Survivor South Africa: Champions

Survivor South Africa: Champions
Season Information
Version	South Africa
Season No.	5
Filming Location	Johor, Malaysia
Filming Dates	October 2013
Season Run	January 19, 2014 – May 18, 2014
No. of Episodes	18
No. of Days	27
No. of Castaways	20
Winner	Graham Jenneker
Runner(s)-Up	Buhle Madlala Sivu Xabanisa
Tribes	Selatan Utara Juara Salvation
Prize for Winner	R1,000,000
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Maldives
Next	Philippines

Survivor South Africa: Champions is the fifth season of Survivor South Africa.

Set in the South China Sea, Champions saw two South African sporting legends serve as captains for 20 new castaways. Though the season was largely defined by two primary alliances, allegiances within these factions were fleeting, leading to numerous blindsides especially after the merge. Champions is also notable for its extensive history of Hidden Immunity Idol thefts, a twist unique to this season. In the end, the leader of the dominant Rugrats Alliance, Graham Jenneker, defeated Buhle Madlala and Sivu Xabanisa in a 5-3-2 plurality jury vote to become the Ultimate Survivor.

Following the airing of Champions, the Survivor South Africa series entered its third and most recent hiatus until its resumption with Philippines in 2018.

To date, Champions has produced five returning players (Killarney Jones, Marian de Vos, Philip Dickson, Shane Hattingh, and Shona Macdonald) for a future season.

Production

Champions was filmed in Johor, Malaysia in October 2013. This was the last season to be produced by Endemol before production was taken over by Afrokaans Film & Television.

Twists/Changes

• Tribe Captains: Two South African sports champions served as captains of the tribes. They would live at the camps, compete in the challenges with the tribes, and make some decisions, but they could not be voted out nor cast a vote at Tribal Council. However, both of them would join the jury in voting for a winner at Final Tribal Council. The captains were former Springbok rugby captain Corné Krige for Selatan and former Bafana Bafana player Mark Fish for Utara.
• Schoolyard Pick: On Day 1, the tribes were divided by a Schoolyard Pick, with the tribe captains choosing their tribe members.
• Captains' Duels: Several Reward Challenges were played as one-on-one matchups between the Tribe Captains.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at each of the three tribe camps.
  • Idol Stealing: This season, idols could be taken from the possession of another castaway without their consent. If a castaway left their idol at camp before being voted out, that idol can be taken by another castaway and played as an active idol.
  • Idols in Revotes: As stated in Episode 11, idols could be played before the votes are read, including in the case of a revote.
• Revision to Tiebreaker Mechanics: Starting from this season, the rules employed in the event of a tie at Tribal Council have been revised to align with the mechanics used in Survivor (U.S.).
  • Revote: In the event of a tie, a revote would commence where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. This rule is only applied to Tribal Councils outside the final four.
  • Rock-Drawing Tiebreaker: As confirmed in Episode 11, if a deadlock occurs after a revote, the remaining non-immune castaways will automatically be forced to draw rocks. Unlike in the U.S. version of the show, no open discussion is held.
  • Fire-making Tiebreaker: In the event of a tie vote at the final four, the tied castaways will automatically compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the elimination.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 12, the fourteen remaining castaways competed in the Touchy Subjects challenge. When each castaway had answered six questions correctly, they were directed to a turnstile, which alternated in directing them to one of two grandstands. Once each grandstand was filled with seven castaways, the castaways were informed that this was a tribe shuffle, with each group representing a new tribe. Following the selection, both tribe captains were given the opportunity to select their preferred tribe, as well as negotiate to swap tribe members.
• Challenge Assistants: Various South African sports champions were invited to participate in challenges, helping the tribe who won the previous duel. In one challenge, two South African sports presenters participated, with each presenter helping one of the two tribes.
• Salvation: After the merge, the captains were taken away from the castaways and lived on the Salvation camp, where they would compete in duels for control over the Salvation Cup. The captain that wins each duel may bestow the Power of Salvation on any castaway before the votes are read at Tribal Council, negating one vote against them.
• Final Three: Unlike the first four seasons which featured a Final Two, this season featured a Final Tribal Council with three remaining finalists facing a ten-person jury. Also, for the first time since Malaysia, no public vote was used to decide the winner.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Ashleigh Bryant 22, Pinelands, WC High School Teacher	Selatan			1st Voted Out Day 3	7
	Marsha Wessels 40, Retreat, WC Army Sports Officer	Selatan			2nd Voted Out Day 5	5
	Killarney Jones 44, Benoni, GP Martial Artist	Utara			3rd Voted Out Day 7	6
	Zan Lang 24, East London, EC Vehicle Salesman	Utara			4th Voted Out Day 9	9
	Shona Macdonald 24, Craigavon, GP Account Manager	Selatan			5th Voted Out Day 9	10
	Philip Dickson 32, Durban, KZN Firefighter	Selatan			6th Voted Out Day 11	10
	Gena Alkana 29, Sea Point, WC PR Manager	Selatan	Utara		7th Voted Out Day 13	6
	Sonette Myburgh 40, Witpoortjie, GP Mortuary Attendant	Utara	Utara		8th Voted Out Day 15	7
	Stephen Walker 25, Johannesburg, GP Business Analyst	Utara	Utara		9th Voted Out Day 17	4
	Marian de Vos 25, Lone Hill, GP Entrepreneur	Utara	Utara	Juara	10th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	10
	Solly Mathiba 32, Kathu, NC Sports Manager	Utara	Selatan		11th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 20	8
	Moyra Makina 34, Claremont, WC HR Director	Selatan	Selatan		12th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 21	6
	Vel Bodiba 26, Mabopane, GP Actress	Utara	Selatan		13th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 21	8
	Shane Hattingh 42, Bryanston, GP Media Salesman	Utara	Utara		14th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 22	10
	Altaaf Sheik 29, Durban, KZN SAAF Helicopter Pilot	Selatan	Selatan		15th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 24	5
	Zavion Kotze 25, Johannesburg, GP Wedding Planner	Selatan	Selatan		16th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 25	4
	David de Wet 53, Roosevelt Park, GP Farrier	Selatan	Utara		Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 26	5
	Sivu Xabanisa 23, Khayelitsha, WC Astrophysics Student	Utara	Utara		Second Runner-Up	9
	Buhle Madlala 35, Northcliff, GP Events Planner	Utara	Selatan		Runner-Up	1
	Graham Jenneker 28, Bellville, WC Financial Manager	Selatan	Selatan		Ultimate Survivor	9

