Survivor: Tocantins

Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands is the 18th installment in the U.S. reality show Survivor. It was filmed in Tocantins, Brazil. It premiered on February 12, 2009. Once production of Survivor: Gabon was underway, CBS began casting for this season. Shooting occurred between October and December 2008.

J.T. Thomas became the Sole Survivor on the live finale broadcast May 17, 2009. He finished the first "perfect game" in the history of the show, not having a single vote cast against him all season and earning all seven jury votes in a unanimous decision, beating out Stephen Fishbach. In addition, J.T. was named "Sprint Player of the Season", earning the fans' vote over Taj Johnson-George and Sierra Reed.

Twists/Changes

 * First Impressions: On Day 1, Jeff Probst instructed the newly-marooned castaways to make their first vote-off. Relying only from first impressions, the tribes must select which of their tribemates will be the biggest liability to their team, and these two players will "not make it to the journey." The contestants assumed that the two would be eliminated, but the "journey" was revealed to be a four-hour trek to their camps. The two people who were singled out (Sierra from Timbira and Sandy from Jalapao) will be airlifted to their camps, while their tribemates underwent a treacherous walk to their respective encampments.
 * One-time use Hidden Immunity Idols: After being whisked away to their camps, the two left out players were given a choice between creating a shelter (to possibly change their perceptions of them) or search for a one-time use Hidden Immunity Idol that can only be good at their first visiting Tribal Council. Unfortunately, both Idols were never found and wasted away in the process.
 * Exile Island: Exile Island returns this season, with new twists. After a Reward Challenge, the winning tribe must send one person from the losing tribe to Exile Island, and in return, the said person must pick one member from the winning tribe to join him/her in Exile Island. Another twist is that, upon reaching Exile Island, the two banished players will get to chose between two unmarked bottles; one bottle contained a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol, hidden somwhere at their camps. The player who gets the clue will also have the option to switch tribes at will (hypothetically, if a banished player already found his/her tribe's idol, the player in question may switch tribes to potentially find the other tribe's idol). The person who gets the second bottle will get nothing.
 * Hidden Immunity Idols: Hidden Immunity Idols return this season.

Trivia

 * This season marks the third country (Brazil) to be revisited as a location of filming, following Panama and Palau, though it became the first country to host two seasons in two separate locations. While was filmed in the Rio Negro river, this season was shot in an entirely different province of Brazil, at the Rio Novo river.
 * It is the first season since to feature two male players in the Final 2.
 * This season, 18th, is currently the latest season to feature a Final 2 (and also consisting of a 7-person jury).
 * also had a final two, but featured a 8-man jury.
 * This is the first season since to follow the original format that was used during the first six seasons, (a pool of sixteen contestants, with six players voted out before the merge, one made the merge but did not make the jury, a seven-person Jury and two players at the Final Tribal Council).
 * Thus far, it is the only season to feature black as the color for a starting tribe (Black has been mostly used as the color of the merged tribe).
 * Abi-Maria Gomes from  was originally recruited for this season, however she was cut because she might gain an advantage due to her being Brazilian. Gomes is originally from Goiás, a neighboring state of Tocantins.
 * This is the fifth season to feature an evacuation.