Survivor: Kaôh Rōng

Survivor: Kaôh Rōng
Season Information
Version:	United States
Season No.:	32
Filming Location:	Koh Rong, Cambodia
Filming Dates:	March 30, 2015 - May 7, 2015
Season Run:	February 17, 2016 - May 18, 2016
No. of Episodes:	14
No. of Days:	39
No. of Survivors:	18
Winner:	Michele Fitzgerald
Runner(s) Up:	Aubry Bracco Tai Trang
Tribes:	Chan Loh Gondol To Tang Dara
Viewership (in millions):	8.30[1]
Cast
Opening Sequence
Survivor Kaôh Rōng Intro - Official
Season Chronology
Previous:	Cambodia
Next:	Millennials vs. Gen X

Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, also known as Survivor: Kaôh Rōng — Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty, is the 32nd season of Survivor. It utilizes the same tribe division twist as Survivor: Cagayan.

The season saw a record number of medical evacuations, and was ultimately won by Michele Fitzgerald in a 5-2-0 vote over Aubry Bracco and Tai Trang.

Development

Though billed as the 32nd season, Kaôh Rōng was filmed earlier than its "predecessor" season, Survivor: Cambodia.^[2] This marks the first time the show has aired seasons out of order.

The pre-jury contestants were sequestered and had their trip in Vietnam.^[3]

Twists/Changes

• Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty: The division of the tribes is based on the most prominent personal attributes of each castaway.
  • The Chan Loh tribe is the "Brains" tribe; consisting of players who mostly rely on intelligence to get by in life.
  • The Gondol tribe is the "Beauty" tribe; consisting of players who mostly rely on their looks and social skills.
  • The To Tang tribe is the "Brawn" tribe; consisting of players who mostly rely on their brute strength and endurance.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: While the current format still applies, there is also the option to combine two idols to create a "super idol" that can be played after the votes are read to save any player still in the game.^[4]
• One-Time Exile: During the tribe switch, twelve people would be assigned to either Chan Loh or Gondol, leaving one person without a tribe. That person would be sent to the former To Tang camp, where they would be ineligible for the next vote, and would join the losing tribe at the next Reward Challenge.
• Extra Vote: A castaway would get the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council.
• Juror Removal: A castaway would get the power to eliminate a juror of their choice.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Darnell Hamilton 27, Chicago, IL	To Tang			1st Voted Out Day 3	7
	Jennifer Lanzetti 38, Salt Lake City, UT	To Tang			2nd Voted Out Day 6	3
	Liz Markham 27, New York City, NY	Chan Loh			3rd Voted Out Day 8	5
	Caleb Reynolds 28, Hopkinsville, KY	Gondol			Evacuated Day 9	0
	Alecia Holden 24, Dallas, TX	To Tang			4th Voted Out Day 11	8
	Anna Khait 26, Brooklyn, NY	Gondol	Gondol		5th Voted Out Day 13	5
	Peter Baggenstos 34, Minneapolis, MN	Chan Loh	Gondol		6th Voted Out Day 16	7
	Neal Gottlieb 38, Sausalito, CA	Chan Loh	Chan Loh	Dara	Evacuated Removed from Jury Day 19	0
	Nick Maiorano 30, Redondo Beach, CA	Gondol	Chan Loh		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 22	6
	Debbie Wanner 49, Reading, PA	Chan Loh	Chan Loh		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	5
	Scot Pollard 40, Carmel, IN	To Tang	Gondol		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	7
	Julia Sokolowski 19, Boston, MA	Gondol	Gondol		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	7
	Kyle Jason 31, Detroit, MI	To Tang	Chan Loh		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 32	5
	Joe del Campo 72, Vero Beach, FL	Chan Loh	Gondol		Evacuated 6th Jury Member Day 34	1
	Cydney Gillon 23, Douglasville, GA	To Tang	Chan Loh		12th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	5
	Tai Trang 51, San Francisco, CA	Gondol	Gondol		Second Runner-Up	4
	Aubry Bracco 29, Cambridge, MA	Chan Loh	Gondol		Runner-Up	8
	Michele Fitzgerald 24, Freehold, NJ	Gondol	Chan Loh		Sole Survivor	2

