Survivor: Winners at War

Survivor: Winners at War
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	40
Filming Location	Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Filming Dates	May 22, 2019 - June 29, 2019
Season Run	February 12, 2020 - May 13, 2020
No. of Episodes	14
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	20
Winner	Tony Vlachos
Runner(s)-Up	Natalie Anderson Michele Fitzgerald
Tribes	Dakal Sele Yara Koru
Cast
Season Chronology
Previous	Island of the Idols

Survivor: Winners at War is the fortieth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

This season featured twenty of the show's previous winners to commemorate its 20th anniversary. Tony Vlachos beat Natalie Anderson and Michele Fitzgerald in a 12-4-0 vote, making him the series' second two-time winner.

Production

The season was filmed in May–June 2019, two weeks after Survivor: Island of the Idols.

Much like every previous season to feature an all-returning player cast, challenge producer John Kirhoffer revealed that classic challenges return to commemorate the show's 40th season and 20th anniversary.

The pay scale for the season is significantly increased. The winner will take home $2,000,000. The first person voted out is guaranteed to take home at least $25,000 instead of the standard $2,500.

Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine, who both appeared on Island of the Idols as mentors, only had two weeks to prepare for the upcoming season.

This season's reunion was done virtually, due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.

Casting

According to host Jeff Probst, the cast was assembled to equally represent winners from the earlier seasons, the middle, and the more recent seasons.

The past winners who did not make the cast were:

• Richard Hatch (Borneo) was initially invited and cleared to compete, but was cut due to his controversial actions during All-Stars, the memory of which Probst felt would not sit well with the modern audience, especially following a recent similar incident in Island of the Idols.
• Tina Wesson (The Australian Outback) was invited, but was cut from the final roster.
• Vecepia Towery (Marquesas) was not invited.
• Brian Heidik (Thailand)
• Jenna Morasca (The Amazon)
• Chris Daugherty (Vanuatu)
• Tom Westman (Palau) was considered, but was cut from the final roster.
• Aras Baskauskas (Panama) was invited, but did not want to leave his family behind.
• Earl Cole (Survivor: Fiji) was invited, but declined due to personal commitments.
• Todd Herzog (China)
• Bob Crowley (Gabon) was not invited.
• J.T. Thomas (Tocantins)
• Natalie White (Samoa)
• Fabio Birza (Nicaragua)
• John Cochran (Caramoan) was invited and would have been given a spot, but stood by his previous statement to never play again.
• Mike Holloway (Worlds Apart)
• Chris Underwood (Edge of Extinction) was not invited because he would not have known that he won at the time of casting and the Edge of Extinction finale aired just one week before Winners at War began filming.
• Tommy Sheehan (Island of the Idols) was not invited because he would not have known that he won at the time of filming, as Island of the Idols and Winners at War were filmed only two weeks apart and the former season had yet to air.

