Survivor: Nicaragua

Survivor: Nicaragua, is be the twenty-first season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

Episodes:

1; Young At Heart
 * Immunity Challenge: One castaway would stand at the top of a tower and pour water down five gutters held by five castaways. The water would fill a barrel, which would release a net of puzzle pieces when full. The four remaining castaways would assemble the puzzle. The first tribe to assemble their would win.
 * Medallion Advantage: Starting the challenge with the barrel filled one fifth of the way. (not used)

The game started with the castaways split into two groups. When they arrived at the beach, Jeff announced the Medallion of Power, though did not explain what the power was, and that it was hidden in a lagoon nearby. The castaways scrambled to find it, with Brenda finding it up a tree. When the castaways reassembled in front of Jeff, he announced that the groups they arrived in are not the tribes, but instead the tribes would be split by age, with the 40 and over castaways called Espada and the 30 and under castaways called La Flor. La Flor then traded the Medallion of Power to Espada in exchange for flint and fishing gear. Once at the Espada camp, Jane started a fire with a pair of reading glasses. At the La Flor campsite, Kelly B. showed her tribe her amputated leg, which made several of her tribemates cautious about a sympathy vote for her should she make it to the final Tribal Council. Alina and Kelly B. found a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol while picking up the tree mail. They could not decipher the clue, but decided to keep the clue to themselves. At the Immunity Challenge, Jeff explained the power behind the Medallion of Power. Espada decided to not use the Medallion and then lost the challenge. At Tribal Council, Wendy made a short speech just before the vote in an effort to remain in the game, but the attempt was futile and she was voted out 9–1.

2; Fatigue Makes Cowards of Us All
 * Reward/Immunity Challenge: One at a time, four tribe members would crawl in the mud under a net and then retrieve a ball from a stack of hay. Once all four balls were retrieved, three tribe members would use small shields to bounce one ball at a time into a barrel. The first tribe to have all four balls in the barrel would win.
 * Medallion Advantage: Starting the challenge with one ball already in the barrel and having one tribe member sit out the challenge.
 * Reward: Choice of a tarp and a rope or fishing gear.

At La Flor, Sash made an alliance with NaOnka and talked about creating a "minority alliance" by joining up with Brenda. NaOnka thought somebody stole one of her socks, so she took Fabio's spare socks and then had a short confrontation with him when he attempted to ask her about the socks. Over at Espada, Holly snapped at Jill for eating snails which Holly thought were inedible. Holly dumped the snails, which caused the rest of her tribe to question what had gone wrong with her. Holly overheard Dan calling her "crazy" and decided to take revenge on him by dumping his $1,600 pair of alligator shoes into the ocean. After awhile, she confessed to the tribe to dumping them into the sea. Holly thought about quitting the game, but decided to keep going after receiving counseling from Jimmy J. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Espada used the Medallion of Power to help them win the challenge. Espada chose to take the fishing gear for their reward. While unwrapping the fishing gear, the tribe found a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. Jill figured out the last part of the clue and told Marty in a ploy to gain his trust. Using the clue, the two found the Hidden Immunity Idol. Before Tribal Council, La Flor discussed voting out NaOnka, Brenda, or Shannon, with the possibilities settling on Brenda or Shannon as they headed off to Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, Shannon was very aggressive in his answers during Jeff's questions resulting in a fiery Tribal Council discussion. The vote was taken and Shannon was sent home by a vote of 7–3.

3; Glitter In Their Eyes
 * Reward/Immunity Challenge: The tribes would race out into a field to retrieve ten barrels. Once all ten barrels were retrieved, the tribe would stack them on individual platforms arranged in a triangle formation. One tribe member would then attempt to toss a sandbag onto the top of each barrel. The first tribe to have a sandbag on all ten barrels would win.
 * Medallion Advantage: Starting with two barrels on the platform with sandbags on top. (not used)
 * Reward: Sauces, spices, fruit, and an herb garden.

At Espada, Marty was getting more resentful of Jimmy J.'s position within the tribe. Jill told Marty that he should show the tribe the Hidden Immunity Idol, so he did and announced that he was sharing it with the tribe to make them stronger post merger. Over at La Flor, the alliance of Benry, Brenda, Kelly "Purple" S., NaOnka, and Sash discussed voting out Alina. At the combined Reward/Immunity Challenge, La Flor won the challenge without using the Medallion of Power. When Kelly B. and NaOnka picked up the basket of fruit that was part of the reward, they both noticed a note tucked within the basket, but neither made a move toward it. However, as soon as they reached their camp, the two tussled over the note in full view of their tribemates. NaOnka won the tussle and walked off alone with the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. She wasn't able to decipher the clues and shared it with Brenda, who wasn't able to decipher it either. Back at Espada's camp, Marty made his move against Jimmy J. and the entire tribe followed, voting Jimmy J. out 8–1.

