Survivor: Cambodia

Survivor: Cambodia
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	31
Filming Location	Koh Rong, Cambodia
Filming Dates	May 31, 2015 - July 8, 2015
Season Run	September 23, 2015 - December 16, 2015
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	20
Winner	Jeremy Collins
Runner(s)-Up	Spencer Bledsoe Tasha Fox
Tribes	Bayon Ta Keo Angkor Orkun
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Worlds Apart
Next	Kaôh Rōng

Survivor: Cambodia (also known as Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance or simply Survivor: Second Chance in later seasons) is the thirty-first season of Survivor.

In a change to previous installments, Survivor fans were given the chance to vote for who would appear on the cast through an online public vote.

The season became highly regarded for its unprecedented degree of strategic gameplay, with long-term allegiances being largely eschewed as each player made the most of their second chance. The season also saw the first elimination by consensus when Kimmi Kappenberg was eliminated on Day 36. After 39 days of high-octane gameplay which also saw one evacuation, Jeremy Collins won the title of Sole Survivor in the series' fourth unanimous jury vote, defeating Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox in a 10-0-0 vote. To date, it has produced five returning players (Ciera Eastin, Jeff Varner, Jeremy Collins, Joe Anglim, and Kelley Wentworth) for subsequent seasons.

Production

On May 6, 2015, an announcement was made that for the first time in Survivor history, fans had the ability to vote for and assemble the cast for the next season. Through social media, fans voted for ten men and ten women from a pool of 32 former castaways, each of whom had played only once. Voting ended one hour into the Survivor: Worlds Apart finale, where all of the nominees were present at the Reunion Show with their luggage already prepared for filming.

The final roster of 20 was revealed at the end of the show, and were flown to Cambodia immediately afterward. It should be noted that this season was 32nd to be produced, but the first to be aired, while the 31st season to be produced, Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, was pushed back and slated as the 32nd season to air.

Filming commenced in May 31, a date which also marked the 15th anniversary of the series' debut episode, "The Marooning".

Ponderosa was filmed at Sandy Beach Bungalows, located on the neighboring island, Koh Rong Samloem.

The pre-merge contestants were sequestered in Vietnam.

Casting

According to Jeff Probst, some of the former players who declined the chance to come back to this season were Greg Buis from Survivor: Borneo, Elisabeth Filarski from Survivor: The Australian Outback, Ian Rosenberger from Survivor: Palau, Shambo Waters from Survivor: Samoa, and Jeff Kent and RC Saint-Amour from Survivor: Philippines. Josh Canfield of Survivor: San Juan del Sur confirmed on his Twitter he was approached to return, but he had to decline because his Broadway contract wouldn't allow him to leave. Jaclyn Schultz revealed on her Twitter account that her fiancé Jon Misch (also of San Juan del Sur) missed the call and opportunity to compete in Cambodia.

Second Chance Vote

Immediately following the Survivor: Worlds Apart episode "Holding On for Dear Life", a shortlist of 32 candidates, all one-time, non-winner contestants, was posted on CBS.com. Contestants were nominated from across 16 seasons, ranging from the first installment, Survivor: Borneo, to the most recent, Survivor: Worlds Apart. Fans were allowed to vote starting from the end of the said episode until the Worlds Apart finale.

At the time of the launch of the poll, two nominated contestants from Worlds Apart, Mike Holloway and Carolyn Rivera, were still in the game. Jeff Probst explained that if either one of them eventually wins their season and garnered enough votes to return, they would be ineligible to compete for this season, giving their spot to the candidate of their gender who garnered the 11th highest amount of votes. This did end up being the case, with Mike winning Worlds Apart and finishing in the top ten. It is unknown which castaway was in 11th place in the public vote.

Second Chance Vote Results
Gender	Cut from the Season	Won Season
Men	Brad Culpepper, Jim Rice, Max Dawson, Shane Powers, Troyzan Robertson	Mike Holloway
Women	Carolyn Rivera, Mikayla Wingle, Natalie Tenerelli, Sabrina Thompson, Stephanie Valencia, Teresa Cooper

