Survivor: Pearl Islands

Survivor: Pearl Islands
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	7
Filming Location	Isla del Rey, Pearl Islands, Panama
Filming Dates	June 23, 2003 - July 31, 2003
Season Run	September 18, 2003 - December 14, 2003
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	16
Winner	Sandra Diaz-Twine
Runner(s)-Up	Lillian Morris
Tribes	Drake Morgan The Outcasts Balboa
Viewership (in Millions)	20.72
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	The Amazon
Next	All-Stars

Survivor: Pearl Islands, initially dubbed as Survivor: Pearl Islands — Panama at the Survivor: The Amazon live Reunion Show where it was officially announced, is the seventh installment of the United States version of the reality show Survivor. The season was won by Sandra Diaz-Twine by a landslide in a 6-1 jury vote margin against Lillian Morris. It would ultimately feature one quit (the first in the series), and has to date produced four returning players (Andrew Savage, Jon Dalton, Rupert Boneham, and Sandra Diaz-Twine) for subsequent seasons.

Production

The season was filmed on the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama, and had a pirate culture theme. The complete season, including the live Reunion Show, was released on DVD on February 7, 2006.

Twists/Changes

• Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
• Unexpected Start: The contestants were made to believe that they will be shooting their cast photos, only to be informed that the game had already begun. With only the clothes on their backs, the tribes were given $100 to buy supplies with.
• Camps: The tribe camps were situated several nautical miles off each other.
• Looting: The castaways experienced pirate life with one member from the winning tribe from the Reward Challenge being sent to the other tribe to steal one item from their camp.
• Buried Treasure: Another advantage of winning a Reward Challenge was one of three clues to a treasure chest buried somewhere at camp. Inside the treasure were additional creature comforts such as food rations and blankets.
• Kidnapping: The Morgan tribe was given the right to kidnap one member from the rival Drake tribe after winning the Day 12 Immunity Challenge. Their chosen victim was also given immunity, skipping Tribal Council. Rupert was also forced to compete for Morgan at the following Reward Challenge.
• Outcast Twist: On Day 19, the ten remaining castaways faced a third tribe comprised of the first six departed castaways in a three-way special challenge. If The Outcasts win, both Drake and Morgan will go to separate Tribal Council sessions and will vote out one of their own. The Outcasts will vote two of their own back into the game, with the remaining four being eliminated for good. The two returning castaways will be granted immunity at their first visit to Tribal Council. If The Outcasts finish second, only one of them will be voted back in the game, and only the losing tribe will vote somebody out. If The Outcasts lose to both tribes, they are all eliminated from the game, and Drake and Morgan merge without voting anybody out.
• Double Tribal Council: Due to their loss to The Outcasts, both Drake and Morgan had to vote someone out, though Morgan did not need to vote due to one player quitting the game.
• Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
• Immunity-Free Tribal Council: The final four castaways competed for individual immunity against the jury, who participated in the challenge as a group. The jury won, denying immunity to the remaining castaways.
• Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation				Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Outcast Twist	Post-Outcast	Merged Tribe
	Nicole Delma 24, Hermosa Beach, CA Massage Therapist	Morgan	The Outcasts			1st Voted Out Day 3	7
	Ryan Shoulders 23, Clarksville, TN Produce Clerk	Morgan	The Outcasts			2nd Voted Out Day 6	6
	Michelle Tesauro 22, Washington, DC Student	Drake	The Outcasts			5th Voted Out Day 15	6
	Trish Dunn 42, Annapolis, MD Sales Executive	Drake	The Outcasts			6th Voted Out Day 18	4
	Shawn Cohen 28, Hollywood, CA Advertising Salesman	Drake	Drake			7th Voted Out Day 19	5
	Osten Taylor 27, Boston, MA Equity Trade Manager	Morgan	Morgan			Quit Day 19	2
	Andrew Savage 39, Chicago, IL Attorney	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan	Balboa	8th Voted Out Day 21	6
	Ryan Opray 30, Los Gatos, CA Electrician	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan		9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	8
	Rupert Boneham 39, Indianapolis, IN Troubled Teens Mentor	Drake	Drake	Drake		10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	7
	Tijuana Bradley 26, St. Louis, MO Pharmaceutical Saleswoman	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan		11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	5
	Christa Hastie 24, Los Angeles, CA Computer Programmer	Drake	Drake	Drake		12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	7
	Burton Roberts 31, San Francisco, CA Marketing Executive	Drake	The Outcasts	Drake		4th Voted Out Day 12 13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	10
	Darrah Johnson 22, Liberty, MS Mortician	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan		14th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	6
	Jon Dalton 29, Los Angeles, CA Art Consultant	Drake	Drake	Drake		15th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	7
	Lillian Morris 51, Loveland, OH Scoutmaster	Morgan	The Outcasts	Morgan		3rd Voted Out Day 9 Runner-Up	10
	Sandra Diaz-Twine 29, Fort Lewis, WA Office Assistant	Drake	Drake	Drake		Sole Survivor	0

