Survivor: Island of the Idols is the thirty-ninth season of Survivor.
Tommy Sheehan was awarded the title of Sole Survivor over Dean Kowalski and Noura Salman in a 8-2-0 vote.
Contents
Production
Starting with this season, Canadian citizens are eligible to apply for Survivor.[3]
The mentors, Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine, were given creative control over the happenings on the Island of the Idols, from the lessons they will teach and how they will go about them. Host Jeff Probst stated that production would have built a shelter for Rob and Sandra, but the two refused and insisted to relive the Survivor experience and built their own.[4][5] Rob and Sandra also attend Tribal Council, albeit in secret. They have a special hiding place in one of the huts in the Tribal Council set where they watch the proceedings.
The contestants who were eliminated pre-jury were sequestered in Australia.[6]
Twists/Changes
- Mentors: Two former Survivor winners, Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine, would return for this season as mentors to the castaways this season. Neither mentor is in contention to win the million dollar prize. The mentors also get to attend Tribal Council in a hideaway spot near the fire pit.
- Island of the Idols: A selected castaway will be sent to the eponymous Island of the Idols where they will be taught survival skills and game strategies by Rob and Sandra. The castaway may choose to be tested on what they learned from the mentors for a chance to win an advantage in the game. However, losing the mentors' challenge will disallow them from voting the next time the player attends Tribal Council. Host Jeff Probst describes the island as a "Survivor boot camp."[7][8][9]
- Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden at each camp. In addition, temporary Hidden Immunity Idols may be offered on the Island of the Idols which are only usable for two to three Tribal Councils after obtaining them.
- Vote Blocker: The castaways sent to Island of the Idols on Days 9 and 15 were eligible to win a Vote Blocker. Unlike its previous appearance where it had to be used at the following Tribal Council regardless if the holder would attend that Tribal Council or not, the Vote Blocker was reworked so that it could be used at any Tribal Council the holder attends up to the final six.
- Tribe Switch: On Day 12, a Tribe Switch occurred, spreading the sixteen remaining castaways across two tribes of eight.
- Safety Without Power: The castaway sent to the Island of the Idols on Day 17 would be eligible to win an advantage that allows them to leave Tribal Council before the vote, effectively making them immune, at the cost of not voting. This advantage is usable until the final seven.
- Early Merge: The merge occurred with thirteen players remaining.
- Double Elimination: The Lumuwaku tribe was briefly split into two groups (one of six and one of five) with each group attending a separate Tribal Council to vote out a member. Following the Immunity Challenge, one group remained at the Lumuwaku camp, while the other was sequestered at the old Lairo camp for the afternoon.
- Extra Vote: The castaway sent to the Island of the Idols on Day 34 would be given an option between this, an Idol Nullifier, or a Hidden Immunity Idol good for the next Tribal Council, if they win the mentor's test.
- Idol Nullifier: The castaway sent to the Island of the Idols on Day 34 would be given an option between this, an Extra Vote, or a Hidden Immunity Idol good for the next Tribal Council, if they win the mentor's test. The Idol Nullifier is usable until the final five.
- Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who wins the final four Immunity Challenge will get to choose one person to take with them to the Final Three. The remaining two castaways would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be eliminated.
- Final Three and Expanded Jury: Three finalists faced a ten-person jury. The finalists would have faced an eleven-person jury instead had it not been for one contestant being ejected from the game during the jury stage.
