Survivor: Cagayan, also unofficially known as Survivor: Cagayan — Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty, is the twenty-eighth season of Survivor. Three tribes of six players each were established at the beginning of the season, each being defined by traits that its members tended to employ in their daily lives. The season saw one quit, and has to date produced six returning players for subsequent seasons.
Cagayan is famed among Survivor seasons for its unpredictability as well as the strategic and emotional dynamism of its cast. The post-merge game in particular was characterized by a higher-than-usual number of betrayals and blindsides, and there were several bitter disputes between contestants. Highlights included the frenetic scheming of Tony Vlachos, the up-and-down fortunes of Spencer Bledsoe, and the polarizing conduct of Kass McQuillen. The season culminated with Tony winning the title of Sole Survivor in an 8-1 vote over Woo Hwang.
Production
The season was filmed shortly after filming Survivor: Blood vs. Water for cost-cutting purposes, a tradition in the U.S. series since Survivor: Samoa. It was said that several cast and crew decided to stay to enjoy the town's beaches and other natural wonders.[1]
Jeff Probst claimed that the season format (initially code-named as "B.B.B.") was due to popular demand.[2]
While the season was filmed in the Philippines, the theme of the season was mostly inspired by Indonesian culture (predominantly Balinese), with the logo of the season, torches, and the tribal Immunity Idol bearing Balinese demon designs.[3]
Survivor: Micronesia winner Parvati Shallow continued to be the host of the Survivor After Show for this season.
Twists/Changes
- Three Tribes: The castaways are divided into three tribes of six members each.
- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty: The division of the tribes is based on the most prominent personal attributes of each castaway: brawn, brains, and beauty.[4]
- Tribe Leaders: At the beginning of the game, all tribes vote for a tribe leader, who will be tasked with making decisions (only the first impressions' vote) for the tribe as a whole.
- First Impressions: The leaders of the tribes must choose who they think is the weakest on their respective tribe. The 3 chosen contestants (one from each tribe) get to ride to camp in the chopper and get there faster. At the camp, they choose between a clue for the Hidden Immunity Idol or an extra bag of rice for the tribe.
- Hidden Immunity Idol: While the current format of the Hidden Immunity Idol still applies, an additional Hidden Immunity Idol will be in play post-merge. The said idol is to be used after the votes have been read and can be only used by its finder.[5] This format is similar to how the idol was supposed to be used back in Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Cook Islands.
- Tribe Switch: On Day 12, Luzon is disbanded, and the remaining fourteen castaways are shuffled and randomly distributed into the new Aparri and Solana tribes.
- Early Merge: This season merged with eleven castaways in the game.
- Final Two and Nine-Person Jury: For the first time in Survivor history, two finalists would face a 9-person jury. This is also the first time since Survivor: Tocantins to have a Final Tribal Council with only two players.
