Survivor: Game Changers

Survivor: Game Changers
Season Information
Version:	United States
Season No.:	34
Filming Location:	Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Filming Dates:	June 6, 2016 - July 14, 2016
Season Run:	March 8, 2017 - May 24, 2017
No. of Episodes:	13
No. of Days:	39
No. of Castaways:	20
Winner:	Sarah Lacina
Runner(s)-Up:	Brad Culpepper Troyzan Robertson
Tribes:	Mana Nuku Tavua Maku Maku
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous:	Millennials vs. Gen X
Next:	Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

Survivor: Game Changers, also known as Survivor: Game Changers — Mamanuca Islands, is the thirty-fourth season of Survivor.

This is the fourth season to feature a full cast of returnees, after Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: Cambodia.

After a chaotic season packed with multiple strategic shifts, the person who ended up controlling most of the post-merge with her calculated flips, Sarah Lacina, won in a 7-3-0 final vote over Brad Culpepper and Troyzan Robertson.

Production

The season was filmed 25 days after the filming of Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, following the back-to-back filming pattern of seasons since Survivor: Samoa.

This season features a nautical theme. The Tribal Council set is comprised of ten actual shipwrecks, most of which were retrieved in the aftermath of Cyclone Winston, the cyclone that hit Fiji before production for Millennials vs. Gen X began.

Twists/Changes

• Game Changers: Twenty returning contestants, selected for the impact they had made on the game of Survivor, will return to battle for the title of Sole Survivor.
• Simplified Tiebreaker: In the event of a tie at Tribal Council, the re-vote would be retired, and an open forum would commence. If the non-tied players are unable to make a unanimous decision who to eliminate, the rock draw takes place.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: The idols will be inconsistently hidden at camp, in challenges, and even at Tribal Council.
• Legacy Advantage: The Legacy Advantage was hidden on the ship used during the marooning, and allowed its holder to gain immunity at either the final thirteen or the final six. In the event that the holder is eliminated, he or she must will it to another player still in the game.
• Tribe Expansion: As in Survivor: Cambodia and Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, a third tribe was introduced during the pre-merge stage of the game. The Tavua tribe, wearing green buffs, was introduced on Day 7 of the game with 18 players left.
• Joint Tribal Council: The two tribes who lost the fourth Immunity Challenge on Day 11 were both sent to Tribal Council as a group, but unlike a standard Double Tribal Council, they would vote as a group and only one person was voted out.
• Tribe Switch: At the final fifteen, a second tribe switch occurred, resulting in the dissolution of the Tavua tribe and the remaining contestants being distributed across two tribes.