Season Summary

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Episode Guide

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated	Vote	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	“I'm a Mental Giant”	February 17, 2016	Chan Loh1 Challenge Title: Wooden Ships The tribes will swim out to a boat. Once the entire tribe is on board their boat, one person at a time will dive down to retrieve paddles. Once they have all four paddles, they will race to shore, where they will convert their boat to a cart by attaching four wheels. They will then push their boat to the top of the beach. Once at the top, they will have to decide between assembling a puzzle or testing their dexterity by stacking balls while standing on a wobbly beam. The first two tribes to finish win immunity. Reward: A fire-making kit for the winning tribe, and flint for the runner-up.		Darnell After making a costly mistake at the Immunity Challenge, Darnell was voted off after the earliest tie in Survivor history over apparent weak link Alecia.	3-3; 4-02	1st Voted Out Day 3	8.30[5]	1.9/7
			Gondol1
2	“Kindergarten Camp”	February 24, 2016	Gondol1 Challenge Title: Dragging the River Each tribe will race down the river to retrieve a very heavy log. They will then carry it through a series of obstacles. Once they placed the log in a cradle, they will untie a ball from the log and use it with a slingshot to knock down two targets. The first two tribes to finish win immunity and reward. Reward: An ultimate fishing kit and a boat waiting at camp for the winning tribe, and simple fishing gear for the runner-up.		Jennifer Having exposed her plans for an all-female alliance at Tribal Council, Jennifer was voted off for her duplicitous scheming.	3-2	2nd Voted Out Day 6	8.39[6]	1.9/6
			Chan Loh1
3	“The Circle of Life”	March 2, 2016	Gondol1 Challenge Title: Rice Race The tribes must maneuver three bags of rice across an obstacle course in the water. At the end of the course, they must open the bags to retrieve three balls and compete in the maze of holes. First two tribes to get a ball at the top of the maze win immunity. Reward: The winning tribe gets a choice between comfort and emotional items; the runner-up receives the option not taken by the winners.		Liz Having associated with Peter, Liz was put up for elimination without her knowledge. After a revote involving the two, and Aubry, Liz was blindsided in favor of Peter's indispensability in challenges, despite his abrasive behavior.	2-2-2; 3-0-03	3rd Voted Out Day 8	9.24[7]	2.2/8
			To Tang1
4	“Signed, Sealed and Delivered”	March 9, 2016	Chan Loh Challenge Title: Dig It The tribes would race through a series of obstacles to a log, which they must dig under and get themselves through. They would then make their way to a sandy pit where they have to dig up three bags of balls. Once they had all the balls, they would roll those balls attempting to land them in a series of targets. The first two tribes to finish win reward. Reward: A Survivor kitchen set for the winners; salt, pepper and some dishes for the runner-up.	Chan Loh Challenge Title: Snake, Rattle & Roll Two tribe members would race into the jungle and climb up a ladder to retrieve puzzle pieces and bring them back. Then two more tribe members would swim out into the ocean, then dive down and retrieve more puzzle pieces. Once a tribe has collected all the puzzle pieces, they would use them to complete a snake puzzle. The first two tribes to finish win immunity.	Caleb After suffering a severe heat stroke at the Reward Challenge, Caleb's heart rate plummeted to the point where it concerned the medical team. Fearing for his life, the staff pulled him from the game.	No vote	Evacuated Day 9	9.26[8]	2.1/8
			Gondol	Gondol	Alecia Believing Alecia's elimination was long overdue, the decimated Brawn tribe promptly voted her out, 3-1.	3-1	4th Voted Out Day 11
5	“The Devils We Know”	March 16, 2016	None	Julia4	Anna With the element of Julia's imminent return present, targets were immediately put on Tai and Anna in order to prevent a potential Beauty majority on the Gondol tribe. As Anna was the more strategically threatening of the duo, she was blindsided after being left without her allies.	5-1	5th Voted Out Day 13	9.50[9]	2.1/8
				Chan Loh Challenge: New School Two tribe members would swim out and untie a net with fish puzzle pieces. After taking the net back to the shore, two other tribe members would untie the puzzle pieces from the net and hang them on hooks. They would then carry the log with the hooks to a puzzle station, where the last two tribe members would use the puzzle pieces to complete a puzzle. The first tribe to complete their puzzle wins immunity.
6	“Play or Go Home”	March 23, 2016	Gondol Challenge: Baba Buoys Starting from a platform in the ocean, one member of each tribe would swim to a buoy, swim down and untie knots, releasing more buoys. Four tribe members would then corral the buoys to shore and place them on a rack. The final two castaways would then shoot the buoys into a basket. The first tribe to shoot ten buoys into the basket would win reward. Reward: A Survivor picnic complete with breads, fruit, cold cuts and beverages.	Chan Loh Challenge: Get Over It Working together, the tribes had to climb over a wooden frame, a barrel and a see-saw to an overhanging net with wooden blocks above it. Using sticks two tribe members would knock the blocks out of the net. Once they had all of the blocks they would stack them into a tower at a platform. The first tribe to complete their stack and get back to their tribe mat would win immunity.	Peter Peter isolated himself from both his original Brains group and from the Julia-Scot-Tai trio. His scheming and perceived arrogance finally caught up to him as Aubry's last minute vote-change resulted in his elimination.	4-2	6th Voted Out Day 16	9.31[10]	2.1/8
