council to vote out a castaway who would meet both Matt and Mike at Redemption Island. Rob was torn between issuing orders to vote out David or Steve. At Tribal Council, the order was for David and he went to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–4.
Episode 10: "Rice Wars"
- Redemption Island Duel: The three castaways would use 150 wooden tiles to build a house of cards. The first two castaways to build a tower to a height of 8 feet (2.4 m) would remain in the game.
- Immunity Challenge: The castaways would compete to finish a multi-stage puzzle. The castaways would start by running around a post in order to spin off a disk that would be used as a puzzle base. They would then solve a puzzle that would fit within the base. The first six castaways that finish their puzzle would move on to the next round. In the final round, the completed base would be at the center of a second puzzle. The first castaway to finish their second puzzle would win.
On day 25, Phillip had a premonition while mediating that made him decide that he had come to a "full circle of trust" with Rob. When the Zapatera alliance enjoyed a relatively substantial meal of rice from their provisions, Phillip thought they were trying to eat all of their rice before they get voted out. He decided that the camp's rice was for all and he took several scoops from Zapatera's can of rice. The entire tribe witnessed the new three-way Redemption Island Duel where Mike and Matt built their towers ahead of David, who became the first member of the jury. On day 26, when Andrea opened Ometepe's can of rice, she discovered that there were maggots in the rice. After the Ometepe alliance sorted out their rice on a blanket, Andrea asked if they could put their rice in the Zapatera alliance's can, but Steve refused. Phillip and Steve had a fierce argument over the matter. Phillip thought Steve was being racist after Steve had called him "crazy", which Phillip equated with the term "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
". At the Immunity Challenge, Rob, Julie, Ralph, Andrea, Steve, and Grant moved on to the final round. In the final round, Rob barely edged out Steve for the win. When the tribe returned back to camp, Julie buried Phillip's swim trunks while he was out on a walk. At Tribal Council, the argument between Phillip and Steve was discussed. Phillip thought Steve's tone during the argument had a racist undertone. Steve declared there was no prejudice within him, and that he also played football along with African Americans in his previous years. Jeff then asked who had taken Phillip's swim trunks, to which Julie joyfully fessed to taking them and burying them under a rock. When the votes were cast, Julie was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–3.
Episode 11: "A Mystery Package"
- Redemption Island Duel: The three castaways would play a variation of shuffleboardShuffleboardShuffleboard, more precisely deck shuffleboard, and also known as shuffle-board, shovelboard, shovel-board and shove-board [archaic], is a game in which players use broom-shaped paddles to push weighted pucks, sending them gliding down a narrow and elongated court, with the purpose of...
. The castaways would be given three pucks which they would slide across a board and past various obstacles. The first two castaways to have all three of their pucks come to rest touching the end zone would remain in the game. - Reward/Immunity Challenge: The castaways would compete in a logrollingLogrolling (sport)Logrolling , is a sport that originated in the lumberjack/log driver tradition of the northeastern United States and Canada, involving logs in a river or other body of water...
