Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains is the twentieth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

This season was a celebration of the ten year anniversary of the show and opted to have returning players who were known for their honor and integrity (Heroes) or their deception and duplicity (Villains) - it also marked the first two-time winner; Sandra Diaz-Twine, who beat Parvati Shallow and Russell Hantz in a 6-3-0 vote.

Production
Unlike previous seasons where a break in production occurred between seasons, the twentieth season was shot twenty days after was completed, taking advantage of the existing infrastructure from that season. Casting for Heroes vs. Villains was done simultaneously with casting for Survivor: Samoa. Heroes vs. Villains features ten former Survivors known for their acts of integrity and honor, the Heroes, and ten former Survivors known for their deeds of deception and duplicity, the Villains. The cast was officially announced during the 36th People's Choice Awards on January 6, 2010. Jeff Probst, the show's host, stated that while they wanted to do another season where they brought back former players for the show's 10-year anniversary and 20th cycle, they did not want to simply do another All-Stars season. On reflecting on the most popular players, they realized that these players were either seen as likable or despised for those respective seasons, and opted to use that as the theme for this season.

According to Probst, the production initially selected 50 players from the past seasons, paring those down to twenty and keeping one spot open for a possible player from Samoa. Some selections were made to match players that production thought would be exciting to see, according to casting director Lynne Spillman. While the players have been classified as Heroes or Villains,  Survivor' s creator Mark Burnett does not expect these players to maintain these roles in the game, and to do what they need to survive to the end. Rather than the usual slogan "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast", the slogan for this season is "Return, Revenge, Redemption". All challenges in this season will be based on challenges used in previous seasons. Due to the back-to-back filming of Survivor: Samoa and this season, the other players did not have an opportunity to see Russell Hantz' gameplay in Samoa; however, the players were told by the production crew that Hantz was considered "one of the 5 most notorious male villains of all time" prior to the start of the game.

The 2009 Samoa earthquake & tsunami occurred shortly after the completion of filming for this season; a CBS spokeswoman stated that no crew members were harmed from it.

Richard Hatch, the winner of the original Survivor, was asked to return for this season. However, he had to apply to leave the country since he was under house arrest. His request was denied by a federal judge in Rhode Island. Jeff Probst also revealed to TV Guide that Corinne Kaplan of and Shane Powers of  were also asked to return, but Kaplan declined due to work obligations and Powers was replaced by Russell Hantz of Survivor: Samoa, although Jonathan Penner of  and  has stated he accepted an offer though was replaced by Hantz. Twila Tanner of was asked to be back, which she accepted, but was cut at the last minute. Yau-Man Chan from and Survivor: Micronesia was also asked to return but turned the offer down. In addition, Jeff Probst revealed in an interview that the producers would have liked Elisabeth Hasselbeck from and Colleen Haskell from, neither of whom would have accepted the offer. Jenna Morasca, winner of, was asked to return but declined, because her boyfriend Ethan Zohn, winner of Survivor: Africa had cancer. Shii Ann Huang of Survivor: Thailand and Survivor: All-Stars was asked back but turned it down due to being pregnant. Alicia Calaway of Survivor: The Australian Outback and Survivor: All-Stars had also turned down an offer to appear. Taj Johnson-George of Survivor: Tocantins turned down an offer to return, as did Sierra Reed of the same season. Danni Boatwright received a call to return, but declined due to wanting to appear on an All Winner Season. Tom Buchanan (Survivor: Africa), Natalie Bolton (Survivor: Micronesia), Ozzy Lusth (Survivor: Cook Islands and Survivor: Micronesia), Ace Gordon (Survivor: Gabon), Jean-Robert Bellande (Survivor: China),Tina Wesson (winner of Survivor: The Australian Outback),and Erik Reichenbach (Survivor: Micronesia) were all strongly considered to return but were not chosen. Rudy Boesch of Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: All-Stars was also strongly considered, but the producers deemed him too old to compete. Brian Heidik, winner of Survivor: Thailand, was in talks to compete in the season, but producers were too "repulsed" by him to have him back. Jeff Probst has revealed that Yul Kwon (winner of Survivor: Cook Islands), Terry Deitz (Survivor: Panama), and Michael Skupin (Survivor: The Australian Outback) were considered to return but not chosen. Jon Dalton (Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Micronesia) has said in an interview that he was initially cast, but cut when Hatch could not make it.

