Survivor: Caramoan

Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs. Favorites is the 26th installment of Survivor. This season was the second season to feature the Fans vs. Favorites format, originally introduced to viewers in. John Cochran was crowned the Sole Survivor after achieving the second Perfect Game in Survivor history. He beat out Dawn Meehan and Sherri Biethman in an 8-0-0 Jury vote.

Production
This season repeats the back-to-back filming seen since 2009. The Production Team filmed this season immediately after finished filming. CBS announced on January 11 that the season premiere would last for 2 hours; however, on February 7, CBS changed the premiere to be only 90 minutes long.

A casting call happened the same way as it did in. Jeff stated that they would have liked to have Shambo Waters of and Matthew Elrod of  back, but they said they're "done with Survivor" and Lisa Whelchel of  was considered difficult to be brought back on back-to-back seasons due to being a mother. Troyzan Robertson of was originally going to be on the season but got cut in favor of Malcolm Freberg. Peih-Gee Law of was considered for this season, but was not cast. Tyson Apostol of and  was considered for the season, but was not selected due to the season taking a "different casting direction." Colton Cumbie (Survivor: One World) stated in an interview that he declined the offer to compete in the season. Jane Bright of made the final interviews, but was replaced by Dawn Meehan. According to Jim Rice of, he made it to the final interviews, but wasn't chosen as producer's didn't want four players from Survivor: South Pacific; Jim also stated Stephen Fishbach (Survivor: Tocantins) and both Mike Chiesl & Stephanie Valencia (Survivor: Redemption Island) also made it to the final interviews, but were not chosen.

Twists/Changes

 * Fans vs. Favorites: Similar to past season, this season will feature one tribe made up of die-hard Fans of the show, while the other tribe will be made up of Favorite returning players from previous seasons.
 * Returning Players: As implied by the theme, ten returning players are going to return to compete against ten new castaways.
 * Hidden Immunity Idol: Like previous seasons, at least one Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden in each tribe's camp.
 * Tribal Council at Challenge Site: Due to Brandon Hantz's rampage at camp, the Favorites decided to forfeit the Immunity Challenge on Day 13. Due to this, a Tribal Council vote was commenced verbally at the challenge site.
 * Tribe Switch: On Day 15, three Fans were switched to the New Bikal tribe and four Favorites were switched to the New Gota tribe.
 * Merge-Jury Configuration: For the first time since, the first castaway voted out after the Merge would not be a member of the Jury.

Season Summary
The two tribes were selected prior to the start of the game: Bikal, composed of ten returning Survivor contestants (the "Favorites"), and Gota, ten new players (the "Fans"). Bikal won nearly all the challenges and was dominated by an alliance led by Phillip Sheppard, dubbed "Stealth R Us”. Despite this, there was dissent amongst Bikal due to Phillip’s abrasive style of leadership, especially with Corinne Kaplan and Malcolm Freberg, who found the tribe’s Hidden Immunity Idol. The Gota tribe was dominated by an alliance of six led by Sherri Biethman, opposed by a minority alliance of four led by Reynold Toepfer. Reynold's alliance was quickly reduced to him and Eddie Fox, who were spared due to the dwindling tribe needing their strength in challenges.

The tribes were shuffled in Day 14, with both new tribes containing four Favorites and three Fans. The significantly weaker new Bikal tribe lost every single challenge, with the Favorite majority sticking together to vote out the new players. Malcolm, now on the Gota tribe, aligned with fellow athletic males Reynold and Eddie to avoid being picked off at the Merge.

The tribes merged with eight Favorites and four Fans remaining. The new Enil Edam tribe quickly saw two factions emerge: Malcolm and Corinne rallied the remaining Fans together to try and overthrow Phillip, while the rest of the Favorites regrouped under Stealth R Us. Only Sherri and Michael Snow remained from the initial dominant Fans alliance; while Michael chose to align with Corinne's faction, Sherri decided to join Stealth R Us due to her distrust of Reynold and Eddie. This put Stealth R Us in the majority and Corinne and Michael were eliminated, leaving only Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold in the minority. Their eliminations seemed imminent until Reynold won immunity and Malcolm found an additional Idol, which he gave to Eddie. In the hectic Tribal Council that ensued, Malcolm and Eddie played their Idols and Phillip was voted out. However, their fortune was not to last, and Malcolm and Reynold were subsequently eliminated. While Eddie seemed the likely next target, he was spared when the former members of Stealth R Us decided to turn on one of their own, eliminating strategic threat Andrea Boehlke with an Idol in her pocket, and Brenda Lowe after a kind-hearted gesture at the Loved Ones Challenge put her in a good social position. After Erik Reichenbach was evacuated from the game due to low blood pressure, Eddie was the final player voted out due to his popularity with the Jury and having betrayed no one during the game.

Sherri, John Cochran, and Dawn Meehan ultimately were the final three players. During the Final Tribal Council, Sherri was largely ignored, being perceived as a coattail ride after her original alliance collapsed. While Cochran and Dawn were acknowledged as a pair, Dawn was grilled due to her emotional instability throughout the game while betraying several close allies, whereas Cochran was praised for being able to separate emotions from the game. This led to the jury of eight unanimously voting for Cochran to win.

Trivia

 * The theme of the season is inspired from the, as seen in , where the masks used for the Immunity Challenge are Ifugao dragon masks, while the Hidden Immunity Idols resemble the people's fertility charms.
 * This is the eighth season to feature returning players.
 * However, this is the first season since  to feature returning female players.
 * This is the second season in a row to feature a returning player who was voted out before the merge/jury phase of the game.
 * This is the first and so far only season to feature multiple three way ties.
 * This is the first season since  to feature 20 castaways.
 * Like the original Fans vs. Favorites season, the tribe colors are purple for the Favorites, orange for the Fans and green for the merged tribe.
 * Francesca is the first returning castaway to be voted out first from their original season.
 * The font used in the "Caramoan" part of the season logo is an edited version of the font: Pompeia Std Inline.
 * This season's Tribal Council set is inspired by the Nipa Hut, a local traditional dwelling in the Philippines.
 * This is the first season to have a tribe win the same challenge twice in a season, although the first win was by default, and the two wins were with different members due to the Tribe Switch.
 * This is the first season since to have the first eliminated person on the Merged tribe not be a member of the Jury.
 * However, this was the first season since to have the first person voted out of the merged tribe not be a jury member since Joe Dowdle was evacuated in.
 * This is the third season in which multiple Hidden Immunity Idols were played at the same Tribal Council, the first two being and.
 * This season holds the record for the latest medical evacuation day in the show's history with an evacuation on Day 36.
 * This is the only season that the Reunion Show had only members of the Jury appear on stage and no pre-Jury vote offs, as the live reunion show only featured the contestants who made it on the jury phase. All of the pre-jury evictees sat in the front row, which caused controversy.
 * This is also the only season in which all of the castaways are not present for the reunion, as Brandon Hantz was banned due to his altercation with Phillip, and Brenda had to stay at home because she was in the last stages of her pregnancy.
 * This is the first time since to have a male win the season and the first season since  to have a male defeat two females.
 * This season is one of two seasons to not have any of its newly-introduced contestants return.
 * The other season to not have any newly-introduced contestants return is.