Survivor: South Pacific

Survivor: South Pacific
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	23
Filming Location	Upolu, Samoa
Filming Dates	May 30, 2011 - July 7, 2011
Season Run	September 14, 2011 - December 18, 2011
No. of Episodes	16
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	18
Winner	Sophie Clarke
Runner(s)-Up	Coach Wade Albert Destrade
Tribes	Savaii Upolu Te Tuna
Viewership (in Millions)	12.77
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Redemption Island
Next	One World

Survivor: South Pacific is the twenty-third season of Survivor. It was first announced by Jeff Probst on the Reunion Show of Survivor: Redemption Island. It premiered on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute premiere. New player Sophie Clarke beat out veteran player Coach Wade and fellow new player Albert Destrade in a 6-3-0 vote to win the title of Sole Survivor. To date, it has produced five returning players (Brandon Hantz, Dawn Meehan, John Cochran, Ozzy Lusth, and Sophie Clarke) for subsequent seasons.

Production

The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu, Samoa, and premiered on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute debut. It is in the same filming location as Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Fiji and Tonga were said to be alternate locations.

Aggie Grey's, the hotel that was used in the two aforementioned seasons was used once again to accommodate the staff and crew. The duration of their stay was reported to be identical to their last visit to Samoa. The said hotel had no availability from May 16 to September 16, 2011. Locals have been very appreciative hosting the show for a third time, stating that it helped boost their tourism industry (with revenues reported to be approximately $6,000,000 for filming seasons 19 and 20). The show also helped the devastated country recover from the 2009 Samoan tsunami.

Twists/Changes

• Redemption Island: Redemption Island returned this season, but with new tweaks. During "group duels," or duels that have more than two competitors, only one winner stays, sending all the other contestants home.
• One Returning Player Per Tribe: Two former contestants returned to compete in this season. Former castaways Coach Wade and Ozzy Lusth joined this season's batch of contestants. Host Jeff Probst stated that their poor social skills had put them to jeopardy in their earlier seasons, and that this would be their chance to improve in that aspect.
• Challenges: Similar to the previous season, with the advent of the Redemption Island duels, this season featured several challenges for both reward and immunity. Only a single standalone Reward Challenge occurred during the season.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: The clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at camp. Once the clue is unearthed, the player will have a better chance of finding the idol.
• Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game.
• Double Elimination: On Day 27, Te Tuna 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
	Semhar Tadesse 24, Los Angeles, CA Spoken Word Artist	Savaii		1st Voted Out Day 3	1st Eliminated Day 6	8
	Mark Caruso 47, Forest Hills, NY Retired NYPD Detective	Savaii		3rd Voted Out Day 8	2nd Eliminated Day 9	6
	Stacey Powell 43, Grand Prairie, TX Mortician	Upolu		4th Voted Out Day 11	3rd Eliminated Day 12	10
	Elyse Umemoto 27, Las Vegas, NV Dance Team Manager	Savaii		5th Voted Out Day 14	4th Eliminated Day 15	3
	Mikayla Wingle 21, Tampa, FL Lingerie Football Player	Upolu		6th Voted Out Day 16	5th Eliminated Day 17	4
	Christine Shields Markoski 39, Merrick, NY Teacher	Upolu		2nd Voted Out Day 5	6th Eliminated Day 19	4
	Jim Rice 35, Denver, CO Medical Marijuana Dispenser	Savaii	Te Tuna	10th Voted Out Day 24	7th Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25	8
	Keith Tollefson 26, Edina, MN Water Treatment Technician	Savaii		8th Voted Out Day 21	8th Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 25	12
	Dawn Meehan 40, South Jordan, UT English Professor	Savaii		11th Voted Out Day 27	9th Eliminated 3rd Jury Member Day 28	9
	Whitney Duncan 26, Nashville, TN Country Music Singer	Savaii		12th Voted Out Day 27	10th Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 28	7
	John Cochran 24, Washington, DC Harvard Law Student	Savaii		13th Voted Out Day 30	11th Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 31	13
	Edna Ma 35, Los Angeles, CA Anesthesiologist	Upolu		14th Voted Out Day 32	12th Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 33	15
	Brandon Hantz 19, Katy, TX Oil Tanker Crewman	Upolu		15th Voted Out Day 35	13th Eliminated 7th Jury Member Day 36	4
	Rick Nelson 51, Aurora, UT Rancher	Upolu		16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37		15
	Ozzy Lusth 29, Venice, CA Cook Islands & Micronesia	Savaii		7th Voted Out Day 18 9th Voted Out Day 22 17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38	1st Returnee Day 19 2nd Returnee Day 36	17
	Albert Destrade 26, Plantation, FL Baseball/Dating Coach	Upolu		Second Runner-Up		1
	Coach Wade 39, Susanville, CA Tocantins & Heroes vs. Villains	Upolu		Runner-Up		0
	Sophie Clarke 21, Willsboro, NY Medical Student	Upolu		Sole Survivor		5

Season Summary

The sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Savaii and Upolu, were joined by returning contestants, Coach and Ozzy, with Coach joining Upolu and Ozzy joining Savaii by random draw. Redemption Island was again in play: voted out players would be sent to Redemption Island and participate in duels, with the winner remaining there until either the next duel or until two specific points where players were brought back into the game.

