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 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.

Twists/Changes

 * Heroes vs. Villains: Ten of the most heroic castaways battled against the ten most villainous castaways for the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize, hence the season title.
 * Hidden Immunity Idol: Two idols were 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 had a final three and a nine-person jury.

Season Summary
The twenty returning castaways were pre-divided into two tribes of ten based on their previous style of gameplay. The Villains dominated the earlier challenges due to Rob Mariano's leadership, only going to Tribal Council once in the first 14 days, and the Heroes were quickly whittled down to six members. The Villains tribe was divided into two factions: Rob's alliance of six, and the minority alliance of Russell Hantz, Parvati Shallow, and Danielle DiLorenzo. At a double Tribal Council, Rob's alliance decided to split the vote between Russell and Parvati out of fear of the Hidden Immunity Idol which Russell had found. Rob's right-hand man Tyson Apostol, knowing that the minority alliance was voting for him, became uneasy and deviated from the plan, voting for Parvati instead of Russell. This error would prove fatal; Russell decided to play his Idol on Parvati, negating the four votes against her, and Tyson was voted out. The Villains lost the next Immunity Challenge and, due to Jerri Manthey aligning with Russell and Coach Wade's inability to pick a side, Rob was voted out.

During the challenges after Rob's elimination, the Heroes were led to believe that the women of the Villains tribe were methodically eliminating the men. J.T. Thomas found the Heroes' Hidden Immunity Idol, and gave it to Russell, the last male Villain remaining, with hopes that Russell would use it to eliminate Parvati and align with the Heroes at the merge. Instead, Russell shared the idol with his alliance, unaware that Parvati and Danielle had also found the Villains' Hidden Immunity Idol. Without Rob, the Villains lost the next two Immunity Challenges, leaving Sandra Diaz-Twine as the last remaining Villain outside of Russell's alliance of four.

With five Heroes and five Villains remaining, the tribes merged into Yin Yang. While the Heroes believed Russell was on their side, Sandra attempted to warn Rupert Boneham of Russell's distrustful behavior. Ultimately, the Heroes ignored Sandra's warnings, voting for Jerri as she was considered the least likely to have an Immunity Idol. Parvati played both Idols on Jerri and Sandra to gain their loyalty, negating the Heroes' votes, sending J.T. out of the game, and giving the Villains the majority. Despite several attempts to align with the Villains, the remaining Heroes were consistently eliminated. However, after Russell realized that Parvati and Danielle's true loyalty was to each other, Russell betrayed Danielle, working with the remaining two Heroes, Colby Donaldson and Rupert, to vote her out. After this, the final Heroes were eliminated, leaving Sandra, Russell, Parvati, and Jerri as the final four.

Russell, having won the Final Immunity Challenge, felt he would have a better chance in the Final Tribal Council against Sandra (whom he felt did little in the game) over Jerri, making her the final player voted out. This would ultimately be his downfall. At the Final Tribal Council, the jury blasted Russell for his numerous betrayals, and 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 Rob's core alliance. Along with her closest ally Courtney Yates' 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

 * This is the first season to feature three-time returning players.
 * 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, 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; 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, achieving this milestone on 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.
 * 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 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.
 * This is the only season in which at least half of the cast are returnees and no one quit or was evacuated.
 * Jerri Manthey was the only player to place higher than they did in a previous 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.
 * This is so far the only season to have a non-random tribe pre-selection without a tribal swap.