Survivor: Fiji

Survivor: Fiji
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	14
Filming Location	Macuata, Vanua Levu, Fiji
Filming Dates	October 30, 2006 - December 7, 2006
Season Run	February 8, 2007 - May 13, 2007
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	19
Winner	Earl Cole
Runner(s)-Up	Cassandra Franklin Dreamz Herd
Tribes	Moto Ravu Bula Bula
Viewership (in Millions)	14.80
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Cook Islands
Next	China

Survivor: Fiji is the fourteenth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. It was filmed in Macuata, Vanua Levu, Fiji during 2006 and aired on television in 2007. Earl Cole was declared the winner in the first unanimous jury vote in Survivor history. He defeated Cassandra Franklin and Dreamz Herd in a 9-0-0 vote. It would ultimately feature one quit, and has to date produced one returning player (Yau-Man Chan) for subsequent seasons.

Production

Applications were due June 16, 2006. Mellisa McNulty, a 27-year-old talent manager from Los Angeles, was supposed to be the twentieth castaway but dropped out the night before the show began because of panic attacks, making this the first season of Survivor to feature an odd number of castaways, with 19. Due to the timing and lack of alternates, her spot could not be replaced, making it the first time in which a contestant backed out of Survivor and was not replaced. Gary Stritesky was the only contestant who applied to be on the show; Mellisa and the other 18 contestants were recruited. The cast retained the same amount of racial diversity as the previous season, Survivor: Cook Islands, in a conscious effort intended to show that the diversity of Cook Islands was not just a ratings stunt.

Survivor: Fiji was filmed in the eastern region of the Macuata province, on Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu, about 15 miles (24 km) from the town of Labasa. Tribal Council, the production camp ("Tent City"), and several challenges were located in close proximity to the village of Vunivutu. Other challenges were held on Katawaqa Island, Tivi Island, Vatudamu Point, and fields along the Wainikoro River. The Moto (and later, Bula Bula) tribe lived on a peninsula in Vunivutu Bay, while the Ravu tribe lived on Druadrua Island under much harsher conditions. Exile Island's actual name is Sausau Island. Reward getaways included trips to the Namale Resort and Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort in the town of Savusavu, as well as a rafting excursion on the Navua River on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu.

On December 5, 2006 (Day 37), a coup d'état was initiated by Fiji's military leader, Frank Bainimarama. While there was some speculation that a full evacuation of the Survivor crew members from Fiji would take place, only a few crew members on the mainland were relocated to the second-smallest island. However, the political turmoil prior to the coup did prevent the families of the cast members from coming to Fiji to participate in a Reward Challenge (as usually occurs on Survivor) towards the end of filming.