Twists/Changes

 * Heroes vs. Villains: Ten of the most heroic castaways battled against the ten most villianious castaways for the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize, hence the title.
 * Hidden Immunity Idol: 2 idols would be hidden for the contestants to find.
 * Double Tribal Council: On Day 15, both tribes competed for individual immunity for an elimination later that night.
 * Expanded Jury and Final Three: The Final Tribal Council would have a final 3 and a 9 person jury.

Season Summary
Ten of Survivor's greatest Heroes were pitted against ten of Survivor's most notorious Villains. On paper, it seemed that the Heroes had an advantage over the Villains because of sheer strength by winning the first Reward Challenge. But with Rob Mariano's leadership, together with his dominance in challenges (particularly in puzzles), the Villains went on to win 7 of 9 challenges during the first 14 days. The Heroes tribe started to fall apart early because the tribe was torn between shifting alliances. This reflected on challenges, where James Clement started to lose his temper for his tribe's lack of unity. After two weeks of competition, the Heroes were quickly reduced to half.

But the Villains also had their share of mishaps. Jealous of Rob's leadership, newcomer Russell Hantz decided to hide the machete during their sleep, much to the tribe's dismay. After accidentally discovering the clue to the whereabouts of a Hidden Immunity Idol buried somewhere at camp, the tribe had a group consensus that no one shall be caught digging for it, or it will cause their elimination once the Idol was used. Despite this warning, Russell went out to search, much to the anger of his tribe. Upon receiving the news of a double elimination on Day 15, Rob tried to oust Russell by creating an alliance with five other members and splitting their votes between Russell and Parvati Shallow, but only to be thwarted by Russell who made a bold move by secretly asking a gullible Tyson Apostol to vote for Parvati instead of him. In another risky move, Russell handed Parvati his Idol, and much to the surprise of the tribe, Tyson was eliminated in Russell's plan by voting Parvati, causing his elimination. The blindside became Russell's rise to power over the Villains. Despite his newfound power, and after the elimination of James, the Heroes rebounded by winning the next three Immunity Challenge's, causing the Russell-led Villains tribe to eliminate Rob, Coach Wade, and Courtney Yates, leaving Sandra Diaz-Twine to fend for herself. After Courtney's ouster, the Heroes and Villains were even with five members apiece. They were then merged as the Yin Yang tribe.

When the Heroes discovered another clue to another Hidden Immunity Idol, they initially wanted to use it against the Villains. But upon realizing that the male Villains were quickly decimating, J.T. Thomas made a risky move by giving Russell the Idol, hoping that Russell might flip into the Heroes side. But after merging, it was not the case as J.T. got blindsided by the Villains. Parvati surprised the tribe by handing two Hidden Immunity Idols to Jerri Manthey and Sandra. This became the Heroes' subsequent downfall. The Heroes would continue to fall despite attempts by Sandra to convince them to vote otherwise. Russell attempted to play Parvati and Danielle DiLorenzo against each other, and while ultimately leading to Danielle's elimination, set Parvati against Russell. The remaining Heroes would be eliminated, leaving the final four as Russell, Parvati, Sandra, and Jerri. Russell, having won final Immunity, felt he would have a better chance with Sandra, whom he felt did little in the game, over Jerri, and eliminated Jerri at their final vote. At the Final Tribal Council, the jury showed little respect for Russell's gameplay; he would go on to receive no votes. While Parvati argued for her mastery of the physical and social nature of her game to win the jury's favor, Sandra was able to win over the Heroes' votes by pointing out that she tried to help them vote out the Villains and remained the last of her original alliance with Rob. Along with Courtney's vote, Sandra won the title of Sole Survivor over Parvati and Russell, 6–3–0 respectively, and became the first two-time Survivor winner.