Castaways
| Contestant | Tribe Affiliation | Finish | Votes Against | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Tribe | Switched Tribe | Merged Tribe | ||||
|
David Samson 45, Plantation, FL |
Luzon | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
4 | ||
|
Garrett Adelstein 27, Santa Monica, CA |
Luzon | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
3 | ||
|
Brice Johnston 27, Philadelphia, PA |
Solana | 3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
5 | ||
|
J'Tia Taylor 31, Chicago, IL |
Luzon | 4th Voted Out Day 11 |
7 | ||
|
Cliff Robinson 46, Newark, NJ |
Aparri | Solana | 5th Voted Out Day 14 |
4 | |
|
Lindsey Ogle 29, Kokomo, IN |
Aparri | Solana | Quit Day 14 |
0 | |
|
Alexis Maxwell 21, Addison, IL |
Solana | Aparri | 6th Voted Out Day 16 |
8 | |
|
Sarah Lacina 29, Cedar Rapids, IA |
Aparri | Aparri | Solarrion | 7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19 |
6 |
|
Morgan McLeod 21, San Jose, CA |
Solana | Aparri | 8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22 |
8 | |
|
LJ McKanas 34, Boston, MA |
Solana | Solana | 9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25 |
8 | |
|
Jeremiah Wood 34, Dobson, NC |
Solana | Aparri | 10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 28 |
9 | |
|
Jefra Bland 22, Campbellsville, KY |
Solana | Solana | 11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30 |
9 | |
|
Tasha Fox 37, St. Louis, MO |
Luzon | Aparri | 12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33 |
4 | |
|
Trish Hegarty 48, Needham, MA |
Aparri | Solana | 13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36 |
5 | |
|
Spencer Bledsoe 21, Chicago, IL |
Luzon | Aparri | 14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37 |
8 | |
|
Kass McQuillen 41, Tehachapi, CA |
Luzon | Aparri | 15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38 |
2 | |
|
Woo Hwang 29, Newport Beach, CA |
Aparri | Solana | Runner-Up | 4 | |
|
Tony Vlachos 39, Jersey City, NJ |
Aparri | Solana | Sole Survivor | 5 | |
Season Summary
The eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes based on primary attributes: Aparri (Brawn), Luzon (Brains), and Solana (Beauty). The Brains tribe stumbled out of the gate early, losing three of the first four Immunity Challenges and being reduced to only Tasha Fox, Kass McQuillen, and Spencer Bledsoe. The Beauty tribe, led by LJ McKanas, only lost one member, while the Brawn tribe went undefeated in challenges. With 14 players remaining, the castaways were shuffled into two tribes of seven: Aparri—featuring the three Brains, three Beauty, and Sarah Lacina from the Brawn tribe— and Solana, consisting of Beauties LJ and Jefra Bland, and the other five Brawn. The Brawn initially planned to hold strong and get rid of LJ, but he and Jefra convinced Tony Vlachos and Trish Hegarty to turn on the Brawn alliance to vote out physical threat Cliff Robinson instead.
The tribes merged with 11 players remaining, five from Solana and six from Aparri. While the swapped tribes looked like they were going to stick together, Tony attempted to sway his old ally Sarah back to the Brawn-heavy Solana alliance, but Sarah was indecisive. Instead, Trish persuaded Kass to swap alliances, which she did, eliminating Sarah and putting Solana in power. Despite being in the majority, Tony's paranoia continually got the better of him as he and Woo Hwang navigated between alliances to blindside potential threats. He also found multiple hidden Immunity Idols, including a special one that could be used after the votes were read. Tony lied about the idol's "different powers" and successfully managed to avoid being targeted out of fear, ending up in the final three with Kass and Woo.
Woo won the Final Immunity Challenge; while Kass seemed like an easy choice to take to the end after betraying her initial alliance, Tony convinced Woo to honor their bond as tribe mates throughout the entire game, and Woo took Tony to the Final Tribal Council. At the Final Tribal Council, a majority of the jury grilled Tony (for his aggressive game play), and only Spencer criticized Woo (for riding Tony's coattails), but ultimately Tony was awarded the title of Sole Survivor with eight of the nine jury votes.
