Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	20
Filming Location	Upolu, Samoa
Filming Dates	August 9, 2009 - September 16, 2009
Season Run	February 11, 2010 - May 16, 2010
No. of Episodes	14
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	20
Winner	Sandra Diaz-Twine
Runner(s)-Up	Parvati Shallow Russell Hantz
Tribes	Heroes Villains Yin Yang
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Samoa
Next	Nicaragua

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains is the twentieth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

This season was a celebration of the ten year anniversary of the show and opted to have returning players who were known for their honor and integrity (Heroes) or their deception and duplicity (Villains). It also marked the first two-time winner; Sandra Diaz-Twine, who beat Parvati Shallow and Russell Hantz in a 6-3-0 vote.

Production

Unlike previous seasons where a break in production occurred between seasons, the twentieth season was shot twenty days after Survivor: Samoa was completed, taking advantage of the existing infrastructure from that season. Casting for Heroes vs. Villains was done simultaneously with casting for Samoa. Heroes vs. Villains features ten former Survivors known for their acts of integrity and honor, the Heroes, and ten former Survivors known for their deeds of deception and duplicity, the Villains. The cast was officially announced during the 36th People's Choice Awards on January 6, 2010. Jeff Probst, the show's host, stated that while they wanted to do another season where they brought back former players for the show's 10-year anniversary and 20th cycle, they did not want to simply do another "All-Stars" season. On reflecting on the most popular players, they realized that these players were either seen as likable or despised for those respective seasons, and opted to use that as the theme for this season.

According to Probst, the production initially selected 50 players from the past seasons, paring those down to twenty and keeping one spot open for a possible player from Samoa. Some selections were made to match players that production thought would be exciting to see, according to casting director Lynne Spillman. While the players have been classified as Heroes or Villains, Survivor creator Mark Burnett does not expect these players to maintain these roles in the game, and to do what they need to survive to the end. Rather than the usual slogan "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast", the slogan for this season is "Return, Revenge, Redemption". All challenges in this season will be based on challenges used in previous seasons. Due to the back-to-back filming of Survivor: Samoa and this season, the other players did not have an opportunity to see Russell Hantz's gameplay in Samoa; however, the players were told by the production crew that Hantz was considered "one of the 5 most notorious male villains of all time" prior to the start of the game.

The 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami occurred shortly after the completion of filming for this season; a CBS spokeswoman stated that no crew members were harmed from it.

Richard Hatch, the winner of the original Survivor, was asked to return for this season. However, he had to apply to leave the country since he was under house arrest. His request was denied by a federal judge in Rhode Island. Jeff Probst also revealed to TV Guide that Corinne Kaplan of Survivor: Gabon and Shane Powers of Survivor: Panama were also asked to return, but Kaplan declined due to work obligations and Powers was replaced by Russell Hantz of Survivor: Samoa.