Trivia

 * After filming, the Survivor medical team stayed in Samoa to aid the locals who were affected by the 2009 Samoan Tsunami. As told by Jeff Probst in the TV Guide preview of Survivor: South Pacific, some of the filming locations also took damage from the disaster.
 * This is currently the last season where the merged tribe only consists of ten players.
 * This season marks the first time a previous winner has won for the second time.
 * This season's logo featured silhouettes of the castaways from the Heroes and Villains tribes.
 * This season holds the record for the most Hidden Immunity Idols played, with 6.
 * This is the only one of his seasons where four-time player Rob Mariano did not make the merge.
 * This is also the only season of theirs where three-time players James Clement, Stephenie LaGrossa, Cirie Fields, Coach Wade,  and Tyson Apostol did not make the merge.
 * Coach and Tyson played their 3rd season after this though. (Survivor: South Pacific and Survivor: Blood vs Water respectively)
 * This season is tied with Survivor: All-Stars  for the most winners playing at the time of production with four; namely,Sandra Diaz-Twine, Tom Westman, Parvati Shallow and J.T. Thomas.
 * This season is also tied with Survivor: All-Stars for the most all time winners playing with six; that includes Rob Mariano and Tyson Apostol.
 * This is the only season that she participated in that three-time player Amanda Kimmel did not make the Final Tribal Council.
 * Amanda Kimmel is also the first player to achieve the record of playing survivor for 100 days at day 22.
 * The "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" slogan was replaced by "Return, Revenge, Redemption" for this season.
 * Both returning players from Survivor: Gabon were voted out first from both of their tribes, and both were voted out 9-1.
 * This is the last season to feature returning female contestants until Survivor: Caramoan.
 * All contestants this season have made it to the jury phase of the game at least once when they formerly competed.
 * This is the first season to have multiple failed split votes, it would be followed by Survivor: Cagayan.
 * This is the first season with returning contestants to have multiple contestants originating from the same season make the final six.
 * This is the first season where the final three was entirely composed of previous finalists from other seasons.
 * All the returning players from this season at least had their best finish in their previous seasons be in the top 8
 * JT, Parvati, Sandra, and Tom finished in 1st place
 * Amanda, Colby, Courtney, Danielle, Rob, Russell, and Stephenie finished in 2nd place.
 * Cirie and Sugar finished in 3rd place. Amanda also achieved this ranking in a previous season.
 * Rupert finished in 4th place. Cirie also achieved this ranking in a previous season.
 * Coach finished in 5th place.
 * Though not as their best season, Parvati and Rupert once finished in 6th place.
 * James finished in 7th place in both his past seasons. Stephenie did as well but not in her best season.
 * Candice, Jerri, Randy, and Tyson finished in 8th place.
 * Colby, Jerri, and Rob were the only returning players who once held a double-digit rankings (12th, 10th, and 10th respectively) in one of their previous seasons.
 * However Russell, Candice and Rupert finished in double-digit rankings in their 3rd/4th season (17th, 16th and 20th respectively)
 * All these contestants were eliminated on a Redemption Island season.
 * This is the only season in which at least half of the cast are returnees and no one quit or was evacuated.
 * Jerri Manthey and Parvati Shallow were the only players to place higher than they did in their original season.
 * Jerri and Colby Donaldson are the only players to place higher than they did on their previous season.
 * Jerri is the only player to do make her performance in this season her new personal best.
 * Randy, Cirie, James, Candice, Rupert and Jerri are the six contestants that never reach the finals.
 * Tyson and Coach also never make the final at the time but eventually did during their 3rd season.
 * Coach was runner-up and Tyson won.
 * Randy, James and Candice are the only contestants never to make the Final 4.