Survivor: Micronesia

Survivor: Micronesia
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	16
Filming Location	Koror, Palau
Filming Dates	October 29, 2007 - December 6, 2007
Season Run	February 7, 2008 - May 11, 2008
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	20
Winner	Parvati Shallow
Runner(s)-Up	Amanda Kimmel
Tribes	Airai Malakal Dabu
Viewership (in Millions)	13.61
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	China
Next	Gabon

Survivor: Micronesia, also known as Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites or simply Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites in later seasons, is the sixteenth installment of Survivor. This season featured ten new contestants, dubbed as "the super-fans", facing ten of the most popular castaways at the time.

The season concluded with Parvati Shallow defeating Amanda Kimmel in a 5-3 jury vote to win the title of Sole Survivor. It featured two medical evacuations, one quit, and has to date produced seven returning players (Amanda Kimmel, Cirie Fields, Erik Reichenbach, James Clement, Jonathan Penner, Ozzy Lusth, and Parvati Shallow) for subsequent seasons.

Production

Casting for this season was originally done as an "All-Stars" season with all returning players, but that idea was scrapped in favor of the "Fans vs. Favorites" format.^{[citation needed]}

Coby Archa, Shane Powers, and Yul Kwon were considered for the season but were not chosen. Tom Westman was also asked to compete but declined.

Twists/Changes

• Fans vs. Favorites: One tribe, Airai​​, is composed of ten Survivor "superfans", while the other, Malakal, is composed of ten popular castaways from past seasons.
• Temporary Immunity Idols: At the beginning of the game, the contestants vied for two individual Immunity Idols, one for each tribe. The first person who gets their tribe's idol will be immune at his/her first visit to Tribal Council.
• Exile Island: Exile Island returns after being absent in Survivor: China. This season, both tribes will send one of their own to Exile Island to compete to find the Hidden Immunity Idol.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: Hidden Immunity Idols return this season, however only one is hidden on Exile Island at a time.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 12, both tribes swapped four members each.
• Eight Person Jury: This season marked the first time that a jury is comprised of eight members.
• Final Tribal Council: The standard two-finalist Final Tribal Council returns after three seasons of having a three-finalist finale.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Jon Dalton 33, Los Angeles, CA Pearl Islands	Malakal			1st Voted Out Day 3	9
	Mary Sartain 28, Emeryville, CA Real Estate Manager	Airai			2nd Voted Out Day 6	6
	Yau-Man Chan 55, Martinez, CA Fiji	Malakal			3rd Voted Out Day 8	6
	Mikey Bortone 33, Los Angeles, CA Aspiring Writer	Airai			4th Voted Out Day 11	9
	Joel Anderson 32, Avondale, AZ Firefighter	Airai	Malakal		5th Voted Out Day 14	6
	Jonathan Penner 45, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands	Malakal	Airai		Evacuated Day 15	0
	Chet Welch 48, Ford City, PA Pageant Coach	Airai	Malakal		6th Voted Out Day 17	15
	Kathy Sleckman 45, Glen Ellyn, IL Golf Course Vendor	Airai	Airai		Quit Day 19	0
	Tracy Hughes-Wolf 43, Fredericksburg, VA Residential Builder	Airai	Malakal		7th Voted Out Day 20	7
	Ami Cusack 34, Golden, CO Vanuatu	Malakal	Malakal		8th Voted Out Day 21	4
	Eliza Orlins 24, Manhattan, NY Vanuatu	Malakal	Airai	Dabu	9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	8
	Ozzy Lusth 26, Venice, CA Cook Islands	Malakal	Malakal		10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	9
	Jason Siska 22, Fox River Grove, IL Gymnastics Coach	Airai	Airai		11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	9
	James Clement 30, Lafayette, LA China	Malakal	Airai		Evacuated 4th Jury Member Day 31	3
	Alexis Jones 24, Beverly Hills, CA Motivational Speaker	Airai	Airai		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33	2
	Erik Reichenbach 21, Ypsilanti, MI Ice Cream Scooper	Airai	Malakal		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36	7
	Natalie Bolton 31, West Hollywood, CA Personal Trainer	Airai	Airai		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	3
	Cirie Fields 37, Norwalk, CT Panama	Malakal	Malakal		15th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 38	3
	Amanda Kimmel 23, Los Angeles, CA China	Malakal	Malakal		Runner-Up	4
	Parvati Shallow 25, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands	Malakal	Airai		Sole Survivor	4

