# Survivor NZ: Nicaragua

Survivor NZ: Nicaragua is the first season of Survivor NZ, a television series based on the popular reality game show Survivor. The series was announced in February 2016, and premiered on TVNZ 2 on 7 May 2017. The season was filmed in Nicaragua, the same location as four seasons of the American edition of Survivor: Nicaragua, Redemption Island, San Juan del Sur and Worlds Apart.
The sixteen contestants were initially separated into two tribes, named Hermosa and Mogotón. When ten players remained, they merged into one tribe, named Casar. Avi Duckor-Jones won the season and was named the Sole Survivor. Matai'a Salatielu "Sala" Tiatia was voted the Gem People's Choice Award.

## Contestants

List of Survivor NZ: Nicaragua contestants :
| Contestant | Original tribe | Switched tribe | Merged tribe | Main game | Redemption Island |
| Deanna "Dee" Cambiaso 29, Auckland | Hermosa | | | 2nd voted out Day 1 | Lost duel 1 Day 2 |
| Hannah Gough 27, Whangārei | Mogotón | | | 1st voted out Day 1 | Lost duel 2 Day 6 |
| Anthony "Tony" Deane 55, Gisborne | Mogotón | | | 3rd voted out Day 4 | Lost duel 3 Day 10 |
| Louisa "Lou" McClintock 19, Cheviot | Mogotón | | | Medically evacuated Day 10 | |
| Isabel "Izzy" Pearson 30, Auckland | Mogotón | | | 4th voted out Day 8 | Lost duel 4 Day 14 |
| Georgia Bergerson 26, Palmerston North | Hermosa | Hermosa | | 5th voted out Day 12 | Lost duel 5 Day 17 |
| Shayna "Shay" Swain-Tapusoa Returned to game | Mogotón | Mogotón | | 6th voted out Day 16 | 1st returnee Day 17 |
| Leandro "Lee" Den Haan 29, Motueka | Hermosa | Mogotón | Casar | 7th voted out Day 20 | Lost duel 6 1st jury member Day 22 |
| Matai'a Salatielu "Sala" Tiatia 40, Christchurch | Mogotón | Hermosa | Casar | 9th voted out Day 24 | Lost duel 7 2nd jury member Day 25 |
| Shannon Quinn 24, Christchurch | Hermosa | Hermosa | Casar | 11th voted out Day 28 | Lost duel 8 3rd jury member Day 30 |
| Shayna "Shay" Swain-Tapusoa 27, Hamilton | Mogotón | Mogotón | Casar | 12th voted out Day 32 | Lost duel 9 4th jury member Day 34 |
| Jakob "Jak" Thomas 22, Lower Hutt | Hermosa | Mogotón | Casar | 10th voted out Day 26 | Lost duel 10 5th jury member Day 36 |
| Michael "Mike" Sparrow Returned to game | Hermosa | Mogotón | Casar | 8th voted out Day 20 | 2nd returnee Day 36 |
| Nathan "Nate" Davis Returned to game | Hermosa | Hermosa | Casar | 13th voted out Day 35 | 3rd returnee Day 36 |
| Michael "Mike" Sparrow 27, Tauranga | Hermosa | Mogotón | Casar | 14th voted out 6th jury member Day 37 | |
| Nathan "Nate" Davis 45, Dannevirke | Hermosa | Hermosa | Casar | 15th voted out 7th jury member Day 38 | |
| Barbara "Barb" Raos 53, Auckland | Hermosa | Hermosa | Casar | 2nd runner-up | |
| Thomas "Tom" Paterson 26, Tauranga | Mogotón | Mogotón | Casar | Runner-up | |
| Avi Duckor-Jones 32, Wellington | Mogotón | Hermosa | Casar | Sole Survivor | |
* ↑ Shannon was exiled to Redemption Island for 24 hours after drawing the black buff during the tribe switch. She joined the tribe that lost the next Immunity Challenge, Hermosa, after their Tribal Council.

