Survivor: South Pacific
Season	23
Filming Location	Upolu, Samoa
Season Run	September 14, 2011 - December 18, 2011
Filming Dates	May 30, 2011 – July 7, 2011
Survivors	18
Winner	Sophie Clarke
Runner(s)-up	»» Coach Wade Albert Destrade
Tribes	██ Savaii ██ Upolu ██ Te Tuna
Opening Sequence
Series Chronology
Previous Season	Redemption Island
Next Season	One World

Survivor: South Pacific is the 23rd season of Survivor. It was first announced by Jeff Probst on the Reunion show of Survivor: Redemption Island. It premiered on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute premiere.^[1]

ProductionEdit

The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu, Samoa, and the season will premiere on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute debut. It is in the same filming location as Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. Fiji and Tonga were said to be alternate locations.

Aggie Grey's, the hotel that was used in the two aforementioned seasons was used once again to accommodate the staff and crew. The duration of their stay was reported to be identical to their last visit to Samoa. The said hotel had no availability from May 16 to September 16, 2011. Locals have been very appreciative hosting the show for a third time, stating that it helped boost their tourism industry (with revenues reported to be approximately $6,000,000 for filming seasons 19 and 20). The show also helped the devastated country recover from the 2009 Samoan tsunami.

Twist/ChangesEdit

• Redemption Island: Redemption Island returned this season, but with new tweaks. During "group duels," or duels that have more than two competitors, only one winner stays, sending the others home.
• One Returning Player Per Tribe: Two former contestants returned to compete in this season. Former castaways Coach Wade and Ozzy Lusth joined this season's batch of contestants. Jeff stated that their poor social skills had put them to jeopardy in their earlier seasons, and this would be their chance to improve in that aspect.
• Hidden Immunity Idols: The clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at camp. Once the clue is unearthed, the player will have a better chance of finding the idol.

CastawaysEdit

Contestant		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Redemption Island Status	Votes Against
	Semhar Tadesse 24, Los Angeles, CA	Savaii		1st Voted Out Day 3	1st Eliminated Day 6	8
	Mark Caruso 47, Forest Hills, NY	Savaii		3rd Voted Out Day 8	2nd Eliminated Day 9	6
	Stacey Powell 44, Grand Prairie, TX	Upolu		4th Voted Out Day 11	3rd Eliminated Day 12	10
	Elyse Umemoto 26, Las Vegas, NV	Savaii		5th Voted Out Day 14	4th Eliminated Day 15	3
	Mikayla Wingle 22, Tampa, FL	Upolu		6th Voted Out Day 16	5th Eliminated Day 17	4
	Christine Shields Markoski 39, Merrick, NY	Upolu		2nd Voted Out Day 5	6th Eliminated Day 19	4
	Jim Rice 34, Denver, CO	Savaii	Te Tuna	10th Voted Out Day 24	7th Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25	8
	Keith Tollefson 26, San Diego, CA	Savaii		8th Voted Out Day 21	8th Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 25	12
	Dawn Meehan 40, South Jordan, UT	Savaii		11th Voted Out Day 27	9th Eliminated 3rd Jury Member Day 28	9
	Whitney Duncan 26, Nashville, TN	Savaii		12th Voted Out Day 27	10th Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 28	7
	John Cochran 23, Oakton, VA	Savaii		13th Voted Out Day 30	11th Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 31	13
	Edna Ma 35, Los Angeles, CA	Upolu		14th Voted Out Day 32	12th Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 33	15
	Brandon Hantz 19, Katy, TX	Upolu		15th Voted Out Day 35	13th Eliminated 7th Jury Member Day 36	4
	Rick Nelson 51, Aurora, UT	Upolu		16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37		15
	Ozzy Lusth 30, Venice, CA Cook Islands & Micronesia	Savaii		7th Voted Out Day 18	1st Returnee Day 19	17
				9th Voted Out Day 22	2nd Returnee Day 36
				17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38
	Albert Destrade 25, Tampa, FL	Upolu		Second Runner-Up		1
	Coach Wade 39, Susanville, CA Tocantins & Heroes vs Villains	Upolu		Runner-Up		0
	Sophie Clarke 22, Willsboro, NY	Upolu		Sole Survivor		5

Season SummaryEdit

Sixteen new castaways, already divided into tribes, were joined by returning players Ozzy Lusth and Coach Wade at Redemption Island. After a random draw of buffs, Ozzy joins the Savaii tribe, while Coach joins the Upolu tribe. Ozzy's welcome was warm and appreciative, while Coach's was largely cold and silent. At the first night, Coach got into a conversation with Brandon Hantz, Sophie Clarke, Albert Destrade, and Rick Nelson, which ended up uniting the five in a formidable alliance.