| Episode | Air date | Challenges | Eliminated (Vote) |
Finish | Viewers (in millions)[6] |
Ratings/Share (18-49)[6] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | |||||||
| 1 | "Hot Girl with a Grudge" | February 26, 2014 | Solana1 | David (4-2) |
1st Voted Out Day 3 |
9.40 | 2.4/7 | |
| Aparri1 | ||||||||
| Aparri1 | Garrett (3-2) |
2nd Voted Out Day 6 | ||||||
| Solana1 | ||||||||
| 2 | "Cops-R-Us" | March 5, 2014 | Aparri1 | Brice (2-2-2; 3-0-0)2 |
3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
9.58 | 2.4/8 | |
| Luzon1 | ||||||||
| 3 | "Our Time to Shine" | March 12, 2014 | Solana | Solana | J'Tia (3-1) |
4th Voted Out Day 11 |
9.66 | 2.5/8 |
| Aparri | Aparri | |||||||
| 4 | "Odd One Out" | March 19, 2014 | Solana | Aparri | Cliff (4-3) |
5th Voted Out Day 14 |
9.46 | 2.5/8 |
| 5 | "We Found Our Zombies" | March 26, 2014 | Solana | Solana | Lindsey (no vote) |
Quit Day 14 |
9.85 | 2.3/7 |
| Alexis (6-1) |
6th Voted Out Day 16 | |||||||
| 6 | "Head of the Snake" | April 2, 2014 | None | Woo | Sarah (6-5)3 |
7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19 |
9.48 | 2.3/7 |
| 7 | "Mad Treasure Hunt" | April 9, 2014 | Jefra, Jeremiah, LJ, Morgan, Spencer |
Spencer | Morgan (6-4) |
8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22 |
9.62 | 2.4/7 |
| 8 | "Bag of Tricks" | April 16, 2014 | Jeremiah, Spencer, Tony |
Tasha | LJ (5-3-1) |
9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25 |
9.35 | 2.3/8 |
| 9 | "Sitting in My Spy Shack" | April 23, 2014 | Jefra, Jeremiah, Spencer, Tasha |
Tasha | Jeremiah (5-3)3 |
10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 28 |
9.43 | 2.3/7 |
| 10 | "Chaos Is My Friend" | April 30, 2014 | Survivor Auction |
Tasha | Jefra (4-3) |
11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30 |
9.70 | 2.3/7 |
| 11 | "Havoc to Wreak" | May 7, 2014 | Kass, Spencer, Woo |
Spencer | Tasha (4-1-1) |
12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33 |
9.91 | 2.4/8 |
| 12 | "Straw That Broke the Camel's Back" | May 14, 2014 | Tony [Trish] |
Spencer | Trish (4-1)3 |
13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36 |
9.93 | 2.6/9 |
| 13 | "It's Do or Die" | May 21, 2014 | None | Kass | Spencer (3-1) |
14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37 |
9.58 | 2.6/8 |
| Woo | Kass (1-0) |
15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38 | ||||||
| Jury Vote | Woo (8-1) |
Runner-Up | ||||||
| Tony (8-1) |
Sole Survivor | |||||||
| 14 | "Reunion" | 7.14 | 1.9/6 | |||||
| Notes: | ||||||||
Voting History
| Original Tribes | Switched Tribes | Merged Tribe | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |||||||
| Voted Out |  David |
 Garrett |
Tie |  Brice |
 J'Tia |
 Cliff |
 Lindsey |
 Alexis |
 Sarah |
 Morgan |
 LJ |
 Jeremiah |
 Jefra |
 Tasha |
 Trish |
 Spencer |
 Kass |
 Woo |
 Tony | |
| Vote | 4-2 | 3-2 | 2-2-21 | 3-0-0 | 3-1 | 4-3 | No vote2 | 6-1 | 6-53 | 6-4 | 5-3-1 | 5-33 | 4-3 | 4-1-1 | 4-13 | 3-1 | 1-04 | 8-1 | ||
| ►► | Tony | — | — | — | — | Cliff | — | — | Sarah | Morgan | LJ | Jeremiah | Jefra | Tasha | Trish | Spencer | None | Jury Vote | ||
| ►► | Woo | — | — | — | — | LJ | — | — | Sarah | Morgan | LJ | Jeremiah | Jefra | Tasha | Trish | Spencer | Kass | |||
| ►► | Kass | J'Tia | Garrett | — | J'Tia | — | — | Alexis | Sarah | Morgan | Jeremiah | Jeremiah | Spencer | Tasha | Trish | Spencer | None | Tony | ||
| ►► | Spencer | David | J'Tia | — | J'Tia | — | — | Alexis | Jefra | Tony | LJ | Woo | Jefra | Tony | Trish | Woo | Tony | |||
| ►► | Trish | — | — | — | — | Cliff | — | — | Sarah | Morgan | Jeremiah | Jeremiah | Spencer | Tasha | Kass | Tony | ||||
| ►► | Tasha | David | Garrett | — | J'Tia | — | — | Alexis | Jefra | Tony | LJ | Woo | Jefra | Trish | Woo | |||||
| ►► | Jefra | — | — | Brice | Brice | — | Cliff | — | — | Sarah | Morgan | Jeremiah | Jeremiah | Spencer | Tony | |||||