Twists/Changes

• Heroes vs. Villains: Ten of the most heroic castaways battled against the ten most villainous castaways for the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize, hence the season title.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: Two idols were hidden for the contestants to find.
• Double Tribal Council: On Day 15, both tribes competed for individual immunity for an elimination later that night.
• Expanded Jury and Final Three: The Final Tribal Council had a final three and a nine-person jury.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
File:S20 sugar t.jpg	Sugar Kiper 30, Los Angeles, CA Gabon	Heroes		1st Voted Out Day 3	9
File:S20 stephenie t.jpg	Stephenie LaGrossa 29, Glenolden, PA Palau & Guatemala	Heroes		2nd Voted Out Day 6	6
File:S20 randy t.jpg	Randy Bailey 50, Austin, TX Gabon	Villains		3rd Voted Out Day 8	9
File:S20 cirie t.jpg	Cirie Fields 39, Jersey City, NJ Panama & Micronesia	Heroes		4th Voted Out Day 11	3
File:S20 tom t.jpg	Tom Westman 45, Sayville, NY Palau	Heroes		5th Voted Out Day 14	8
File:S20 tyson t.jpg	Tyson Apostol 30, Lindon, UT Tocantins	Villains		6th Voted Out Day 15	3
File:S20 james t.jpg	James Clement 32, Lafayette, LA China & Micronesia	Heroes		7th Voted Out Day 15	7
File:S20 rob t.jpg	Rob Mariano 33, Pensacola, FL Marquesas & All-Stars	Villains		8th Voted Out Day 18	5
File:S20 coach t.jpg	Coach Wade 37, Susanville, CA Tocantins	Villains		9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	4
File:S20 courtney t.jpg	Courtney Yates 28, New York City, NY China	Villains		10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	9
File:S20 jt t.jpg	J.T. Thomas 25, Mobile, AL Tocantins	Heroes	Yin Yang	11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	5
File:S20 amanda t.jpg	Amanda Kimmel 25, Los Angeles, CA China & Micronesia	Heroes		12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30	10
File:S20 candice t.jpg	Candice Woodcock 26, Washington, D.C. Cook Islands	Heroes		13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 31	5
File:S20 danielle t.jpg	Danielle DiLorenzo 28, Los Angeles, CA Panama	Villains		14th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	4
File:S20 rupert t.jpg	Rupert Boneham 45, Indianapolis, IN Pearl Islands & All-Stars	Heroes		15th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	10
File:S20 colby t.jpg	Colby Donaldson 35, Christoval, TX The Australian Outback & All-Stars	Heroes		16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	7
File:S20 jerri t.jpg	Jerri Manthey 38, Los Angeles, CA The Australian Outback & All-Stars	Villains		17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38	9
File:S20 russell t.jpg	Russell Hantz 37, Dayton, TX Samoa	Villains		Second Runner-Up	5
File:S20 parvati t.jpg	Parvati Shallow 26, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands & Micronesia	Villains		Runner-Up	8
File:S20 sandra t.jpg	Sandra Diaz-Twine 35, Stamford, CT Pearl Islands	Villains		Sole Survivor	3

Season Summary

The twenty returning castaways were pre-divided into two tribes of ten based on their previous style of gameplay. The Villains dominated the earlier challenges due to Rob Mariano's leadership, only going to Tribal Council once in the first 14 days, and the Heroes were quickly whittled down to six members. The Villains tribe was divided into two factions: Rob's alliance of six, and the minority alliance of Russell Hantz, Parvati Shallow, and Danielle DiLorenzo. At a double Tribal Council, Rob's alliance decided to split the vote between Russell and Parvati out of fear of the Hidden Immunity Idol which Russell had found. Rob's right-hand man Tyson Apostol, knowing that the minority alliance was voting for him, became uneasy and deviated from the plan, voting for Parvati instead of Russell. This error would prove fatal; Russell decided to play his Idol on Parvati, negating the four votes against her, and Tyson was voted out. The Villains lost the next Immunity Challenge and, due to Jerri Manthey aligning with Russell and Coach Wade's inability to pick a side, Rob was voted out.

During the challenges after Rob's elimination, the Heroes were led to believe that the women of the Villains tribe were methodically eliminating the men. J.T. Thomas found the Heroes' Hidden Immunity Idol, and gave it to Russell, the last male Villain remaining, with hopes that Russell would use it to eliminate Parvati and align with the Heroes at the merge. Instead, Russell shared the idol with his alliance, unaware that Parvati and Danielle had also found the Villains' Hidden Immunity Idol. Without Rob, the Villains lost the next two Immunity Challenges, leaving Sandra Diaz-Twine as the last remaining Villain outside of Russell's alliance of four.