Season Summary

The 20 players were divided into two tribes: Malakal consisting of ten favorites, and Airai consisting of ten fans. On Malakal, a "couples alliance" of Amanda, Ozzy, Parvati, and James seized control after Cirie became their fifth, opposing a minority group led by Jonathan. At the same time, the fans tribe was caught in a silent power struggle between Joel and Mikey B., which was exploited by Tracy in order to keep her own three-person alliance safe.

After 11 days, with the tribes equal at eight members each, the tribes were swapped through a Schoolyard Pick. The new Malakal quickly proved to be the weaker of the two tribes, resulting in multiple fan eliminations as the favorites remained united. The new Airai struggled in different ways, with Jonathan being evacuated for a knee infection and Kathy quitting after suffering a mental breakdown. These setbacks for Airai kept the tribes relatively even in numbers, with Airai entering the merge with six members to Malakal's four.

At the start of the merge, the original Malakal couples alliance held the majority, recruiting Alexis and Natalie to eliminate the outsiders. However, the women soon formed their own alliance at the behest of Parvati, leading to the blindside of Ozzy. With the numbers on their side, the women's alliance voted out the remaining men until only Erik remained, who thwarted their attempts at eliminating him by winning multiple Immunity Challenges.

Finally at the final five, the remaining women convinced Erik that he was safe at the next vote regardless if he won individual immunity; Erik, having won this immunity, gave it to Natalie to engender her trust, allowing the women to vote him out. After eliminating Natalie, the trio of Amanda, Cirie, and Parvati falsely believed they had made it to the Final Three, only to be surprised with a Final Two. After Amanda won the Final Immunity Challenge, she voted out Cirie for being the largest jury threat. At the Final Tribal Council, Amanda was criticized for being melodramatic and superficial, while Parvati was castigated for her deceptive and occasionally mean-spirited gameplay. In the end, Parvati was ultimately awarded the title of Sole Survivor by a close vote of 5-3.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Exiled	Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"You Guys Are Dumber than You Look"	February 7, 2008	None	Yau-Man		Jon (9-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	14.02	4.8/N/A
				Kathy
			Airai1
2	"The Sounds of Jungle Love"	February 14, 2008	Malakal1		Kathy	Mary (6-2-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	13.18	4.6/N/A
					Cirie
3	"I Should Be Carried on the Chariot-Type Thing!"	February 21, 2008	Malakal	Airai	Kathy	Yau-Man (6-2-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	12.66	4.1/N/A
					Ami
4	"That's Baked, Barbecued and Fried!"	February 28, 2008	Malakal	Malakal	Kathy	Mikey B. (4-4-1; 5-2)2	4th Voted Out Day 11	12.53	4.2/N/A
					Ozzy
5	"He's a Ball of Goo!"	March 6, 2008	Airai	Airai	None	Joel (6-2)	5th Voted Out Day 14	12.64	4.0/N/A
6	"It Hit Everyone Pretty Hard"	March 13, 2008	Airai	Airai	Chet	Jonathan (no vote)	Evacuated Day 15	13.22	4.3/N/A
					Jason	Chet (5-2)	6th Voted Out Day 17
7	"Like a Wide-Eyed Kid in the Candy Store"	March 19, 2008	Malakal	Airai	Jason	Kathy (no vote)	Quit Day 19	11.56	3.8/N/A
					Tracy	Tracy (5-1)	7th Voted Out Day 20
8	"A Lost Puppy Dog"	April 3, 2008		Ozzy3		Ami (4-1)	8th Voted Out Day 21	12.87	4.0/N/A
				Alexis3
			Airai1
9	"I'm in Such a Hot Pickle!"	April 10, 2008	None	Jason	None	Eliza (8-2)	9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	11.59	3.9/N/A
10	"I Promise..."	April 17, 2008	Amanda, Erik, Jason, Ozzy	Parvati	Cirie	Ozzy (5-4)	10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	12.01	3.9/N/A
11	"I'm Ruthless... and Have a Smile on My Face"	April 24, 2008	Survivor Auction	Erik	Jason	Jason (4-3-1)	11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	12.90	4.3/N/A
12	"I'm Gonna Fix Her!"	May 1, 2008	Alexis [Cirie, Natalie]	Erik	Amanda	James (no vote)	Evacuated 4th Jury Member Day 31	12.32	4.0/N/A
						Alexis (2-0)4	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33
13	"If It Smells Like a Rat, Give It Cheese"	May 8, 2008	Erik [Amanda]	Erik (Natalie)5	Parvati	Erik (4-1)	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36	12.62	4.1/N/A
14	"Stir the Pot!"	May 11, 2008	None	Amanda	None	Natalie (3-1)	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	12.98	4.1/N/A
				Amanda		Cirie (1-0)	15th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote			Amanda (5-3)	Runner-Up
						Parvati (5-3)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"							10.42	3.8/N/A
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^3 Before the Immunity Challenge, both tribes were tasked to send one member from the other tribe to Exile Island, preventing them from competing in the challenge. Although the person exiled from the losing tribe would attend the subsequent Tribal Council, they would be immune from being voted out. ^4 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^5 Erik gave up his immunity to Natalie at Tribal Council.