Sporting Champions

Champion		Purpose	Tribe
			Original Tribe	Special Tribe
	Corné Krige 38, Cape Town, WC Former Springbok Captain	Tribe Captain	Selatan	Salvation
	Mark Fish 39, Cape Town, WC Former Bafana Bafana Defender		Utara
Jimmy Tau 33, Kimberley, NC Retired Bafana Bafana Defender		Challenge Assistant	Selatan
Makhaya Ntini 36, Midnigi, EC Retired Proteas Bowler			Selatan
Jonty Rhodes 44, Pietermaritzburg, KZN Retired Proteas Fielder			Selatan
Carol Tshabalala SuperSport Presenter			Utara
Derek Alberts SuperSport Presenter			Selatan

Season Summary

Episode	Air date	Challenges		Salvation		Eliminated (vote)	Finish
		Reward	Immunity	Winner	Recipient
1	January 19, 2014	Utara	Utara			TBD	1st Voted Out Day 3
		Selatan
		Utara
2	January 26, 2014	Utara				Ashleigh (7-3)
3	February 2, 2014	Selatan	Utara			Marsha (5-4)	2nd Voted Out Day 5
		Selatan
4	February 9, 2014	Selatan	Selatan			Killarney (6-3-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 7
5	February 16, 2014	Selatan	None			Zan (8-1)	4th Voted Out Day 9
		Utara				Shona (7-1)	5th Voted Out Day 9
6	February 23, 2014	Selatan	Utara			Philip (6-1)	6th Voted Out Day 11
		Selatan
7	March 2, 2014	None	Selatan			Gena (6-1)	7th Voted Out Day 13
8	March 9, 2014	Utara1	Selatan			Sonette (5-1)	8th Voted Out Day 15
		Selatan1
9	March 16, 2014	Utara	Selatan			Stephen (4-1)	9th Voted Out Day 17
10	March 23, 2014	None	None	Mark	TBD	No Tribal Council
11	March 30, 2014	None	Zavion		Buhle	Marian (3-3-1-0; 6-3)2,3	10th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19
12	April 6, 2014	Moyra4		Corné	Solly	Solly (6-2-1)	11th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 20
13	April 13, 2014	Altaaf4		Mark	Moyra	Moyra (4-2-1-1)	12th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 21
		None	Buhle	None	None	Vel (6-2)	13th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 21
14	April 20, 2014	None	Sivu	Mark	Zavion	Shane (4-1-1)	14th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 22
15	April 27, 2014	Zavion [Altaaf, Graham]	Zavion	Corné	Buhle	Altaaf (5-0)	15th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 24
16	May 4, 2014	Graham4		Mark	Buhle	Zavion (2-0)2	16th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 25
		[David]
17	May 11, 2014	Buhle4				David (2-2; tiebreaker)5	17th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 26
18	May 18, 2014	Jury Vote				Sivu (5-3-2)	Second Runner-Up
						Buhle (5-3-2)	Runner-Up
						Graham (5-3-2)	Ultimate Survivor
Notes: ^1 This Reward Challenge saw each tribe battle in five rounds for a different reward item each round. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor South Africa rules, a revote would commence. ^4 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^5 Per Survivor South Africa rules, in the event of a tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied players.

