Survivor: Redemption Island

Survivor: Redemption Island
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	22
Filming Location	San Juan del Sur, Rivas, Nicaragua
Filming Dates	August 16, 2010 - September 23, 2010
Season Run	February 16, 2011 - May 15, 2011
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	18
Winner	Rob Mariano
Runner(s)-Up	Phillip Sheppard Natalie Tenerelli
Tribes	Ometepe Zapatera Murlonio
Viewership (in Millions)	12.585
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Nicaragua
Next	South Pacific

Survivor: Redemption Island is the twenty-second season of Survivor. It premiered on February 16, 2011. Filming took place in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the same location used in the previous season. The winner of the season was veteran player Rob Mariano after defeating Phillip Sheppard and Natalie Tenerelli in a 8-1-0 vote. To date, it has produced four returning players (Andrea Boehlke, Francesca Hogi, Phillip Sheppard, and Rob Mariano) for subsequent seasons.

Production

The production staff stayed in Nicaragua after filming Survivor: Nicaragua because they enjoyed the warm hospitality and also to minimize production costs. Also, the location of Ponderosa this season was the same location used in Nicaragua.

The idea of bringing back Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz came from the Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Reunion Show, where Rob (who was eliminated by Hantz's alliance) said he would like to compete against Russell in a future season to settle their rivalry.

After the controversial inclusion of NaOnka Mixon and Kelly Shinn to the jury after their simultaneous voluntary exits in the previous season, Mark Burnett has stated that starting from this season, post-merge quitters may or may not be put on the jury. This decision will be decided by the producers before the next Tribal Council, where the jurors will watch its proceedings. According to Burnett, "It's very unlikely any quitter will be on the jury again."

Twists/Changes

• Redemption Island: In a drastic, game-changing twist, when a player gets voted out from Tribal Council, that player will not be eliminated right away. Instead, they will go to Redemption Island, where they will fend for themselves during their entire stay. When the next person gets voted out, the two players will compete in a "duel". The winner gets to stay at the island, while the loser is eliminated from the game for good. At a certain point, the last person standing on Redemption Island will return to the main game and will continue their pursuit of the one million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor.
• Challenges: In the advent of the Redemption Island duels, this season featured several challenges both for reward and immunity.
• Two Returning Contestants: Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz returned as contestants to settle their heated rivalry during Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: Hidden Immunity Idols were available this season, with one hidden at each camp.
• Early Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game.
• New Camp for Merger: This is the first time since Survivor: The Amazon where the merged tribe lived in an entirely new camp, rather than using either of the existing camps.
• Double Elimination: On Day 30, Murlonio was subjected to a double elimination, where two castaways would be eliminated after two rounds of voting.
• 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 nine-person jury.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Redemption Island Status	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Francesca Hogi 36, Washington, DC Attorney	Ometepe		1st Voted Out Day 3	1st Eliminated Day 6	4
	Russell Hantz 37, Dayton, TX Samoa & Heroes vs. Villains	Zapatera		3rd Voted Out Day 8	2nd Eliminated Day 10	8
	Kristina Kell 45, Malibu, CA Law Student	Ometepe		4th Voted Out Day 11	3rd Eliminated Day 12	9
	Krista Klumpp 25, Columbia, SC Pharmaceutical Representative	Zapatera		5th Voted Out Day 13	4th Eliminated Day 14	6
	Stephanie Valencia 25, Long Beach, CA Waitress	Zapatera		6th Voted Out Day 16	5th Eliminated Day 17	8
	Sarita White 35, Santa Monica, CA Visual Effects Producer	Zapatera		7th Voted Out Day 18	6th Eliminated Day 19	6
	David Murphy 31, West Hollywood, CA Defense Attorney	Zapatera	Murlonio	10th Voted Out Day 24	7th Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25	8
	Julie Wolfe 50, Oceanside, CA Firefighter	Zapatera		11th Voted Out Day 27	8th Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 28	6
	Steve Wright 51, Huntington Beach, CA Ex-NFL Player	Zapatera		13th Voted Out Day 30	9th Eliminated 3rd Jury Member Day 31	9
	Ralph Kiser 44, Lebanon, VA Farmer	Zapatera		12th Voted Out Day 30	10th Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 33	10
	Grant Mattos 29, West Hollywood, CA Ex-NFL Player	Ometepe		15th Voted Out Day 35	11th Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 36	10
	Matt Elrod 21, Nashville, TN Pre-Med Student	Ometepe		2nd Voted Out Day 5 8th Voted Out Day 21	1st Returnee Day 19 12th Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 36	10
	Mike Chiesl 30, Del Mar, CA Iraq War Veteran	Zapatera		9th Voted Out Day 22	13th Eliminated 7th Jury Member Day 36	6
	Andrea Boehlke 21, Random Lake, WI Student	Ometepe		14th Voted Out Day 32 16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	2nd Returnee Day 36	9
	Ashley Underwood 25, Benton, ME Nurse	Ometepe		17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38		3
	Natalie Tenerelli 19, Acton, CA Professional Dancer	Ometepe		Second Runner-Up		1
	Phillip Sheppard 52, Santa Monica, CA Former Federal Agent	Ometepe		Runner-Up		17
	Rob Mariano 34, Pensacola, FL Marquesas, All-Stars, & Heroes vs. Villains	Ometepe		Sole Survivor		7

Season Summary

The sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Ometepe and Zapatera, were joined by returning contestants, Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz, with Rob joining Ometepe and Russell joining Zapatera by random draw. The tribes were then told about Redemption Island, a secluded location where voted out players would go to compete in challenges for a chance to be brought back into the game.