• Exile Island: At the final fifteen, one person was sent to Exile Island because of not being placed on a tribe.
  • Advantage Option: The exiled castaway was given three possible advantages—a kit with which to design a fake Hidden Immunity Idol, an Extra Vote, as well as a challenge advantage for their new tribe.
• Merge: The merge occurred with 13 players remaining.
• Vote Steal: At the final eleven Reward Challenge, a "secret advantage" was placed by the sit-out bench. It was revealed to give its holder the right to steal a vote from another contestant, effectively denying that person a right to vote and allowing the holder to vote twice at one Tribal Council. It is usable up until the final five.
• 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.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation				Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Expanded Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Ciera Eastin 27, Salem, OR Blood vs. Water & Cambodia	Mana				1st Voted Out Day 3	9
	Tony Vlachos 42, Jersey City, NJ Cagayan	Mana				2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
	Caleb Reynolds 28, Hopkinsville, KY Kaôh Rōng	Mana	Mana			3rd Voted Out Day 9	5
	Malcolm Freberg 29, Hermosa Beach, CA Philippines & Caramoan	Mana	Nuku			4th Voted Out Day 11	5
	J.T. Thomas 31, Mobile, AL Tocantins & Heroes vs. Villains	Nuku	Nuku			5th Voted Out Day 13	3
	Sandra Diaz-Twine 41, Fayetteville, NC Pearl Islands & Heroes vs. Villains	Mana	Nuku	Nuku		6th Voted Out Day 16	5
	Jeff Varner 50, High Point, NC The Australian Outback & Cambodia	Mana	Nuku	Nuku		7th Voted Out Day 18	6
	Hali Ford 26, Knoxville, TN Worlds Apart	Mana	Mana	Mana	Maku Maku	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	8
	Ozzy Lusth 34, Venice, CA Cook Islands, Micronesia, & South Pacific	Nuku	Tavua	Nuku		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	7
	Debbie Wanner 50, Reading, PA Kaôh Rōng	Nuku	Mana	Nuku		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 26	6
	Zeke Smith 28, Brooklyn, NY Millennials vs. Gen X	Nuku	Tavua	Nuku		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	11
	Sierra Dawn Thomas 29, Roy, UT Worlds Apart	Nuku	Mana	Mana		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 32	15
	Andrea Boehlke 27, New York City, NY Redemption Island & Caramoan	Nuku	Tavua	Nuku		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	14
	Michaela Bradshaw 25, Fort Worth, TX Millennials vs. Gen X	Mana	Nuku	Mana		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35	11
	Cirie Fields 45, Norwalk, CT Panama, Micronesia, & Heroes vs. Villains	Nuku	Tavua	Mana		Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 36	0
	Aubry Bracco 30, Cambridge, MA Kaôh Rōng	Mana	Nuku	Mana		15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37	9
	Tai Trang 52, San Francisco, CA Kaôh Rōng	Nuku	Mana	Nuku		16th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 38	12
	Troyzan Robertson 54, Miami, FL One World	Mana	Tavua	Mana		Second Runner-Up	2
	Brad Culpepper 47, Tampa, FL Blood vs. Water	Nuku	Mana	Mana		Runner-Up	2
	Sarah Lacina 31, Marion, IA Cagayan	Nuku	Tavua	Nuku		Sole Survivor	3