Season Summary

The game began with the castaways made to believe that they were shooting their cast photos, but were later informed that the game had already begun. The two tribes, Drake and Morgan, were given some money and sent to a small village to barter and buy supplies for their camps in lieu of being given them as in seasons past. Drake secured a sizable amount of supplies, while Morgan flustered and bought little. Drake's unity allowed them to earn a six-challenge winning streak, quickly decimating Morgan to five members.

With Drake still a full tribe at eight, Burton conspired to throw an Immunity Challenge to eliminate some of Drake's weaker players. The reluctant Drake tribe did so, but Burton was voted out for his cunning. After winning their first challenge, Morgan, led by Andrew, experienced a renewal, while Drake began to splinter due to frequent in-fighting between its members. Morgan's newfound momentum led them to win two more Immunity Challenges, leaving both tribes with five players each.

On Day 19, the tribes were shaken by the return of the first six eliminated castaways, now together as a third "Outcast" tribe in a challenge that if the Outcasts won, would allow at least one of them to return to the game. The Outcasts placed first, forcing both Drake and Morgan to vote out one of their own. Shawn was replaced by Burton at Drake, while Lillian replaced Osten, who quit the game, at Morgan.

The tribes merged as the Balboa tribe, and while Burton made amends with his former tribe, Lillian's return was still resented by hers. Because of this, Burton convinced Lillian to swerve the vote in favor of the Drakes, eliminating Andrew. With the Drakes having the upper hand, Rupert, the most likable yet also the biggest physical threat on Drake, was blindsided by the trio of Burton, Lillian, and Jon, allowing inter-tribal scheming, and later them becoming the majority alliance in the final five. During the days-long chaos, Sandra, a loyal ally of Rupert's, swore revenge on Jon for turning on Drake.

Sandra finally collected her revenge on Burton and Jon by swaying the two remaining women, Lillian and Darrah to break up the duo of Burton and Jon, with Burton blindsided for a second time. Darrah was sent home next however due to her sudden winning streak after an immunity-free Tribal Council. Fed up by Jon's lies, Lillian, who won the Final Immunity Challenge, axed him, taking Sandra with her to the end.