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		Jon	Mary	Yau-Man	Tie	Mikey B.	Joel	Jonathan	Chet	Kathy	Tracy	Ami	Eliza	Ozzy	Jason	James	Alexis	Erik	Natalie	Cirie	Amanda	Parvati
Vote		9-1	6-2-2	6-2-1	4-4-11	5-2	6-2	No vote2	5-2	No vote3	5-1	4-1	8-2	5-4	4-3-1	No vote4	2-05	4-1	3-1	1-06	5-3
►►	Parvati	Jon	—	Yau-Man	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	Eliza	Ozzy	Jason	—	Alexis	Erik	Natalie	None	Jury Vote
►►	Amanda	Jon	—	Yau-Man	—		Joel	—	Chet	—	Tracy	Ami	Eliza	Jason	Jason	—	Alexis	Erik	Natalie	Cirie
►►	Cirie	Jon	—	Yau-Man	—		Joel	—	Chet	—	Tracy	Ami	Eliza	Ozzy	Jason	—	Amanda	Erik	Natalie	None		Parvati
►►	Natalie	—	Mary	—	Mikey B.	Mikey B.	—	—	—	—	—	—	Eliza	Ozzy	James	—	Amanda	Erik	Cirie			Parvati
►►	Erik	—	Mary	—	Chet	Mikey B.	Chet	—	Chet	—	Tracy	Ami	Eliza	Jason	Jason	—	Amanda	Parvati			Amanda
►►	Alexis	—	Mary	—	Chet	Chet	—	—	—	—	—	—	Eliza	Ozzy	James	—	Amanda					Parvati
►►	James	Jon	—	Yau-Man	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	Eliza	Jason	Parvati	Evacuated					Amanda
►►	Jason	—	Chet	—	Chet	Chet	—	—	—	—	—	—	Ozzy	Ozzy	James							Parvati
►►	Ozzy	Jon	—	Yau-Man	—		Joel	—	Chet	—	Tracy	Ami	Eliza	Jason							Amanda
►►	Eliza	Jon	—	Yau-Man	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	Ozzy									Parvati
►	Ami	Jon	—	Cirie	—		Joel	—	Chet	—	Tracy	Erik
►	Tracy	—	Mary	—	Mikey B.	Mikey B.	Joel	—	Erik	—	Ozzy
►	Kathy	—	Mary	—	Mikey B.	Mikey B.	—	—	—	Quit
►	Chet	—	Mary	—	Mikey B.	None	Joel	—	Erik
►	Jonathan	Jon	—	Parvati	—		—	Evacuated
►	Joel	—	Tracy	—	Jason	Mikey B.	Chet
	Mikey B.	—	Chet	—	Chet	None
	Yau-Man	Jon	—	Parvati
	Mary	—	Tracy
	Jon	Ozzy
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 Jonathan was medically evacuated over an infected knee wound. No vote occurred for his removal. ^3 Kathy elected to quit the game due to depression and boredom. No vote occurred for her removal. ^4 James was medically evacuated over an infected finger. No vote occurred for his removal. ^5 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^6 Cirie and Parvati did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Amanda voted.