Twists/Changes

• Odd-Numbered Cast: Prior to the start of filming, Mellisa McNulty suffered a severe panic attack and the medical team deemed her unfit to compete, thus she was removed from the cast. Due to Mellisa's abrupt removal and production being unable to have an alternate contestant be flown in on time, the game began with nineteen contestants.
• Haves vs. Have Nots: The castaways (after they had been divided into tribes) would compete for the right to the luxurious camp in the first episode that all nineteen helped to build, the losing tribe would move to a new camp with the very basic of materials.
• Rehashed Hidden Immunity Idol Mechanism: Unlike previous seasons wherein the Hidden Immunity Idol would be played after the votes have been read, the new format forces the holder to play it after the votes have been cast, but prior to the votes being read.
• Exile Island: After a Reward Challenge, players may banish a player from the rival tribe to Exile Island. This island (entirely separate from the existing camps) will force the banished player to fend for themselves until the upcoming Immunity Challenge, unless stated otherwise. The banished player will be given clues to a Hidden Immunity Idol, as well as basic supplies for survival.
• Message in a Bottle: A message forced the winning tribe of a pre-determined challenge to choose between keeping the luxurious camp or keeping immunity.
• Tribe Switch: A Schoolyard Pick was conducted between two captains to determine the new tribes. After the pick was done, the captains would then draw buffs to determine which tribe they would be members of.
• Post-merge Team Immunity Challenge: In the first round as a merged tribe, the group split into two teams of five. The winning group would be immune from Tribal Council under the rules of tribal immunity.
• Final Three and Expanded Jury: A Final Three faced a jury of nine.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Jessica deBen 27, Los Angeles, CA Fashion Stylist	Ravu			1st Voted Out Day 3	6
	Erica Durousseau 26, Baton Rouge, LA Non-profit Fundraiser	Ravu			2nd Voted Out Day 6	6
	Sylvia Kwan 52, Ross, CA Architect	Ravu			3rd Voted Out Day 8	6
	Gary Stritesky 55, Ramsey, MN School Bus Driver	Moto			Quit Day 10	0
	Liliana Gomez 25, Los Angeles, CA Loan Officer	Moto			4th Voted Out Day 11	6
	Rita Verreos 38, San Antonio, TX Single Mother	Ravu			5th Voted Out Day 14	6
	Anthony Robinson 32, Compton, CA Expert Witness Locator	Ravu	Ravu		6th Voted Out Day 16	10
	Rocky Reid 28, Los Angeles, CA Bartender	Ravu	Ravu		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	5
	Lisi Linares 36, Los Angeles, CA Customer Service Representative	Moto	Ravu		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 21	7
	Michelle Yi 22, Cincinnati, OH Student	Ravu	Moto	Bula Bula	9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24	3
	Edgardo Rivera 28, Miami Beach, FL Advertising Executive	Moto	Ravu		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27	5
	Mookie Lee 24, Chicago, IL Business Consultant	Ravu	Ravu		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30	6
	Alex Angarita 28, Los Angeles, CA Lawyer	Moto	Ravu		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	9
	Stacy Kimball 27, Boulder, CO Web Producer	Moto	Moto		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	4
	Boo Bernis 34, Lafayette, LA Construction Worker	Moto	Moto		14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	5
	Yau-Man Chan 54, Martinez, CA Internet Technology Director	Ravu	Moto		15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38	9
	Cassandra Franklin 42, Los Angeles, CA College Administrator	Moto	Moto		Runners-Up	5
	Dreamz Herd 24, Wilmington, NC Cheerleading Coach	Moto	Ravu			2
	Earl Cole 35, Santa Monica, CA Advertising Executive	Ravu	Moto		Sole Survivor	1

Season Summary

Due to one player dropping out prior to the game, the season started with 19 players. After arriving at their beach as one group, instructions and materials for building a camp were dropped from a plane. Before the first challenge, the tribes were divided by Sylvia, the one they saw as their leader; as she was the odd-one out, she became the first to visit Exile Island. After the challenge, the winning tribe, Moto, returned to the constructed camp, while the losing tribe, Ravu, was directed to a different beach where only meager supplies awaited them; Sylvia joined Ravu after the first Tribal Council.

While both tribes vied equally in challenges, it was apparent that the Moto tribe's well-off living condition had lopsided the competition, sending Ravu to five of the first six Tribal Councils, though Moto had their share of mishaps, such as Gary's body's averse reaction to bug bites (causing him to quit the game) and surrendering their immunity to Ravu to keep their shelter after a twist at the Day 11 Immunity Challenge. Ravu's losing streak, however, served to build an alliance between Earl and Yau-Man. When Earl became a target to be sent to Exile Island, he conspired with Yau-Man to find one of the two Hidden Immunity Idols located at the camps.

A Tribe Switch on Day 15 served to further alliances. At the new Moto tribe, Earl and Yau-Man added Boo, Cassandra, and Michelle to their alliance, while at the new, all-male Ravu tribe, Alex became the leader of an alliance between himself, Dreamz, Edgardo, and Mookie, self-titling themselves the Four Horsemen. Alex, Edgardo, and Mookie searched for the idol, which Mookie found, and Ravu would lose three more Immunity Challenges.

The tribes merged by traveling to Exile Island, then returning to the original Moto camp, finding that all the structures and luxuries had been removed. The first post-merge Immunity Challenge divided the contestants into two randomly selected teams, putting Michelle with most of the Horsemen, and leading up to her being voted out. After Dreamz found out that his allies kept the idol from him and flipped to the Syndicate Alliance. A critical game play moment came at Tribal Council on Day 27 when the Syndicate Alliance was able to trick Alex into playing Mookie's idol, but instead targeted and eliminated an unsuspecting Edgardo, which led to the elimination of Mookie and Alex in the subsequent votes.

The Reward Challenge played by the final six players was for a truck. Yau-Man won the challenge, but made a deal with Dreamz to trade the truck in exchange for the final challenge's Immunity Necklace should Dreamz win it. Yau-Man also became the first player to send himself to Exile Island, in hopes of using the clue there to find a Hidden Immunity Idol. Dreamz tried to get out of the truck deal by targeting Yau-Man before the final four. This plan failed as Yau-Man played his idol at final six and won individual immunity at final five. Dreamz won the Final Immunity Challenge, leaving him with a big decision to make. That night at Tribal Council, Yau-Man was voted out after Dreamz reneged on his promise to give up the Immunity Necklace.