## Season summary

Sixteen castaways arrived in Nicaragua and were divided into two tribes of eight: Mogotón and Hermosa. Immediately, both tribes were informed that they would each vote out a player that same day with no opportunity to earn immunity. Following the double elimination, Redemption Island was introduced, giving previously eliminated players another chance to return to the game. Hermosa fared better in challenges, and Mogotón's woes continued with a surprise medical evacuation. Afterwards, tribes were shuffled with the former Hermosa members in the majority on both tribes. Nate and Barb blindsided Georgia on Hermosa, and Tom betrayed his former Mogotón members to side with the Hermosa men and eliminate his rival Shay on Mogotón.
Shay returned to the game after defeating Georgia in the final pre-merge duel, and the tribes merged. The former Hermosa members maintained a majority over Mogotón, but loyalties were in question due to the tribal shuffle. Nate, Barb, Avi and Sala brought in Shannon and counted on Tom to rejoin his old Mogotón players, due to their being down in numbers. The alliance of five quickly took out Lee and Mike, but briefly fell apart after Barb organised a blindside of Sala, the most liked player in the game.
After Sala's blindside, Tom realised he needed to realign with Avi, and they proved to be the most powerful duo in the game (rivaling Nate and Barb). Nate was eliminated at the final four after Barb won a crucial immunity. In spite of both Mike and Nate winning their way back from Redemption Island at the end of the competition, Avi, Tom and Barb remained strong to the end, with Barb saying all along that her mission in the game was to get one of them to win. When the three finalists faced the jury, Barb was grilled for being lazy and accused of not playing for almost half of the game. Tom had many allies on the jury but Avi's stronger argument (highlighting Tom staying in the game due to Avi saving him) earned him the title of Sole Survivor by a vote of 6-1-0.
Challenge winners and eliminations by cycle :
| Episode(s) | Original air date(s) | Redemption Island duel | Redemption Island duel | Challenge winner(s) | Challenge winner(s) | Voted out | Finish | Source |
| Episode(s) | Original air date(s) | Winner(s) | Eliminated | Reward | Immunity | Voted out | Finish | Source |
| 1 & 2 | May 7 & 8, 2017 | None | None | None | None | Hannah | 1st voted out Day 1 | |
| 1 & 2 | May 7 & 8, 2017 | None | None | None | None | Dee | 2nd voted out Day 1 | |
| 1 & 2 | May 7 & 8, 2017 | Hannah | Dee | None | Hermosa | Tony | 3rd voted out Day 4 | |
| 3 & 4 | May 14 & 15, 2017 | Tony | Hannah | Hermosa | Hermosa | Izzy | 4th voted out Day 8 | |
| 5 & 6 | May 21 & 22, 2017 | Izzy | Tony | Mogotón | Shannon | Lou | Medically evacuated Day 10 | |
| 5 & 6 | May 21 & 22, 2017 | Izzy | Tony | Mogotón | Mogotón | Georgia | 5th voted out Day 12 | |
| 7 & 8 | May 28 & 29, 2017 | Georgia | Izzy | Hermosa | Hermosa | Shay | 6th voted out Day 16 | |
| 9 & 10 | June 4 & 5, 2017 | Shay | Georgia | Mike [Shannon, Shay] | Mike | Lee | 7th voted out Day 20 | |
| 11 & 12 | June 11 & 12, 2017 | None | None | None | Jak | Mike | 8th voted out Day 20 | |
| 11 & 12 | June 11 & 12, 2017 | Mike | Lee | Barb [Jak, Nate, Sala] | Tom | Sala | 9th voted out Day 24 | |
| 13 & 14 | June 18 & 19, 2017 | Mike | Sala | None | Tom | Jak | 10th voted out Day 26 | |
| 13 & 14 | June 18 & 19, 2017 | Mike | Sala | None | Tom | Shannon | 11th voted out Day 28 | |
| 15 & 16 | June 25 & 26, 2017 | Jak | Shannon | Avi [Tom, Barb] | Tom | Shay | 12th voted out Day 32 | |
| 15 & 16 | June 25 & 26, 2017 | Mike | Shannon | Avi [Tom, Barb] | Tom | Shay | 12th voted out Day 32 | |
| 17, 18 & 19 | July 2, 3 & 4, 2017 | Jak | Shay | Avi, Nate | Barb | Nate | 13th voted out Day 35 | |
| 17, 18 & 19 | July 2, 3 & 4, 2017 | Mike | Shay | Avi, Nate | Barb | Nate | 13th voted out Day 35 | |
| 17, 18 & 19 | July 2, 3 & 4, 2017 | Mike | Jak | None | Tom | Mike | 14th voted out 6th jury member Day 37 | |
| 17, 18 & 19 | July 2, 3 & 4, 2017 | Nate | Jak | None | Tom | Mike | 14th voted out 6th jury member Day 37 | |
| 17, 18 & 19 | July 2, 3 & 4, 2017 | | | None | Avi | Nate | 15th voted out 7th jury member Day 38 | |
| 20 | July 5, 2017 | | | | | Final vote | Final vote | |
| 20 | July 5, 2017 | | | | | Barb | 2nd runner-up | |
| 20 | July 5, 2017 | | | | | Tom | Runner-up | |
| 20 | July 5, 2017 | | | | | Avi | Sole Survivor | |

