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Survivor: Vanuatu, also known as Survivor: Vanuatu — Islands of Fire, is the ninth season of Survivor. Filmed in Vanuatu, a chain of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, the season premiered on September 16, 2004.

The second season divided by gender, the game was largely dominated by the women, who made up six out of the final seven. Against all odds, the lone man Chris Daugherty defeated Twila Tanner in a 5-2 vote to become the ninth Sole Survivor. To date, it has produced two returning players (Ami Cusack and Eliza Orlins) for subsequent seasons.

Production[]

The season was announced at the end of "The Instigator" where the number of players returned to the standard 16, but was eventually increased back to 18.

Survivor Live, an hour-long Internet talk show hosted by the show's first winner Richard Hatch and Entertainment Tonight correspondent Chris Booker, debuted during the season. The talk show, airing every Thursday and Friday on the CBS website, interviews former contestants and reviews the players' game-play.

The DVD for this season was released on December 5, 2006. It was the final Survivor DVD set to feature commentaries and DVD-exclusive interviews.

Twists/Changes[]

  • Expanded Cast: Following its predecessor, this season also featured eighteen castaways.
  • Tribe Composition: The castaways are divided into tribes of nine based on gender: The Lopevi tribe was composed of all men and the Yasur tribe was composed of all women.
  • Double Tribal Council: On Day 7, both tribes were forced to attend Tribal Council separately to vote out one of their own.
  • Tribe Switch: On Day 11, selected tribe "chiefs" were tasked to rearrange the tribes, mixing up the men and the women. Two members from both tribes joined the other.
  • Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
  • Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

Castaways[]

Contestant Tribe Affiliation Finish Votes
Against
Original Tribe Switched Tribe Merged Tribe
S9 brook t Brook Geraghty
27, Winthrop, MA
Document Manager
Lopevi 1st Voted Out
Day 3
5
S9 dolly t Dolly Neely
25, Mercer, PA
Sheep Farmer
Yasur 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
5
S9 johnp t John Palyok
31, Los Angeles, CA
Sales Manager
Lopevi 3rd Voted Out
Day 7
5
S9 mia t Mia Galeotalanza
29, Boston, MA
Bookkeeper
Yasur 4th Voted Out
Day 7
5
S9 brady t Brady Finta
33, Huntington Beach, CA
FBI Agent
Lopevi 5th Voted Out
Day 10
6
S9 travis t Travis Sampson
33, Johnson City, TN
Security Officer
Lopevi Yasur 6th Voted Out
Day 12
6
S9 lisa t Lisa Keiffer
44, Mandeville, LA
Real Estate Agent
Yasur Yasur 7th Voted Out
Day 15
4
S9 johnk t John Kenney
22, Los Angeles, CA
Mechanical Bull Operator/Model
Lopevi Lopevi 8th Voted Out
Day 18
5
S9 rory t Rory Freeman
35, Des Moines, IA
Housing Case Manager
Lopevi Yasur Alinta 9th Voted Out
Day 21
14
S9 lea t Lea Masters
40, Columbia, SC
Drill Sergeant
Lopevi Lopevi 10th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
7
S9 chad t Chad Crittenden
34, Oakland, CA
Teacher
Lopevi Lopevi 11th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
7
S9 leann t Leann Slaby
34, Kansasville, WI
Equity Research Assistant
Yasur Yasur 12th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
8
S9 ami t Ami Cusack
31, Lakewood, CO
Coffee Barista
Yasur Yasur 13th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
8
S9 julie t Julie Berry
23, Gorham, ME
Youth Mentor
Yasur Lopevi 14th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
4
S9 eliza t Eliza Orlins
21, Syracuse, NY
Pre-Law Student
Yasur Yasur 15th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 37
9
S9 scout t Scout Cloud Lee
59, Stillwater, OK
Rancher
Yasur Yasur 16th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 38
3
S9 twila t Twila Tanner
41, Marshall, MO
Highway Repair Worker
Yasur Lopevi Runner-Up 6
S9 chris t Chris Daugherty
33, South Vienna, OH
Highway Construction Worker
Lopevi Lopevi Sole Survivor 3

Season Summary[]

The players were brought into the game at a native gathering, with the natives dividing the group to men and women. After the opening ceremony, the men were named the Lopevi tribe, and the women the Yasur tribe. Following the ceremony's conclusion, both groups were sent to find their camps in the dark.