With five Heroes and five Villains remaining, the tribes merged into Yin Yang. While the Heroes believed Russell was on their side, Sandra attempted to warn Rupert Boneham of Russell's distrustful behavior. Ultimately, the Heroes ignored Sandra's warnings, voting for Jerri as she was considered the least likely to have an Immunity Idol. Parvati played both Idols on Jerri and Sandra to gain their loyalty, negating the Heroes' votes, sending J.T. out of the game, and giving the Villains the majority. Despite several attempts to align with the Villains, the remaining Heroes were consistently eliminated. However, after Russell realized that Parvati and Danielle's true loyalty was to each other, Russell betrayed Danielle, working with the remaining two Heroes, Colby Donaldson and Rupert, to vote her out. After this, the final Heroes were eliminated, leaving Sandra, Russell, Parvati, and Jerri as the final four.

Russell, having won the Final Immunity Challenge, felt he would have a better chance in the Final Tribal Council against Sandra (whom he felt did little in the game) over Jerri, making her the final player voted out. This would ultimately be his downfall. At the Final Tribal Council, the jury blasted Russell for his numerous betrayals, and he would go on to receive no votes. While Parvati argued for her mastery of the physical and social nature of her game to win the jury's favor, Sandra was able to win over the Heroes' votes by pointing out that she tried to help them vote out the Villains and remained the last of Rob's core alliance. Along with her closest ally Courtney Yates' vote, Sandra won the title of Sole Survivor over Parvati and Russell, 6–3–0 respectively, and became the first two-time Survivor winner.

Episode Guide

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewership (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Slay Everyone, Trust No One"	February 11, 2010	Heroes	Villains	Sugar (9-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	14.15	4.5/12
2	"It's Getting the Best of Me"	February 18, 2010	Villains1		Stephenie (6-3)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	11.97	3.9/11
3	"That Girl Is Like a Virus"	February 25, 2010	Heroes1		Randy (9-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	11.60	3.7/10
4	"Tonight, We Make Our Move"	March 4, 2010	Villains	Villains	Cirie (3-2-0)2	4th Voted Out Day 11	12.72	3.8/11
5	"Knights of the Round Table"	March 11, 2010	Villains	Villains	Tom (5-2)	5th Voted Out Day 14	12.12	3.6/11
6	"Banana Etiquette"	March 24, 2010	Villains	Rob	Tyson (3-2-0)2	6th Voted Out Day 15	11.15	3.4/11
				Candice	James (5-1)	7th Voted Out Day 15
7	"I'm Not a Good Villain"	April 1, 2010	Heroes	Heroes	Rob (4-3-1)	8th Voted Out Day 18	11.26	3.5/13
8	"Expectations"	April 8, 2010	Heroes	Heroes	Coach (4-3)	9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	11.28	3.8/12
9	"Survivor History"	April 15, 2010	Villains	Heroes	Courtney (5-1)	10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	12.31	3.8/12
10	"Going Down in Flames"	April 22, 2010	None	Danielle	J.T. (5-0)2,3	11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	11.89	3.6/11
11	"Jumping Ship"	April 29, 2010	Amanda, Colby, Danielle	Jerri	Amanda (6-3)3	12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30	12.74	4.1/13
12	"A Sinking Ship"	May 6, 2010	None	Parvati	Candice (5-3)	13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 31	13.06	4.1/14
				Russell	Danielle (4-3)	14th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33
13	"Loose Lips Sink Ships"	May 13, 2010	Jerri [Parvati, Sandra]	Parvati	Rupert (4-0)2	15th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	13.28	4.1/13
14	"Anything Could Happen"	May 16, 2010	None	Parvati	Colby (4-1)	16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	13.46	4.2/11
				Russell	Jerri (3-1)	17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Russell (6-3-0)	Second Runner-Up
					Parvati (6-3-0)	Runner-Up
					Sandra (6-3-0)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						10.65	3.6/10
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.