The warring tribes equally fared in challenges, trading time at Tribal Council. Along the way, Coach and Ozzy made alliances while successfully finding their tribe's Hidden Immunity Idols. While Coach successfully maneuvered the votes in his favor, it was not the case for Ozzy, with the new players not letting him achieve total control over the tribe. After seventeen days of competition, Savaii lost Semhar Tadesse, Mark Caruso, and Elyse Umemoto; while Upolu lost Christine Shields Markoski, Stacey Powell, and Mikayla Wingle. With Upolu's Christine dominating the Redemption Island duels, and an impending merge, Ozzy proposed the "Trojan Horse" plan, stating that should Savaii lose the next Immunity Challenge, the other tribe members would deliberately send him to Redemption Island in hopes of defeating Christine. The plan was successful, merging Upolu and Savaii to the new Te Tuna tribe, with six members each.

Anticipating a deadlock tie vote, Coach swayed a member of the other tribe, John Cochran, making him believe that he was being bullied by his former tribemates. While the next Tribal Council started with the expected 6-6 tie between Rick and Keith Tollefson, Cochran pulled a doublecross, sending his former tribemate Keith to Redemption Island. Furious of his decision, the remaining Savaiis shunned Cochran for his betrayal. The remaining Savaii members (including Cochran himself) however, were systematically voted out from the tribe, and found themselves battling each other at Redemption Island, with Ozzy dominating the duels.

With no common enemy remaining for the Upolu alliance, they were forced to turn on each other, starting with Edna Ma. After winning the next Immunity Challenge, Brandon passed it to Albert, causing his demise. With Ozzy returned from Redemption Island, and won immunity, Upolu again voted each other out, with Rick being sacrificed. Losing the final Immunity Challenge against Sophie, Ozzy was voted out for the third time, leaving Coach, Albert and Sophie as the Final Three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Coach was castigated for using religion to instill fear to others, while Albert and Sophie were criticized for being ignoble and condescending respectively. In the end, Sophie's admittance to her flaws, silent game play and athleticism earned her the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize.

Episode GuideEdit

Notes:

^1 There was no duel, as there was only one inhabitant at the time.
^2 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
^3 A tie between Keith and Rick forced a re-vote; Cochran switched his vote from Rick to Keith, eliminating him.

Elimination HistoryEdit

Voting HistoryEdit

Survivor: South Pacific Voting History
		Original Tribes							Merged Tribe
Episode #		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		9		10		12	13	14	15
Eliminated:		Semhar	Christine	Mark	Stacey	Elyse	Mikayla	Ozzy	Keith		Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Rick	Ozzy	Albert	Coach	Sophie
Vote:		8-1	4-3-1-1	6-1-1	7-1	3-2-2	4-3	5-1	6-6	6-4	9-2	7-3	7-2	7-1	5-2	5-1	3-2	3-2	3-1	6-3-0
►	Sophie	—	Stacey	—	Stacey	—	Edna	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Rick	Ozzy	Jury Vote
►	Coach	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Rick	Ozzy
►	Albert	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Edna	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Sophie	Rick	Ozzy
►	Ozzy	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Cochran	—	Cochran	Rick	Rick	Cochran							Sophie	Albert			Sophie
►	Rick	—	Stacey	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	None	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon	Sophie			Coach
►	Brandon	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Sophie					Sophie
►	Edna	—	Stacey	—	Stacey	—	Mikayla	—	Keith	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Rick	Brandon					Coach
►	Cochran	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Elyse	—	Ozzy	Rick	Keith	Ozzy	Jim	Dawn	Whitney	Rick						Coach
►	Whitney	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Dawn	—	Ozzy	Rick	Rick	Ozzy	Edna	Edna	Cochran								Sophie
►	Dawn	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Elyse	—	Ozzy	Rick	Rick	Ozzy	Edna	Edna									Sophie
►	Jim	Semhar	—	Cochran	—	Elyse	—	Ozzy	Rick	Rick	Cochran	Edna										Sophie
►	Keith	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Dawn	—	Ozzy	Rick	None												Sophie
	Mikayla	—	Christine	—	Stacey	—	Edna
	Elyse	Semhar	—	Mark	—	Cochran
	Stacey	—	Sophie	—	Edna
	Mark	Semhar	—	Jim
	Christine	—	Edna
	Semhar	Cochran