Voting History

		Original Tribes						Switched Tribes			Merged Tribe
Episode		2	3	4	5		6	7	8	9	11		12	13		14	15	16	17		18
Voted Out		Ashleigh	Marsha	Killarney	Zan	Shona	Philip	Gena	Sonette	Stephen	Tie	Marian	Solly	Moyra	Vel	Shane	Altaaf	Zavion	Tie	David	Sivu	Buhle	Graham
Vote		7-3	5-4	6-3-1	8-1	7-1	6-1	6-1	5-1	4-1	3-3-1-02,3	6-3	6-2-1	4-2-1-1	6-2	4-1-1	5-0	2-02	2-24	Tiebreaker	5-3-2
►►	Graham	Ashleigh	Marsha	—	—	Shona	Philip	—	—	—	Shane	None	Solly	Moyra	Vel	Shane	Altaaf	Sivu	David	—	Jury Vote
►►	Buhle	—	—	Sonette	Zan	—	—	—	—	—	Marian	Marian	Shane	Vel	Graham	Shane	Altaaf	Zavion	Sivu	—
►►	Sivu	—	—	Killarney	Zan	—	—	Gena	Sonette	Stephen	Graham	Graham	Solly	Moyra	Vel	Zavion	Altaaf	Zavion	David	—
►►	David	Ashleigh	Philip	—	—	Shona	Philip	Gena	Sonette	Stephen	Marian	Marian	Solly	Moyra	Vel	Shane	Altaaf	Sivu	Sivu	Eliminated			Graham
►►	Zavion	Shona	Philip	—	—	Shona	Philip	—	—	—	Shane	Marian	Solly	Moyra	Vel	Shane	Altaaf	Sivu			Sivu
►►	Altaaf	Ashleigh	Marsha	—	—	Shona	Philip	—	—	—	Sivu	Marian	Solly	Sivu	Vel	Buhle	Sivu						Graham
►►	Shane	—	—	Killarney	Zan	—	—	Gena	Sonette	Stephen	Graham	Graham	Solly	Moyra	Vel	Zavion					Sivu
►►	Vel	—	—	Sonette	Zan	—	—	—	—	—	Shane	Graham	David	Graham	Graham							Buhle
►►	Moyra	Ashleigh	Philip	—	—	Shona	Philip	—	—	—	Marian	Marian	Solly	Vel									Graham
►►	Solly	—	—	Sonette	Zan	—	—	—	—	—	Shane	Marian	Shane									Buhle
►►	Marian	—	—	Killarney	Zan	—	—	Gena	Sonette	Stephen	Graham	None											Graham
►	Stephen	—	—	Killarney	Zan	—	—	Gena	Sonette	David
►	Sonette	—	—	Killarney	Zan	—	—	Gena	Sivu
►	Gena	Ashleigh	Marsha	—	—	Shona	Philip	Marian
	Philip	Ashleigh	Marsha	—	—	Shona	Moyra
	Shona	Ashleigh	Marsha	—	—	David
	Zan	—	—	Killarney	Solly
	Killarney	—	—	Zan
	Marsha	Shona	Philip
	Ashleigh	Shona
►►	Corné1	None	None	—	—	None	None	—	—	—	—		Solly	—		—	Sivu	—	—				Graham
►►	Mark1	—	—	None	None	—	—	None	None	None	Buhle		—	Moyra	—	Zavion	—	Buhle	—			Buhle
Notes: ^1 During the merge, Corné and Mark competed in duels to earn the Power of Salvation, which gave them the power to negate one vote against a castaway of their choice. At Final Tribal Council, they each voted as members of the jury. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor South Africa 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. ^4 Per Survivor South Africa rules, in the event of a tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied castaways.

Trivia

• Champions is the second season of Survivor South Africa to be filmed in the Johor state in Malaysia, following Malaysia.
• Champions is the last season of Survivor South Africa to use "Awakenings" as its intro theme.
• Champions is currently the only season of Survivor South Africa to not feature a blue tribe.
• Four castaways this season tied for the most elimination votes received, receiving 10 each. Coincidentally, all four of these castaways would return in a future season.
• Champions is the first English-language season of Survivor where the winner won in a plurality jury vote.