Both tribes rallied under the leadership of Coach and Ozzy. Ozzy's style was somewhat more aggressive, establishing a rift between the majority of his alliance and the outsiders, specifically the weaker Cochran. Coach, having reflected on his past performances on Survivor, had a more open style, which most of the group readily followed, including Brandon, who later revealed himself to be the nephew of former Survivor castaway Russell Hantz, and had feared revealing this to draw his tribe's ire. Both Coach and Ozzy also found their tribes' respective Hidden Immunity Idols.

The two tribes fared equally at challenges and retained similar numbers, and as they approached the perceived merge, Ozzy offered a plan to volunteer to be voted to go to Redemption Island, where he would likely win the challenge over Christine, a former Upolu member, assuring that the tribes would be equal at six members each when merged. This plan went as expected, and the newly merged tribe named themselves Te Tuna. However, Ozzy's previous rash behavior to Cochran was seen as an opportunity by the former Upolu members, and they were able to turn Cochran to their side on the first vote after the merge, voting out former Savaii member Keith. The Upolu members and Cochran would continue to dominate at Tribal Council, sending the remaining Savaii members to Redemption Island.

With no other Savaii members remaining, Cochran was voted out. Brandon won immunity at the final six, but offered it to his closest ally Albert, who was the intended target of the vote. Brandon was voted out and defeated by Ozzy the next day at the final Redemption duel. Ozzy returned to the game and won the subsequent challenge; at Tribal Council, Sophie broke down into tears but affirmed her commitment to the game, and was spared over Rick. In the Final Immunity Challenge, Sophie was narrowly able to defeat Ozzy; and she and her former Upolu members voted out Ozzy for the third and final time.

Albert, Coach, and Sophie faced the Final Tribal Council, where Coach was criticized for manipulating his tribe while simultaneously preaching the importance of honor, Albert was considered to have given his former tribe members false hope, and Sophie was criticized for being condescending. The jury awarded Sophie the title of Sole Survivor over Coach and Albert in a 6-3-0 vote, respectively.

Episode		Air Date	Redemption Island				Challenges		Voted Out (Vote)	Status	Viewership (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Inhabitant	Challenger	Eliminated	Finish	Reward	Immunity
1	"I Need Redemption"	September 14, 2011					Savaii	Upolu	Semhar (8-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	10.74	3.4/10
2	"He Has Demons"	September 21, 2011	Semhar				Savaii1		Christine (4-3-1-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 5	10.46	3.2/9
3	"Reap What You Sow"	September 28, 2011	Semhar	Christine	Semhar	1st Eliminated Day 6	Upolu1		Mark (6-1-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	10.71	3.2/9
4	"Survivalism"	October 5, 2011	Christine	Mark	Mark	2nd Eliminated Day 9	Savaii1		Stacey (7-1)	4th Voted Out Day 11	10.72	3.1/9
5	"Taste the Victory"	October 12, 2011	Christine	Stacey	Stacey	3rd Eliminated Day 12	Upolu1		Elyse (3-2-2)	5th Voted Out Day 14	10.69	3.2/9
6	"Free Agent"	October 19, 2011	Christine	Elyse	Elyse	4th Eliminated Day 15	Savaii1		Mikayla (4-3)	6th Voted Out Day 16	11.24	3.3/9
7	"Trojan Horse"	October 26, 2011	Christine	Mikayla	Mikayla	5th Eliminated Day 17	Upolu1		Ozzy (5-1)	7th Voted Out Day 18	11.79	3.5/10
8	"Double Agent"	November 2, 2011	Christine	Ozzy	Christine	6th Eliminated Day 19	None	Dawn	Keith (6-6; 6-4)2,3	8th Voted Out Day 21	11.95	3.6/10
					Ozzy	1st Returnee Day 19		Ozzy
9	"Cut Throat"	November 9, 2011	Keith				None	Jim	Ozzy (9-2)	9th Voted Out Day 22	10.80	3.2/9
								Whitney	Jim (7-3)	10th Voted Out Day 24
10	"Running the Show"	November 16, 2011	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	7th Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25	None	Sophie	Dawn (7-2)	11th Voted Out Day 27	11.66	3.3/9
				Jim	Keith	8th Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 25		Sophie	Whitney (7-1)	12th Voted Out Day 27
11	"A Closer Look"	November 23, 2011	Recap Episode								N/A	N/A
12	"Cult Like"	November 30, 2011	Ozzy	Dawn	Dawn	9th Eliminated 3rd Jury Member Day 28	Albert1,4		Cochran (5-2)	13th Voted Out Day 30	11.05	3.1/9
				Whitney	Whitney	10th Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 28	[Coach] (Cochran)
13	"Ticking Time Bomb"	December 7, 2011	Ozzy	Cochran	Cochran	11th Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 31	[Albert, Brandon, Coach]5	Coach	Edna (5-1)	14th Voted Out Day 32	11.59	3.3/9
14	"Then There Were Five"	December 14, 2011	Ozzy	Edna	Edna	12th Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 33	Brandon1,6		Brandon (3-2)	15th Voted Out Day 35	10.87	3.1/9
							[Rick]	(Albert)
15	"Loyalties Will Be Broken"	December 18, 2011	Ozzy	Brandon	Brandon	13th Eliminated 7th Jury Member Day 36	None	Ozzy	Rick (3-2)	16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	13.07	4.0/10
					Ozzy	2nd Returnee Day 36
								Sophie	Ozzy (3-1)	17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote						Albert (6-3-0)	Second Runner-Up
									Coach (6-3-0)	Runner-Up
									Sophie (6-3-0)	Sole Survivor
16	"Reunion"										9.92	3.1/9
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, however, no votes were cast against its user. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^4 Albert shared reward with Coach and then gave up his own reward to Cochran, while keeping immunity. ^5 After winning the duel, Ozzy had to choose three people to temporarily join him at Redemption Island with their loved ones.. ^6 Brandon shared reward with Rick, and later gave up immunity to Albert at Tribal Council.