Season Summary

The 20 returning players were initially divided into two tribes of ten: Mana and Nuku. There were two Tribe Switch during the pre-merge phase. The original Mana tribe struggled as they lost six of their ten members before the merge while Nuku only lost one. The pre-merge phase of the game was characterized by the early eliminations of perceived dangerous and manipulative players, previous winners, physical threats, a somewhat higher amount of twists, and a controversial incident that sealed Jeff Varner's demise in the game.

The tribes merged with 13 players remaining: 9 original Nuku and only 4 original Mana. Two alliances fought for power: One led by Andrea Boehlke and Cirie Fields, and another led by Brad Culpepper and Sierra Dawn Thomas. While Sarah Lacina was a part of Andrea and Cirie's group, she would navigate between both alliances to eliminate members from both sides. She later betrayed Andrea and Cirie and aligned with Brad and Troyzan Robertson. The three used Brad's Immunity Challenge wins, Sarah's Legacy Advantage, and Troyzan's Hidden Immunity Idol to make it to the Final Three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Sarah was respected for her strategic control throughout the merge, and ability to manage her social relationships, but criticized for her numerous betrayals and manipulations. Brad was commended for dominating in Immunity Challenges but castigated for being condescending and not socializing with people on the bottom. Troyzan was virtually ignored for his perceived coattail riding. Sarah's strong strategic control beat out Brad's dominance in challenges and Troyzan's lack of visible gameplay, and she was awarded the title of Sole Survivor with seven votes to win while Brad received three.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"The Stakes Have Been Raised"	March 8, 2017	Nuku		Ciera (9-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	7.64	1.7/6
			Nuku1
			Nuku1		Tony (7-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6
2	"Survivor Jackpot"	March 15, 2017	Nuku1		Caleb (5-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 9	7.87	1.7/7
			Tavua1
3	"The Tables Have Turned"	March 22, 2017	Nuku	Tavua2	Malcolm (5-0)3	4th Voted Out Day 11	8.10	1.7/7
			Mana
4	"Dirty Deed"	March 29, 2017	Tavua	Mana	J.T. (3-2)	5th Voted Out Day 13	8.26	1.8/7
			Nuku	Tavua
5	"Vote Early, Vote Often"	April 5, 2017	None	Debbie4	Sandra (5-2)	6th Voted Out Day 16	8.40	1.7/7
				Mana
6	"What Happened on Exile, Stays on Exile"	April 12, 2017	Nuku	Mana	Jeff (6-0)5	7th Voted Out Day 18	8.31	1.7/7
7	"There's a New Sheriff in Town"	April 19, 2017	None	Andrea	Hali (7-4-2)	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	7.92	1.7/7
			Andrea, Debbie Ozzy, Tai, Troyzan, Zeke	Tai	Ozzy (7-4-1-1)	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24
8	"A Line Drawn in Concrete"	April 26, 2017	Andrea, Aubry, Brad, Debbie, Sierra	Troyzan	Debbie (6-5)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 26	8.49	1.8/7
9	"Reinventing How This Game Is Played"	May 3, 2017	Andrea, Aubry, Brad, Sarah, Zeke	Andrea	Zeke (5-3-2)	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	8.26	1.8/8
10	"It Is Not a High Without a Low"	May 10, 2017	Andrea, Aubry, Brad [Cirie, Sarah]	Brad	Sierra (6-3)	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 32	8.30	1.7/7
11	"Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow"	May 17, 2017	None	Aubry	Andrea (6-2)	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	8.27	1.7/7
				Brad	Michaela (4-2-1)	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35
12	"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"	May 24, 2017	Brad1		Cirie (0-0-0; Default)6	Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 36	8.48	1.9/8
			[Sarah, Troyzan]
			None	Brad	Aubry (4-1)	15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37
				Brad	Tai (3-1)	16th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Troyzan (7-3-0)	Second Runner-Up
					Brad (7-3-0)	Runner-Up
					Sarah (7-3-0)	Sole Survivor
13	"Reunion"						5.84	1.3/5
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2The two tribes that lost the Immunity Challenge were both sent to Tribal Council, where they would vote together to vote one person out. ^3A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^4 As Debbie drew a package containing no buff, she was exiled without a tribe. Because of this, she did not attend Tribal Council and was immune for the episode. ^5 Jeff was voted out verbally by the Nuku tribe. He did not cast an elimination vote. ^6 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart occurred. However, as only one castaway could recieve votes, they were eliminated by default.

