Production
Applications were due on June 17, 2005. Around August 2005, 800 applicants were invited for an interview by CBS. Out of these 800, 48 of them were selected as semi-finalists and they were invited to Los Angeles in September 2005. From these semi-finalists, 16 were chosen the show and filming took place in November to December 2005.
The season's theme is inspired from Haitian Vodou and headhunting culture practiced in Central and South America. The Tribal Council set was a cave made out of foam. The Panamanian government insisted on preserving certain trees nearby, prompting production to build the cave around these, hiding them in the process. The candles illuminating Tribal Council can be controlled, thus enhancing the fire whenever production pleased.
Twists/Changes
- 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 him/herself until the upcoming Immunity Challenge (unless stated otherwise). The player would not be left in despair, for he/she will be given clues to a Hidden Immunity Idol that is hidden somewhere on the island.
- Rehashed Hidden Immunity Idol Mechanism: Unlike the previous season where the Hidden Immunity Idol is used like the Immunity Necklace, the mechanism of using the idol was now changed. Instead of revealing the idol before voting, the owner must draw it when he/she has enough votes to eliminate him/her. The votes cast against that player will be considered spoilt, while the person that gets the second highest amount of votes will be eliminated instead. The idol is usable until the Day 36 Tribal Council.
- Four Tribes: For the first time in the series, the castaways were divided into four tribes of four.
- Tribe Division: These four tribes are defined according to age and gender, thus having tribes of Older Men (La Mina), Younger Men (Viveros), Younger Women (Bayoneta), and Older Women (Casaya).
- Tribe Switch: On Day 4, the tribes were mixed up. Viveros and Bayoneta were disbanded. Two team captains were chosen randomly and contestants were divided into the new Casaya and La Mina tribes by a Schoolyard Pick. Because of odd numbers, the last unpicked player was sent to Exile Island and was given immunity. He/she will stay there until the tribe that loses the next Immunity Challenge already finished the task of voting out one of their own. After the vote, the exiled player will join that tribe.
Castaways
| Contestant | Tribe Affiliation | Finish | Votes Against | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Tribe | Shuffled Tribe | Merged Tribe | ||||
| Tina Scheer 44, Hayward, WI | Casaya | 1st Voted Out Day 3 | 3 | ||
| Melinda Hyder 32, Sevierville, TN | Casaya | Casaya | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 | 5 | |
| Misty Giles 24, Dallas, TX | Bayoneta | La Mina | 3rd Voted Out Day 8 | 5 | |
| Ruth-Marie Milliman 48, Greenville, SC | Casaya | La Mina | 4th Voted Out Day 11 | 6 | |
| Bobby Mason 32, Los Angeles, CA | Viveros | Casaya | 5th Voted Out Day 14 | 3 | |
| Dan Barry 51, South Hadley, MA | La Mina | La Mina | 6th Voted Out Day 15 | 3 | |
| Nick Stanbury 25, Tempe, AZ | Viveros | La Mina | Gitanos | 7th Voted Out Day 18 | 6 |
| Austin Carty 24, High Point, NC | Viveros | La Mina | 8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21 | 7 | |
| Sally Schumann 27, Chicago, IL | Bayoneta | La Mina | 9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24 | 8 | |
| Bruce Kanegai 57, Simi Valley, CA | La Mina | Casaya | Evacuated 3rd Jury Member Day 25 | 2 | |
| Courtney Marit 31, Los Angeles, CA | Bayoneta | Casaya | 10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30 | 4 | |
| Shane Powers 34, Los Angeles, CA | La Mina | Casaya | 11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33 | 9 | |
| Cirie Fields 35, Walterboro, SC | Casaya | Casaya | 12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36 | 3 | |
| Terry Deitz 46, Simsbury, CT | La Mina | La Mina | 13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 | 1 | |
| Danielle DiLorenzo 24, Pompano Beach, FL | Bayoneta | Casaya | Runner-Up | 4 | |
| Aras Baskauskas 24, Santa Monica, CA | Viveros | Casaya | Sole Survivor | 9 | |
Season Summary
The game began with the sixteen competitors split into four tribes by both relative age and gender. They were introduced to the concept of "Exile Island" with the promise of a Hidden Immunity Idol located somewhere on it, while one person from the losing tribe at challenges would be sent to the island and given clues to look for it. After the first four days, the four tribes were merged by Schoolyard Pick with mixed genders into two tribes, Casaya and La Mina. Casaya generally proved the stronger tribe, and opted to send Terry Deitz from La Mina over to Exile Island multiple times, which gave him the opportunity to discover the Hidden Immunity Idol.
