Survivor: South Pacific

Survivor: South Pacific is the 23rd season of Survivor. It was first announced by Jeff Probst on the Reunion show of Survivor: Redemption Island. It premiered on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute premiere.

Production
The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu, Samoa, and the season will premiere on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute debut. It is in the same filming location as Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Fiji and Tonga were said to be alternate locations.

Aggie Grey's, the hotel that was used in the two aforementioned seasons was used once again to accommodate the staff and crew. The duration of their stay was reported to be identical to their last visit to Samoa. The said hotel had no availability from May 16 to September 16, 2011. Locals have been very appreciative hosting the show for a third time, stating that it helped boost their tourism industry (with revenues reported to be approximately $6,000,000 for filming seasons 19 and 20). The show also helped the devastated country recover from the 2009 Samoan tsunami.

Twist/Changes

 * Redemption Island: Redemption Island returned this season, but with new tweaks. During "group duels," or duels that have more than two competitors, only one winner stays, sending the others home.
 * Two Returning Players: Two former contestants returned to compete in this season. Former castaways Coach Wade and Ozzy Lusth joined this season's batch of contestants. Jeff stated that their poor social skills had put them to jeopardy in their earlier seasons, and this would be their chance to improve in that aspect.
 * Hidden Immunity Idols: The clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at camp. Once the clue is unearthed, the player will have a better chance of finding the idol.

Season Summary
Sixteen new castaways, already divided into tribes, were joined by returning players Ozzy Lusth and Coach Wade at Redemption Island. After a random draw of buffs, Ozzy joins the Savaii tribe, while Coach joins the Upolu tribe. Ozzy's welcome was warm and appreciative, while Coach's was largely cold and silent. At the first night, Coach got into a conversation with Brandon, Sophie, Albert and Rick, which ended up uniting the five in a formidable alliance.

The warring tribes equally fared in challenges, trading time at Tribal Council. Along the way, Coach and Ozzy made alliances while successfully finding their tribe's Hidden Immunity Idols. While Coach successfully maneuvered the votes in his favor, it was not the case for Ozzy, with the new players not letting him achieve total control over the tribe. After seventeen days of competition, Savaii lost Semhar, Papa Bear and Elyse; while Upolu lost Christine, Stacey and Mikayla. With Upolu's Christine dominating the duels, and an impending merge, Ozzy proposed the "Trojan Horse" plan, stating that should Savaii lose the next Immunity Challenge, the other tribe members would deliberately sending him to Redemption Island in hopes of defeating Christine. The plan was successful, merging Upolu and Savaii to the new Te Tuna tribe, with six members each.

Anticipating a deadlock tie vote, Coach swayed a member of the other tribe, Cochran, making him believe that he was being bullied by his former tribemates. While the next Tribal Council started with the expected 6-6 tie between Rick and Keith, Cochran pulled a doublecross, sending his former tribemate Keith to Redemption Island. Furious of his decision, the remaining Savaiis shunned Cochran for his betrayal. The remaining Savaii members (including Cochran himself) however, were systematically vote out from the tribe, and found themselves battling each other at Redemption Island, with Ozzy dominating the duels.

With no common enemy remaining, the Upolu alliance are forced to turn on each other, starting with Edna. After winning the next Immunity Challenge, Brandon and passed it to Albert, causing his demise. With Ozzy returned from Redemption Island, and won immunity, Upolu again voted each other out, with Rick being sacrificed. Losing the final Immunity Challenge against Sophie, Ozzy was voted out for the third time, leaving Coach, Albert and Sophie as the final three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Coach was castigated for using religion to instill fear to others, while Albert and Sophie were criticized for being ignoble and condescending respectively. In the end, Sophie's admittance to her flaws, silent game play and athleticism earned her the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize.

Trivia

 * This is the first season to feature a contestant who is a relative to a previous contestant. Brandon Hantz is a nephew to Russell Hantz.
 * This is the third season to take place in Samoa, following Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. This makes it the most used location.
 * The location for this season was originally going to be in neighboring Tonga, but it was declined for economic reasons.
 * This is the seventh consecutive season to have a woman be the first voted out and the first eliminated.
 * This is the third season to feature a pattern in which the tribe that wins each Immunity Challenge switches each episode, following Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: The Amazon.
 * This is the second season in a row where a tribe gets systematically voted off (a term known in the fandom as Pagonged) post merge.
 * This is the second season in a row where the final tribal council contained two males and one female.
 * This would be the sixth season to feature returning contestants, following Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Guatemala, Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: Redemption Island.
 * But this season is the third to feature only a pair of returning players competing.
 * It is also the sixth one to have a returning player in the final two/three.
 * Ozzy Lusth became the first contestant to be voted out three times in a single season.
 * This is the first season to feature a castaway's clip after the "One Survivor" portion of the intro with Brandon Hantz's clip being shown.
 * Sophie is the second winner to defeat a returning contestant at the Final Tribal Council, Coach Wade. The first was Danni Boatwright beating Stephenie LaGrossa in Survivor: Guatemala.
 * Three contestants entered the competition through Sears' Casting Contest: Sophie, Rick and Papa Bear.
 * This season markes the latest apperance of Redemption Island.