Survivor: Redemption Island

Survivor: Redemption Island is the 22nd season of Survivor. It premiered on February 16, 2011. Its filming location was San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the same location used last season. The winner of the season is veteran player Rob Mariano after winning eight of nine Jury votes.

Production
The production staff stayed in Nicaragua after filming the previous season because they enjoyed the warm hospitality and also to minimize production costs. Also, the location of Ponderosa this season was the same location used last season.

The idea of bringing back Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz came from the Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains reunion show, where Rob (who was eliminated by Hantz' alliance) said he would like to compete against Russell in a future season to settle their rivalry.

After the controversial inclusion of NaOnka Mixon and Kelly Shinn to the Jury after their simultaneous voluntary exits at the previous season, Mark Burnett has stated that starting from this season, post-merge quitters may or may not be put to the Jury. This decision will be decided by the producers before the next Tribal Council, where the Jurors will watch its proceedings. According to Burnett, "It's very unlikely any quitter will be on the jury again."

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, the said contestant will go to Redemption Island, where he/she will fend for himself during his/her entire stay. When the next person gets voted out, the two players will compete in a "duel." 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 continue his/her pursuit of the one million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor.
 * Early Merge: Twelve people entered the merge.
 * New Camp for Merger: This is the first time since Survivor: The Amazon where the merged tribe lived in a entirely new camp, rather than using one of the two existing camps.
 * Challenges: In the advent of the Redemption Island Duels, this season featured several challenges are both for Reward and Immunity.
 * Two Returning Contestants: Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz returned as contestants to settle their heated rivalry during Heroes vs. Villains.
 * Hidden Immunity Idols: Hidden Immunity Idols were available this season, with one hidden at each camp.
 * Final Tribal Council: Three contestants are eligible to win at the Final Tribal Council, where they get to face a Jury of nine.

Episode Guide
Notes:

There was no duel, as Francesca was Redemption Island's only inhabitant at the time.

Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. Furthermore, in A Mystery Package and Too Close For Comfort, the winner of the Reward/Immunity Challenge chose invitees to join him/her at the reward.

Trivia

 * With Rob's appearance in this season, he is the most recurring contestant, appearing in four seasons.
 * While this season is the first season to not have any straight Reward Challenges, it has the most number of combined Reward/Immunity Challenges with nine.
 * This is the first season that had a returning male contestant won. Rob's wife Amber Mariano won Survivor: All-Stars (in which Rob was runner-up), Parvati Shallow won Survivor: Micronesia and Sandra Diaz-Twine won Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.
 * This is the third time a tribe which threw an Immunity Challenge ended up outnumbered at or shortly after the merge due to the loss. The first time it happened was to Drake in Survivor: Pearl Islands followed by Zhan Hu in Survivor China.
 * This season had the most amount of players make it to the finale, with eight. Four people were yet to be voted out, while another four competed in the final duel.
 * Richard Hatch, the winner of Survivor: Borneo, was originally slated to compete against Russell, but his request to leave the country was again rejected by a federal judge. Boston Rob replaced him instead.
 * This is the first season with a twelve player merge in which the first tribal council doesn't have a 10-2 vote.
 * The font used on the letterings of this season's tribe names is called "Hobo Std ."