Twists/Changes

• Returning Players: Twenty former Sole Survivors return for a chance to win another title.
• Increased Prize Money: For this season, the winner will receive $2,000,000, the biggest prize given in the series and reality television history.
• Fire Tokens: A new twist, Fire Tokens allow the castaways to purchase creature comforts, food, or game advantages.
• Edge of Extinction: The Edge of Extinction returns this season with the same exact rules and premise.
  • Effort Tasks: To earn Fire Tokens, the players living on the Edge of Extinction will have to perform tasks requiring herculean effort.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden at each camp. However, these idols have two halves, one of which must be given to another castaway before sundown on the same day that it is found. The two halves can later be combined into an idol with full power.
• Edge of Extinction advantages: The following game advantages were available thru the Edge of Extinction and sold by its finder to a castaway still in the game before sundown on the same day that it was found:
  • Temporary Hidden Immunity Idols: These idols are only usable for three Tribal Councils after they are purchased.
  • Safety Without Power: The castaway would be able to leave Tribal Council before the vote, effectively making them immune, at the cost of not voting. This advantage is usable until there are ten active castaways left.
  • Vote Steal: A vote steal was hidden at the opposing tribe's camp, which the purchaser must retrieve the night after the transaction is completed.
  • Idol Nullifier: The castaway would be able to void the use of a Hidden Immunity Idol. This advantage is usable until there are five active castaways left.
  • 50/50 Coin: The castaway would be able to flip a coin once at any Tribal Council. If it lands on "Safe", the coin acts as a Hidden Immunity Idol. If it lands on "Not Safe", the user remains vulnerable. This advantage is usable until there are seven active castaways left.
  • Extortion Advantage: The castaway who finds this on the Edge of Extinction may send this to an active castaway and extort them for a number of Fire Tokens of the finder's choosing. If the extorted castaway does not pay the given amount of Fire Tokens by the next Immunity Challenge, they must sit out of the challenge and will lose their vote at the next Tribal Council.
  • Challenge Disadvantage: The castaway who finds this on the Edge of Extinction may send this to an active castaway for a number of Fire Tokens of the finder's choosing. The active castaway would be able to anonymously disadvantage another person at the Day 34 Immunity Challenge.
• Tribe Expansion: With 15 active castaways left, a tribe expansion occurred, introducing the Yara​ tribe.
• Double Tribal Council: On Day 16, only the first place tribe would win immunity, sending both losing tribes to Tribal Council to vote out one person each.
• Early Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game; eleven in the main game and one from the Edge of Extinction.
• Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who wins the final four Immunity Challenge will get to choose one person to take with them to the Final Three. The remaining two castaways would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be eliminated.
• Final Three and Expanded Jury: Three finalists faced a sixteen-person jury.
• Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak one by one, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Edge of Extinction Status	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Expanded Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Amber Mariano 40, Pensacola, FL The Australian Outback & All-Stars	Dakal			2nd Voted Out Day 3	Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 35	6
	Danni Boatwright 43, Shawnee, KS Guatemala	Sele			3rd Voted Out Day 6	Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 35	8
	Ethan Zohn 45, Hillsborough, NH Africa & All-Stars	Sele			4th Voted Out Day 9	Eliminated 3rd Jury Member Day 35	4
	Rob Mariano 43, Pensacola, FL Marquesas, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, & Redemption Island	Sele	Yara		6th Voted Out Day 14	Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 35	4
	Sandra Diaz-Twine 44, Riverview, FL Pearl Islands, Heroes vs. Villains, & Game Changers	Dakal	Dakal		7th Voted Out Day 16	Quit Day 16	1
	Parvati Shallow 36, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands, Micronesia, & Heroes vs. Villains	Sele	Sele		8th Voted Out Day 16	Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 35	5
	Yul Kwon 44, Los Altos, CA Cook Islands	Dakal	Sele		9th Voted Out Day 18	Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 35	3
	Wendell Holland 35, Philadelphia, PA Ghost Island	Dakal	Sele	Koru	10th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 21	Eliminated Day 35	12
	Adam Klein 28, Los Angeles, CA Millennials vs. Gen X	Sele	Yara		11th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 23	Eliminated Day 35	15
	Tyson Apostol 39, Mesa, AZ Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains, & Blood vs. Water	Dakal			5th Voted Out Day 11	1st Returnee Day 19	12
					12th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 25	Eliminated Day 35
	Sophie Clarke 29, Santa Monica, CA South Pacific	Dakal	Yara		13th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 28	Eliminated Day 35	6
	Kim Spradlin-Wolfe 36, San Antonio, TX One World	Dakal	Dakal		14th Voted Out 11th Jury Member Day 29	Eliminated Day 35	9
	Jeremy Collins 41, Foxborough, MA San Juan del Sur & Cambodia	Sele	Dakal		15th Voted Out 12th Jury Member Day 31	Eliminated Day 35	9
	Nick Wilson 28, Williamsburg, KY David vs. Goliath	Dakal	Sele		16th Voted Out 13th Jury Member Day 34	Eliminated Day 35	8
	Denise Stapley 48, Marion, IA Philippines	Sele	Dakal		17th Voted Out 14th Jury Member Day 36		14
	Ben Driebergen 36, Boise, ID Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers	Sele	Yara		18th Voted Out 15th Jury Member Day 37		7
	Sarah Lacina 34, Cedar Rapids, IA Cagayan & Game Changers	Dakal	Yara		Eliminated 16th Jury Member Day 38		2
	Michele Fitzgerald 29, Hoboken, NJ Kaôh Rōng	Sele	Sele		Second Runner-Up		6
	Natalie Anderson 33, Edgewater, NJ San Juan del Sur	Sele			1st Voted Out Day 2	2nd Returnee Removed from Jury Day 35	11
					Runner-Up
	Tony Vlachos 45, Allendale, NJ Cagayan & Game Changers	Dakal	Dakal		Sole Survivor		0

Season Summary

Twenty former Survivor champions returned to commemorate the series' 20th year and 40th season. A new twist called Fire Tokens added a layer of economy where active players paid tokens in exchange for advantages the inactive Survivors found on the Edge of Extinction.