At the Final Tribal Council, Lillian was praised by the jury for controlling the vote since her return, but also earned their ire for her multiple betrayals. Sandra on the other hand was accused of riding the coattails of stronger players, but argued that since Rupert's elimination, she managed to pit people against each other and not be seen as a target. In the end, Sandra's candid but stealthy game won her the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-1 vote.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Beg, Barter, Steal"	September 18, 2003	None	Drake	Nicole (7-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	21.50	8.4/23
2	"To Quit or Not to Quit"	September 25, 2003	Drake	Drake	Ryan S. (5-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	19.86	7.5/21
3	"United We Stand, Divided We...?"	October 2, 2003	Drake	Drake	Lillian (5-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 9	19.68	7.5/21
4	"Pick a Castaway... Any Castaway"	October 9, 2003	Drake	Morgan	Burton (5-2)	4th Voted Out Day 12	19.40	7.4/20
				[Rupert]1
5	"Everyone's Hero"	October 16, 2003	Morgan	Morgan	Michelle (6-1)	5th Voted Out Day 15	19.35	7.4/20
			Rupert2
6	"Me and My Snake"	October 23, 2003	Drake	Morgan	Trish (4-2)	6th Voted Out Day 18	20.19	7.5/20
7	"What the...? (Part 1)"	October 30, 2003	None	The Outcasts	Shawn (4-1)	7th Voted Out Day 19	20.70	7.7/21
					Osten (no vote)	Quit Day 19
8	"What the...? (Part 2)"	November 6, 2003			Burton, Lillian (3-3-2-2-1-1)3	Returned Day 19	21.30	7.7/21
			None	Burton4	Andrew (6-4)	8th Voted Out Day 21
				Lillian4
				Burton (Rupert)4
9	"Shocking! Simply Shocking!"	November 13, 2003	Rupert (Burton) [Lillian]	Rupert	Ryan O. (8-1)	9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	21.10	8.3/22
10	"Swimming with Sharks"	November 20, 2003	Burton, Lillian (Jon)	Burton	Rupert (5-2-1)	10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	19.90	7.0/20
11	"The Great Lie"	November 26, 2003	Jon	Darrah	Tijuana (5-2)	11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	20.06	7.2/22
12	"Would You Be My Brutus Today?"	December 4, 2003	Darrah, Jon, Lillian	Darrah	Christa (4-2)	12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	22.00	8.0/23
13	"Mutiny"	December 11, 2003	Burton [Jon]	Darrah	Burton (3-2)	13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	22.41	8.3/22
14	"Flames and Endurance"	December 14, 2003	None	Jury5	Darrah (3-1)	14th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	25.23	9.7/22
				Lillian	Jon (1-0)	15th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Lillian (6-1)	Runner-Up
					Sandra (6-1)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						26.19	10.3/25
Notes: ^1 The Morgan tribe was instructed to pick a member of Drake who would go back to camp with them and not attend Tribal Council. They selected Rupert. ^2 As part of their win from the previous Immunity Challenge, Rupert competed for Morgan. After the challenge, Rupert was given the chance to stay in Morgan or move back to Drake in which he chose the latter, thus forfeiting his challenge win. ^3 Due to The Outcasts twist, this Tribal Council was held to vote people back into the game. ^4 Being the two returnees, Burton and Lillian received immunity on their next Tribal Council. Burton won the Immunity Challenge and could decide whether to give away his extra immunity; he transferred his immunity to Rupert. ^5 The jury took part in the Immunity Challenge and won, denying immunity to the remaining four survivors.