- 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 | Switched Tribe | Merged Tribe | ||||
![]() |
Ronnie Bardah 36, Henderson, NV Professional Poker Player |
Lairo | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
7 | ||
![]() |
Molly Byman 28, Durham, NC Law Student |
Vokai | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
7 | ||
![]() |
Vince Moua 27, Palo Alto, CA Admissions Counselor |
Lairo | 3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
7 | ||
![]() |
Chelsea Walker 27, Los Angeles, CA Digital Content Creator |
Lairo | 4th Voted Out Day 11 |
6 | ||
![]() |
Tom Laidlaw 60, Greenwich, CT Former NHL Player |
Lairo | Lairo | 5th Voted Out Day 14 |
6 | |
![]() |
Jason Linden 32, New York City, NY Personal Injury Lawyer |
Vokai | Vokai | 6th Voted Out Day 16 |
6 | |
![]() |
Jack Nichting 23, Harrisonburg, VA Graduate Student |
Vokai | Lairo | 7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19 |
2 | |
![]() |
Kellee Kim 29, Philadelphia, PA MBA Student |
Vokai | Lairo | Lumuwaku | 8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22 |
8 |
![]() |
Jamal Shipman 33, Providence, RI College Administrator |
Vokai | Lairo | 9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24 |
6 | |
![]() |
Aaron Meredith 36, Warwick, RI Gym Owner |
Lairo | Vokai | 10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27 |
5 | |
![]() |
Missy Byrd 24, Tacoma, WA Air Force Veteran |
Lairo | Vokai | 11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 27 |
3 | |
![]() |
Elizabeth Beisel 26, Saunderstown, RI Olympic Medalist |
Lairo | Vokai | 12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 30 |
8 | |
![]() |
Karishma Patel 37, Houston, TX Personal Injury Lawyer |
Lairo | Lairo | 13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 32 |
22 | |
![]() |
Elaine Stott 41, Rockholds, KY Factory Worker |
Lairo | Vokai | 14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 35 |
8 | |
![]() |
Dan Spilo 48, Los Angeles, CA Talent Manager |
Vokai | Vokai | Ejected Day 36 |
5 | |
![]() |
Janet Carbin 59, Palm Bay, FL Chief Lifeguard |
Vokai | Lairo | 15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37 |
8 | |
![]() |
Lauren Beck 29, Glendale, CA Nanny |
Vokai | Vokai | Eliminated 10th Jury Member Day 38 |
1 | |
![]() |
Noura Salman 36, North Potomac, MD Entrepreneur |
Vokai | Lairo | Second Runner-Up |
6 | |
![]() |
Dean Kowalski 28, New York City, NY Tech Salesman |
Lairo | Lairo | Runner-Up | 5 | |
![]() |
Tommy Sheehan 26, Long Beach, NY 4th Grade Teacher |
Vokai | Vokai | Sole Survivor | 2 |
Season Summary
The twenty castaways were divided into two tribes: Lairo and Vokai. Multiple castaways were sent to the Island of the Idols over the season and were mentored and challenged by former Survivor winners and legends Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine for a chance to earn game advantages.
Vokai were the more cohesive unit and dominated the challenges, while Lairo was fractured by excessive politicking, with Missy Byrd being behind most of the strategies taking place and Karishma Patel being the perennial decoy target. The Tribe Switch allowed social in-roads between the tribes, with several players switching strategies and allegiances despite initial uneasiness. The pre-merge was generally characterized by players perceived to be threats being the primary targets, including some eliminations caused by Hidden Immunity Idol and advantages.
The merge was initially marred by controversy due to Kellee Kim's accusations about incidents of inappropriate touching involving Dan Spilo. The other women came forward to exclaim that they also felt violated by Dan, though Missy and Elizabeth Beisel exaggerated their claims for strategy and Kellee was voted out at the subsequent Tribal Council for being seen as a large threat. Dan was later ejected from the game for a separate, but similar offense. While initially the post-switch Vokai faction worked together, that changed when a Double Elimination occurred which saw Aaron Meredith and Missy get blindsided.
Lauren Beck and Tommy Sheehan used their social relationships to eliminate the remaining members of the Lairo Women's Alliance, but when only Dean Kowalski remained, he managed to make a resurgence and go on a power run by winning Immunity Challenges and finding or receiving, and using idols and advantages. The most consequential of these advantages was an Idol Nullifier which sealed Janet Carbin's elimination on Day 37. On the penultimate day, as a precautionary measure in case he failed to win the Final Immunity Challenge, Tommy convinced Noura Salman to take him to the Final Three. Noura did win and took Tommy, leaving Dean and Lauren to compete in a fire-making challenge. Dean defeated Lauren and secured his spot in the Final Three.
At the Final Tribal Council, Noura was praised for her impressive challenge performances, but was overshadowed by her personality quirks and emotional gameplay. Dean, on the other hand, was lauded for his strong endgame, but the jury felt that his social game was poor. It was Tommy's quiet yet strategic and social games and non-reliance on idols and advantages that won the jury over, winning him the title of Sole Survivor over Dean and Noura in an 8-2-0 vote.