Relationships outside the game heavily affected the early days of the game, attributing to several eliminations. During the pre-merge, allies-turned-enemies Sarah and Tony made amends and resurrected their Cops-R-Us alliance, while controversial winners like Michele and Ben fought for validation. The earlier winners found themselves employing familiar strategies whereas the more recent winners capitalized the modernized style of game play, leading to the "old-schoolers" getting sent to the Edge of Extinction to compete for Fire Tokens which they used to buy advantages come the return challenge. Every person eliminated took the challenge of the Edge, with the exception of Sandra, the first two-time winner, who raised the sail on Night 16. Tyson won the return challenge on Day 19, rejoining the game at the merge. Despite not winning the return challenge, Natalie, who was the first person voted out, dominated the Edge of Extinction, finding and selling game advantages and getting paid Fire Tokens in return.

At the merge, the fluidity of alliances and fast-paced game play led to multiple last-minute plotting at Tribal Council, leading to several blindsides. Tony, who had kept a low profile pre-merge in stark contrast to his trademark brash game play in his previous outings, began to seize control of the game post-merge, finding a Hidden Immunity Idol, and winning critical Immunity Challenges. On Day 35, Natalie's perseverance earned her enough Fire Tokens to buy a Hidden Immunity Idol and three advantages at the return challenge which ultimately allowed her to return to the game.

On Day 36, Natalie reunited with her early ally Michele, who was an outsider from the majority alliance of Tony, Sarah, Denise, and Ben. In an attempt to break the quartet, Natalie revealed that Tony was popular among the jury, which Sarah resented as she was Tony's voice of reason and equally had a hand in their decision-making. With Michele winning immunity, the majority alliance decided to pile their votes on Natalie despite Tony's objections because he believed she had an idol coming back to the game. Natalie played her idol, forcing Ben and Tony to use theirs, leading to a stalemate. Denise and Sarah, the only players eligible to receive votes, were up for elimination where Denise took the fall. Despite still in the majority, Ben, who had formed a close bond with Sarah, allowed her to vote him out to set herself up better against Tony at the finals.

Natalie won the Final Immunity Challenge and chose to pick Michele to join her in the Final Three, leaving Tony and Sarah to compete in the fire-making challenge. In a close match, Tony defeated Sarah, joining Natalie and Michele in the Final Three. At the Final Tribal Council, the jury praised all three finalists for their distinct strategies: Tony for his improvement from being reckless in his first season to being patient and calculated, Michele for her strong social game and resilience despite being left out from the vote numerous times, and Natalie for conquering the Edge of Extinction and making the most of her second chance. In the end, it was Tony who was awarded the title of Sole Survivor in a 12-4-0 vote, making him the second two-time winner of the series.