4; Pulling the Trigger
 * Reward/Immunity Challenge: One tribe member would act as a caller to guide three blindfolded pairs of tribemates to collect ten items scattered in a field and bring them to the tribe mat. Once all ten items were collected, one pair would have to be guided to collect a set of keys and then to a locked chest. The first tribe to unlock the chest and bring it to their tribe mat would win.
 * Medallion Advantage: Starting with two items already on the mat.
 * Reward: A choice of three items collected during the challenge such as a toolkit, a tarp, rope and a knife, fishing gear, a collapsible chair, and a grill.

At La Flor, Brenda and NaOnka found the Hidden Immunity Idol. NaOnka kept the idol. Alina and Kelly B. noticed that Brenda and NaOnka were searching for the idol and set off to find it themselves, not knowing that NaOnka already had it. NaOnka overtly followed the two and then argued with Kelly B. Over at Espada, the tribe tried to strategize and practice for the upcoming challenge with Marty nominating Tyrone to lead them as tribe caller. As Marty predicted, this nomination did not go over well with Jimmy T. who asserted that he wanted to lead the tribe in a challenge. At the combined Reward/Immunity Challenge, La Flor used the Medallion of Power advantage and easily won over Espada. La Flor selected fishing gear, a tarp, and cooking supplies as their reward. When they returned to camp, Chase found a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol in the tackle box, which he shared with Brenda. Brenda told him that she and NaOnka had already found the idol and to keep that information to himself as she did not want to jeopardize the trust that she had established with NaOnka. When Espada returned to their camp, Jimmy T. repeated his request to be given a shot at leading the tribe in a challenge. He also called out Marty for not being a team player when the tribe went searching for food. Marty then targeted Jimmy T. for elimination at Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, Jimmy T. again repeated his plea to lead the tribe just once in a challenge, but he would not get the chance as the tribe voted him out 5–3.

5; Turf Wars
 * Reward Challenge: Playing in rounds, two members from one tribe would roll balls along a board with various pegs (similar to a Plinko or Pachinko board) that would deflect the ball. Two members from the other tribe would attempt to catch the balls as they exited the bottom of the board. If the two castaways fail to catch a ball, the other tribe would score a point and next round would be played. The first tribe to score three points would win.
 * Reward: Two hens and one rooster.

Marty and NaOnka thought they were in total control of their tribes, but Jeff spoiled their plans by telling the castaways to drop their buffs as there would be a tribal switch before the start of the Reward Challenge. The castaways drew rocks for captains, with Brenda and Holly being selected. Brenda was told to pick three members from the older tribe that would join the younger tribe and she picked Jane, Jill, and Marty. Holly had to pick four members from the younger tribe to join the older tribe and she selected Alina, Benry, Chase, and NaOnka. Jeff declared that the old versus young tribes were done along with the Medallion of Power. The newly formed tribes went on to compete in the Reward Challenge and Espada took the win. Back at Espada's camp, Tyrone told the new young tribe members how the camp worked, which did not sit well with Alina and NaOnka. Holly tried to align herself with the younger group. Over La Flor, Jane told Brenda and Kelly B. to watch out for Marty and Jill's alliance. Marty told the tribe that he had a Hidden Immunity Idol. On day 13, an intense rain storm drove NaOnka to break down emotionally and she considered quitting, but Alina and Chase convinced her to stick it out. The Immunity Challenge was won by La Flor when Fabio and Jane came from behind during the tile breaking stage. Espada voted to kill one of the chickens before they head off to Tribal Council, so they killed one of the hens. Tyrone didn't want to kill the chicken and he was perceived to have taken a larger share of the chicken. The tribe considered voting out NaOnka for potentially quitting and Tyrone for being too bossy, but the vote went against Tyrone at Tribal Council and he was voted off 6–2. 6; Worst Case Scenario
 * Immunity Challenge: Three members from each tribe would be strapped to a large wheel. Three other tribe members would spin the wheel, which would cause one strapped in castaway at a time to be dunked head first into water. While under water, the castaway would take water in the mouth, which they would then spit into a tube. Once the tube was filled, a ball would be released. The ball would be used by two other tribe members to break five tiles. The first tribe to break all five tiles would win.
 * Immunity Challenge: The castaways would use paddles to dig up three rope rings one at a time, tossed into a basket strapped to their lower backs, and returned to the start line. The first tribe member to return all three rings to the start line would win.
 * Reward Challenge: The winners of the Immunity Challenge would compete against each other to toss three rope rings onto hooks on a board set a few feet away.
 * Reward: A feast of chicken and beef kebabs to be eaten while listening to the other tribe's Tribal Council.

