Survivor: Gabon

Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden is the seventeenth season of the CBS reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 25, 2008, with the first two episodes screened back-to-back.

Applications were due on January 24, 2008. Around March 2008, 800 applicants were selected for an interview by CBS. Out of these 800, about 48 semi-finalists were selected to go to Los Angeles sometime during April 2008. From these semi-finalists, 18 contestants were selected to participate in the show between late June and mid-July 2008. This season, players sent to Exile Island will have a choice of receiving a clue to the location of a Hidden Immunity Idol or a comfort item.

On April 13, 2008 at the annual National Association of Broadcasters's NAB Show, it was announced that the 17th season would be the first to be shot in high definition, using Sony XDCAMs.

Survivor: Gabon began filming in late June. It marked the second season of the series that was filmed in Africa, after Survivor: Africa was filmed seven years prior in Kenya. Reports from Gabon indicate the show was filmed around the coastal towns of Nyonie and Ekwata in the Wonga-Wongue Presidential Reserve.

Host Jeff Probst mentioned that preproduction of the series was plagued by shipment delays, a crane toppling over and undesirable wild animals encroaching into the production area.

Episodes
The first challenge was a combined reward/immunity challenge. The winning team received immunity and matches.

Sometime between day 4 and 6, a reward challenge took place that was not shown during the episode. The challenge involved holding weight on poles. Richard and Joel held the weight for their tribes. The reward was a map to a closer water hole.

Elimination notes

 * Sonja Christopher - Sonja stumbled in the immunity challenge and was the weakest member of Tagi. Rudy was targeted by 3 of the women for his overbearing behavior, but Sue made a swing vote and Sonja ended up being narrowly voted out for her disappointing challenge performance. (voted out 4-3-1)
 * B.B. Andersen - B.B. clashed with tribemates and asked to be voted out. (voted out 6-2)
 * Stacey Stillman - Stacey was considered to be the weakest in Tagi and clashed with too many people. Rudy was again targeted by two of the women, but his bonds with his tribe mates proved stronger than Stacey's. She later claimed producers persuaded two of her tribemates to vote against her; allegations were settled out of court. (voted out 5-2)
 * Ramona Gray - Ramona was weak and sick for most of her time in camp. She pulled herself around during her last few days on the island, but it proved to be too little, too late. (voted out 4-2-1)
 * Dirk Been - Dirk was a victim of the alliance between Richard, Sue, Kelly, and Rudy. He was deemed weaker than the other alliance outcast, Sean, and was blindsided at tribal council. (voted out 4-1-1)
 * Joel Klug - Despite Joel's challenge strength, the women of his tribe felt he was sexist and voted him out before he had a chance to win individual immunities. (voted out 4-2)
 * Gretchen Cordy - After the merge, the Tagi alliance targeted Gretchen, seeing her as Pagong's leader. A naive Pagong tribe split their votes a number of different ways, paving the way for her to be voted out. (voted out 4-1-1-1-1-1-1)
 * Greg Buis - Greg was targeted by the Tagi alliance for his manipulative skills and his physical strength. (voted out 6-3)
 * Jenna Lewis - Jenna was targeted next by the Tagi alliance. Not only did her constant talking get on everyone's nerves, but Tagi decided to use Sean's alphabet vote to ensure her demise at tribal council. (voted out 4-3-1)
 * Gervase Peterson - Gervase was the next booted from the former Pagong tribe. He was deemed more of a challenge strength than Colleen, and his charm made the Tagi alliance nervous. (voted out 5-2)
 * Colleen Haskell - Though the Tagi alliance had turned on Kelly, she proceeded to win immunity, leaving Sean to be the next in line. However, a last-minute change in voting left Colleen, the last remaining member of Pagong, to be voted out of the tribe. (voted out 4-2)
 * Sean Kenniff - Kelly again saved herself with a crucial immunity win, and Sean's failure to participate in any alliance got him booted from the game. (voted out 4-1)
 * Sue Hawk - With another immunity win from Kelly, the votes at tribal council were split between Richard and Sue. In a re-vote, Richard and Rudy continued to vote for Sue while Kelly turned on her former alliance partner and helped vote Sue out of the game. (eliminated by tie-breaker vote 3-1)
 * Rudy Boesch - Kelly won the final immunity challenge and decided to vote off Rudy, as he was more likeable and more of a final 2 threat than Richard. Rudy and Richard did not vote, as their votes would cancel each other out. (voted out 1-0)
 * Kelly Wiglesworth - In the final 2, she received votes from Colleen, Gervase and Jenna. She was considered to be two-faced and didn't work as hard as Richard for the million dollars. Her social game won over the three Pagong members who voted for her.
 * Richard Hatch - Richard became the Sole Survivor. He received votes from Sue, Rudy, and Sean for playing the game strategically and straightforwardly. Greg also voted for Richard, basing his vote on the two finalists picking a number between 1 and 10. Sue's infamous "Rats And Snakes" speech cost Richard votes, but ultimately he narrowly beat out his competition for the million dollar prize.

Trivia

 * Survivor: Borneo has been referenced a number of times in the Disney show Lizzie McGuire. In one episode, the tribe names Pagong and Tagi are used as team names at an outdoor camp. In another episode, Lizzie's mother claims she knew Richard Hatch would win the series.
 * This was the only season in which the final jury votes were revealed immediately after being cast, rather than months later in front of a live audience.
 * In 2006, Richard was found guilty of tax evasion connected with his $1,000,000 prize and sentenced to 51 months in prison.
 * The Survivor: Borneo finale received the highest ratings of any Survivor episode to date.
 * Many people speculate that Kelly would have won the game if she guessed the correct number to juror Greg Buis' final question. However, Greg himself admitted that Richard had his vote 100% and he would have never voted for Kelly.