Episode		Air date	Edge of Extinction		Challenges		Voted Out (Vote)	Status	Bequeathed Fire Token Recipient	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/ Share (18-49)
			Left Game	Finish	Reward	Immunity
1	"Greatest of the Greats"	February 12, 2020			Dakal1		Natalie (7-2-1)	1st Voted Out Removed from Jury8 Day 2	Jeremy (1)	6.68	1.3/7
			None		None	Sele	Amber (6-3-1)	2nd Voted Out 1st Jury Member5 Day 3	Rob (1)
2	"It's Like a Survivor Economy"	February 19, 2020	None		Dakal1		Danni (8-1)	3rd Voted Out 2nd Jury Member5 Day 6	Denise (1)	7.16	1.4/7
3	"Out for Blood"	February 26, 2020	None		Dakal1		Ethan (4-3-1)	4th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member5 Day 9	Parvati (1)	7.14	1.4/7
4	"I Like Revenge"	March 4, 2020	None		Sele1		Tyson (7-1-1)	5th Voted Out Day 11	Nick (1)	7.08	1.4/7
5	"The Buddy System on Steroids"	March 11, 2020	None		None	Sele	Rob (4-1)	6th Voted Out 4th Jury Member5 Day 14	Parvati (2)	6.91	1.4/6
						Dakal
6	"Quick on the Draw"	March 18, 2020	None		Yara1		Sandra (1-0)2,3	7th Voted Out Day 16	Yul (1)	7.83	1.6/7
							Parvati (3-2)	8th Voted Out 5th Jury Member5 Day 16	Michele (3)
7	"We're in the Majors"	March 25, 2020	Sandra	Quit Day 16	Yara4	Yara	Yul (3-1)	9th Voted Out 6th Jury Member5 Day 18	Sarah (1)	8.18	1.7/8
					Sele4	Dakal			Sophie (1)
8	"This Is Where the Battle Begins"	April 1, 2020	Tyson	1st Returnee Day 19	None	Denise	Wendell (9-3)	10th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 21	Michele (1)	8.23	1.6/7
						Jeremy			Nick (1)
9	"War Is Not Pretty"	April 8, 2020	None		Ben, Kim Michele, Sarah, Sophie (Nick)	Kim	Adam (8-2-1)	11th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 23	Denise (1)	7.85	1.5/6
10	"The Full Circle"	April 15, 2020	None		None	Tony	Tyson (5-2-0)2	12th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 25	None	8.14	1.6/7
11	"This Is Extortion"	April 22, 2020	None		Ben, Kim, Nick, Sophie6	Tony	Sophie (4-3-2)	13th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 28	Kim (1)	8.16	1.5/6
									Sarah (1)
12	"Friendly Fire"	April 29, 2020	None		None	Denise	Kim (5-3)	14th Voted Out 11th Jury Member Day 29	Denise (1)	8.08	1.5/6
									Michele (1)
						Tony
									Sarah (1)
13	"The Penultimate Step of the War"	May 6, 2020	None		None	Nick	Jeremy (3-2-0)7	15th Voted Out 12th Jury Member Day 31	Michele (2)	7.57	1.4/5
					None	Michele	Nick (4-2)	16th Voted Out 13th Jury Member Day 34
14	"It All Boils Down to This"	May 13, 2020	Amber	Eliminated Day 35	Michele1		Denise (0-0; 4-0)2,3,9	17th Voted Out 14th Jury Member Day 36		7.94	1.6/7
			Danni
			Ethan
			Rob
			Parvati
			Yul
			Wendell
			Adam
					[Denise, Sarah]
			Tyson
			Sophie
			Kim
			Jeremy
			Nick
			Natalie	2nd Returnee Day 35
					None	Tony	Ben (3-2)3	18th Voted Out 15th Jury Member Day 37
						Natalie	Sarah (no vote)10	Eliminated 16th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote				Michele (12-4-0)	Second Runner-Up
							Natalie (12-4-0)	Runner-Up
							Tony (12-4-0)	Sole Survivor
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^4 Promotional pictures were released showing an unaired challenge that occurred during the episode. Yara finished first, while Sele finished second. ^5 Natalie, Amber, Danni, Ethan, Rob, Parvati, and Yul were made jurors following the conclusion of the first reentry duel. ^6 There was an unaired Reward Challenge on Day 26. ^7 The 50/50 coin was played and landed on "Safe", negating all votes against its user. ^8 Natalie won the second reentry duel, thus removing herself from the jury. ^9 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per Survivor rules, a vote restart would commence. ^10 Instead of a traditional vote, the winner of the Immunity challenge, Natalie, would choose someone to take with them to the Final Three. She chose Michele. The remaining two castaways, Sarah and Tony, would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Voting History