Twists/Changes

• Returning Players: Twenty former contestants, all of whom have played only once and did not win the game, and whom were determined by public vote, returned for a second chance.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: The Hidden Immunity Idols for this season will look different from each other, making it more difficult for the players to know if the idols are real or fake. Also, for the first time, the idols will be hidden in challenges, while the clues will be hidden at camp. This is an idea originally proposed by Entertainment Weekly columnist Dalton Ross.
• Challenges: The challenges for this season also featured the Second Chance theme, as production incorporated past challenges in which the cast has previously participated during their previous seasons, including some that they have lost before.
• Impromptu First Tribal Council: The tribe that loses the first Immunity Challenge will be immediately sent to Tribal Council after the challenge.
• Tribe Expansion: For the first time since Survivor: Pearl Islands, a third tribe will be introduced after the start of the game, but before the merge. At the tribe switch, the contestants were split into three tribes instead of the expected two. The Angkor​​ tribe, wearing gold buffs, was introduced on Day 7 of the game.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 14, a tribe switch occurred, simultaneously dissolving the Angkor tribe and mixing the castaways into two tribes of seven.
• Early Merge: For the first time, the merged phase of the game commenced with thirteen players left in the game.
• Vote Steal: Similar to Survivor: Worlds Apart, a player won the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council, but this time while also preventing another player of their choice to vote.
• New Jury/Finals Configuration: For the first time in Survivor history, the Final Three faced a 10-person jury.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation				Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Expanded Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Vytas Baskauskas 35, Santa Monica, CA Blood vs. Water	Ta Keo				1st Voted Out Day 3	6
	Shirin Oskooi 32, San Francisco, CA Worlds Apart	Ta Keo				2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
	Peih-Gee Law 37, San Francisco, CA China	Ta Keo	Angkor			3rd Voted Out Day 9	4
	Jeff Varner 49, Greensboro, NC The Australian Outback	Ta Keo	Angkor			4th Voted Out Day 11	4
	Monica Padilla 30, Queens, NY Samoa	Bayon	Bayon			5th Voted Out Day 13	3
	Terry Deitz 55, Simsbury, CT Panama	Ta Keo	Ta Keo			Evacuated Day 13	0
	Woo Hwang 31, Newport Beach, CA Cagayan	Ta Keo	Angkor	Ta Keo		6th Voted Out Day 16	5
	Kass McQuillen 43, Tehachapi, CA Cagayan	Bayon	Ta Keo	Ta Keo	Orkun	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	6
	Andrew Savage 51, San Jose, CA Pearl Islands	Bayon	Angkor	Ta Keo		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 21	4
	Kelly Wiglesworth 37, Greensboro, NC Borneo	Ta Keo	Bayon	Ta Keo		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24	8
	Ciera Eastin 26, Salem, OR Blood vs. Water	Bayon	Ta Keo	Ta Keo		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 26	10
	Stephen Fishbach 36, New York City, NY Tocantins	Bayon	Bayon	Bayon		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 29	9
	Joe Anglim 26, Scottsdale, AZ Worlds Apart	Bayon	Ta Keo	Bayon		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 32	8
	Abi-Maria Gomes 35, Los Angeles, CA Philippines	Ta Keo	Angkor	Ta Keo		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35	14
	Kimmi Kappenberg 42, The Woodlands, TX The Australian Outback	Bayon	Bayon	Bayon		14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 36	9
	Keith Nale 54, Keithville, LA San Juan del Sur	Bayon	Ta Keo	Bayon		15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37	4
	Kelley Wentworth 28, Seattle, WA San Juan del Sur	Ta Keo	Ta Keo	Bayon		16th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 38	17
	Spencer Bledsoe 22, Chicago, IL Cagayan	Ta Keo	Bayon	Ta Keo		Runners-Up	11
	Tasha Fox 38, St. Louis, MO Cagayan	Bayon	Angkor	Bayon			8
	Jeremy Collins 37, Foxboro, MA San Juan del Sur	Bayon	Bayon	Bayon		Sole Survivor	3

Season Summary

The 20 former players who were voted onto the season by fans returned to finish off what they started. They were initially divided into two tribes: Bayon and Ta Keo. On Ta Keo, a power struggle quickly formed between the "Beach People" and the "Shelter People", based around different approaches to playing the game, of which the former emerged victorious. Meanwhile, Bayon was led by a strong alliance spearheaded by Jeremy and Andrew.

Throughout the two tribe swaps the original Ta Keo tribe fractured; Ta Keo lost six of their members before the merge while the original Bayon tribe only lost one. However, original Bayon members Kass and Ciera were non-committal to Andrew's initial Bayon alliance, creating their own coalition on the second Ta Keo tribe. On the third Ta Keo tribe, Ciera and Kass' new alliance blindsided Woo because both believed that he would be too closely aligned with Andrew following the merge.

The tribes merged with the original Bayon outnumbering the original Ta Keo, 9-4. Though the Bayon Alliance initially held the majority, the tribe's large size and multitude of intertwining relationships as a result of the tribe swaps caused the players to eschew long-term alliances in favor of creating temporary voting blocs to eliminate common threats.

