Survivor: Fiji is the fourteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed in the Fiji Islands from October 30 until December 7, 2006, and aired from February 8, 2007, until the two-hour season finale on May 13, 2007, followed by a live reunion from Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, where Earl Cole was named the Sole Survivor over Andria "Dreamz" Herd and Cassandra Franklin in the first unanimous vote of the show's history.
This is the first season of Survivor to have an odd number of castaways, with 19, after a 20th castaway, Mellisa McNulty, withdrew the night before filming began. Due to the timing and lack of alternates, her spot could not be replaced. Gary Stritesky was the only contestant who applied to be on the show; McNulty and the other 18 contestants were recruited. The cast maintained a similarly racially diverse cast (with the intended 20 person cast containing equal amounts of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and European American castaways) as Survivor: Cook Islands, in a conscious effort intended to show that the racial diversity of Survivor: Cook Islands was not just a ratings stunt.
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 The two tribes were Moto and Ravu, meaning "spear" and "to kill" in Fijian respectively, while the merged tribe Bula Bula means "welcome" or "hello" in Fijian.
Fiji is the first season to have a gender imbalance, due to one contestant pulling herself from the cast right before filming began. It would be followed by Survivor: San Juan del Sur, Survivor 41, and Survivor 47.
+List of Survivor: Fiji contestantsContestantAgeFrom Tribe Finish Original Switched Merged Placement Day 27Los Angeles,California rowspan="3" 1st voted outDay 3 27Baton Rouge,Louisiana2nd voted outDay 6 52Ross,California3rd voted outDay 8 55Ramsey,Minnesota rowspan="2" Quit(Illness)Day 10 25Los Angeles,California4th voted outDay 11 38San Antonio,Texas rowspan="3" 5th voted outDay 14 32Compton,California rowspan="3" 6th voted outDay 16 28Los Angeles,California7th voted out1st jury memberDay 19 36Los Angeles,California 8th voted out2nd jury memberDay 21 23Cincinnati,Ohio rowspan=10 9th voted out3rd jury memberDay 24 28Miami Beach,Florida rowspan="3" 10th voted out4th jury memberDay 27 25Chicago,Illinois 11th voted out5th jury memberDay 30 28Los Angeles,California rowspan="3" 12th voted out6th jury memberDay 33 27Boulder,Colorado rowspan="3" 13th voted out7th jury memberDay 36 34Lafayette,Louisiana14th voted out8th jury memberDay 37 54Martinez,California 15th voted out9th jury memberDay 38 25Wilmington,North Carolina rowspan="2" Co-runners-up | rowspan="3" |Day 39 42Los Angeles,California rowspan="2" 35Santa Monica,California Sole Survivor
Future appearances Yau-Man Chan later competed in Survivor: Micronesia.
Outside of Survivor, Earl Cole appeared on an episode of the thirteenth season of Shark Tank. Cole was also a contestant on the 2022 USA Network reality competition series Snake in the Grass.
Season summary
Due to one player dropping out prior to the game, the season started with 19 players. After arriving at their beach as one group, instructions and materials for building a camp were dropped from a plane. Before the first challenge, the castaways were divided into two tribes by Sylvia, appointed for her leadership in building the camp, who was sent to Exile Island due to the odd number of players. After the challenge, the winning team, Moto, returned to the constructed camp, while the losing team, Ravu, was directed to a different beach where only meager supplies awaited them; Sylvia joined Ravu shortly afterwards. While both tribes vied equally in challenges, it was clear Moto was in much better shape due to the better camp, winning every single challenge. The better camp was seen as such a boon that, when given a choice after the fourth Immunity Challenge to forfeit either the immunity they just won or their camp to Ravu, they chose to forfeit immunity and vote someone out. On Ravu, an alliance between Earl and Yau-Man was formed. When Earl was sent to Exile Island, he conspired with Yau-Man to find a hidden immunity idol located at the camp, which Yau-Man did.
A tribal shuffle served to further alliances; Earl and Yau-Man brought Michelle, Cassandra and Boo into their fold, while Alex became the leader of an alliance between himself, Mookie, Edgardo, and Dreamz, titling themselves the "Four Horsemen". Mookie found the other hidden immunity idol, but decided not to tell Dreamz because of the latter's lack of trustworthiness. The tribes merged at the original Moto camp, stripped of their original structures and luxuries. The first post-merge immunity challenge divided the contestants into two randomly selected teams, putting Michelle with most of the Horsemen, and leading to her being voted out. After Dreamz discovered his alliance had neglected to tell him about Mookie's idol, he defected to Earl's alliance and worked with them to trick Mookie into misplaying his idol. Stacy joined their alliance and suggested targeting Edgardo, resulting in the systematic eliminations of the three loyal Horsemen.