At the Final Tribal Council, a mostly averse jury expressed their disgust at Dreamz for his deceptive gameplay, and controversial actions about the truck deal, while Cassandra was also criticized by the jury because of her perceived coattail-riding gameplay, and greediness. The jury of nine unanimously voted for the strategic, yet ethical Earl to win the title of Sole Survivor.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Exiled	Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Something Cruel Is About to Happen... Real Soon"	February 8, 2007	Moto2		Sylvia1	Jessica (6-1-1-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	16.44	5.7/15
2	"Snakes Are Misunderstood... We Have an Understanding Now"	February 15, 2007	Moto2		Earl	Erica (6-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	16.08	5.6/15
3	"This Is Not Survival... It's a Thrival"	February 22, 2007	Moto	Moto	Sylvia	Sylvia (4-3-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	13.47	4.6/12
4	"Let's Just Call Jeff on the Jeff Phone"	March 1, 2007	Moto	Moto3	Yau-Man	Gary (no vote)	Quit Day 10	14.67	5.0/13
				(Ravu)		Liliana (6-1-1)	4th Voted Out Day 11
5	"Love Many, Trust Few, Do Wrong to None"	March 8, 2007	Moto	Moto	Earl	Rita (5-2)	5th Voted Out Day 14	13.81	4.6/12
6	"I've Got Strength Now to Carry the Flag"	March 21, 2007	None	Moto	Lisi1	Anthony (5-1)	6th Voted Out Day 16	12.78	4.2/12
7	"An Evil Thought"	March 29, 2007	Ravu	Moto	Earl	Rocky (4-2)	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	13.71	4.5/14
8	"So You Think You Can Meke?"	April 5, 2007	Moto	Moto	Lisi	Lisi (4-1)	8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 21	13.58	4.3/13
9	"Are We Gonna Live on Exile Island?!"	April 12, 2007	Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Edgardo, Yau-Man2		Bula Bula	Michelle (3-2)	9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24	14.25	4.5/13
10	"It's a Turtle?!"	April 19, 2007	Cassandra, [Boo, Dreamz, Yau-Man]	Yau-Man	Mookie	Edgardo (5-3-1)4	10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27	13.33	4.5/13
11	"Blackmail or Betrayal"	April 26, 2007	Alex, Dreamz, Earl, Stacy	Stacy	Boo	Mookie (4-3-1)	11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30	13.83	4.6/14
12	"A Smile, Velvet Gloves and a Dagger in My Pocket"	May 3, 2007	Boo	Boo	Earl	Alex (6-1)	12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	13.74	4.6/14
			Yau-Man
			Dreamz
13	"I Wanna See If I Can Make a Deal"	May 10, 2007	Boo, Stacy, Yau-Man5 (Dreamz)	Boo	Yau-Man	Stacy (2-0)6	13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	13.77	4.4/14
14	"You've Got That Puzzled Look"	May 13, 2007	None	Yau-Man	None	Boo (4-1)4	14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	13.63	4.6/13
				Dreamz		Yau-Man (3-1)	15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote			Dreamz Cassandra (9-0-0)	Runners-Up
						Earl (9-0-0)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"							11.43	4.1/11
Notes: ^1 Due to an odd number of contestants, the odd person out was sent to Exile Island until after the proceeding Tribal Council, where that player joined the tribe that lost a member. ^2 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^3 After the Immunity Challenge, Moto was given an ultimatum of either keeping immunity or keeping their camp. Moto chose to keep their camp, giving immunity to Ravu. ^4 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^5 Yau-Man gave up his reward to Dreamz and then exiled himself. ^6 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user.