| ►► | Jeremiah | — | — | Morgan | Brice | — | — | — | Alexis | Jefra | Tony | LJ | Woo | Tony | ||||||
| ►► | LJ | — | — | Morgan | Brice | — | Cliff | — | — | Sarah | Morgan | Spencer | Tony | |||||||
| ►► | Morgan | — | — | Alexis | None | — | — | — | Alexis | Jefra | Tony | Tony | ||||||||
| ►► | Sarah | — | — | — | — | — | — | Alexis | Jefra | Tony | ||||||||||
| ► | Alexis | — | — | Brice | None | — | — | — | Jeremiah | |||||||||||
| ► | Lindsey | — | — | — | — | LJ | Quit | |||||||||||||
| ► | Cliff | — | — | — | — | LJ | ||||||||||||||
| J'Tia | David | Garrett | — | Spencer | ||||||||||||||||
| Brice | — | — | Alexis | None | ||||||||||||||||
| Garrett | David | J'Tia | ||||||||||||||||||
| David | J'Tia | |||||||||||||||||||
| Notes: ^1 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie.
^2 Lindsey quit the game immediately after Cliff's elimination. No vote occurred for her removal. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^4 Kass and Tony did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Woo voted. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Trivia
- The font used for Cagayan's logo is a modified version of "Kemasyuran Jawa."[7]
- As of this season, the Philippines sets the record for the longest consecutive use of a location, with 4 seasons.
- Survivor: Ghost Island would later tie this record, and Survivor: David vs. Goliath would later break this record, with 5 seasons
- This is the third season to have a three-tribe format, following Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Philippines.
- However, this is the first time that the three tribes were not divided "randomly" due to the season's twist.
- This season is the first of this format to feature an entirely new cast.
- This is the first season since Survivor: Cook Islands where a Hidden Immunity Idol may be played after the votes are revealed. This only applied to the special post-merge idol.
- This is the first season where the first three castaways voted out were males.
- This is the first season since Survivor: Borneo to have its finale air on a Wednesday and the first since Survivor: The Amazon to not have the finale air on a Sunday.
- This is the fourth season to have an all-male Final Tribal Council, and the third to have an all-male Final Two.
- This is the first season since Survivor: Tocantins to have a Final Two.
- This is the first season to have a Final Two with a 9-person jury.
- This is the first season since Survivor: Samoa where a first-time castaway won the Final Immunity Challenge, but did not win the game.
- This season is one of three to have all final four contestants return in future seasons. The other two are Borneo and Survivor: Panama.
- All six returning players from this season are featured on the DVD cover.
- All four players who won individual immunity during this season returned for Survivor: Cambodia.
- In both seasons to feature returning players from Cagayan, those players' elimination orders were reversed from what they were in Cagayan (acknowledging the technicality that Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox tied for 2nd in Cambodia.
References
| Survivor (U.S.) Seasons |
|---|
| Borneo • The Australian Outback • Africa • Marquesas • Thailand • The Amazon • Pearl Islands • All-Stars • Vanuatu • Palau • Guatemala • Panama • Cook Islands • Fiji • China • Micronesia • Gabon • Tocantins • Samoa • Heroes vs. Villains • Nicaragua • Redemption Island • South Pacific • One World • Philippines • Caramoan • Blood vs. Water • Cagayan • San Juan del Sur • Worlds Apart • Cambodia • Kaôh Rōng • Millennials vs. Gen X • Game Changers • Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers • Ghost Island • David vs. Goliath • Edge of Extinction • Island of the Idols • Winners at War • Survivor 41 • Survivor 42 • Survivor 43 • Survivor 44 • Survivor 45 • Survivor 46 |