Rob quickly proved to be leader in Ometepe, and kept wary of the Hidden Immunity Idol, including sending one of his own alliance, Matt, to Redemption Island while trying to flush it out. On Zapatera, the bulk of the tribe recognized the threat that Russell could be, throwing a challenge in order to vote Russell out; Russell would lose to Matt at the next Redemption Island challenge. Matt would continue to win several more duels against several Zapatera players after Ometepe dominated the challenges, while Zapatera suffered due to the loss of cohesion within their tribe.

The tribes merged with twelve players left in the game, including Matt, who returned from Redemption Island. Matt discussed blindsiding Rob with the former Zapatera members, however he eventually decided against it, telling this to Rob in an attempt to prove his loyalty. Despite this, Rob decided Matt could not be trusted, using his alliance to send Matt back to Redemption Island, establishing a firm Ometepe majority. The former Ometepe tribe used their numerical advantage to completely eliminate the remaining former members of Zapatera, before having to turn on themselves.

Rob then orchestrated the eliminations of those whom he felt would be threatening to him, including close allies Andrea and Grant. Though Andrea would return to the game from Redemption Island, she was unable to secure any other alliances, and was voted out a second time. Rob's plans were nearly derailed by Ashley's immunity run, but Rob managed to win immunity on Day 38 to send her to the jury and complete his ideal Final Three scenario. Ultimately, the Final Three were Rob, Natalie, and Phillip.

At the Final Tribal Council, Natalie was criticized for simply following in Rob's footsteps, Phillip was chastised for his behavior, while Rob was criticized for his cutthroat gameplay. Rob, after 117 days of fighting in the game over four seasons, was voted the Sole Survivor receiving 8 of the 9 jury votes, while Phillip received one vote.

Episode		Air Date	Redemption Island				Immunity	Voted Out (Vote)	Status	Viewership (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Inhabitant	Challenger	Eliminated	Finish
1	"You're Looking at the New Leader of Your Tribe"	February 16, 2011					Zapatera1	Francesca (4-3-2)	1st Voted Out Day 3	11.16	3.2/9
2	"You Own My Vote"	February 23, 2011	Francesca				Zapatera1	Matt (4-2-0)2	2nd Voted Out Day 5	10.93	3.1/9
3	"Keep Hope Alive"	March 2, 2011	Francesca	Matt	Francesca	1st Eliminated Day 6	Ometepe1	Russell (3-3-3; 5-1-0)3	3rd Voted Out Day 8	11.32	3.3/10
4	"Don't You Work for Me?"	March 9, 2011	Matt	Russell	Russell	2nd Eliminated Day 10	Zapatera1	Kristina (4-3)	4th Voted Out Day 11	10.96	3.2/9
5	"We Hate Our Tribe"	March 16, 2011	Matt	Kristina	Kristina	3rd Eliminated Day 12	Ometepe1	Krista (6-2)	5th Voted Out Day 13	10.73	3.2/10
6	"Their Red-Headed Stepchild"	March 23, 2011	Matt	Krista	Krista	4th Eliminated Day 14	Ometepe1	Stephanie (5-2)	6th Voted Out Day 16	11.00	3.1/9
7	"It Don't Take a Smart One"	March 30, 2011	Matt	Stephanie	Stephanie	5th Eliminated Day 17	Ometepe1	Sarita (4-2)	7th Voted Out Day 18	11.01	3.1/9
8	"This Game Respects Big Moves"	April 6, 2011	Matt	Sarita	Sarita	6th Eliminated Day 19	Natalie	Matt (6-5-1)4	8th Voted Out Day 21	10.94	3.2/10
					Matt	1st Returnee Day 19
9	"The Buddy System"	April 13, 2011	Matt				Grant	Mike (6-5)	9th Voted Out Day 22	11.09	3.1/9
							Andrea	David (6-4)	10th Voted Out Day 24
10	"Rice Wars"	April 20, 2011	Matt	Mike	David	7th Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25	Rob	Julie (6-3)	11th Voted Out Day 27	11.02	3.1/9
				David
11	"A Mystery Package"	April 27, 2011	Matt	Julie	Julie	8th Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 28	Grant [Andrea, Rob]1	Ralph (6-2)	12th Voted Out Day 30	11.34	3.2/9
			Mike				Rob	Steve (6-1)	13th Voted Out Day 30
12	"You Mangled My Nets"	May 4, 2011	Matt	Ralph	Steve	9th Eliminated 3rd Jury Member Day 31	Rob	Andrea (5-1)	14th Voted Out Day 32	10.99	3.1/9
			Mike5	Steve
13	"Too Close for Comfort"	May 11, 2011	Matt	Andrea	Ralph	10th Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 33	Ashley [Natalie]1	Grant (4-1)	15th Voted Out Day 35	10.77	3.1/9
			Mike
			Ralph
14	"Seems Like a No Brainer"	May 15, 2011	Matt	Grant	Grant	11th Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 36	Ashley	Andrea (4-0)2	16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	13.30	4.0/10
			Mike		Matt	12th Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 36
			Andrea		Mike	13th Eliminated 7th Jury Member Day 36
					Andrea	2nd Returnee Day 36
							Rob	Ashley (3-1)	17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote
								Natalie (8-1-0)	Second Runner-Up
								Phillip (8-1-0)	Runner-Up
								Rob (8-1-0)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"									10.91	3.4/8
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^4 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, however, no votes were cast against its user. ^5 After placing first in the duel, Mike also received a family visit reward. He was given the choice between keeping the reward for himself, giving it to his fellow inhabitants on Redemption Island, and giving it to remaining members of Murlonio. Mike chose to give his reward to the remaining players.