contest. The castaways would match up against another tribe member. The castaway who stays on the log the longest would advance to the next round. In the next round, the remaining four would again compete head-to-head in a single elimination. In the final, the last castaway standing on the log would win. - Reward: Chocolate cake and milk
When the tribe returned to camp, Steve attempted to bury the hatchet with Phillip regarding their argument, but Phillip thought the apology was self-serving and not entirely genuine. Phillip had another premonition from his great-great-grandfather that he would find the shorts that Julie buried and after looking, he did indeed find them. Over on Redemption Island, Matt was struggling with remaining focused on the game, but his faith pulled him through to a victory along with Mike in the second three-way Redemption Island Duel. Grant suggested to Rob that Andrea be the first of the Ometepe alliance to be voted out as he was concerned that she had some sympathy for voting out Matt. After Jeff described the Reward/Immunity Challenge, he held up a wrapped package and announced that there would be a twist after the challenge. In the first round of the challenge, Grant defeated Rob, Ashley defeated Andrea, Ralph defeated Steve, and Phillip defeated Natalie. In the second round, Grant defeated Ashley and Ralph defeated Phillip. Grant won the last round to take his second Individual Immunity. Jeff then said that Grant could choose two people to share his reward and he selected Rob and Andrea. Jeff gave the wrapped package to the tribe, told them not to unwrap it and to bring it to the night's Tribal Council. The castaways speculated about the wrapped package, thinking it was a set of cards and that they might have to vote out a second person at the upcoming Tribal Council. Rob decided that Ralph would be voted out next at Tribal Council because he was still a threat in the game while he thought Steve had already given up. Rob informed Ashley and Natalie about his and Grant's concerns about Andrea's loyalties and the two girls agreed to vote for Andrea should they have to vote out two people at Tribal Council. Steve approached Ashley and Natalie about having the three girls of the Ometepe alliance blindside Rob, but Ashley and Natalie declined because they wanted Andrea out of the game. When the two girls told Rob about Steve's offer, Rob reassessed Steve's desire to stay in the game and considered voting out Steve ahead of Andrea. At Tribal Council, Steve made one last play to the girls to blindside Rob, but when the vote came, the girls did not flip and Ralph was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–2.
- Immunity Challenge: The castaways would test their memory by having to memorize a series of symbols shown by Jeff. The castaways would have to show back the symbols in order. If they showed the wrong symbol, they would be out of the challenge. The last castaway to show all of the correct symbols would win.
As soon as Ralph departed Tribal Council, Jeff announced that the tribe could unwrap the mystery package. The package contained a set of cards that announced that the tribe would immediately compete in an Immunity Challenge and then vote out a member of the tribe. Rob outlasted Ashley and Steve to win Individual Immunity. The castaways then went straight to the vote where they sent Steve to Redemption Island by a vote of 6–1.
Episode 12: "You Mangled My Nets"
- Reward Challenge/Redemption Island Duel: Competing in rounds, the four castaways would throw a metal ball in an attempt to break four tiles. The first three castaways to break all four tiles would remain in the game.
- Reward: The first castaway to win would receive a visit from their loved one.
- Immunity Challenge: The castaways would have to race to assemble eighteen puzzle steps in a staircase. The castaways could only carry one puzzle step at a time up the staircase and had to place the steps in order from bottom to top. The first castaway to correctly place all eighteen steps and reach the top of the staircase would win.
Day 31's tree mail brought a Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
Samsung Epic 4G announcing the next Redemption Island Duel and video messages from the castaway's loved ones. The four on Redemption Island also received a similar phone announcing the duel and video messages from their loved ones. When the castaways arrived at the Redemption Island Duel, Jeff took the phones back and then announced that the first winner of the Duel would get to spend time with their loved one in person. Mike was the first person to win at the duel and won a visit from his mother. Matt and Ralph finished the duel in second and third place to continue in the game. When Mike's mother arrived at the Redemption Island Arena, Jeff gave Mike three choices: he could take the visit from his mother, he could opt to forgo the visit with his mother and instead give Matt and Ralph a visit from their loved ones, or he could forgo the visit with his mother and give the Ometepe Six a visit from their loved ones. All of the loved ones entered the Redemption Island Arena while Mike made his decision. Mike took inspiration from the Bible to give the most good to the most people
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
and chose to give visits to the Ometepe Six. The Ometepe Six then headed back to camp to spend the afternoon with their loved ones. Back at the Redemption Island campsite, Ralph was upset at Mike's decision while Matt said he couldn't have made the same decision. Mike claimed that the decision was not strategic, but just the right thing to do. On day 32, Rob won the exhausting Immunity Challenge to win his second Individual Immunity in a row. The tribe decided to blindside Andrea at Tribal Council. Before Tribal Council, Phillip complained about a tangled fishing net. He also tore down part of the roof of the Zapatera part of the shelter and threw it in the fire. He did this to reinforce his strategy of playing the villain/annoyance-of-the-tribe in order to be seen as being somebody easy to defeat at the Final Tribal Council. Rob and Grant wavered voting out Andrea or Phillip. In the end, the tribe stuck to the original plan of voting for Andrea and she was blindsided by a vote of 5–1.