On day 15, Dan thought about quitting the game. Yve asked Holly about why she wasn't told about the previous Tribal Council vote against Tyrone. When Yve found out from Holly that Dan was thinking of quitting, Yve thought she could use that info to lobby the younger members of the Espada tribe in voting out Dan. Over at La Flor, Brenda planned to flush out the Hidden Immunity Idol by splitting a 3–3 vote between Marty and Jill. When the tribes arrived for the Immunity Challenge, Jeff announced that they would not be playing for Tribal Immunity, but would be playing for Individual Immunity as both tribes would be going to Tribal Council that night. Jeff then announced that the winners of the Individual Immunities would then compete in the Reward Challenge. Jill and Holly won Individual Immunity for La Flor and Espada, respectively; Jill then won reward for her tribe Jill's immunity threw Brenda's plan into disarray and she came up with a new plan with Sash: to split the 3–3 vote between Marty and Kelly B., while telling Kelly B. that the vote would be split between Marty and Jane. Marty worked on getting Fabio to join the older alliance by fabricating a story that he was a chess grandmaster and that as a child, he had beaten Guillermo Vilas, who actually played tennis and was not chess grandmaster. Sash told Fabio to vote for Marty, but Fabio had believed Marty's chess story and was conflicted about voting for Marty since he thought Marty was offering him an alliance and insight into his game. At Espada, Yve continued her lobbying against Dan as being the weaker player in challenges and him thinking about quitting. The younger members of the tribe were split between voting Dan or Yve as she was seen as the bigger threat within the game. At La Flor's Tribal Council, the plan to flush the Hidden Immunity Idol did not work when Marty did not play it and the vote ended up being a tie 3–3–2 between Marty, Kelly B., and Brenda. A second vote was taken with Marty and Kelly B. not voting and the others only voting for those two. The vote swung against a very surprised Kelly B. and she was sent home by a vote of 5–1. The remaining La Flor members then moved to the side to enjoy their feast and observe Espada's Tribal Council. Yve continued her lobbying against Dan, but she was unable to convince the tribe to vote against him and she was voted out 6–1.

Credit goes to Wikipedia

Contestants

 * The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway has received during Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

^K Kelly B. was voted out after a tie-breaker vote between her and Marty 5-1. In the initial vote, each received three votes while Brenda received two.

Trivia

 * This is the 2nd season to have tribes split by age. The first being Exile Island (Divided by Age and then Gender)
 * This is the 5th season to take place in North America, the others being Pearl Islands, All Stars, Guatemala, and Panama.
 * So far, all eliminations (except that of Kelly B.) are partially caused because of the eliminated person saying too much/disclosing too much information during tribal council.
 * As of Episode 6, Dan and Marty are the only male player to receive votes and stay in the game.
 * No male young player (Benry, Chase, Fabio, Sash, and Shannon) has yet to receive votes and still remain in the game.
 * This is the first (or one of the only) time(s) someone is given a nickname after arriving to the game. In this case, it's Fabio.
 * This is the third season (and second in a row) to have a player nicknamed Coach, but Jimmy J. wasn't referred to as Coach as much as Benjamin Wade.
 * This is the third season (and second in a row) to have a player nicknamed J.T., but Jimmy T. wasn't referred to as J.T. often until the episode of his elimination.
 * This season has no clear villain. Although some players like Brenda and Marty seemed mean in certain parts of the series so far, it's safe to assume they're not villainous, but only strategic. It seemed like the villain of this season would be NaOnka for having the most amount of conflicts, having conflicts with Shannon, Fabio, Alina, and Kelly B, but post the events of episode 5, the closest thing to a villain this season has is Marty, but he's just overcompetitive.
 * Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano are referenced by Chase and Shannon on Episode 1. They talk about how if those two players worked together, they could've ruled the game. This forshadowed how Chase and Shannon could've ruled the game but then they turned on each other the next episode.
 * Also, they mistakenly say that season 20 occured last year, while it actually occured earlier that year. It could've been a slip of the tongue or simply referning to when the season was filmed, rather than aired.
 * Both tribes had one person on their tribe that was a threat for being different; Kelly B. has an artificial leg and Jimmy J. is a retired NFL superbowl coach.
 * Interestingly, both players were voted off in their tribes' second tribal councils.
 * Currently, La Flor has yet to vote off a player unanimously.
 * Currently, Alina, Fabio, Jane and Holly(about 31% of the final 13) are the only ones still in the game that voted someone off that didn't leave at that tribal council (Brenda, Dan and NaOnka respectively).
 * Interestingly, at the moment, it's two players from each of the former old and young tribes.
 * Fabio is the only male to be in the above category.
 * Courtesy of Eve voting for NaOnka, Episode 5 is the first oddnumbered episode to not feature a unanimous vote.