Trivia

• Micronesia is the last season to not be filmed in high-definition.
• Micronesia is the only returning players season to feature returning players from Vanuatu and Fiji.
• Micronesia set the record for the most openly LGBT contestants at the time of airing, with 3: Ami, Chet, and Natalie. This record would be tied by Game Changers, David vs. Goliath, Island of the Idols, and Survivor 41 before it was broken by Survivor 42, with 5.
  • With Ozzy coming out as bisexual in 2022 and Parvati coming out as queer in 2023, Micronesia officially contains 5 LGBT castaways.
• Micronesia is the first season to have two tribes of 10 players each, despite there being 20 contestants in two previous seasons.
• Micronesia is the first season to have an equal number of returning players and new players at the beginning of the game. It would be followed by Caramoan and Blood vs. Water.
• Micronesia is the only season with returning players to feature Exile Island as a season-long twist.
• Half of the contestants in this season would visit Exile Island.
  • Five of them were Fans and the other five were Favorites.
• Micronesia is the first season to have an even-numbered jury, with eight members.
  • This is the only season with a Final Two and an even-numbered jury. It is unknown how a potential tie would have been broken.
• Micronesia is the most recent season with a Final Two to produce a female winner.
• Micronesia is tied with Kaôh Rōng for the most contestants leaving the game without being voted out, or eliminated in a tiebreaker, eliminated by a twist or duel, with 3. Both Jonathan Penner and James Clement were evacuated, and Kathy Sleckman quit.
• Micronesia is the first season to have two contestants be medically evacuated. It would be followed by Samoa, One World, and Caramoan.
• Micronesia is the first season where the final four was comprised of castaways of the same gender.
  • However, this would be surpassed in One World, whose final five was comprised of castaways of the same gender.
• Micronesia is the second season to start with 20 contestants and have a Final Two, following Palau.
  • Coincidentally, both seasons were filmed in Palau, both featured Exile Island, and both had at least three contestants leave the game through means other than being voted out.
• Micronesia is the last season to date to feature still headshot images of the contestants in the opening credits.
• For this season, once a player was eliminated, their name and images would no longer appear in the opening credits. Then, in continuing what was started in China, once the game reached the jury phase, only the players remaining would be shown, divided into "the jury" and the "the merged tribe".
•  Amanda Kimmel, Cirie Fields, and Parvati Shallow are the only returning players to place higher than they did on their original season.
  • Cirie is the only one not to make the Final Tribal Council.
• Micronesia is the first season to have Ponderosa videos, released after every episode following the start of the jury phase.
• Micronesia introduced the fewest first-time players who have reached the Final Tribal Council, with 0; no Fans who debuted on this season have made it to Final Tribal Council in this season or any future season.
• The returning players from Panama, Cook Islands, and China would go on to become three-time players.