While the voting bloc strategy prevailed deep into the merge, a stable alliance began to form between Jeremy, Kimmi, Spencer, and Tasha. However, with six players remaining, Kimmi betrayed her alliance to align with outsiders Keith and Kelley. Kimmi was eliminated by consensus after the ensuing deadlock tie. This enabled Jeremy, Spencer, and Tasha to eliminate the remainder of the opposition an make it to the Final Three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Jeremy was praised for playing with honor and integrity, and Spencer was commended for making strategic moves, but both he and Spencer were criticized for their moments of arrogance while Tasha was castigated for doing Jeremy's dirty work and was accused for not making significant moves post-merge. Ultimately, the jury of ten unanimously voted for Jeremy to win the title of Sole Survivor, believing he played the best strategic and social game and made it to the end without being targeted until Day 36.

Episode		Air Date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Second Chance"	September 23, 2015	Ta Keo		Vytas (6-4)	1st Voted Out Day 3	9.70	2.5/8
			Bayon1
2	"Survivor MacGyver"	September 30, 2015	Bayon1		Shirin (5-4)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	9.42	2.4/9
3	"We Got a Rat"	October 7, 2015	None	Ta Keo	Peih-Gee (4-2)	3rd Voted Out Day 9	9.07	2.0/7
				Bayon
4	"What's the Beef?"	October 14, 2015	Angkor	Bayon	Jeff (4-1)	4th Voted Out Day 11	9.07	2.2/8
			Ta Keo	Ta Keo
5	"A Snake in the Grass"	October 21, 2015	Ta Keo	Angkor	Monica (3-2-1)	5th Voted Out Day 13	9.10	2.1/8
			Angkor	Ta Keo
6	"Bunking with the Devil"	October 28, 2015	Ta Keo	Bayon	Terry (no vote)	Evacuated Day 13	8.48	2.1/7
					Woo (4-3)	6th Voted Out Day 16
7	"Play to Win"	November 4, 2015	None	Joe	Kass (6-4-2-1)	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	8.80	2.0/7
8	"You Call, We'll Haul"	November 11, 2015	Ciera, Joe, Keith, Kelley, Kelly, Kimmi	Joe	Andrew (3-0)2	8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 21	9.00	2.1/7
9	"Witches Coven"	November 18, 2015	Ciera, Joe, Spencer, Stephen, Tasha	Joe	Kelly (6-3-2)	9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24	9.05	2.1/7
10	"Like Selling Your Soul to the Devil"	November 25, 2015	Abi-Maria, Ciera, Joe, Spencer, Tasha	Joe	Ciera (3-2-0)2	10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 26	8.18	1.8/6
11	"My Wheels Are Spinning"		Stephen [Jeremy, Tasha]	Spencer	Stephen (4-3-2)	11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 29
12	"Tiny Little Shanks to the Heart"	December 2, 2015	Kelley [Abi-Maria, Joe, Keith, Kimmi]	Kelley	Joe (6-1-1)	12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 32	9.42	2.1/7
				Keith
13	"Villains Have More Fun"	December 9, 2015	Keith [Kelley, Spencer]	Spencer	Abi-Maria (4-2-1)	13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35	9.77	2.3/8
14	"Lie, Cheat and Steal"	December 16, 2015	None	Spencer	Kimmi (0-0; 3-3; 4-0)3,4	14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 36	9.45	2.2/8
				Kelley	Keith (3-2)	15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37
				Jeremy	Kelley (3-1)	16th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Tasha Spencer (10-0-0)	Runners-Up
					Jeremy (10-0-0)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						6.49	1.7/6
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart occurred. ^4 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie, the non-immune players would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied players. If no consensus is reached, the non-immune castaways would be forced to draw rocks.