7	“It's Merge Time”	March 30, 2016	None	Nick Challenge: Roller Ball The castaways would have to balance balls upon a dish while standing on a perch. A ball would be added every five minutes until the third ball, after which the challenge will go on until only one castaway remains. If a ball drops, or if the castaway steps off the perch, he would be eliminated from the challenge.	Neal After suffering an injury to the knee, Neal was inflicted with a destructive and potentially crippling staph infection to a joint. The medical staff deemed him unfit to continue, fearing for his mobility, and pulled him from the game to seek treatment.	No vote	Evacuated 1st Jury Member Day 19	9.16[11]	2.0/7
8	“The Jocks vs. the Pretty People”	April 6, 2016	Debbie, Julia, Nick, Scot, Tai Challenge Title: United We Stand Castaways are divided into two teams of five. Teams will have to transport one member using two poles from one platform to another. Once the member made it to the second platform, the team will have to swim to another much smaller platform which they must get all their members onto. The first team to get all of their members on the final platform with their feet on or above the platform wins. Reward: An ice-cream feast delivered to camp.	Tai Challenge: Uncomfortably Numb The castaways must balance their feet on a very narrow perch attached to a pole, while grasping two handles located behind them and above their head. If at any point they let go of the handles or a foot comes off the perch, then they are out of the challenge. The last person left standing wins immunity. Additional Stipulation: Shortly after the five-minute mark in the challenge, Jeff will offer the castaways with a feast of fast food and beverages. The offer is one-time only, and no more food was offered after the 10 second window closed.	Nick Upset by Nick's overconfidence at camp, Cydney led the women in a charge against the men in order to gain a numbers' advantage on them. Because of his arrogance, Nick was targeted first and was quickly blindsided at his first Tribal Council.	6-2-1-1	7th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22	8.98 [12]	1.9/7
9	“It's Psychological Warfare”	April 13, 2016	Jason, Julia, Scot, Tai Challenge: Knot Your Fault Working together, the teams must untangle ropes tied to the contestants. Once their ropes have been untangled they will open a box containing sandbags and use the sandbags to knock over wooden blocks on a platform. The first team to knock off all their blocks wins reward. Reward: Chinese takeout delivered to camp.	Julia Challenge: Backed Up The contestants must stack wooden blocks along a platform while avoiding tripping hazards. Once all of their blocks are stacked the contestants must knock them over like dominoes. The first contestant to topple all of their blocks, such that the final block hits a gong at the end, wins immunity.	Debbie Fearing that Debbie may become a loose cannon - trusting double agent Julia and leaking information to her - Aubry targeted her in hopes of strengthening the women's alliance. She managed to pull Julia into the plan and, together with Cydney and Michele, blindsided Debbie.	4-3-2	8th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24	8.39[13]	1.9/7
10	“I'm Not Here to Make Good Friends”	April 20, 2016	Julia Challenge Title: Free Will The contestants must balance two ceramic pots on the end of a balance beam with one leg. If their pots fall off, they are out of the challenge. The last person standing wins their chosen reward. Reward: A choice between "Food" (bacon cheeseburger with french fries, beer and chocolate chip cookies), "Love" (a letter from home) or "Advantage" (secretly revealed as an Extra Vote). Additional Stipulation: There would be three different winners in this challenge, where the castaways would be categorized based on which type of reward they chose.	Jason Challenge Title: This Much The castaways must support two discs with ceramic pots attached to two posts with only their fingertips. If they drop their discs, they are out of the challenge. The last person left standing wins immunity.	Scot Despite having burned their bridges with everyone but Julia, Jason and Scot entered Tribal Council believing that Tai was still under their thumbs. When the votes came up, Scot kept the idol that Jason had passed to him prior to the proceedings, expecting Tai to form a super idol to save him. This fatal move backfired when Tai withdrew his idol, resulting in Scot's blindside.	4-2-2	9th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27	9.27[14]	2.0/7
			Michele
			Tai
11	“It's a 'Me' Game, Not a 'We' Game”	April 27, 2016	Cydney, Michele [Aubry] Challenge Title: The Hook The castaways will be paired up, and must race through a series of obstacles collecting rings along the way. Once they collect three rings, they will attempt to pitch them like horseshoes and land them on a swinging hook. The first pair to finish wins reward. Reward: A helicopter tour of the island, followed by a picnic lunch.	Michele Challenge: Running the Numbers The castaways will race out to a platform in the water where they will have to memorize symbols and their corresponding numbers. They will then race back to the beach, to see a group of symbols and use the numbers that correspond to those symbols (from memory) to solve a combination that will release a key by turning a dial. If they get the combination right, the key will open a box containing puzzle pieces. The first person to solve their word puzzle wins immunity.	Julia After being relegated to the bottom of the tribe with Jason, Julia was seen to be a bigger threat than her partner in crime, causing the majority alliance to switch their vote from physical threat Jason to jury threat Julia. Ultimately, this resulting in her elimination after the pair failed to create a counter-alliance.	5-2	10th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 29	9.47[15]	2.1/8