Episode 13: "Too Close For Comfort"
- Redemption Island Duel: The four castaways would navigate a handle across a table maze. Once clear of the maze, the handle would be used to smash open a box that contained a bag of puzzle pieces. The first three castaways to solve the word puzzle would remain in the game.
- Reward/Immunity Challenge: With one arm tied behind their backs, the castaways would work to solve a three section puzzle in the shape of a fish skeleton. The castaways would link together fish hooks to retrieve a bag of puzzle pieces that would complete one of the three sections. After one section is complete, the castaways would retrieve another bag of puzzle pieces until all three sections were complete. The first castaway to solve the entire puzzle would win.
- Reward: A three course meal delivered at camp.
When the castaways returned from Tribal Council, Ashley thought she had a strong alliance with Natalie, but Natalie was leaning more towards her alliance with Rob. Rob told Natalie to keep up appearances with Ashley and thought about voting out Ashley next. Over at Redemption Island, Andrea and Matt argued over Andrea's blindside of Matt. On day 33, the Redemption Island Duel was held with Mike, Matt, and Andrea finishing the puzzle ahead of Ralph after he blew a huge lead from the maze stage when he struggled with the word puzzle. The next day, Rob and Grant discussed voting out Ashley. Meanwhile, Phillip and the girls argued over food. Rob reassured Natalie that he would take her to the end. Ashley thought about making a big move and approached Rob about voting off Grant. Rob told Grant about Ashley's proposal and they agreed to vote out Ashley next. However, their plan was left in tatters when Ashley won the combined Reward/Immunity Challenge. Ashley chose Natalie to share the reward. Ashley's win forced Rob to turn against Grant, though he contemplated voting for Natalie to break up the girls' potential alliance. In the end, Rob chose to blindside Grant and he was sent to Redemption Island by a vote of 4–1.
Episode 14: "Seems Like a No Brainer"
- Redemption Island Duel: The four castaways would put one foot on one end of a seesawSeesawA seesaw is a long, narrow board pivoted in the middle so that, as one end goes up, the other goes down.-Mechanics:Mechanically a seesaw is a lever and fulcrum....
with the other end having a ceramic vase balanced on it. The castaways would attempt to keep the vase balanced on the end with their foot still on the seesaw. The last castaway to have their vase balanced on the end of the seesaw would win. - Immunity Challenge: The castaways would race along a balance beam to collect a series of bags containing 100 numbered tiles. The first castaway to place their tiles on a board in order from one to one hundred would win.
Day 36 saw the final Redemption Island Duel. The castaways lasted 40 minutes before Grant's vase tipped over and he became the fifth jury member. After the one hour mark, Matt's vase tipped off the board and he became the sixth jury member after surviving ten duels and 29 days on Redemption Island. The Duel came down to Andrea and Mike, with Mike being unable to keep his vase balanced, allowing Andrea to win and re-enter the game. When Andrea returned to camp, she started to scramble to remain in the game by making up a story to Ashley and Natalie that Ralph, Matt, and Mike said they would vote for Phillip at the final Tribal Council. Ashley thought Andrea might join her and Natalie in voting out Phillip or Rob. At the Immunity Challenge, Ashley edged out Andrea and Rob to win. When the castaways returned to camp, Rob overtly took Ashley, Natalie, and Phillip aside to tell them that Andrea had to be voted off. Ashley asked Natalie about Rob's plan for the subsequent vote to make sure that the next to go after Andrea would be Phillip. Natalie was concerned about Rob keeping Phillip, but promised to Ashley that her next vote would go against Phillip. Phillip openly reported on the girl's discussions, but then took off for a private conversation with Rob. While the guys were gone, Andrea again lobbied the two other girls in voting out Rob. At Tribal Council, Andrea again lobbied the girls to take control of the game. Before the votes were read, Rob pulled out the Hidden Immunity Idol and played it. However, the Idol was not needed as Ashley and Natalie stayed loyal to Rob and voted out Andrea by a vote of 4–0.
