Survivor: Ghost Island

Survivor: Ghost Island is the thirty-sixth season of Survivor.

The jury vote ended in a tie between two players for the first time in Survivor history. Domenick Abbate and Wendell Holland received five votes each. The third finalist, Laurel Johnson, broke the tie in favor of Wendell, making him the Sole Survivor.

Production
The season was filmed in the summer of 2017, only a few weeks after filming for wrapped. It followed the same filming schedule that was used for.

Notable non-playable relics found on include snuffers (all of which host Jeff Probst kept as souvenirs), tribal Immunity Idols, and individual Immunity Necklaces from past seasons. Some props that were previously auctioned off for charity were bought back by production.

Twists/Changes

 * : The tribe that wins a Reward Challenge gets the opportunity to banish one member from the losing tribe to Ghost Island, a variant of that is adorned with authentic props from past seasons, some of which are Hidden Immunity Idols and advantages that can be played this season. To obtain a relic, inhabitants must first smash an urn to earn the right to play a game of chance. Winning the game earns them the advantage. The playable relics were:
 * Sierra Dawn Thomas's Legacy Advantage from (obtained on Ghost Island).
 * Andrea Boehlke's unplayed Hidden Immunity Idol from  (obtained at the Naviti camp).
 * One of James Clement's unplayed Hidden Immunity Idols from (obtained at the Malolo camp).
 * The fake Hidden Immunity Idol Ozzy Lusth created in, which is now repurposed as a playable idol (obtained at the Malolo camp).
 * Sarah Lacina's Vote Steal, from Game Changers, which for this season is simply an Extra Vote (obtained on Ghost Island). This item was later put back in play on Ghost Island after previously being used on Day 29.
 * The individual Immunity Necklace from Micronesia that Erik Reichenbach infamously gave away before being voted out. This item is now repurposed as a Hidden Immunity Idol (obtained at the Yanuya camp).
 * J.T. Thomas's unplayed Hidden Immunity Idol from Game Changers, which is initially usable only at the immediate Tribal Council, but can have its shelf life can be extended by up to five times via a game of chance (obtained on Ghost Island).
 * Scot Pollard's and Tai Trang's Hidden Immunity Idols from, the effects of which differ this season, as they are no longer idols on their own, but form a regular Hidden Immunity Idol instead of a Super Idol when combined (both halves hidden separately at the Lavita camp).
 * David Wright's fake idol that Jay Starrett played in, which is still a fake idol (obtained at the Lavita camp).
 * Malcolm Freberg's advantage for the Final Immunity Challenge from, allowing him a second chance at the challenge. The advantage works in the same fashion, allowing the user a second chance at the Day 32 Immunity Challenge (obtained on Ghost Island).
 * Meager Supplies: For this season, tribes will only be supplied with a machete, pot, a fishing kit, and a supply of rice cut in half from the minimum the medical team allots for the castaways.
 * Tribe Leader: Shortly after entering the game, both tribes will select a leader, who will in turn choose two people, one athletic and one puzzle solver, for an immediate Reward Challenge.
 * Tribe Switch: On Day 7, the eighteen remaining castaways were spread across two tribes of nine.
 * Tribe Expansion: On Day 15, a second tribe switch introduced a third tribe,, spreading the fifteen remaining players across three tribes of five.
 * Early Merge: The merge occurred with thirteen players remaining.
 * Double Elimination: On Day 29, Lavita was subjected to a Double Elimination, where the tribe was divided into two groups of five and two castaways would be eliminated through two separate Tribal Councils on a single night.
 * Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who wins the final four Immunity Challenge will get to choose one person to take with them to the Final Three. The remaining two castaways would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be eliminated.
 * Expanded Jury and Final Three: Instead of the conventional Final Two facing the jury of seven, the Day 39 Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing a ten-person jury.
 * Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak one by one, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists.

Season Summary
The twenty castaways were divided into two tribes, Malolo and Naviti; throughout the course of the game, Naviti had dominated over Malolo strategically and physically. Multiple Tribe Switches then later allowed Naviti to secure the numbers in all tribes, entering the merge with an 8-5 supermajority. Despite their successes, fractures within Naviti still surfaced, notably between Chris Noble and Domenick Abbate, with both competing over tribe leadership. During the pre-merge, Domenick and Wendell Holland also found allies from the dwindling Malolo tribe in Donathan Hurley and Laurel Johnson.

At the merge, Domenick rallied both tribes into voting out his rival Chris before the Naviti Alliance began to systematically eliminate the former Malolos. Despite the majority's imminent success, an all-female coup led by Desiree Afuye was foiled by Laurel, who already cemented her pact with Domenick and Wendell and leaked the plot, with Desiree swiftly paying the price. The purging of the Malolos continued until only Donathan and Laurel remained. With seven castaways remaining, the cracks within the Naviti Alliance could no longer be ignored, but with Domenick and Wendell possessing Hidden Immunity Idols, they were virtually untouchable.

With the end in sight, Donathan began to waver in his pact with Domenick and Wendell and plotted to have their idols flushed out, but ultimately failed. By winning the Final Immunity Challenge, Domenick chose Laurel to join him in the Final Three, pitting his closest ally Wendell against Angela Perkins in a fire-making challenge. Wendell ultimately defeated Angela, advancing him to the Final Tribal Council with Domenick and Laurel.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury lambasted Laurel for wasting multiple opportunities to come out of her own and turn against Domenick and Wendell, while being torn between Domenick's aggressively strategic game and Wendell's stronger social game. The jury vote ended up in a 5-5-0 vote between the two, which was broken by third-placer Laurel, who voted for Wendell in respect to their closer friendship in the game. The deciding vote was read live, and with six votes to Domenick's five, Wendell was crowned Sole Survivor.

Reception
Survivor: Ghost Island is typically praised on its abundance of polarizing characters, interesting pre merge phase and the intriguing concept of the twist. However, the twist fell flat on multiple occasions, as it would be pointless when certain castaways were not given a reward when visiting. Furthermore, viewers were disappointed with the uneven distribution of airtime among the contestants in favor of Domenick Abbate and Wendell Holland, and as a result, were easily able to locate the season's frontrunners.

Trivia

 * This is the first season since to have a cast of all new castaways divided randomly into tribes.
 * This is the first season since to have a Tribe Switch result in two tribes of nine.
 * Ghost Island is the first season in which a tie occurred at the Final Tribal Council.
 * As a result, Ghost Island has the most jurors of any season with 11.