Voting History

		Original Tribes										Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6		7	8	9	10	11	12		13	14
Voted Out		Sugar	Stephenie	Randy	Cirie	Tom	Tyson	James	Rob	Coach	Courtney	J.T.	Amanda	Candice	Danielle	Rupert	Colby	Jerri	Russell	Parvati	Sandra
Vote		9-1	6-3	9-1	3-2-01	5-2	3-2-01	5-1	4-3-1	4-3	5-1	5-01,2	6-32	5-3	4-3	4-01	4-1	3-1	6-3-0
►	Sandra	—	—	Randy	—	—	Russell	—	Russell	Coach	Courtney	J.T.	Amanda	Candice	Rupert	Rupert	Colby	Jerri	Jury Vote
►	Parvati	—	—	Randy	—	—	Tyson	—	Rob	Coach	Courtney	J.T.	Amanda	Rupert	Rupert	Rupert	Colby	Jerri
►	Russell	—	—	Randy	—	—	Tyson	—	Rob	Courtney	Courtney	J.T.	Amanda	Candice	Danielle	Rupert	Colby	Jerri
►	Jerri	—	—	Randy	—	—	Parvati	—	Rob	Courtney	Courtney	J.T.	Amanda	Candice	Danielle	Rupert	Colby	Parvati		Parvati
►	Colby	Sugar	Amanda	—	Cirie	James	—	James	—	—	—	Jerri	Parvati	Candice	Danielle	Sandra	Sandra				Sandra
►	Rupert	Sugar	Stephenie	—	Colby	Tom	—	James	—	—	—	Jerri	Parvati	Candice	Danielle	Sandra					Sandra
►	Danielle	—	—	Randy	—	—	Tyson	—	Rob	Coach	Courtney	J.T.	Amanda	Rupert	Rupert					Parvati
►	Candice	Sugar	Stephenie	—	Tom	Tom	—	James	—	—	—	Jerri	Amanda	Rupert							Sandra
►	Amanda	Sugar	Stephenie	—	Tom	Tom	—	James	—	—	—	Jerri	Parvati								Sandra
►	J.T.	Sugar	Stephenie	—	Cirie	Tom	—	James	—	—	—	Jerri									Sandra
	Courtney	—	—	Randy	—	—	Parvati	—	Russell	Coach	Jerri										Sandra
	Coach	—	—	Randy	—	—	Parvati	—	Courtney	Courtney										Parvati
	Rob	—	—	Randy	—	—	Russell	—	Russell
	James	Sugar	Stephenie	—	Colby	Tom	—	Colby
	Tyson	—	—	Randy	—	—	Parvati
	Tom	Sugar	Amanda	—	Cirie	James
	Cirie	Sugar	Stephenie	—	Tom
	Randy	—	—	Rob
	Stephenie	Sugar	Amanda
	Sugar	Amanda
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against the user. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user.

Reception

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Trivia

• This is the first season to feature three-time returning players.
• After filming, the Survivor medical team stayed in Samoa to aid the locals who were affected by the 2009 Samoan Tsunami. As told by Jeff Probst in the TV Guide preview of Survivor: South Pacific, some of the filming locations also took damage from the disaster.
• This is currently the last season where the merged tribe only consists of ten players.
• This season marks the first time a previous winner has won for the second time.
• This season's logo featured silhouettes of the castaways from the Heroes and Villains tribes.
• This season holds the record for the most Hidden Immunity Idols played, with six.
• This is the only one of his seasons where four-time player Rob Mariano did not make the merge. This is also the only season of theirs where three-time players James Clement, Stephenie LaGrossa, Cirie Fields, Coach Wade, and Tyson Apostol did not make the merge.
• This season is tied with Survivor: All-Stars for the most former winners playing at the time of production with four; Sandra Diaz-Twine, Tom Westman, Parvati Shallow, and J.T. Thomas. 
• Amanda Kimmel is the first player to achieve the record of playing Survivor for 100 days, achieving this milestone on Day 22.
• The "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" slogan was replaced by "Return, Revenge, Redemption" for this season.
• Both returning players from Survivor: Gabon, Sugar and Randy, were voted out first from both of their tribes, and both were voted out 9-1.
• All contestants this season have made it to the jury phase of the game at least once when they formerly competed.
• This is the first season where the final three was entirely composed of previous finalists from other seasons.