Survivor: Tocantins

Survivor: Tocantins
Season Information
Season No.	18
Filming Dates	Nov. 2, 2008 - Dec. 10, 2008
Season Run	Feb. 12, 2009 - May 17, 2009
Winner	J.T. Thomas

Survivor: Tocantins is the 18th installment in the U.S. reality show Survivor. It was filmed in Tocantins, Brazil. It premiered on February 12, 2009. Once production of Survivor: Gabon was underway, CBS began casting for this season. Shooting occurred between October and December of 2008.

J.T. Thomas became the Sole Survivor on the live finale broadcast May 17, 2009. He finished the first "perfect game" in the history of the show, not having a single vote cast against him all season and earning all seven jury votes in a unanimous decision, beating out Stephen Fishbach. In addition, J.T. was named "Sprint Player of the Season", earning the fans' vote over Taj Johnson-George and Sierra Reed.

Twists/Changes

• First Impressions: On Day 1, Jeff Probst instructed the newly-marooned castaways to make their first vote-off. Relying only from first impressions, the tribes must select which of their tribemates will be the biggest liability to their team, and these two players will "not make it to the journey." The contestants assumed that the two would be eliminated, but the "journey" was revealed to be a four-hour trek to their camps. The two people who were singled out (Sierra from Timbira and Sandy from Jalapao) will be airlifted to their camps, while their tribemates underwent a treacherous walk to their respective encampments.
• One-time use Hidden Immunity Idols: After being whisked away to their camps, the two left out players were given a choice between creating a shelter (to possibly change their perceptions of them) or search for a one-time use Hidden Immunity Idol that can only be good at their first visiting Tribal Council. Unfortunately, both Idols were never found and wasted away in the process.
• Exile Island: Exile Island returns this season, with new twists. After a Reward Challenge, the winning tribe must send one person from the losing tribe to Exile Island, and in return, the said person must pick one member from the winning tribe to join him/her in Exile Island. Another twist is that, upon reaching Exile Island, the two banished players will get to chose between two unmarked bottles; one bottle contained a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol, hidden somwhere at their camps. The player who gets the clue will also have the option to switch tribes at will (hypothetically, if a banished player already found his/her tribe's idol, the player in question may switch tribes to potentially find the other tribe's idol). The person who gets the second bottle will get nothing.
• Hidden Immunity Idols: Hidden Immunity Idols return this season.

Castaways

Contestant		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Votes Against
File:S18 carolina bw.jpg	Carolina Eastwood 26, West Hollywood, CA	Jalapao		1st Voted Out Day 3	7
File:S18 candace bw.jpg	Candace Smith 31, Dayton, OH	Timbira		2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
File:S18 jerry bw.jpg	Jerry Sims 49, Rock Hill, SC	Timbira		3rd Voted Out Day 9	6
File:S18 sandy bw.jpg	Sandy Burgin 53, Louisville, KY	Jalapao		4th Voted Out Day 12	6
File:S18 spencer bw.jpg	Spencer Duhm 18, Lakeland, FL	Jalapao		5th Voted Out Day 15	5
File:S18 sydney bw.jpg	Sydney Wheeler 24, Raleigh, NC	Jalapao		6th Voted Out Day 18	4
File:S18 joe bw.jpg	Joe Dowdle 26, Austin, TX	Jalapao	Forza	Evacuated Day 20	1
File:S18 brendan bw.jpg	Brendan Synnott 30, New York, NY	Timbira		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	4
File:S18 tyson bw.jpg	Tyson Apostol 29, Lindon, UT	Timbira		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	5
File:S18 sierra bw.jpg	Sierra Reed 23, Los Angeles, CA	Timbira		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	11
File:S18 debbie bw.jpg	Debbie Beebe 46, Auburn, AL	Timbira		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	6
File:S18 coach bw.jpg	Coach Wade 37, Bolivar, MO	Timbira		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	6
File:S18 taj bw.jpg	Taj Johnson-George 37, Nashville, TN	Jalapao		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	7
File:S18 erinn bw.jpg	Erinn Lobdell 26, Waukesha, WI	Timbira		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
File:S18 stephen bw.jpg	Stephen Fishbach 29, New York, NY	Jalapao		Runner-Up	1
File:S18 jt t.jpg	J.T. Thomas 24, Samson, AL	Jalapao		Sole Survivor	0