Voting History

		Original Tribes						Switched Tribes			Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4		5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Voted Out		Jessica	Erica	Sylvia	Gary	Liliana	Rita	Anthony	Rocky	Lisi	Michelle	Edgardo	Mookie	Alex	Stacy	Boo	Yau-Man	Dreamz	Cassandra	Earl
Vote		6-1-1-1	6-2	4-3-1	No vote3	6-1-1	5-2	5-1	4-2	4-1	3-25	5-3-16	4-3-1	6-1	2-07	4-16	3-1	9-0-0
►►	Earl	Jessica	Exiled2	Sylvia	—	—	Rita	—	—	—	—	Edgardo	Alex	Alex	Stacy	Boo	Yau-Man	Jury Vote
►►	Cassandra	—	—	—	—	Lisi	—	—	—	—	—	Edgardo	Mookie	Alex	Yau-Man	Boo	Yau-Man
►►	Dreamz	—	—	—	—	Liliana	—	Anthony	Rocky	Lisi	Michelle	Mookie	Mookie	Alex	Yau-Man	Boo	Yau-Man
►►	Yau-Man	Jessica	Erica	Sylvia	—	—	Rita	—	—	—	—	Edgardo	Alex	Alex	Stacy	Boo	Cassandra			Earl
►►	Boo	—	—	—	—	Liliana	—	—	—	—	—	Edgardo	Mookie	Alex	Yau-Man	Dreamz				Earl
►►	Stacy	—	—	—	—	Liliana	—	—	—	—	Michelle	Edgardo	Alex	Alex	Yau-Man					Earl
►►	Alex	—	—	—	—	Liliana	—	Anthony	Rocky	Lisi	Michelle	Cassandra	Mookie	Yau-Man						Earl
►►	Mookie	Jessica	Erica	Anthony	—	—	Rita	Anthony	Lisi	Lisi	Stacy	Cassandra	Boo							Earl
►►	Edgardo	—	—	—	—	Liliana	—	Anthony	Rocky	Lisi	—	Cassandra								Earl
►►	Michelle	Jessica	Erica	Sylvia	—	—	Anthony	—	—	—	Stacy									Earl
►	Lisi	—	—	—	—	Liliana	—	Exiled4	Rocky	Dreamz										Earl
►	Rocky	Mookie	Erica	Anthony	—	—	Rita	Anthony	Lisi											Earl
►	Anthony	Jessica	Sylvia	Sylvia	—	—	Rita	Rocky
	Rita	Jessica	Erica	Earl	—	—	Anthony
	Liliana	—	—	—	—	Cassandra
	Gary	—	—	—	Quit
	Sylvia	Exiled1	Erica	Anthony
	Erica	Yau-Man	Sylvia
	Jessica	Rita
Notes: ^1 Due to the odd number of players, Sylvia, the odd person out, was sent to Exile Island, and rejoined the game as a member of Ravu, replacing Jessica and evening the tribes at 9-9. ^2 After winning the Immunity Challenge, Moto was given the opportunity to exile one member of the losing tribe, allowing them to abstain from Tribal Council. ^3 Gary elected to quit the game due to illness. No vote occurred for his removal. ^4 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Lisi, the odd person out, was sent to Exile Island, and rejoined the game as a member of Ravu, replacing Anthony and evening the tribes at 6-6. ^5 The Bula Bula tribe was divided into two teams of five before the Immunity Challenge, and only the losing team went to Tribal Council. ^6 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^7 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user.

Trivia

• Due to Mellisa McNulty dropping out only hours before the castaways were set adrift, the crew was unable to pick a replacement contestant and the season started with 19 castaways. This makes Fiji the first and only season to begin with an odd number of castaways.
• Fiji is the first season to have an uneven number of male and female players. It would later be followed by San Juan del Sur.
• Fiji is the second season, after All-Stars, where Jeff Probst did not meet the contestants on Day 1. It would be followed by Island of the Idols.
• Gary Stritesky became the first castaway to quit due to an illness.
• Fiji was supposed to have a family visit, but due to the political turmoil in Fiji at the time of filming, the challenge was scrapped and the loved ones stayed home.
• Fiji is the first and, thus far, only season with an all-African-American Final Three.
• Fiji is the first season to have two runners-up; Cassandra Franklin and Dreamz Herd both received no votes from the jury, thus there were two second-place finishers and no third-place finisher. This later occurred in Philippines, Caramoan, Worlds Apart, Cambodia, and Millennials vs. Gen X.
  • This is the first season to have a unanimous jury vote.
• During the finale, both Earl Cole and host Jeff Probst mentioned that Earl had never received a vote against him. However, this is untrue as Rita Verreos voted against him during the third Tribal Council.
• Fiji is tied with Cook Islands for the most African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic-American contestants, with five of each race.
  • Due to Mellisa dropping out of the competition, this is the first season in which the number of African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic-American contestants outnumbered the amount of Caucasian contestants.