Episode | Air date | Challenges | Exiled | Eliminated (Vote) |
Finish | Viewers (in millions) |
Ratings/Share (18-49) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reward | Immunity | ||||||||
1 | "I Vote You Out and That's It" | September 25, 2019 | Vokai1 | Elizabeth | Ronnie (7-2) |
1st Voted Out Day 3 |
6.29[10] | 1.3/6[10] | |
2 | "YOLO, Let's Play!" | October 2, 2019 | Lairo1 | Kellee | Molly (7-2-1) |
2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
6.57[11] | 1.2/6[11] | |
3 | "Honesty Would Be Chill" | October 9, 2019 | Vokai1 | Vince | Vince (5-3-1) |
3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
6.51[12] | 1.2/6[12] | |
4 | "Plan Z" | October 16, 2019 | Vokai1 | Noura | Chelsea (6-2) |
4th Voted Out Day 11 |
6.91[13] | 1.4/7[13] | |
5 | "Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You" | October 23, 2019 | Vokai | Vokai | None | Tom (5-2) |
5th Voted Out Day 14 |
6.82[14] | 1.3/6[14] |
6 | "Suck It Up Buttercup" | October 30, 2019 | Vokai | Lairo | Elaine | Jason (4-3) |
6th Voted Out Day 16 |
6.37[15] | 1.2/6[15] |
7 | "I Was Born at Night, but Not Last Night" | November 6, 2019 | Vokai2 | Vokai | Janet | Jack (2-0)3,4 |
7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19 |
6.82[16] | 1.3/6[16] |
8 | "We Made It to the Merge!" | November 13, 2019 | None | Aaron | None | Kellee (8-5) |
8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22 |
6.07[17] | 1.1/6[17] |
Dan, Dean, Elaine, Elizabeth, Noura, Tommy5 |
Aaron | Jamal | Jamal (6-3-0)3 |
9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24 | |||||
Missy | |||||||||
9 | "Two for the Price of One" | November 20, 2019 | Noura | None | Aaron (5-1) |
10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27 |
6.63[18] | 1.2/6[18] | |
Elaine6 | Missy (3-2) |
11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 27 | |||||||
Elizabeth, Karishma, Missy, Tommy6 |
|||||||||
10 | "Bring On the Bacon" | November 27, 2019 | None | Noura | Lauren | Elizabeth (1-1-0; 7-0)3,4,7 |
12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 30 |
6.48[19] | 1.1/6[19] |
11 | "A Very Simple Plan" | December 4, 2019 | Janet, Tommy [Dan, Lauren] |
Lauren | None | Karishma (5-3)4 |
13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 32 |
6.86[20] | 1.2/6[20] |
12 | "Just Go for It" | December 11, 2019 | Tommy [Dean, Noura]5 |
Dean | Dean | Elaine (5-2) |
14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 35 |
6.82[21] | 1.2/7[21] |
Dan (No Vote)8 |
Ejected Day 36 | ||||||||
13 | "Mama, Look at Me Now" | December 18, 2019 | Dean1 | None | Janet (4-1)9 |
15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37 |
6.52[22] | 1.2/6[22] | |
[Noura] | |||||||||
None | Noura | Lauren (No Vote)10 |
Eliminated 10th Jury Member Day 38 | ||||||
Jury Vote | Noura (8-2-0) |
Second Runner-Up | |||||||
Dean (8-2-0) |
Runner-Up | ||||||||
Tommy (8-2-0) |
Sole Survivor | ||||||||
14 | "Reunion" | 4.61[22] | 0.9/5[22] | ||||||
Notes:
^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. |
Voting History
Survivor: Island of the Idols Voting History | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tribes | Original Tribes | Switched Tribes | Merged Tribe | |||||||||||||||||||
Episode #: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |||||||||
Voted out: | ![]() Ronnie |
![]() Molly |
![]() Vince |
![]() Chelsea |
![]() Tom |
![]() Jason |
![]() Jack |
![]() Kellee |
![]() Jamal |
![]() Aaron |
![]() Missy |
Tie | ![]() Elizabeth |
![]() Karishma |
![]() Elaine |
![]() Dan |
![]() Janet |
![]() Lauren |
![]() Noura |
![]() Dean |
![]() Tommy | |
Vote: | 7-2 | 7-2-1 | 5-3-1 | 6-2 | 5-2 | 4-3 | 2-03,4 | 8-5 | 6-3-03 | 5-1 | 3-2 | 1-1-03,4,5 | 7-0 | 5-34 | 5-2 | No Vote6 | 4-17 | No Vote8 | 8-2-0 | |||