Vote Table
 * This is the second season in a row the de facto leader of a tribe was voted off because others didn't like the power the de facto leader had. In this season's case, it's Jimmy J and Tyrone.
 * This is the first season to introduce the medallion of power, but since it's removal in episode 5, it's unknown if it will be used again in a future season.
 * This is the third season in a row in which at least 4 men get voted off or are confirmed not to win in a row.
 * This season's episode 6 has many similarities to the 6th episode of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains:
 * Both tribes compete for individual immunity within the tribes, with the winners from each tribe competing in another challenge to win the reward of a feast and listening in to the other tribes' tribal council.
 * At least one of the winners in both episode 6's were targets that episode (Candice in Heroes vs. Villains, Jill in Nicaragua)
 * Due to a strategic threat (Russell and Marty respectively), one tribe attempts to split the votes between two big threats because of a hidden immunity idol (Russell and Parvati in Heroes vs. Villains, Marty and Kelly B. in Nicaragua), only to result in the main target (Russell and Marty) barely staying.
 * Both split votes in the episode 6's were in danger because of a strategic liability (Tyson and Fabio respectively).
 * However, in Nicaragua, an idol wasn't played, while an idol was played in Heroes vs. Villains.
 * Also, the split vote in Heroes vs. Villains failed, while in Nicaragua, it was a success.
 * In both episode 6's, there was a male competitor in danger for being injured (James and Dan respectively), along with someone in danger for not agreeing with at least one previous vote (Colby and Yve).
 * However, the injured player was voted off in Heroes vs. Villains. But this wasn't the case in Nicaragua.
 * Interestingly, while two boys got voted off last season when tribes competed for individual immunity within their tribes (Tyson and James), two girls got voted off this season when tribes competed for individual immunity within the tribes (Kelly B. and Yve).

credit goes to wikipedia

Elimination reasons:

20th-Wendy DeSmidt-Kohlhoff (Espada); Episode 1

Originally she was a target for being weak, but she really sealed her fate by delaying the vote for her annoying begging to stay in.

19th-Shannon Elkins (La Flor); Episode 2

Originally Brenda targeted him because he was tight with Chase, who is also alligned with Brenda, but he really sealed his fate by calling out Brenda and Sash at tribal council and asking if Sash was gay.

18th-Jimmy Johnson (Espada); Episode 3

Espada, especially Marty and Jimmy T., felt that having a celebrity in the game wouldn't be a good idea, and Jimmy J. really sealed his fate when he admitted to being a weak link because he was the oldest.

17th-Jimmy Tatarino (Espada); Episode 4

Espada, especially Marty and Yve, found Jimmy T. annoying for constantly telling his team that he felt he should be the leader.

16th-Tyrone Davis (Espada); Episode 5

Espada, especially the younger castaways, found Tyrone telling them how things work and him acting like the leader of the tribe ridiculous, along with how Tyrone didn't help prepare the chicken, yet he ate the most chicken.

15th-Kelly Bruno (La Flor); Episode 6

La Flor wanted to split the vote between Jill and Marty originally, but Jill won Indivdual Immunity so they decided to spit the vote between Kelly B. and Marty. It resulted in a tie because Marty didn't use the idol. Most of the tribe voted Kelly B. because she was a threat in the future instead of Marty because everyone knew had the idol.

14th-Yve Rojas (Espada); Episode 6

Espada thought that Dan was weak, especially Yve and NaOnka, but voted out Yve because of her strategic and social advantages, which she unforunately pointed out when talking to Alina and NaOnka to seal her fate.