12	“Now's the Time to Start Scheming”	May 4, 2016	Jason, Michele, Tai Challenge: Weight and Sea Working in teams, the castaways must first traverse a water obstacle course. Once all three members have reached the end of the course, they must retrieve one of three balls. They must then work together to move the ball through a maze, using just their body weight to move the ball. The first team to get all three of their balls through the maze wins. Reward: Picnic at an animal sanctuary with a tour of the premises.	Cydney Challenge: Got a Hunch The castaways must stack blocks in a tower on a wobbly platform. They had to pull on a rope to keep the table balanced while retrieving their blocks. The first contestant to stack their blocks to spell "IMMUNITY" wins immunity.	Jason	4-2-1	11th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 32	9.48[16]	2.1/8
13	“With Me or Not with Me”	May 11, 2016	Joe [Aubry, Cydney] Challenge Title: 5x5 The final five will each race into the jungle to a large wooden ladder. They will climb up the ladder and retrieve bags of sandbags. Next, they will race back to the beach and attempt to launch those sandbags into a series of targets. If a castaway runs out of sandbags, he or she is out of the challenge. First person to get one sandbag in each of their five targets wins reward. If all five castaways run out of bags, the bags will be replenished. Reward: An overnight trip to a Survivor spa with a meal of chicken, beef, and cheesecake.	None	Joe After gorging excessively at the reward, Joe became constipated and showed signs of urine retention. Fearing that his bladder might burst, thus leading to kidney complications, the medical team pulled Joe from the game to seek medical attention.	No vote	Evacuated 7th Jury Member Day 34	9.51[17]	2.1/8
14	“Not Going Down Without a Fight”	May 18, 2016	Aubry [Cydney] Challenge: Home Stretch The castaways will race under a net crawl. Then, they will make their way to a table where they will slide tiles into a target. Once all the tiles are in the target, they will use a machete to transport them through a series of obstacles to a finish table. Next, they will sort the tiles into pairs. Three of the tiles will not match up. Those three tiles hold the combination to unlock a box. The first person to unlock their box and raise their flag wins reward. Reward: A meal consisting of steak, vegetables, a protein bar, and refreshing drinks.	Michele Challenge: Gimme Three Steps They will race out into the ocean, climb up a stool and retrieve a key. They will use that key to unlock a set of stairs back on the beach at the bottom of a tower. At the top of the stairs, they will find a second key. They will head back out into the water and use that key to unlock a ball attached to a rope. Next, they will use the ball to drop a ladder back on the beach, which gets them to the second level of the tower. At the top of the ladder, they will find a third key. They will head out one last time into the water and use that key to release a pole. They will use the pole to knock off a bag of puzzle pieces that is on a perch above their head. Finally, they will go back to shore, climb the three levels of the tower and use the puzzle pieces to solve a three-tiered puzzle. The first to finish wins immunity.	Cydney Tai decided to side with Aubry at the penultimate Tribal Council, thus forcing a tie between Cydney and Aubry. Aubry won the firemaking tiebreaker, and Cydney left the game emotionally.	2-2; Tiebreaker5	12th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37	9.57[18]	2.1/7
			Michele Challenge: Stacked Up The castaways would compete in the unused task from the first challenge of the season, Dexterity. The final three will use a long fork to stack balls and stands on top of one another in an attempt to get six balls and six stands on the free-standing structure. This must be done while negotiating an unstable balancing beam. The first castaway to do so wins reward. Reward: The ability to remove one person from the jury.	None	Neal Michele believed that Neal would support Aubry at Final Tribal Council, and saw his eloquence to be a greater threat to her game than Joe's simple loyalty. Thus, to gain an edge over her competitors, Michele removed Neal from the jury.	1-06	Removed from Jury Day 38
Reunion Show		Jury Vote			Tai	5-2-0	Second Runner-Up	6.84[19]	1.5/5
					Aubry		Runner-Up
					Michele The jury respected Michele's social game over Aubry's effective strategy and Tai's fickle gameplay, and awarded her the victory.		Sole Survivor
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote will commence. Darnell received all four votes, eliminating him. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote will commence. Liz received all three votes, eliminating her. ^4 As Julia had drawn the sole red buff, she was exiled to To Tang camp. She would not attend Tribal Council, and was effectively immune. ^5 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a a fire-making challenge would be held in final four tie votes. ^6 For winning the final reward challenge, Michele earned the power to eliminate one of the jurors.