At the first Immunity Challenge, Lopevi lost; mainly due to Chris' inability to cross a balance beam. This seemed like the end of the game for him; however, Lea succeeded in convincing the older men of the tribe to form an alliance and vote off the younger men. At the all-female Yasur, two factions also based around age quickly emerged, both fighting over Dolly's vote. With Dolly refusing to commit to either alliance, a concerned Eliza made a temporary jump to the older women to vote Dolly out.

A Tribe Switch occurred on Day 11, mixing the two tribes. At the new Lopevi, the men decided to invite Twila into their alliance, who she swore that both she and Julie would side with them come the merge. On the new Yasur, there were frequent clashes between Ami (the head of the women's alliance) and Rory, the latter of whom narrowly avoided elimination when the women decided to vote out the untrustworthy Lisa over him.

On Day 19, the two tribes merged and took the name Alinta, with the women outnumbering the men, six to four. While the men reformed their alliance, Julie and Twila broke their promise to them. The six women joined forces and eliminated the men until only Chris was left. Chris was set to be voted out when he failed to win immunity on Day 30, but the women's alliance began to crumble as they decided to vote out Eliza instead. This allowed Scout and Twila, the latter who swore on her son's life that she wouldn't betray Ami and Leann, to pull in Chris and Eliza and flip the game on its head. The plan worked, as Ami and her allies were systematically voted out. Chris won the last two Immunity Challenges, which allowed him to remain in power. He ultimately took Twila with him to the Final Two.

At the Final Tribal Council, Chris was heavily criticized particularly by Julie and Eliza for breaking promises and abusing relationships, while Twila was confronted for swearing on her son's life and attitude. Chris's ability to stay in the game despite the incredible odds against him convinced the jury to vote for him. He won the title of Sole Survivor by a vote of 5-2.

Episode Air date Challenges Eliminated
(Vote)
Finish Viewers
(in millions)
Ratings/Share
(18-49)
Reward Immunity
1 "They Came at Us with Spears!" September 16, 2004 Yasur1 Brook
(5-3-1)
1st Voted Out
Day 3
20.06[2] 7.8/22[2]
2 "Burly Girls, Bowheads, Young Studs, and the Old Bunch" September 23, 2004 Yasur Lopevi Dolly
(5-4)
2nd Voted Out
Day 6
19.14[3] 7.5/22[3]
3 "Double Tribal, Double Trouble" September 30, 2004 Lopevi John K. John P.
(5-3)
3rd Voted Out
Day 7
19.91[4] 7.5/21[4]
[Ami]2 Mia
(5-3)
4th Voted Out
Day 7
4 "Now That's a Reward!" October 7, 2004 Yasur Yasur Brady
(6-1)
5th Voted Out
Day 10
19.46[5] 7.3/21[5]
5 "Earthquakes and Shake-Ups!" October 14, 2004 Lopevi Lopevi Travis
(6-1)
6th Voted Out
Day 12
19.16[6] 7.0/19[6]
6 "Hog Tied" October 21, 2004 Lopevi Lopevi Lisa
(4-2)
7th Voted Out
Day 15
19.22[7] 7.3/20[7]
7 "Anger, Threats, Tears... and Coffee" October 28, 2004 Yasur Yasur John K.
(5-1)
8th Voted Out
Day 18
20.24[8] 7.6/20[8]
8 "Now the Battle Really Begins" November 4, 2004 Lopevi Lea Rory
(6-4)
9th Voted Out
Day 21
20.70 7.6/20
9 "Gender Wars... It's Getting Ugly" November 11, 2004 Leann
[Julie]
Ami Lea
(7-1-1)
10th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
20.14 7.4/N/A
10 "Culture Shock and Violent Storms" November 18, 2004 Ami, Chad,
Chris, Eliza
Twila Chad
(6-2)
11th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
20.70 7.7/N/A
11 "Surprise and... Surprise Again!" November 25, 2004 Eliza Ami Leann
(4-3)
12th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
19.72 7.2/19
12 "Now Who's in Charge Here?!" December 2, 2004 Eliza Chris Ami
(4-2)
13th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
20.3 7.6/21
Ami
Chris
13 "Eruption of Volcanic Magnitude" December 9, 2004 Julie
[Chris]
Eliza Julie
(3-2)
14th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
19.72 7.5/16
14 "Spirits and the Final Four" December 12, 2004 None Chris Eliza
(3-1)
15th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 37
19.71[9] 7.5/16[9]
Chris Scout
(1-0)
16th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 38
Jury Vote Twila
(5-2)
Runner-Up
Chris
(5-2)
Sole Survivor
15 "Reunion" 15.23[10] 9.0/14[10]
Notes:
^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
^2 John K. had the right to assign individual immunity to a member of Yasur, in which he chose Ami.