Voting History

		Original Tribes						Outcasts Twist				Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7		8			9	10	11	12	13	14
Voted Out		Nicole	Ryan S.	Lillian	Burton	Michelle	Trish	Shawn	Osten	Outcasts' Vote		Andrew	Ryan O.	Rupert	Tijuana	Christa	Burton	Darrah	Jon	Lillian	Sandra
Vote		7-1	5-2	5-1	5-2	6-1	4-2	4-1	No vote2	3-3-2-2-1-13		6-4	8-1	5-2-1	5-2	4-2	3-2	3-1	1-04	6-1
►►►	Sandra	—	—	—	Burton	Michelle	Trish	Shawn	—	—		Andrew	Ryan O.	Jon	Tijuana	Lillian	Burton	Darrah	None	Jury Vote
►►►	Lillian	Nicole	Osten	Darrah						Ryan S.		Andrew	Ryan O.	Rupert	Tijuana	Christa	Burton	Darrah	Jon
										Trish
►►►	Jon	—	—	—	Burton	Michelle	Rupert	Shawn	—	—		Andrew	Ryan O.	Rupert	Tijuana	Christa	Lillian	Darrah	None		Sandra
►►►	Darrah	Nicole	Ryan S.	Lillian	—	—	—	—	—	—		Jon	Ryan O.	Rupert	Burton	Christa	Burton	Lillian			Sandra
►►►	Burton	—	—	—	Christa					Michelle		Andrew	Ryan O.	Rupert	Tijuana	Christa	Lillian				Sandra
										Nicole
►►►	Christa	—	—	—	Burton	Michelle	Trish	Shawn	—	—		Andrew	Ryan O.	Darrah	Tijuana	Lillian					Sandra
►►►	Tijuana	Nicole	Ryan S.	Lillian	—	—	—	—	—	—		Jon	Ryan O.	Rupert	Burton					Lillian
►►►	Rupert	—	—	—	Kidnapped1	Michelle	Trish	Shawn	—	—		Andrew	Ryan O.	Darrah							Sandra
►►►	Ryan O.	Nicole	Ryan S.	Lillian	—	—	—	—	—	—		Jon	Christa								Sandra
►►►	Andrew	Nicole	Ryan S.	Lillian	—	—	—	—	—	—		Jon
►	Osten	Nicole	Ryan S.	Lillian	—	—	—	—	Quit
►	Shawn	—	—	—	Burton	Michelle	Trish	Jon
►	Trish	—	—	—	Burton	Michelle	Rupert			Burton		Eliminated
										Lillian
►	Michelle	—	—	—	Christa	Shawn				Burton		Eliminated
										Nicole
►	Ryan S.	Nicole	Osten							Burton		Eliminated
										Lillian
►	Nicole	Ryan S.								Lillian		Eliminated
Ryan S.
Notes: ^1 Morgan was given the opportunity to kidnap one member of Drake, making them immune from Tribal Council. They selected Rupert. ^2 Osten elected to quit the game due to fatigue. No vote occurred for his removal. ^3 The Outcasts were given the opportunity to vote two of their members back into the game. They selected Burton and Lillian. ^4 Jon and Sandra did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Lillian voted.

Trivia

• Pearl Islands is the first season to have the castaways start the game with the clothes on their back and not bring anything else, except for another pair of shoes.
• Pearl Islands is the first season to have tribe names derived from the English language and from actual persons.
• Pearl Islands is the first season to have two castaways with the same first name originally placed on the same tribe.
• Pearl Islands is the first season to have multiple castaways born in the 1980s.
• The Drake tribe won the first six challenges in a row, setting the record for most consecutive tribal challenges won. This record stood until the Moto tribe in Fiji topped this feat by winning the first nine challenges in a row.
• Pearl Islands is the first season where contestants were given a second chance to play the game after being voted out, and the only time outside of seasons that featured Redemption Island or the Edge of Extinction.
• Pearl Islands is the first season to have an episode end with a cliffhanger.
• Pearl Islands is the first season in which votes were cast for (and not against) players in a vote other than the Final Tribal Council. It would be followed by Palau and Guatemala.
• Pearl Islands is the only season where the winner of an individual Immunity Challenge does not wear a necklace. Instead, the winner wears a cutlass in a scabbard on their shoulder.
• Pearl Islands marks the only time that nobody won individual immunity at an Immunity Challenge. The Day 37 Immunity Challenge involved the jury, who defeated the castaways - another Survivor first.
• Pearl Islands is the first season where all castaways won at least one challenge.
• Sandra Diaz-Twine is the first Hispanic-American player to win Survivor. She would be later followed by Chris Underwood in Edge of Extinction, Yam Yam Arocho in Survivor 44, and Dee Valladares in Survivor 45.
• Pearl Islands ended the pattern of Sole Survivors of alternating genders that held in the first six seasons.
• Pearl Islands season ties with The Australian Outback and Cook Islands for being represented in the most seasons with returning players, with 7.
  • Pearl Islands is also the only pre-All-Stars season to be represented in Micronesia. Jon Dalton returned for the latter season, where he placed 20th.
  • Pearl Islands and The Australian Outback are the only seasons to be represented in every all-returning player season.
• Excluding seasons which featured their entire cast on the DVD cover, Pearl Islands is the only season where the winner is not situated in the center of the top row of the cover. Rupert Boneham was featured instead of Sandra in this position.