Voting History

Survivor: Game Changers Voting History
		Original Tribes		Expanded Tribes			Switched Tribes		Merged Tribe
Episode #:		1		2	3	4	5	6	7		8	9	10	11		12
Voted out:		Ciera	Tony	Caleb	Malcolm	J.T.	Sandra	Jeff	Hali	Ozzy	Debbie	Zeke	Sierra	Andrea	Michaela	Null	Cirie	Aubry	Tai	Troyzan	Brad	Sarah
Vote:		9-1	7-2	5-1	5-01	3-2	5-2	6-03	7-4-2	7-4-1-1	6-5	5-3-2	6-3	6-2	4-2-1	0-0-07	Default8	4-1	3-1	7-3-0
►►►	Sarah	—	—	—	—	—	Sandra	Jeff	Michaela	Ozzy	Debbie	Zeke	Sierra	Andrea	Michaela5	Tai	—	Aubry	Tai	Jury Vote
															Michaela5
►►►	Brad	—	—	Caleb	Malcolm	—	—	—	Hali	Ozzy	Andrea	Tai	Andrea	Andrea	Michaela	Aubry	—	Aubry	Tai
►►►	Troyzan	Ciera	Tony	—	—	—	—	—	Hali	Ozzy	Andrea	Tai	Andrea	Andrea	Michaela	Tai	—	Aubry	Tai
►►►	Tai	—	—	Caleb	Malcolm	—	Sandra	Jeff	Hali	Ozzy	Andrea	Sierra	Sierra	Andrea	None6	Sarah	—	Aubry	Troyzan			Sarah
►►►	Aubry	Ciera	Tony	—	Sierra	Michaela	—	—	Hali	Zeke	Debbie	Zeke	Sierra	Brad	Tai	Sarah	—	Troyzan				Sarah
►►►	Cirie	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Michaela	Sierra	Debbie	Zeke	Sierra	Andrea	Aubry	Sarah	Eliminated					Sarah
►►►	Michaela	Ciera	Tony	—	Sierra	J.T.	—	—	Zeke	Zeke	Debbie	Zeke	Sierra	Andrea	Tai							Sarah
►►►	Andrea	—	—	—	—	—	Sandra	Jeff	Michaela	Zeke	Debbie	Zeke	Sierra	Brad								Sarah
►►►	Sierra	—	—	Caleb	Malcolm	—	—	—	Hali	Ozzy	Andrea	Tai	Andrea								Brad
►►►	Zeke	—	—	—	—	—	Sandra	Jeff	Michaela	Aubry	Debbie	Sierra										Sarah
►►►	Debbie	—	—	Caleb	Malcolm	—	Exiled2	Jeff	Hali	Ozzy4	Andrea										Brad
										Ozzy4
►►►	Ozzy	—	—	—	—	—	Sandra	Jeff	Hali	Zeke											Brad
►►►	Hali	Ciera	Tony	Caleb	Malcolm	—	—	—	Zeke													Sarah
►►	Jeff	Ciera	Tony	—	Sierra	J.T.	Tai	None
►►	Sandra	Ciera	Aubry	—	Sierra	J.T.	Tai
►	J.T.	—	—	—	Sierra	Michaela
►	Malcolm	Ciera	Tony	—	Sierra
►	Caleb	Ciera	Tony	Hali
	Tony	Ciera	Aubry
	Ciera	Michaela
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^2 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Debbie, the odd person out, was sent to Exile, and rejoined the game as a member of Nuku, replacing Sandra and evening the tribes at 7-7. ^3 Jeff was voted out unanimously by the Nuku tribe. Due to the nature of the verbal vote, Jeff did not cast a vote. ^4 This castaway used an Extra Vote advantage, allowing them to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^5 This castaway used the Vote Steal advantage, allowing them to steal another castaway's vote to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^6 This castaway's vote was stolen by the Vote Steal. ^7 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart occurred. ^8 Since Cirie was the only castaway eligible to receive votes for the vote restart, she was eliminated by default.

Trivia

• The pre-merge tribe Buffs for Game Changers are the first since Heroes vs. Villains to not have tribe names prominently printed on them.
• Game Changers is the fourth season with a cast composed entirely of returning players, following All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, and Cambodia.
• Game Changers was the first season to feature multiple fourth-time returning players. The only other four-time players were Rob Mariano and Rupert Boneham who played for the fourth time on Redemption Island and Blood vs. Water respectively.
• Game Changers was tied with Micronesia, David vs. Goliath, Island of the Idols and Survivor 41 for the most openly LGBT contestants at the time of airing, with 3: Jeff, Tai, and Zeke. This record was broken by Survivor 42 with 5.
  • With Ozzy coming out as bisexual in 2022, four Game Changers contestants are LGBT as of the present day.
• All three pre-merge tribes, including Tavua, won exactly three Immunity Challenges.
• Game Changers saw the most players immune at a given Tribal Council with five (since broken in Survivor 41), as well as the first instance where a player was voted out with 0 votes due to there being no other non-immune option.
• Game Changers has the fewest episodes of any Survivor season, with 13 (12 excluding the Reunion Show).