Survivor: Fiji

Survivor: Fiji is the fourteenth season of United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed in Macuata, Vanua Levu, Fiji during 2006 and aired on television from February 8, 2007 to May 13, 2007.

Production
Applications were due June 16, 2006. Mellisa McNulty, a 27-year-old talent manager from Los Angeles, would have been the twentieth castaway but dropped out and returned home the night before the show began because of panic attacks, making this the first season of Survivor to have an odd number of castaways, with 19. Because of the timing and lack of alternates, her spot could not be replaced, making it the first, and to date, only time in which a contestant backed out of a reality show and was not replaced. Gary Stritesky was the only contestant who applied to be on the show; McNulty and the other 18 contestants were recruited. The cast retained the same amount of diversity as the previous season, Survivor: Cook Islands, in a conscious effort intended to show that the racial diversity of Survivor: Cook Islands was not just a ratings stunt.

Survivor: Fiji was filmed in the eastern region of the Macuata province, on Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu, about 15 miles (24 km) from the town of Labasa. Tribal Council, the production camp ("Tent City"), and several challenges were located in close proximity to the village of Vunivutu. Other challenges were held on Katawaqa Island, Tivi Island, Vatudamu Point, and fields along the Wainikoro River. The Moto (and later Bula Bula) tribe lived on a peninsula in Vunivutu Bay, while the Ravu tribe lived on Druadrua Island under much harsher conditions. Exile Island's actual name is Sausau Island. Reward getaways included trips to the Namale Resort and Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort in the town of Savusavu, as well as a rafting excursion on the Navua River on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu.

On December 5, 2006 (Day 37), a coup d'état was initiated by Fiji's military leader, Frank Bainimarama. While there was some speculation that a full evacuation of the Survivor crew members from Fiji would take place, only a few crew members on the mainland were relocated to the second-smallest island. However, the political turmoil prior to the coup did prevent the families of the cast members from coming to Fiji to participate in a reward challenge (as usually occurs on Survivor) that occurred towards the end of filming.

Twists/Changes

 * Odd Numbered Cast:
 * Rehashed Hidden Immunity Idol Mechanism:
 * Message In a Bottle:
 * Tribe Switch:
 * Post-merge Tribal Challenge:
 * Three-finalists and Expanded Jury:

Season Summary
Due to one player dropping out prior to the game, the season started with 19 players. After arriving at their beach as one group, instructions and materials for building a camp were dropped from a plane. Before the first challenge, the teams were divided by Sylvia, the one they saw as their leader; as she was the odd-one out, she became the first to visit Exile Island. After the challenge, the winning team, Moto, returned to the constructed camp, while the losing team, Ravu, was directed to a different beach where only meager supplies awaited them; Sylvia joined Ravu shortly afterwards. While both tribes vied equally in challenges, it was apparent that the Moto tribe's well-off living condition had lopsided the competition, sending Ravu to five of the first six Tribal Councils, though Moto had their share of mishaps, such as Gary's body's averse reaction to bug bites (causing his evacuation from the game) and surrendering their Immunity to Ravu to keep their shelter after a twist in the Day 11 Immunity Challenge. Ravu's losing streak however, this served to build an alliance between Earl and Yau-Man. When Earl became a target to be sent to Exile Island, he conspired with Yau-Man to find one of the two Hidden Immunity Idols located at the camps.

A tribe switch served to further alliances. At the new Moto tribe, Earl and Yau-Man added Michelle, Cassandra and Boo into their alliance, while at the new, all-male Ravu tribe, Alex became the leader of an alliance between himself, Mookie, Edgardo, and Dreamz, self-titling themselves the "Four Horsemen". Ravu would then lose three more Immunity Challenges. The tribes merged by traveling to Exile Island, then returning to the original Moto camp, finding that all the structures and luxuries had been removed. The first post-merge immunity challenge divided the contestants into two randomly selected teams, putting Michelle with most of the Horsemen, and leading to her being voted out. By this point, Yau-Man and Mookie, using clues given to him by Lisi before her elimination, held possession of the two immunity idols. A critical gameplay moment came at Tribal Council on Day 27 — Earl's alliance, with the help of Stacy and Boo, was able to trick Alex into playing Mookie's immunity idol, but instead targeted and eliminated an unsuspecting Edgardo, which led to the elimination of Mookie and Alex in the subsequent votes.

The reward challenge played by the final six players was for a truck. Yau-Man won the challenge, but made a deal with Dreamz to trade the truck in exchange for the final challenge's immunity necklace should Dreamz win it. Yau-Man also became the first player to send himself to Exile, in hopes of using the clue there to find an immunity idol. Boo and Stacy were eliminated in the following days, and Dreamz won the final immunity challenge. At the subsequent Tribal Council, Yau-Man was voted off after Dreamz reneged on his promise to give up the immunity necklace.

At the Final Tribal Council, an mostly averse Jury expressed their disgust at Dreamz' controversial actions about the truck deal, while Cassandra was also ignored by te Jury because of her perceived coattail-riding gameplay. This left the Jury unanimously voting for the most strategic yet ethical Earl to win the title of Sole Survivor.

Trivia

 * Due to Dreamz and Cassandra receiving no jury votes, they are considered to have tied for second.
 * Fiji is the only season to have one person from the selected 20 castaways to drop out prior to the competition.
 * And due to the castaway dropping out only hours before they were set adrift, they were unable to pick a replacement contestant and the season started with 19 castaways.
 * This is the first time the final three consisted of African-Americans.