Survivor: Tocantins
Season	18
Filming Location	Jalapão, Tocantins state, Brazil
Season Run	February 12, 2009 - May 17, 2009
Filming Dates	November 2, 2008 - December 10, 2008
Survivors	16
Winner	J.T. Thomas
Runner(s)-up	Stephen Fishbach
Tribes	██ Jalapao ██ Timbira ██ Forza
Opening Sequence
Series Chronology
Previous Season	Gabon
Next Season	Samoa

Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands is the 18th installment in the U.S. reality show Survivor. It was filmed in Tocantins, Brazil and premiered on February 12, 2009. Once production of Survivor: Gabon was underway, CBS began casting for this season. Shooting occurred between October and December 2008.

J.T. Thomas became the Sole Survivor on the live finale broadcast May 17, 2009. He finished the first "perfect game" in the history of the show, not having a single vote cast against him all season and earning all seven jury votes in a unanimous decision, beating out Stephen Fishbach. In addition, J.T. was named "Sprint Player of the Season", earning the fans' vote over Taj Johnson-George and Sierra Reed.

ProductionEdit

Twists/ChangesEdit

• First Impressions: On Day 1, Jeff Probst instructed the newly-marooned castaways to make their first vote-off. Relying only from first impressions, the tribes must select which of their tribemates will be the biggest liability to their team, and these two players will "not make it to the journey." The contestants assumed that the two would be eliminated, but the "journey" was revealed to be a four-hour trek to their camps. The two people who were singled out (Sierra from Timbira and Sandy from Jalapao) will be airlifted to their camps, while their tribemates underwent a treacherous walk to their respective encampments.
• One-time use Hidden Immunity Idols: After being whisked away to their camps, the two left out players were given a choice between creating a shelter (to possibly change their perceptions of them) or search for a one-time use Hidden Immunity Idol that can only be good at their first visiting Tribal Council. Unfortunately, both Idols were never found and wasted away in the process.
• Exile Island: Exile Island returns this season, with new twists. After a Reward Challenge, the winning tribe must send one person from the losing tribe to Exile Island, and in return, the said person must pick one member from the winning tribe to join him/her in Exile Island. Another twist is that, upon reaching Exile Island, the two banished players will get to chose between two unmarked bottles; one bottle contained a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol, hidden somwhere at their camps. The player who gets the clue will also have the option to switch tribes at will (hypothetically, if a banished player already found his/her tribe's idol, the player in question may switch tribes to potentially find the other tribe's idol). The person who gets the second bottle will get nothing.
• Hidden Immunity Idols: Hidden Immunity Idols return this season.

CastawaysEdit

Contestant		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Votes Against
	Carolina Eastwood 26, West Hollywood, CA	Jalapao		1st Voted Out Day 3	7
	Candace Smith 31, Dayton, OH	Timbira		2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
	Jerry Sims 49, Rock Hill, SC	Timbira		3rd Voted Out Day 9	6
	Sandy Burgin 53, Louisville, KY	Jalapao		4th Voted Out Day 12	6
	Spencer Duhm 18, Lakeland, FL	Jalapao		5th Voted Out Day 15	5
	Sydney Wheeler 24, Raleigh, NC	Jalapao		6th Voted Out Day 18	4
	Joe Dowdle 26, Austin, TX	Jalapao	Forza	Evacuated Day 20	1
	Brendan Synnott 30, New York, NY	Timbira		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	4
	Tyson Apostol 29, Lindon, UT	Timbira		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	5
	Sierra Reed 23, Los Angeles, CA	Timbira		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	11
	Debbie Beebe 46, Auburn, AL	Timbira		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	6
	Coach Wade 37, Bolivar, MO	Timbira		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	6
	Taj Johnson-George 37, Nashville, TN	Jalapao		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	7
	Erinn Lobdell 26, Waukesha, WI	Timbira		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
	Stephen Fishbach 29, New York, NY	Jalapao		Runner-Up	1
	J.T. Thomas 24, Samson, AL	Jalapao		Sole Survivor	0

Season SummaryEdit

Episode GuideEdit

Notes:

^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.

Voting HistoryEdit

Survivor: Tocantins Voting History
		Original Tribes						Merged Tribe
Episode #:		1	2	3	4	5	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Eliminated:		Carolina	Candace	Jerry	Sandy	Spencer	Sydney	Joe	Brendan	Tyson	Sierra	Debbie	Coach	Taj	Erinn	Stephen	J.T.
Vote:		7-1	7-1	6-1	5-1-1	5-1	3-2	No Vote	4-3-2	5-3	4-2-1	4-1-1	3-2	3-1	1-0	7-0
►	J.T.	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Sydney	—	Sierra	Tyson	Sierra	Debbie	Erinn	Taj	Erinn	Jury Vote
►	Stephen	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Sydney	—	Brendan	Tyson	Sierra	Debbie	Coach	Taj	—
►	Erinn	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Sierra	Tyson	Stephen	Debbie	Coach	Taj	—		J.T.
►	Taj	Carolina	—	—	Joe	Spencer	Sydney	—	Brendan	Tyson	Debbie	Debbie	Coach	Erinn			J.T.
►	Coach	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Brendan	Sierra	Sierra	Taj	Erinn				J.T.
►	Debbie	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Brendan	Sierra	Sierra	Coach					J.T.
►	Sierra	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Coach	Tyson	Debbie						J.T.
►	Tyson	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Sierra	Sierra							J.T.
►	Brendan	—	Candace	Jerry	—	—	—	—	Coach								J.T.
►	Joe	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Taj	Evacuated
	Sydney	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Spencer	Taj
	Spencer	Carolina	—	—	Sandy	Taj
	Sandy	Carolina	—	—	Sydney
	Jerry	—	Candace	Erinn
	Candace	—	Sierra
	Carolina	Sandy

Notes:

TriviaEdit

• This season marks the third country (Brazil) to be revisited as a location of filming, following Panama and Palau, though it became the first country to host two seasons in two separate locations. While Survivor: The Amazon was filmed in the Rio Negro river, this season was shot in an entirely different province of Brazil, at the Rio Novo river.
• It is the first season since Survivor: Thailand to feature two male players in the Final 2.
• This season, the 18th, is currently the latest season to feature a Final 2 (and also consisting of a 7-person jury).
• This is the first season since Survivor: Panama to follow the original format that was used during the first six seasons, (a pool of sixteen contestants, with six players voted out before the merge, one made the merge but did not make the jury, a seven-person Jury and two players at the Final Tribal Council).
• Thus far, it is the only season to feature black as the color for a starting tribe (Black has been mostly used as the color of the merged tribe).
• Abi-Maria Gomes from Survivor: Philippines was originally recruited for this season, however she was cut because she might gain an advantage due to her being Brazilian. Gomes is originally from Goiás, a neighboring state of Tocantins.
• This is the fifth season to feature a medical evacuation.
• This is the first season since Survivor: Palau with no Tribe Shuffle
• JT tied the Survivor strongman record that was previously held by Rupert, carrying 220 pounds of weight in a reward challenge.
  • That record has since been surpassed by both Brandon and Jim of Survivor: South Pacific (both carried 240 pounds of weight in a similar challenge)
• This is the latest season to feature Exile Island.
• Of the contestants eliminated before the jury phase, there were at least two contestants whose names began with the same letter (Carolina and Candace; Jerry and Joe; and Sandy, Spencer, and Sydney).

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

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