Voting History[]

Original Tribes Switched Tribes Merged Tribe
Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Voted Out S9 brook t
Brook
S9 dolly t
Dolly
S9 johnp t
John P.
S9 mia t
Mia
S9 brady t
Brady
S9 travis t
Travis
S9 lisa t
Lisa
S9 johnk t
John K.
S9 rory t
Rory
S9 lea t
Lea
S9 chad t
Chad
S9 leann t
Leann
S9 ami t
Ami
S9 julie t
Julie
S9 eliza t
Eliza
S9 scout t
Scout
S9 twila t
Twila
S9 chris t
Chris
Vote 5-3-1 5-4 5-3 5-3 6-1 6-1 4-2 5-1 6-4 7-1-1 6-2 4-3 4-2 3-2 3-1 1-01 5-2
Chris Brook John P. Brady John K. Ami Lea Eliza Leann Ami Julie Eliza Scout Jury Vote
Twila Dolly Mia John K. Rory Lea Chad Leann Ami Julie Eliza None
Scout Dolly Mia Travis Rory Rory Lea Chad Leann Ami Julie Eliza None Twila
Eliza Dolly Twila Travis Lisa Rory Lea Chad Leann Ami Twila Twila Chris
Julie Leann Twila John K. Rory Lea Chad Eliza Scout Twila Chris
Ami Dolly Mia Travis Lisa Rory Lea Chad Eliza Scout Twila
Leann Dolly Mia Travis Lisa Rory Lea Chad Eliza Chris
Chad Brook John P. Brady John K. Ami Julie Eliza Chris
Lea Brook John P. Brady John K. Ami Eliza Chris
Rory Brook John P. Brady Travis Lisa Ami
John K. Chris Rory Brady Chad
Lisa Leann Mia Travis Rory
Travis Brook John P. Brady Rory
Brady Rory Rory Rory
Mia Leann Twila
John P. Chris Rory
Dolly Leann
Brook Chris
Notes:
^1 Scout and Twila did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Chris voted.

Trivia[]

  • This is the first season with 18 castaways where all of them are new players.
  • As revealed on Survivor: America's Tribal Council special during the previews for this season, Jeff Probst stated there was going to be 16 castaways originally.
  • This is the second season to feature a Battle of the Sexes format, following Survivor: The Amazon. It is the only Battle of the Sexes season where the women entered the merge with numbers over the men (The men had the numbers on The Amazon and Survivor: Panama, while on Survivor: One World, the men and women merged with equal numbers).
  • All eighteen contestants of Survivor: Vanuatu were present during the Survivor 10th anniversary party.
  • During this season, the filming location was struck by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake.[11]
  • After the Day 18 Immunity Challenge, Rory accidentally snapped the head of the Immunity Idol.
  • This season featured the first amputee contestant, Chad Crittenden.
  • This is the second season to have two castaways with the same first name placed on the same starting tribe.
    • They also were residing in the same hometown at the time they competed on the show.
  • This is the first season to have a subtitle in its name.
  • Only two men were on the jury this season, the fewest men on any jury thus far.
  • With the exception of the premiere and finale, every episode contained separate Reward and Immunity Challenges.
    • This is the only season in which both the final pre-merge and first post-merge episodes contained separate Reward and Immunity Challenges, and as a result the season with the most consecutive episodes with separate Reward and Immunity Challenges.
    • If the opening twist is counted as a de facto Reward Challenge, every episode contained exactly two challenges.
  • This is the first season to not feature the Buggin' Out challenge.

References[]

Survivor (U.S.) Seasons
BorneoThe Australian OutbackAfricaMarquesasThailandThe AmazonPearl IslandsAll-StarsVanuatuPalauGuatemalaPanamaCook IslandsFijiChinaMicronesiaGabonTocantinsSamoaHeroes vs. VillainsNicaraguaRedemption IslandSouth PacificOne WorldPhilippinesCaramoanBlood vs. WaterCagayanSan Juan del SurWorlds ApartCambodiaKaôh RōngMillennials vs. Gen XGame ChangersHeroes vs. Healers vs. HustlersGhost IslandDavid vs. GoliathEdge of ExtinctionIsland of the IdolsWinners at WarSurvivor 41Survivor 42Survivor 43Survivor 44Survivor 45Survivor 46
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