Going into the merge, Casaya was up six members to four. Since Terry won five Individual Immunity Challenges in a row, he did not use the Hidden Immunity Idol to save his former La Mina tribe members, leaving him as the sole remaining La Mina member and a perceived Immunity Challenge threat by the Casaya Alliance.
Cirie Fields later noticed both Terry and Shane Powers looking separately to take Courtney Marit, a weaker player, to the end as an assurance to win the jury's favor, convinced Aras Baskauskas and Danielle DiLorenzo to blindside the other three, and succeeded in achieving Courtney's elimination. Shane was eliminated at the next Tribal Council. At the final four, the vote came down to a fire-making tiebreaker between Cirie and Danielle with Danielle winning. Danielle won the Final Immunity Challenge and voted out Terry making herself and Aras the Final Two
At the Final Tribal Council Aras and Danielle both received lukewarm remarks from the jury, but by a vote of 5-2 Aras was awarded the title of Sole Survivor.
| Episode | Air date | Challenges | Exiled | Eliminated | Vote | Finish | Viewers (in millions)[2] | Rating/Share (18-49) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | |||||||||
| 1 | "The First Exile" | February 2, 2006 | La Mina | Bayoneta | Misty | Tina | 3-1 | 1st Voted Out Day 3 | 19.20 | 7.0/18 |
| Viveros | La Mina | |||||||||
| Casaya | Viveros | |||||||||
| 2 | "Breakdown" | February 9, 2006 | La Mina | La Mina | Bruce | Melinda | 5-2 | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 | 18.75 | 6.6/17 |
| 3 | "Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners" | February 16, 2006 | La Mina | Casaya | Bruce | Misty | 5-2 | 3rd Voted Out Day 8 | 16.98 | 6.3/16 |
| 4 | "Starvation and Lunacy" | February 23, 2006 | Casaya | Casaya | Terry | Ruth-Marie | 4-2 | 4th Voted Out Day 11 | 14.85 | 5.5/14 |
| 5 | "For Cod's Sake" | March 2, 2006 | Casaya | La Mina | Terry | Bobby | 3-2-1-1 | 5th Voted Out Day 14 | 16.08 | 5.5/14 |
| 6 | "Salvation and Desertion" | March 9, 2006 | Casaya1 | Sally | Dan | 3-1 | 6th Voted Out Day 15 | 15.33 | 5.4/N/A | |
| 7 | "A Closer Look" | March 15, 2006 | Recap Episode | N/A | N/A | |||||
| 8 | "An Emerging Plan" | March 30, 2006 | None | Terry | None | Nick | 6-4 | 7th Voted Out Day 18 | 16.25 | 5.8/17 |
| 9 | "The Power of the Idol" | April 6, 2006 | Aras, Bruce, Sally | Terry | Austin, Danielle | Austin | 6-3 | 8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21 | 16.36 | 5.6/17 |
| 10 | "Fight for Your Life or Eat" | April 13, 2006 | Bruce, Courtney, Sally, Terry | Terry | Aras | Sally | 6-2 | 9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24 | 15.07 | 5.2/17 |
| 11 | "Medical Emergency" | April 20, 2006 | Cirie [Aras, Danielle] | None | Terry | Bruce | No vote | Evacuated 3rd Jury Member Day 25 | 16.26 | 5.5/18 |
| 12 | "Perilous Scramble" | April 27, 2006 | Courtney, Danielle, Terry | Terry | Aras | Courtney | 3-2-1 | 10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30 | 17.09 | 5.9/18 |
| 13 | "Bamboozled" | May 4, 2006 | Terry [Shane] | Terry | Danielle | Shane | 3-1-1 | 11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33 | 17.04 | 5.9/18 |
| 14 | "Call the Whambulence!" | May 11, 2006 | Aras [Cirie] | Aras | Danielle, Terry | TBA | 2-2; Tiebreaker2 | 12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36 | 17.2 | 5.8/N/A |
| 15 | "The Final Showdown" | May 14, 2006 | Cirie | 17.07 | 6.2/15 | |||||
| Terry | Danielle | None | Terry | 1-0 | 13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 | |||||
| Jury Vote | Danielle | 5-2 | Runner-Up | |||||||
| Aras | Sole Survivor | |||||||||
| 16 | "Reunion" | 12.3 | 4.6/N/A | |||||||
| Notes:
^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 With a deadlock tie between Cirie and Danielle, a fire-making challenge was held to determine the elimination. The challenge, which was shown in the following episode, was won by Danielle, eliminating Cirie. | ||||||||||
Voting History
| Survivor: Panama Voting History | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Tribes | Switched Tribes | Merged Tribe | ||||||||||||||||