Voting History

		Original Tribes								Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3		4	5	6	7	8	9		10	11		12	13	14
Voted Out		Francesca	Matt	Tie	Russell	Kristina	Krista	Stephanie	Sarita	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Andrea	Grant	Andrea	Ashley	Natalie	Phillip	Rob
Vote		4-3-2	4-2-01	3-3-32	5-1-0	4-3	6-2	5-2	4-2	6-5-13	6-5	6-4	6-3	6-2	6-1	5-1	4-1	4-01	3-1	8-1-0
►	Rob	Francesca	Matt	—		Phillip	—	—	—	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Andrea	Grant	Andrea	Ashley	Jury Vote
►	Phillip	Francesca	Kristina	—		Kristina	—	—	—	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Andrea	Grant	Andrea	Ashley
►	Natalie	Kristina	Matt	—		Kristina	—	—	—	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Andrea	Grant	Andrea	Ashley
►	Ashley	Kristina	Matt	—		Kristina	—	—	—	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Andrea	Grant	Andrea	Phillip			Rob
►	Andrea	Kristina	Kristina	—		Kristina	—	—	—	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Phillip		Rob				Rob
►	Grant	Francesca	Matt	—		Phillip	—	—	—	Matt	Mike	David	Julie	Ralph	Steve	Andrea	Natalie	Eliminated				Rob
►	Steve	—	—	Russell	Russell	—	Krista	Stephanie	Sarita	Grant	Phillip	Rob	Phillip	Rob	Grant	Eliminated						Rob
►	Ralph	—	—	Russell	None	—	Krista	Stephanie	David	Grant	Phillip	Rob	Phillip	Rob			Eliminated				Phillip
►	Julie	—	—	Stephanie	Russell	—	Krista	Stephanie	Sarita	Grant	Phillip	Rob	Phillip	Eliminated								Rob
►	David	—	—	Stephanie	Russell	—	Krista	Sarita	Sarita	Grant	Phillip	Rob	Eliminated									Rob
►	Mike	—	—	Russell	Russell	—	Krista	Stephanie	Sarita	Grant	Phillip							Eliminated				Rob
►	Matt	Francesca	Phillip							Steve								Eliminated				Rob
	Sarita	—	—	Stephanie	Russell	—	Krista	Stephanie	David	Eliminated
	Stephanie	—	—	Ralph	None	—	Steve	Sarita	Eliminated
	Krista	—	—	Ralph	Ralph	—	Steve	Eliminated
	Kristina	Phillip	Phillip	—		Phillip	Eliminated
	Russell	—	—	Ralph	None	Eliminated
	Francesca	Phillip		Eliminated
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^2 Tribal Council 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. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user.

Trivia

The "Hunab Ku" (a Yucatec Maya word meaning "The Only God"), the Redemption Island symbol.

• There was supposed to be a gray Buff worn by the inhabitants of Redemption Island but it was never used. Instead, the survivors retained their original Buffs.
• With Rob's appearance in this season, he is the first contestant to play Survivor four times.
• Redemption Island is the first season to have no standalone Reward Challenges, due to the presence of Redemption Island taking up the first challenge of each episode.
• Redemption Island is the first season to have a three-way tie at Tribal Council.
• All individual Immunity Challenges were won by members of the former Ometepe tribe.
• Redemption Island is the first season since Thailand where the highest-placing member of every tribe was a man.
• Redemption Island is the fifth consecutive season where all the finalists started on the same tribe.
• The font used on the lettering of this season's tribe names is called "Hobo Std".
• Redemption Island is the most recent season to not contain any openly LGBT contestants.
• This season's pre-jury trip took place in Costa Rica.