The reward challenge played by the final six players was for a truck. Yau-Man won the challenge, but made a deal with Dreamz to trade the truck in exchange for the final challenge's immunity necklace should Dreamz win it. While Dreamz attempted to get out of the deal by targeting Yau-Man immediately, Yau-Man played his idol and Stacy was sent home, followed by Boo for being a physical threat. Dreamz won the final immunity challenge, but reneged on his deal with Yau-Man at the subsequent Tribal Council; Yau-Man was the final player voted out. At the final Tribal Council, Dreamz's actions and Cassandra's quiet game led the jury to vote unanimously for Earl as the 14th Sole Survivor.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeChallenge winner(s)ExileIslandEliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateRewardImmunityTribePlayer 1"Something Cruel Is About to Happen... Real Soon"February 8, 2007colspan=2 Jessica 2"Snakes Are Misunderstood...We Have an Understanding Now"February 15, 2007colspan=2 Erica 3"This Is Not Survival...It's a Thrival"February 22, 2007 Sylvia4"Let's Just Call Jeff on the Jeff Phone"March 1, 2007 rowspan=2 rowspan=2 Gary Liliana 5"Love Many, Trust Few, Do Wrong to None"March 8, 2007 Rita 6"I've Got Strength Now to Carry the Flag"March 21, 2007 Anthony 7"An Evil Thought"March 29, 2007 Rocky 8"So You Think You Can Meke?"April 5, 2007 Lisi 9"Are We Gonna Live on Exile Island?!"April 12, 2007 Boo, Cassandra, Earl,Edgardo, Yau-Man rowspan="8" Michelle 10"It's a Turtle?!"April 19, 2007 Cassandra[Boo, Dreamz,Yau-Man] Yau-Man Mookie Edgardo 11"Blackmail or Betrayal"April 26, 2007 Alex, Dreamz,Earl, Stacy Stacy Boo Mookie 12"A Smile, Velvet Gloves and a Dagger in My Pocket"May 3, 2007 Boo, Dreamz,Yau-Man Boo Earl Alex13"I Wanna See If I Can Make a Deal"May 10, 2007 (Dreamz) Boo Stacy Boo,Stacy14"You've Got That Puzzled Look"May 13, 2007 rowspan="2" Yau-Man rowspan="2" Boo Dreamz Yau-Man15"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 tribesSwitched tribesMerged tribeEpisode1234567891011121314 Day 3 6 8 10 11 14 16 19 21 24 27 30 33 36 37 38 Tribe EliminatedJessicaEricaSylviaGaryLilianaRitaAnthonyRockyLisiMichelleEdgardoMookieAlexStacyBooYau-Man Votes6–24–3–1Quit6–1–15–25–14–24–13–25–3–14–3–16–12–04–13–1VoterVoteEarlJessicaSylviaRitaEdgardoAlexAlexStacyBooYau-ManCassandraLisiEdgardoMookieAlexYau-ManBooYau-ManDreamzLilianaAnthonyRockyLisiMichelleMookieMookieAlexYau-ManBooYau-ManYau-ManJessicaEricaSylviaRitaEdgardoAlexAlexStacyBooCassandraBooLilianaEdgardoMookieAlexYau-ManDreamzStacyLilianaMichelleEdgardoAlexAlexYau-ManAlexLilianaAnthonyRockyLisiMichelleCassandraMookieYau-ManMookieJessicaEricaAnthonyRitaAnthonyLisiLisiStacyCassandraBooEdgardoLilianaAnthonyRockyLisiCassandraMichelleJessicaEricaSylviaAnthonyStacyLisiLilianaRockyDreamzRockyMookieEricaAnthonyRitaAnthonyLisiAnthonyJessicaSylviaSylviaRitaRockyRitaJessicaEricaEarlAnthonyLilianaCassandraGaryQuitSylviaEricaAnthonyEricaSylviaJessicaRita Jury vote Episode15 Day39 Finalist Earl Cassandra Dreamz Votes9–0–0JurorVoteYau-ManBooStacyAlexMookieEdgardoMichelleLisiRocky
Filming locations Survivor: Fiji was filmed in the eastern region of the Macuata province, on Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu, about from the town of Labasa. Tribal Council, the production camp ("Tent City"), and several challenges were located in close proximity to the village of Vunivutu. Other challenges were held on Katawaqa Island, Tivi Island, Vatudamu Point, and fields along the Wainikoro River. The Moto (and later Bula Bula) tribe lived on a peninsula in Vunivutu Bay, while the Ravu tribe lived on Druadrua Island under much harsher conditions. Exile Island's actual name is Sausau Island. Reward getaways included trips to the Namale Resort and Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort in the town of Savusavu, as well as a rafting excursion on the Navua River on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu.
Political turmoil in Fiji
On December 5, 2006 (two days before the Final Tribal Council), a coup d'état was initiated by Fiji's military leader, Frank Bainimarama. While there was some speculation that a full evacuation of the Survivor crew members from Fiji would take place, only a few crew members on the mainland were relocated to the second-smallest island. However, the political turmoil prior to the coup did prevent the families of the cast members from coming to Fiji to participate in a reward challenge (as usually occurs on Survivor) that occurred towards the end of filming.
Reception