Survivor: Redemption Island

Survivor: Redemption Island is the 22nd season of Survivor. It premiered on February 16, 2011.

Production
The staff and crew stayed in Nicaragua after filming the previous season because of the warm hospitality and to minimize production costs.

The idea of bringing Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz sprouted from the Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains reunion show, where Rob liked to go head-to-head with Russell in a future season.

Twist/Changes

 * Redemption Island: In a drastic game-changing twist, when a player gets voted out from Tribal Council, that player will not be eliminated right away. Instead, he/she will go to Redemption Island. Similar to Exile Island, the sent player will fend for himself during his/her entire stay. When the next person gets voted out, the two players will "duel" in a special challenge. The winner gets to stay at the island, while the loser is eliminated from the game for good. At a certain point, the last person standing on Redemption Island will return to the main game and will still have a show of winning the game.thumb|300px|right|Survivor: Redemption Island opening credits
 * Redemption Island Duel: The current inhabitant of Redemption Island will square-off with the current castoff in a duel. The winners will claim the right to stay in redemption Island, while the loser is permanently eliminated from the contest.
 * Challenges: In the advent of the Redemption Island Duel, all tribal challenges are both for Reward and Immunity. This will be implemented until the merger.
 * Rob vs. Russell: It was revealed that Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz will return as contestants to finally settle their heated rivalry during Heroes vs. Villains.
 * Hidden Immunity Idols: It was confirmed that Hidden Immunity Idols will again be available in the game.

Trivia

 * With Rob's appearance in this season, he is the most recurring contestant, appearing in four seasons.
 * The location of Ponderosa this season is the same location used for last season.
 * While this season is the first season that did not have any Reward Challenges, this season has the most number of combined Reward/Immunity Challenges, with nine.