- Immunity Challenge: The castaways would race through a maze to collect four bags of puzzle pieces at four different stations. Once all four bags were collected, the castaways would race to the top of a pyramid and assemble a word puzzle. The first castaway to correctly solve the puzzle would win.
When the castaways returned to camp after Tribal Council, Rob promised the girls that they would go to the final three together. At the Immunity Challenge, Ashley and Rob finished the maze stage, but were stumped by the difficult puzzle. In the end, Rob figured out the puzzle spelled out "Only You Are Safe" to win the final Individual Immunity; guaranteeing him a spot in the final Tribal Council. After the challenge, Rob again told the girls that they were safe and to not tell Phillip about their plans. Ashley asked Natalie to tell her if Rob were to change his plans and Natalie promised that she would. Rob told Phillip that Ashley was going home. Rob took Natalie aside try to convince her to vote against Ashley by pointing out that Ashley may have made a connection with the former Zapatera members on the jury and that she was a threat. Ashley again asked Natalie if Rob had said anything about voting against her, but Natalie lied and said that nothing was going on. At Tribal Council, Natalie was torn between her friendship with Ashley and her loyalty to Rob, but in the end, she sided with Rob and Ashley became the final member of the jury by a vote of 3–1.
Natalie, Phillip, and Rob enjoyed the traditional day 39 breakfast. Phillip told Rob and Natalie that he was never proud of his pink underwear and burned them. At the final Tribal Council, Natalie emphasized her social skills and her loyalty to Rob. Phillip told the jury that Rob was the mastermind of their entire plan while he implemented it. Rob told the jury that he played the game as best as he could so that he could support his wife, Amber Mariano
Amber Mariano
Amber Joy Mariano is an American television personality and winner of Survivor: All-Stars, after appearing as a contestant on one of its predecessors, Survivor: The Australian Outback...
, and children. The jury spent most of their allocated time to criticize Natalie and Phillip for their blind loyalty to Rob. The jury cast their vote and Rob was finally awarded the title of Sole Survivor after nearly ten years of competing, by a vote of 8–1–0.
Voting history
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U.S. Nielsen ratings
| Episode | Rating | Share | Rating/share Nielsen Ratings Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States... (18–49) |
Viewers (millions) |
Weekly rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "You're Looking at the New Leader of Your Tribe" | 6.2 | 10 | 3.2/9 | 11.155 | #15 |
| "You Own My Vote" | 6.2 | 10 | 3.1/9 | 10.932 | #17 |
| "Keep Hope Alive" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.3/10 | 11.315 | #14 |
| "Don't You Work for Me?" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.2/9 | 10.960 | #14 |
| "We Hate Our Tribe" | 6.0 | 10 | 3.2/10 | 10.727 | #13 |
| "Their Red-Headed Step Child" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.1/9 | 11.003 | #11 |
| "It Don't Take a Smart One" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.1/9 | 11.005 | #18 |
| "This Game Respects Big Moves" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.2/10 | 10.937 | #17 |
| "The Buddy System" | 6.6 | 11 | 3.1/9 | 11.086 | #10 |
| "Rice Wars" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.1/9 | 11.024 | #10 |
| "A Mystery Package" | 6.4 | 10 | 3.2/9 | 11.324 | #9 |
| "You Mangled My Nets" | 6.4 | 10 | 3.1/9 | 10.990 | #13 |
| "Too Close For Comfort" | 6.3 | 10 | 3.1/9 | 10.771 | #18 |
| "Seems Like a No Brainer" | 7.1 | 11 | 4.0/10 | 13.303 | #8 |
| "Reunion" | 5.9 | 9 | 3.5/8 | 10.913 | #16 |