| Episode #: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | ||||
| Voted out: |  Tina |  Melinda |  Misty |  Ruth-Marie |  Bobby |  Dan |  Nick |  Austin |  Sally |  Bruce |  Courtney |  Shane | Tie |  Cirie |  Terry |  Danielle |  Aras | |
| Vote: | 3-1 | 5-21 | 5-2 | 4-2 | 3-2-1-1 | 3-12 | 6-4 | 6-3 | 6-2 | No vote3 | 3-2-1 | 3-1-1 | 2-24 | Tiebreaker5 | 1-06 | 5-2 | ||
| ►► | Aras | — | Melinda | — | — | Bruce | — | Nick | Austin | Sally | — | Courtney | Shane | Danielle | — | None | Jury Vote | |
| ►► | Danielle | — | Melinda | — | — | Bobby | — | Nick | Austin | Sally | — | Courtney | Shane | Cirie | — | Terry | ||
| ►► | Terry | — | — | Misty | Ruth-Marie | — | Dan | Shane | Aras | Aras | — | Aras | Aras | Cirie | — | None | Aras | |
| ►► | Cirie | Tina | Shane | — | — | Bobby | — | Nick | Austin | Sally | — | Courtney | Shane | Danielle | Voted out | Aras | ||
| ►► | Shane | — | Melinda | — | — | Aras | — | Nick | Austin | Sally | — | Danielle | Danielle | 
| Danielle | |||
| ►► | Courtney | — | Melinda | — | — | Bobby | — | Nick | Austin | Sally | — | Aras | Aras | |||||
| ►► | Bruce | — | Exiled1 | — | — | Courtney | — | Nick | Austin | Sally | Evacuated | Danielle | ||||||
| ►► | Sally | — | — | Ruth-Marie | Ruth-Marie | — | Exiled2 | Shane | Aras | Aras | Aras | |||||||
| ►► | Austin | — | — | Misty | Ruth-Marie | — | Dan | Shane | Aras | Aras | ||||||||
| ►► | Nick | — | — | Misty | Ruth-Marie | — | Dan | Shane | ||||||||||
| ► | Dan | — | — | Misty | Sally | — | Austin | |||||||||||
| ► | Bobby | — | Melinda | — | — | Bruce | ||||||||||||
| ► | Ruth-Marie | Tina | — | Misty | Sally | |||||||||||||
| ► | Misty | — | — | Ruth-Marie | ||||||||||||||
| ► | Melinda | Tina | Shane | |||||||||||||||
| Tina | Cirie | |||||||||||||||||
| Notes:
^1 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Bruce, the odd person out, was sent to Exile Island, and rejoined the game as a member of Casaya, replacing Melinda and evening the tribes at 7-7. | ||||||||||||||||||
Trivia
- In a rather interesting coincidence, all four original tribes were represented in the final four, with Aras Baskauskas, Danielle DiLorenzo, Cirie Fields, and Terry Deitz representing Viveros, Bayoneta, Casaya, and La Mina respectively.
- A similar coincidence occurred eighteen seasons later in Worlds Apart, where each of the three starting tribes were represented in the Final Three.
- This is the first season to have Exile Island as a season-long twist.
- This season's eliminations occurred in a pattern. The first four were female, the next four were male, and the rest alternated between females and males.
- Only the final three castaways won individual immunity. Terry won the first five, then Aras won the penultimate, and Danielle won the final.
- This season ties with Cook Islands for the most starting tribes, with four.
- This is the first season to have an episode end with a Tribal Council vote, but no elimination, as "Call the Whambulence!" ended with Danielle and Cirie preparing to start the fire-building tiebreaker, but its result was not featured until the finale.
- This season marks the second time the youngest contestant of the season won, the first being Jenna Morasca in The Amazon.
- This is the first season to have a contestant find a Hidden Immunity Idol at Exile Island.
- This is the first season since Thailand to have a Tribal Council with a roof.
- This was the last season in which the first person voted out of the merged tribe was not a member of the jury until Caramoan.
- Despite having the same age, Melinda Hyder was placed on Casaya (the older women), and Bobby Mason was placed on Viveros (the younger men).
- This season is one of three to have the entire final four come back as returning players in future seasons, the other two being Borneo and Cagayan.
- As Borneo and Cagayan had other contestants return in future seasons, this is the only season to have only the final four come back as returning players.
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 |