Notes:

• Due to 6-6 tie between Keith and Rick, a revote commenced. During the revote, Cochran changed his vote Keith, enough to eject him from the tribe.

Redemption Island Duel HistoryEdit

Survivor: South Pacific Duel History
		Pre-Merger								Post-Merger									Duels Won
Episode →		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		9	10		12		13	14	15
Duel Loser				Semhar	Mark	Stacey	Elyse	Mikayla	Christine			Jim	Keith	Dawn	Whitney	Cochran	Edna	Brandon
Returns to Game									Ozzy									Ozzy
►	Ozzy	—	—	—	—	—	—	Arrived	Won	—	Arrived	Won		Won		Won	Won	Won	6
►	Brandon	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		—		—	Arrived	Lost	0
►	Edna	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		—		Arrived	Lost		0
►	Cochran	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Arrived		Lost			0
►	Whitney	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Arrived		Lost					0
►	Dawn	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Arrived		Lost					0
►	Keith	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Arrived		Lost							0
►	Jim	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Arrived	Lost							0
	Christine	—	Arrived	Won	Won	Won	Won	Won	Lost										5
	Mikayla	—	—	—	—	—	Arrived	Lost											0
	Elyse	—	—	—	—	Arrived	Lost												0
	Stacey	—	—	—	Arrived	Lost													0
	Mark	—	—	Arrived	Lost														0
	Semhar	Arrived		Lost															0

Notes:

• In this season, in order to remain on Redemption Island the contestant must beat all other duelers.

TriviaEdit

• This is the first season to feature a contestant who is a relative to a previous contestant. Brandon Hantz is a nephew to Russell Hantz.
• This is the third season to take place in Samoa, following Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. This makes it the most used location.
• The location for this season was originally going to be in neighboring Tonga, but it was declined for economic reasons.
• This is the seventh consecutive season to have a woman be the first voted out and the first eliminated.
• This is the third season to feature a pattern in which the tribe that wins each Immunity Challenge switches each episode, following Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: The Amazon.
• This is the second season in a row where a tribe gets systematically voted off (a term known in the fandom as Pagonged) post merge.
• This is the sixth season to feature returning contestants, following Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Guatemala, Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Heroes vs Villains and Survivor: Redemption Island.
  • But this season is the third to feature only a pair of returning players competing.
  • It is also the sixth one to have a returning player in the final two/three.
• Ozzy Lusth became the first contestant to be voted out three times in a single season.
• This is the first season to feature a castaway's clip after the "One Survivor" portion of the intro with Brandon Hantz's clip being shown.
• Sophie is the second winner to defeat a returning contestant at the Final Tribal Council, Coach Wade. The first was Danni Boatwright beating Stephenie LaGrossa in Survivor: Guatemala.
• Three contestants entered the competition through Sears' Casting Contest: Sophie Clarke, Rick Nelson and Mark (Papa Bear) Caruso.
• This is the only season where two players were voted out, getting less than 50% of the votes (excluding hidden immunity idols) with Christine and Elyse.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Martin, Lara (August 11, 2011). "Big Brother finale, 'Survivor' premiere get extended episodes". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s69/big-brother-usa/news/a334584/big-brother-finale-survivor-premiere-get-extended-episodes.html. Retrieved August 11, 2011. 

External linksEdit

• Official CBS Survivor Website

Survivor Seasons
Borneo · The Australian Outback · Africa · Marquesas · Thailand · The Amazon · Pearl Islands · All-Stars · Vanuatu · Palau · Guatemala · Panama · Cook Islands · Fiji · China · Micronesia · Gabon · Tocantins · Samoa · Heroes vs Villains · Nicaragua · Redemption Island · South Pacific · One World · Philippines · Caramoan · Blood vs Water