Voting History

		Original Tribes							Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		9		10		12	13	14	15
Voted Out		Semhar	Christine	Mark	Stacey	Elyse	Mikayla	Ozzy	Tie	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Rick	Ozzy	Albert	Coach	Sophie
Vote		8-1	4-3-1-1	6-1-1	7-1	3-2-2	4-3	5-1	6-61,2	6-4	9-2	7-3	7-2	7-1	5-2	5-1	3-2	3-2	3-1	6-3-0
►	Sophie	—	Stacey	—	Stacey	—	Edna	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Rick	Ozzy	Jury Vote
►	Coach	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Rick	Ozzy
►	Albert	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Edna	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Sophie	Rick	Ozzy
►	Ozzy	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Cochran	—	Cochran	Rick	Rick	Cochran							Sophie	Albert			Sophie
►	Rick	—	Stacey	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	None	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Sophie			Coach
►	Brandon	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Sophie	Eliminated				Sophie
►	Edna	—	Stacey	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Rick	Brandon	Eliminated				Coach
►	Cochran	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Elyse	—	Ozzy	Rick	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Rick	Eliminated					Coach
►	Whitney	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Dawn	—	Ozzy	Rick	Rick	Ozzy	Edna	Edna	Cochran	Eliminated							Sophie
►	Dawn	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Elyse	—	Ozzy	Rick	Rick	Ozzy	Edna	Edna		Eliminated							Sophie
►	Jim	Semhar	—	Cochran	—	Elyse	—	Ozzy	Rick	Rick	Cochran	Edna	Eliminated									Sophie
►	Keith	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Dawn	—	Ozzy	Rick	None			Eliminated									Sophie
	Mikayla	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Edna	Eliminated
	Elyse	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Cochran	Eliminated
	Stacey	—	Sophie	—	Edna	Eliminated
	Mark	Semhar	—	Jim	Eliminated
	Christine	—	Edna						Eliminated
	Semhar	Cochran		Eliminated
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, however, no votes were cast 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.

Trivia

• South Pacific is the first season to feature a contestant who is a relative to a previous contestant; Brandon Hantz is a nephew to Russell Hantz.
• South Pacific is the third season to take place in Samoa, following Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.
• The location for this season was originally going to be in neighboring Tonga, but it was declined for economic reasons.
• For the first time, no tribe won back-to-back challenges.
  • South Pacific is the third season to feature a pattern in which the tribe that wins each Immunity Challenge alternates each episode, following Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: The Amazon.
• South Pacific is the seventh consecutive season to have a female be the first voted out and the first eliminated.
• South Pacific is the second season in a row where a tribe gets systematically voted out (a term known in the fandom as pagonged) post-merge.
• South Pacific is the sixth season to feature returning contestants, following Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Guatemala, Survivor: Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: Redemption Island.
  • This is the third season to feature only a pair of returning players competing.
  • This is the sixth season to have a returning player at the Final Tribal Council.
• Ozzy Lusth became the first contestant to be voted out three times in a single season.
• Sophie Clarke is the second winner that was a first-time player to defeat a returning contestant at the Final Tribal Council. The first was Danni Boatwright, who beat Stephenie LaGrossa in Guatemala.
• Three contestants entered the competition through Sears' casting contest: Mark Caruso, Rick Nelson, and Sophie Clarke.
• South Pacific is the only season to feature Redemption Island and only have one person return from Redemption Island.
• South Pacific is currently the latest season with a recap episode.
• The rendition of Ancient Voices used in South Pacific would later be used for the Network Ten revival of Australian Survivor.
• South Pacific is tied with David vs. Goliath for most number of distinct individual immunity winners, with eight.