		Original Tribes					Expanded Tribes				Merged Tribe
Episode		1		2	3	4	5	6		7	8	9	10	11	12	13		14
Voted Out		Natalie	Amber	Danni	Ethan	Tyson	Rob	Sandra	Parvati	Yul	Wendell	Adam	Tyson	Sophie	Kim	Jeremy	Nick	Null	Denise	Ben	Sarah	Michele	Natalie	Tony
Vote		7-2-1	6-3-1	8-1	4-3-1	7-1-1	4-1	1-01,2	3-2	3-1	9-3	8-2-1	5-2-01	4-3-2	5-3	3-2-06	4-2	0-01,2,7	4-0	3-22	No vote8	12-4-0
►►	Tony	—	Kim	—	—	Tyson	—	Denise	—	—	Wendell	Adam	Tyson	Sophie	Kim	Jeremy	Nick	Natalie	Denise	Michele	—	Jury Vote
►	Natalie	Denise																Ben	Denise	Ben	—
►►	Michele	Denise	—	Danni	Ethan	—	—	—	Wendell	Yul	Adam	Adam	Tyson	Sophie	Jeremy	Ben	Denise	Ben	Denise	Ben	—
►►	Sarah	—	Kim	—	—	Tyson	Rob	—		—	Wendell	Nick	Tyson4	Michele	Kim	Michele	Nick	Natalie	None	Ben	Eliminated			Tony
													Denise4
►►	Ben	Natalie	—	Danni	Ethan	—	Rob	—		—	Wendell	Adam	Tyson	Jeremy	Kim	Jeremy	Nick	Natalie	Denise	Michele				Tony
►►	Denise	Natalie	—	Danni	Ethan	—	—	Sandra	—	—	Wendell	Nick	None5	Jeremy	Jeremy	Michele	Nick	Natalie	None					Tony
►►	Nick	—	Amber	—	—	Kim	—	—	Parvati	Yul	Adam	Adam	Tyson	Sophie	Kim	Jeremy	Denise	Eliminated						Tony
►►	Jeremy	Adam	—	Danni	Ethan	—	—	Denise	—	—	Wendell	Adam	None3	Sophie	Kim	Ben		Eliminated					Natalie
►►	Kim	—	Amber	—	—	Tyson	—	Denise	—	—	Wendell	Adam	Sophie	Michele	Jeremy			Eliminated						Tony
►►	Sophie	—	Kim	—	—	Tyson	Rob	—		—	Wendell	Adam	Denise	Jeremy				Eliminated						Tony
►	Tyson	—	Amber	—	—	Nick					Wendell	Adam	Sophie					Eliminated					Natalie
►►	Adam	Natalie	—	Danni	Parvati	—	Rob	—		—	Wendell	Sarah						Eliminated						Tony
►►	Wendell	—	Amber	—	—	Tyson	—	—	Parvati	Yul	Adam							Eliminated						Tony
►	Yul	—	Amber	—	—	Tyson	—	—	Parvati	Wendell								Eliminated						Tony
►	Parvati	Natalie	—	Danni	Adam	—	—	—	Wendell									Eliminated					Natalie
►	Sandra	—	Amber	—	—	Tyson	—	Denise		Quit
►	Rob	Natalie	—	Danni	Adam	—	Sarah											Eliminated						Tony
	Ethan	Natalie	—	Danni	Adam													Eliminated					Natalie
	Danni	Natalie	—	Parvati														Eliminated						Tony
	Amber	—	Nick															Eliminated						Tony
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^3 This castaway used the Safety without Power advantage, allowing them to leave Tribal Council without voting. ^4 This castaway used the Vote Steal advantage, allowing them to steal another castaway's vote to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^5 This castaway's vote was stolen by the Vote Steal. ^6 The 50/50 Coin was played and landed on "Safe", negating all votes against its user. ^7 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart occurred. Since Denise and Sarah were the only two castaways eligible to receive votes, they would not vote, since they could only vote for each other. ^8 Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Immunity Challenge, Natalie, would choose someone to take with them into the Final Three. She chose Michele. The remaining two castaways, would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Trivia

• Winners at War marks the first time that a country is used eight consecutive times.
• This is the first season to have its number displayed on the logo.
• This is the first season to have castaways in a familial relationship compete against each other in a non-Blood vs. Water season.
• With Danni representing Guatemala, the earliest season where no first-time castaways have returned is now Caramoan.
  • With Ben, Wendell, and Nick representing Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, Ghost Island, and David vs. Goliath respectively, the earliest season where no castaways whatsoever have returned is now Edge of Extinction.
• Amber and Kim are the second and third castaways to play under two different last names, following Candice Cody, who played as Candice Woodcock in her first two seasons.
• Of the participating castaways:
  • Eleven are playing in their second season: Adam, Ben, Danni, Denise, Kim, Michele, Natalie, Nick, Sophie, Wendell, and Yul.
  • Five are playing in their third season: Ethan and Tony who won their first, and Amber, Jeremy, and Sarah who won their second.
  • Three are playing in their fourth season: Parvati who won her second, Tyson who won his third, and Sandra who won both her first and second.
  • One is playing in his fifth season: Rob, who won his fourth. Rob is the first person to play Survivor five times.
• With this season, Amber and Ethan broke Kelly Wiglesworth's record of 30 seasons for the largest gap between appearances in two different seasons, with 32 seasons.
• This season currently contains the largest jury, with 16 jurors.