►► | Tommy | — | Molly | — | — | — | Elaine | — | Kellee | Jamal | — | Missy | Elizabeth | Karishma | Elaine | — | Janet | — | Jury Vote | |||
►► | Dean | Ronnie | — | Karishma | Karishma | Karishma | — | Jack | Kellee | Jamal | Aaron | — | Elizabeth | Karishma | Elaine | — | Janet | — | ||||
►► | Noura | — | Molly | — | — | None1 | — | Jack | Dan | Jamal | Aaron | — | Elizabeth | Karishma | Elaine | — | Janet | — | ||||
►► | Lauren | — | Molly | — | — | — | Elaine | — | Kellee | Karishma | Aaron | — | Elizabeth | Karishma | Elaine | — | Janet | Eliminated | Tommy | |||
►► | Janet | — | Molly | — | — | Tom | — | Dan | Jamal | Aaron | — | None | Noura | Elaine | — | Lauren | Tommy | |||||
►► | Dan | — | Molly | — | — | — | Elaine | — | Kellee | Jamal | Aaron | — | Elizabeth | Elizabeth | Noura | Noura | Ejected | |||||
►► | Elaine | Ronnie | — | Vince | Chelsea | — | Jason | — | Kellee | Karishma | — | Missy | Elizabeth | Karishma | Noura | Tommy | ||||||
►► | Karishma | Ronnie | — | Vince | Chelsea | Tom | — | Dan | — | Missy | Janet | Elizabeth | Noura | Tommy | ||||||||
►► | Elizabeth | None1 | — | Vince | Chelsea | — | Jason | — | Kellee | Karishma | — | Tommy | None | Dean | ||||||||
►► | Missy | Ronnie | — | Vince | Chelsea | — | Jason | — | Kellee | — | Tommy | Tommy | ||||||||||
►► | Aaron | Vince | — | Karishma | Chelsea | — | Jason | — | Kellee | Jamal | Janet | Dean | ||||||||||
►► | Jamal | — | Jason | — | — | Tom | — | Dan | None1 | Tommy | ||||||||||||
►► | Kellee | — | Molly | — | — | Tom | — | Dan | Tommy | |||||||||||||
► | Jack | — | Jason | — | — | Tom | — | Tommy | ||||||||||||||
► | Jason | — | Molly | — | — | — | None2 | |||||||||||||||
► | Tom | Ronnie | — | Karishma | Chelsea | Karishma | ||||||||||||||||
Chelsea | Ronnie | — | Vince | Karishma | ||||||||||||||||||
Vince | Ronnie | — | Tom | |||||||||||||||||||
Molly | — | Noura | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ronnie | Vince | |||||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
^1 This castaway lost their right to vote for losing the mentors' test on the Island of the Idols. |
Trivia

The unused Island of the Idols green Buff with a frog emblem.
- This is the first, and currently only, season to not have an opening sequence.
- The mentors wore Buffs from their winning seasons. Rob wore a Murlonio Buff from Survivor: Redemption Island, while Sandra wore both Balboa and Yin Yang Buffs from Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains respectively.
- This season marked the first ejection, with Dan being disqualified due to inappropriate behavior.
- This is the first season since Survivor: San Juan del Sur to start with two tribes and not introduce a third at a Tribe Switch.
- A green colored Buff with a frog emblem was supposed to appear at some point in the season, but the idea was shelved for unknown reasons. However, decorative flags of the same color and pattern were visibly seen at challenge sites. Though speculative, with the names of the tribes being the Fijian translation of their animal emblems ("Lairo" being the land crab and "Vokai" being the iguana), the green tribe could have been called "Boto", which is Fijian for frog.[26][27]
- This season is tied with Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Game Changers, and Survivor: David vs. Goliath for the most LGBT+ contestants with three: Elaine, Missy and Vince.
- This season marks the fifth consecutive season to produce a male winner, breaking the previous record of four male winners in a row from Survivor: Panama to Survivor: China.
References
Survivor (US) 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 |