Episode Guide

Episode #	Episode Title	Air Date	Challenges		Exiled	Eliminated	Vote	Finish
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Let's Get Rid Of The Weak Players Before We Even Start"	February 12, 2009	Timbira		None	Carolina	7–1	1st Voted Out Day 3
2	"The Poison Apple Needs To Go"	February 19, 2009	Jalapao		Brendan	Candace	7–1	2nd Voted Out Day 6
					Taj
3	"Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This"	February 26, 2009	Jalapao	Jalapao	Brendan	Jerry	6–1	3rd Voted Out Day 9
					Taj
4	"The Strongest Man Alive"	March 5, 2009	Jalapao	Timbira	Sierra	Sandy	5–1–1	4th Voted Out Day 12
					Taj
5	"You're Going To Want That Tooth"	March 12, 2009	Jalapao	Timbira	Brendan	Spencer	5–1	5th Voted Out Day 15
					Stephen
6	"The First 15 Days"	March 25, 2009	Recap Episode
7	"One Of Those 'Coach Moments'"	April 2, 2009	Timbira	Timbira	Erinn	Sydney	3–2	6th Voted Out Day 18
					Joe
8	"The Dragon Slayer"	April 9, 2009	None	Tyson	None	Joe	No vote	Evacuated Day 20
9	"The Biggest Fraud In The Game"	April 16, 2009	Brendan, Debbie, J.T.	Tyson	Stephen	Brendan	4–3–2	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24
10	"It's Funny When People Cry"	April 23, 2009	Debbie, Erinn, J.T., Tyson	Debbie	Stephen	Tyson	5–3	8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27
11	"They Both Went Bananas"	April 30, 2009	Stephen, [J.T., Taj]	Coach	Erinn	Sierra	4–2–1	9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30
12	"The Ultimate Sacrifice"	May 7, 2009	Survivor Auction	Stephen	Taj	Debbie	4–1–1	10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33
13	"The Martyr Approach"	May 14, 2009	J.T., [Stephen]	J.T.	Coach	Coach	3–2	11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36
14	"I Trust You But I Trust Me More"	May 17, 2009	None	J.T.	None	Taj	3–1	12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37
				J.T.		Erinn	1–0	13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
Reunion Show			Jury Vote			Stephen	7–0	Runner-Up
						J.T.		Sole Survivor

Voting History

Survivor: Tocantins Voting History
		Original Tribes						Merged Tribe
Episode #:		1	2	3	4	5	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Eliminated:		File:S18 carolina bw.jpg Carolina	File:S18 candace bw.jpg Candace	File:S18 jerry bw.jpg Jerry	File:S18 sandy bw.jpg Sandy	File:S18 spencer bw.jpg Spencer	File:S18 sydney bw.jpg Sydney	File:S18 joe bw.jpg Joe	File:S18 brendan bw.jpg Brendan	File:S18 tyson bw.jpg Tyson	File:S18 sierra bw.jpg Sierra	File:S18 debbie bw.jpg Debbie	File:S18 coach bw.jpg Coach	File:S18 taj bw.jpg Taj	File:S18 erinn bw.jpg Erinn	File:S18 stephen bw.jpg Stephen	File:S18 jt t.jpg J.T.
Vote:		7-1	7-1	6-1	5-1-1	5-1	3-2	No Vote	4-3-2	5-3	4-2-1	4-1-1	3-2	3-1	1-0	7-0
File:Jalapao-Forza.png	J.T.	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Sydney	—	Sierra	Tyson	Sierra	Debbie	Erinn	Taj	Erinn	Jury Vote
File:Jalapao-Forza.png	Stephen	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Sydney	—	Brendan	Tyson	Sierra	Debbie	Coach	Taj	—
File:Timbira-Forza.png	Erinn	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Sierra	Tyson	Stephen	Debbie	Coach	Taj	—		J.T.
File:Jalapao-Forza.png	Taj	Carolina	—	—	Joe	Spencer	Sydney	—	Brendan	Tyson	Debbie	Debbie	Coach	Erinn			J.T.
File:Timbira-Forza.png	Coach	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Brendan	Sierra	Sierra	Taj	Erinn				J.T.
File:Timbira-Forza.png	Debbie	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Brendan	Sierra	Sierra	Coach					J.T.
File:Timbira-Forza.png	Sierra	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Coach	Tyson	Debbie						J.T.
File:Timbira-Forza.png	Tyson	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Sierra	Sierra							J.T.
File:Timbira-Forza.png	Brendan	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Coach								J.T.
File:Jalapao-Forza.png	Joe	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Taj	Evacuated
	Sydney	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Taj
	Spencer	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Taj
	Sandy	Carolina	—	—	Sydney
	Jerry	—	Candace	Erinn
	Candace	—	Sierra
	Carolina	Sandy

Trivia

• This season marks the third country to be revisited as a location of filming, following Panama and Palau, though it became the first country to host two seasons in two separate locations. While Survivor: The Amazon was filmed in the Rio Negro river, this season was shot in an entirely different province of Brazil, at the Rio Novo river.
• It is the first season since Survivor: Thailand to feature two male players in the Final 2.
• It is currently the latest season to feature a Final 2.
• This is the first season since Survivor: Panama to follow the original format that was used during the first six seasons, (a pool of sixteen contestants, with six players voted out before the merge, one made the merge but did not make the jury, a seven-person Jury and two players at the Final Tribal Council).
• Thus far, it is the only season to feature black as the color for a starting tribe (Black has been mostly used as the color of the merged tribe).