Voting History

		Original Tribes		Expanded Tribes				Switched Tribes	Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6		7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Voted Out		Vytas	Shirin	Peih-Gee	Jeff	Monica	Terry	Woo	Kass	Andrew	Kelly	Ciera	Stephen	Joe	Abi-Maria	Null	Deadlock	Kimmi	Keith	Kelley	Tasha	Spencer	Jeremy
Vote		6-4	5-4	4-2	4-1	3-2-1	No vote1	4-3	6-4-2-1	3-02	6-3-2	3-2-02	4-3-2	6-1-1	4-2-1	0-02,5	3-36	4-07	3-2	3-1	10-0-0
►►►	Jeremy	—	—	—	—	Monica	—	—	Ciera	Kelley	Kelly	Ciera	Joe	Joe	Abi-Maria	Kelley	Kimmi	Kimmi	Keith	Kelley	Jury Vote
►►►	Spencer	Vytas	Shirin	—	—	Kelly	—	Woo	Ciera	Kelley	Kelly	Stephen	Stephen	Joe	Abi-Maria	Kelley	Kimmi	Kimmi	Keith	Kelley
►►►	Tasha	—	—	Peih-Gee	Jeff	—	—	—	Kass	Kelley	Ciera	Stephen	Abi-Maria	Joe	Abi-Maria	Kelley	Kimmi	None	Keith	Kelley
►►►	Kelley	Vytas	Spencer	—	—	—	—	—	Kass	Andrew	Kelly	Kimmi	Stephen	Joe	Tasha	Jeremy	Tasha	Kimmi	Spencer	Spencer			Jeremy
►►►	Keith	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Kass	Kelley	Kelley	Stephen	Stephen	Tasha	Tasha	Jeremy	Tasha	Kimmi	Spencer				Jeremy
►►►	Kimmi	—	—	—	—	Monica	—	—	Kass	Kelley	Ciera	Ciera	Abi-Maria	Joe	Abi-Maria	Jeremy	Tasha	Voted Out					Jeremy
►►►	Abi-Maria	Vytas	Spencer	Peih-Gee	Jeff	—	—	Woo	Tasha	Andrew	Kelly	Stephen	Stephen	Joe	Keith								Jeremy
►►►	Joe	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Ciera	Kelley	Kelley	Stephen	None4	Abi-Maria									Jeremy
►►►	Stephen	—	—	—	—	Monica	—	—	Kass	Kelley	Kelly	Ciera	Abi-Maria										Jeremy
													Joe3
►►►	Ciera	—	—	—	—	—	—	Woo	Andrew	Andrew	Kelly	Kimmi											Jeremy
►►►	Kelly	Abi-Maria	Shirin	—	—	Spencer	—	Spencer	Ciera	Kelley	Ciera												Jeremy
►►►	Andrew	—	—	Peih-Gee	Jeff	—	—	Spencer	Kass	Kelley													Jeremy
►►►	Kass	—	—	—	—	—	—	Woo	Tasha														Jeremy
►►	Woo	Abi-Maria	Shirin	Abi-Maria	Jeff	—	—	Spencer
►	Terry	Abi-Maria	Spencer	—	—	—	Evacuated
►	Monica	—	—	—	—	Kelly
►	Jeff	Vytas	Shirin	Peih-Gee	Woo
►	Peih-Gee	Vytas	Shirin	Abi-Maria
	Shirin	Vytas	Spencer
	Vytas	Abi-Maria
Notes: ^1 Terry was evacuated from the game due to a family emergency. No vote occurred for his removal. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 This castaway played the Vote Steal advantage, allowing them to steal another castaway's vote to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^4 This castaway's vote was stolen by the Vote Steal. ^5 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per Survivor rules, a vote restart occurred. ^6 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie, the non-immune players would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied players. If no consensus is reached, the non-immune castaways would be forced to draw rocks. ^7 By consensus, Kimmi was eliminated.

Trivia

• Cambodia is the most recent season whose title contains the name of a country.
• Cambodia is the third season with a cast consisting entirely of returning players, following All-Stars and Heroes vs. Villains. Unlike the aforementioned seasons, the theme of Cambodia excludes former Sole Survivors, and unlike Heroes vs. Villains, the theme of Cambodia excludes contestants who have already played more than once.
  • This is the first season consisting of entirely returning players to have been won by a man.
  • This is the first season consisting of entirely returning players where everyone competing has had the opportunity to watch everyone else's full season, compared to All-Stars, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains, and Caramoan, where those competing back-to-back had seasons finishing post-production or airing.
• Cambodia is the only all-returnee season to not have a red or blue tribe.
• Cambodia is the second season to have contestants with homophonic names, following San Juan del Sur. Kelly Wiglesworth and Kelley Wentworth have homophonic names.
• The font used for the season logo and buffs is a modified version of the premium font, "Anglo-Angkor".
• Jeremy, Spencer, Tasha, Kelley, Kimmi, and Joe all placed higher this season than in their original.
• Cambodia is the second season, following Caramoan, to have banned a contestant from attending the Reunion Show. Vytas was banned for having returned home early and potentially spoiling the season.
• Cambodia is the first season to feature a jury with 10 jurors. This would be the biggest jury until Ghost Island, which had 11 jurors.
  • This is the first season to start the jury stage at the final 13. This record would be broken in Island of the Idols, which started the jury stage at the final 14. (Edge of Extinction had jurors finishing below 13th place, but the jury stage did not technically start until the final 13 Tribal Council.)
  • Jeremy Collins is the first contestant to receive 10 jury votes in a single season. This record would be broken in Winners at War, in which Tony received 12 jury votes.
• Cambodia is the second season, after All-Stars, to have three pre-merge tribes without having a black merged tribe.
• Cambodia holds the record for most votes negated by Hidden Immunity Idols, with 20.
• The final five of this season is composed entirely of members of the original Hunahpu and Luzon tribes. By extension, all five contestants were from either Cagayan or San Juan del Sur.