Voting History

Survivor: Kaôh Rōng Voting History
		Original Tribes							Switched Tribes		Merged Tribe
Episode #:		1		2	3		4		5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Voted Off:		Tie	Darnell	Jennifer	Tie	Liz	Caleb	Alecia	Anna	Peter	Neal	Nick	Debbie	Scot	Julia	Jason	Joe	Tie	Cydney	Tai	Aubry	Michele
Vote:		3-31	4-0	3-2	2-2-21	3-0	No vote2	3-1	5-1	4-2	No vote4	6-2-1-1	4-3-2	4-2-2	5-2	4-2-1	No vote5	2-26	Tiebreaker	5-2-0
►►	Michele	—		—	—		—	—	—	—	—	Nick	Debbie	Tai	Julia	Jason	—	Aubry	—	Jury Vote
►►	Aubry	—		—	Peter	None	—	—	Anna	Peter	—	Nick	Debbie	Scot	Julia	Jason	—	Cydney	—
►►	Tai	—		—	—		—	—	Anna	Peter	—	Jason	Cydney	Scot	Julia	Michele	—	Cydney	—
																Michele
►►	Cydney	Alecia	Darnell	Jennifer	—		—	Alecia	—	—	—	Nick	Debbie	Scot	Julia	Jason	—	Aubry	Voted out			Michele
►►	Joe	—		—	Liz	Liz	—	—	Anna	Julia	—	Nick	Scot	Scot	Julia	Jason	Evacuated				Aubry
►►	Jason	Alecia	Darnell	Jennifer	—		—	Alecia	—	—	—	Aubry	Cydney	Aubry	Tai	Joe						Michele
►►	Julia	—		—	—		—	—	Exiled3	Peter	—	Nick	Debbie	Tai	Tai							Michele
►►	Scot	Darnell	Darnell	Alecia	—		—	Alecia	Anna	Peter	—	Aubry	Cydney	Aubry								Michele
►►	Debbie	—		—	Liz	Liz	—	—	—	—	—	Nick	Scot									Michele
►►	Nick	—		—	—		—	—	—	—	—	Debbie									Aubry
►►	Neal	—		—	Peter	Liz	—	—	—	—	Evacuated									None7
►	Peter	—		—	Aubry	None	—	—	Anna	Julia
►	Anna	—		—	—		—	—	Peter
	Alecia	Darnell	None	Jennifer	—		—	Scot
	Caleb	—		—	—		Evacuated
	Liz	—		—	Aubry	None
	Jennifer	Darnell	Darnell	Alecia
	Darnell	Alecia	None
Notes: ^1 Tribal Council resulted in a tie. Per the rules, a second vote 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. ^2 Caleb was medically evacuated during the Reward Challenge due to heat exhaustion. ^3 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Julia, the odd person out, was exiled to the old To Tang camp, and rejoined the game as a member of Gondol, replacing Anna and evening the tribes at 6-6. ^4 Neal was medically evacuated following the Immunity Challenge due to a rupture of a pus-filled abscess on his knee. ^5 After suffering from constipation and urine retention following a reward, the medical team was alerted of his condition. Eventually, his condition grew serious enough to necessitate his evacuation. ^6 Per the rules of Survivor, a fire-making challenge was held to break a tie in the final four Tribal Council. ^7 For winning the final reward challenge, Michele earned the power to eliminate a juror. She chose Neal.

Trivia

• The art design for this season's buffs and flags appears to be inspired by the Sak Yant, a traditional Southeast Asian style of tattooing deity or animal designs accompanied by Pali phrases said to offer good luck or fortune.^[20]
• The font used for this season is Croteau.^[21]
• This is the third season in which the starting tribe colors are blue, red, and yellow, and the merged tribe color is black, following Survivor: Philippines and Survivor: Worlds Apart.
• This season features the most medical evacuations, with three.
• This is the first season with an equal number of Reward Challenges and Immunity Challenges.

References