Survivor: South Pacific is the twenty-third season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed from May 30 through July 7, 2011, and premiered on September 14, 2011.
Sophie Clarke was named the winner in the final episode on December 18, 2011, defeating Benjamin "Coach" Wade and Albert Destrade in a 6–3–0 vote. Ozzy Lusth won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season", winning this honor by the largest margin since the award's inception in Survivor: China, and earning the fans' vote over John Cochran.
Format
Survivor is a reality television show based on the Swedish show Expedition Robinson, created by Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons. The series follows a number of participants isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter. One participant is removed from the series by majority vote every three days, with challenges held to give a reward (ranging from living- and food-related prizes to a car) and immunity from being voted out of the series. The last remaining player receives a prize of $1,000,000.
Contestants
This season features 16 new Survivor contestants and two returning players: Ozzy Lusth from Cook Islands and Micronesia, and Benjamin "Coach" Wade from Tocantins and Heroes vs. Villains. Shane Powers of Panama was contacted, however he declined and was replaced by Lusth. Notable contestants include Brandon Hantz, nephew of three-time Survivor contestant Russell Hantz; country singer Whitney Duncan, a finalist on the fifth season of Nashville Star; and beauty queen and dancer Elyse Umemoto, who was Miss Washington 2007 and 2nd runner-up at Miss America 2008.
The players were initially split into two tribes of nine, each with one returning player: Savaii and Upolu, named after the two main islands of the independent nation of Samoa. When the tribes were merged into one, they chose to name their new tribe Te Tuna, after a Samoan legend about the origins of the coconut tree.
+List of Survivor: South Pacific contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Main game Redemption Island Original Merged Finish Day Finish Day 24Los Angeles,California1st voted outDay 3Lost duel 1Day 6 39Merrick,New York2nd voted outDay 5Lost duel 6Day 19 48Forest Hills,New York3rd voted outDay 8Lost duel 2Day 9 44Grand Prairie,Texas4th voted outDay 11Lost duel 3Day 12 27Las Vegas,Nevada5th voted outDay 14Lost duel 4Day 15 22Tampa,Florida6th voted outDay 16Lost duel 5Day 17 (Returned to game) rowspan="7" 7th voted outDay 181st returneeDay 19 26Edina,Minnesotarowspan=13 8th voted outDay 21Lost duel 72nd jury memberDay 25 (Returned to game)9th voted outDay 222nd returneeDay 36 35Denver,Colorado10th voted outDay 24Lost duel 71st jury memberDay 25 41South Jordan,Utah11th voted outDay 27Lost duel 83rd jury memberDay 28 27Nashville,Tennessee12th voted outLost duel 84th jury member 24Washington,D.C.13th voted outDay 30Lost duel 95th jury memberDay 31 35Los Angeles,California rowspan="3" 14th voted outDay 32Lost duel 106th jury memberDay 33 19Katy,Texas15th voted outDay 35Lost duel 117th jury memberDay 36 51Aurora,Utah16th voted out8th jury memberDay 37 Cook Islands &Micronesia29Venice,California 17th voted out9th jury member Day 38 26Plantation,Florida rowspan="3" 2nd runner-upDay 39 Tocantins &Heroes vs. Villains39Susanville,CaliforniaRunner-up 21Willsboro,New YorkSole Survivor
Future appearances Brandon Hantz, John Cochran, and Dawn Meehan returned for Survivor: Caramoan. Jim Rice and Mikayla Wingle were included on the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia, but neither was chosen to compete. Ozzy Lusth played for a fourth time on Survivor: Game Changers. Cochran also made a special appearance in the fifth episode of Game Changers, where he gave advice to a contestant who was exiled. Sophie Clarke returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.Jeff Probst shares intel on Survivor: Winners at War Entertainment Weekly, Retrieved April 3, 2020 Lusth and Wade once again competed on Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.
Outside of Survivor, Edna Ma appeared on the fifth season of ABC's Shark Tank to secure funding for her product "BareEASE". Whitney Duncan and Keith Tollefson competed as a team on The Amazing Race 25. Wingle competed with Survivor: Pearl Islands castaway Ryan Opray on the Amazon Prime Video series World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji as part of Team Peak Traverse.
Season summary
Sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Savaii and Upolu, were joined by returning contestants, Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth and Benjamin "Coach" Wade, with Ozzy joining Savaii and Coach joining Upolu by random draw. Redemption Island was again in play: voted out players would be sent to Redemption Island and participate in duels, with the winner remaining there until either the next duel or until two specific points where players were brought back into the game.
Both tribes rallied under the leadership of Ozzy and Coach. Ozzy's style was somewhat more aggressive, establishing a rift between the majority of his alliance and others, specifically the weaker Cochran. Coach, having reflected on his past performances on Survivor, had a more open style, which most of the group readily followed, including Brandon, who later revealed himself to be the nephew of former Survivor castaway Russell Hantz, and had feared revealing this lest he draw his tribe's ire. Both Ozzy and Coach found their tribes' respective Hidden Immunity Idols.
The two tribes fared equally at challenges and retained similar numbers, and as they approached the perceived merge, Ozzy offered a plan to volunteer to be voted to go to Redemption Island, where he would likely win the challenge over Christine, a former Upolu member, assuring that the tribes would be equal at six members each when merged. This plan went as expected, and the newly merged tribe named themselves Te Tuna. However, Savaii's former rash behavior to Cochran was seen as an opportunity by the former Upolu members, and they were able to turn Cochran to their side on the first vote after the merge, voting out former Savaii member Keith. The Upolu members and Cochran would continue to dominate at Tribal Council, sending the remaining Savaii members to Redemption Island, starting with Ozzy, who dominated at Redemption Island subsequently.
With no other Savaii members remaining, Cochran was voted out next, followed by Upolu outsider Edna. In the subsequent challenge, Brandon won immunity but offered it to his closest ally Albert, who was the intended target of the vote. Brandon was voted out instead and defeated by Ozzy the next day at the final Redemption duel. Ozzy returned to the game and won the subsequent challenge; at Tribal Council, Sophie broke down into tears but affirmed her commitment to the game, and Rick was voted off. In the final immunity challenge between Coach, Ozzy, Sophie, and Albert, Sophie was narrowly able to defeat Ozzy; she and her former Upolu members voted off Ozzy for the third and final time. Coach, Albert, and Sophie faced the final Tribal Council, where Coach was criticized for manipulating his tribe while simultaneously preaching the importance of honor and Albert was considered to have given his former tribe members false hope. The jury awarded Sophie the title of Sole Survivor over Coach and Albert in a 6–3–0 vote, respectively.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeRedemption IslandChallenge winner(s)EliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateWinnerEliminatedRewardImmunityTribePlayer1"I Need Redemption"September 14, 2011 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Semhar2"He Has Demons"September 21, 2011colspan="2" Christine3"Reap What You Sow"September 28, 2011ChristineSemharcolspan="2" 4"Survivalism"October 5, 2011ChristinePapa Bearcolspan="2" Stacey5"Taste the Victory"October 12, 2011ChristineStaceycolspan="2" Elyse6"Free Agent"October 19, 2011ChristineElysecolspan="2" Mikayla7"Trojan Horse"October 26, 2011ChristineMikaylacolspan="2" Ozzy8"Double Agent"November 2, 2011 Ozzy Christine rowspan="6" Dawn rowspan="6" KeithOzzy9"Cut Throat"November 9, 2011rowspan="2" colspan="2" JimOzzyWhitneyJim10"Running the Show"November 16, 2011 OzzyJimSophieDawnKeithSophieWhitney11"A Closer Look"November 23, 2011Recap Episode12"Cult Like"November 30, 2011 OzzyDawn Albert(Cochran)[Coach] Albert rowspan="6" CochranWhitney13"Ticking Time Bomb"December 7, 2011 OzzyCochranOzzy[Albert,Brandon, Coach]CoachEdna14"Then There Were Five"December 14, 2011 OzzyEdnaBrandon[Rick]Brandon(Albert)Brandon15"Loyalties Will Be Broken"December 18, 2011 OzzyBrandonrowspan="2" OzzyRickSophieOzzy16"Reunion" In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.
Episodes
Voting history Original tribesMerged tribeEpisode1234567891012131415Day35811141618212224273032353738Tribecolspan=2 colspan=2 EliminatedSemharChristineStaceyElyseMikaylaOzzyKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyCochranEdnaBrandonRickOzzyVotes8–16–1–17–13–2–24–35–16–66–49–27–37–27–15–25–13–23–23–1VoterVoteSophieStaceyStaceyEdnaKeithKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyCochranEdnaBrandonRickOzzyCoachChristineStaceyMikaylaKeithKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyCochranEdnaBrandonRickOzzyAlbertChristineStaceyEdnaKeithKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyCochranEdnaSophieRickOzzyOzzySemharCochranCochranRickRickCochran SophieAlbertRickStaceyStaceyMikaylaKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyCochranEdnaBrandonSophieBrandonChristineStaceyMikaylaKeithKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyCochranEdnaSophieEdnaStaceyStaceyMikaylaKeithKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyRickBrandonCochranSemharElyseOzzyRickKeithOzzyJimDawnWhitneyRickWhitneySemharDawnOzzyRickRickOzzyEdnaEdnaCochranDawnSemharElyseOzzyRickRickOzzyEdnaEdnaJimSemharCochranElyseOzzyRickRickCochranEdnaKeithSemharDawnOzzyRickMikaylaChristineStaceyEdnaElyseSemharCochranStaceySophieEdnaPapa BearSemharJimChristineEdnaSemharCochran Jury vote Episode 16 Day 39 Finalist Sophie Coach AlbertVotes6–3–0JurorVoteOzzyRickBrandonEdnaCochranWhitneyDawnKeithJim
Production Casting Applications were due on January 11, 2011, approximately 800 applicants visited in various states, from there 16 contestants were chosen as participants.
Filming Samoa was not initially selected as a location for this season, as the show had already filmed two seasons (Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains) in the area. The production team withdrew from their original locale, Tonga, due to economic problems. The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu and it served as the location for the next season and this was the third season to be filmed in the country, tied with Panama. Redemption Island, first introduced in the prior season, returned for this season. Reception