## Episodes

| No. in series | Episode No. | Title | Timeline | Original air date |
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Day 1-2 | 7 May 2017 (2017-05-07) |
| On Day 1, the sixteen castaways, already divided, arrived on trucks at a beach. Matt, the host, asked them who would be more than happy to be labeled a villain if it meant winning the game, to which Dee rose her hand in agreement. He later proceeded to give them their buffs for their tribes, Hermosa and Mogotón. Matt also announced to the tribes that each tribe would vote someone out on their first day. He then gave them two minutes to strip everything of value from their boats. During the challenge, Izzy managed to steal from Hermosa's gathering. As Mogotón arrived at their camp after the challenge, Tony quickly embraced the leading role. Hannah, Izzy, and Shay agreed to vote out Tom first, as they found him untrustworthy. As Shay approached Sala with their plan, Sala suggested voting out Hannah in order to keep the tribe strong in future challenges. At Hermosa, Dee talked strategy with Georgia and Shannon, but the two weren't sure about her. Georgia managed to get Mike on her side, who also talked with Nate about voting out Dee. Georgia warned Mike about Barb and Nate, as they would likely align as the two oldest tribe members. Mogotón arrived at Tribal Council first, where Hannah was voted out unanimously. Later, at Hermosa's Tribal Council, Dee was voted out, also unanimously. The morning after, Izzy hadn't felt well, as her tribemates looked out for her. The two tribes arrived at an arena with a challenge on set. Matt surprised the tribes by calling Dee and Hannah in. He welcomed everyone to Redemption Island. He explained that after being eliminated from their tribe, they would get a chance to re-enter the game. Redemption Island Challenge: The two Redemption Island inhabitants would use rope to tie together sticks in order to make a pole to retrieve three keys. The first two castaways to retrieve all three keys and unlock three locks would remain in the game. At the Redemption Island Duel, Hannah was in an early lead. Dee managed to catch up to her, but in the end, Hannah won the duel, sending Dee home. |||||
| No. in series | Episode No. | Title | Timeline | Original air date |
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Day 2-4 | 14 May 2017 (2017-05-14) |
| After returning to the camp from the Redemption Island Challenge, Mogotón realized that they might have underestimated Hannah. Avi and Tom made an alliance, while Sala approached Tony to join him alongside Lou and Shay to vote out Tom next. Avi talked with Lou and Shay, who assured him that he was safe and that they were going after Tom, which Avi wasn't sure about. At Hermosa, Lee and Mike bonded while eating termites in search of protein. Georgia and Lee discussed voting out Nate if they would lose immunity, as he was a bit of an outsider due to being older than them. Nate likewise grew wary of Georgia, wanting to vote her out. Immunity Challenge: One member of each tribe would act as a caller while two other blindfolded tribe members would navigate the course to retrieve five items and lastly a flag, eventually working with another blindfolded pair who would hoist the items up to the caller's platform. The first tribe to get their flag up to their caller wins immunity. The challenge started fairly even until Tony from Mogotón, who hoisted the items to the caller while blindfolded, accidentally caused an item to drop, letting Hermosa gain momentum and eventually win immunity. At Tribal Council, Tony was voted out due to costing his tribe the challenge. |||||

## Voting history

| | | | Original tribes | Original tribes | Original tribes | Original tribes | Original tribes | Switched tribes | Switched tribes | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe | Merged tribe |
| Episode # | Episode # | Episode # | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 |
| Day # | Day # | Day # | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 32 | 35 | 37 | 38 |
| Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Hannah | Dee | Tony | Izzy | Lou | Georgia | Shay | Lee | Mike | Sala | Jak | Shannon | Shay | Nate | Mike | Nate |
| Votes | Votes | Votes | 7–1 | 7–1 | 4–2–1 | 3–2–1 | Evacuated | 4–1 | 3–2 | 6–4 | 6–3 | 4–3–1 | 6–1 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 |
| Voter | Voter | Voter | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote | Vote |
| | | Avi | Hannah | | Tony | Izzy | | Georgia | | Lee | Mike | Jak | Jak | Shannon | Shay | Nate | Mike | Nate |
| | | Tom | Hannah | | Tony | Izzy | | | Mike | Shay | Shay | Sala | Jak | Shannon | Shay | Nate | Mike | Nate |
| | | Barb | | Dee | | | | Georgia | | Lee | Mike | Sala | Jak | Shannon | Shay | Nate | Mike | Nate |
| | | Nate | | Dee | | | | Georgia | | Lee | Mike | Shannon | Jak | Shannon | Shay | Tom | Mike | Tom |
| | | Mike | | Dee | | | | | Shay | Shay | Shay | | | | | | Avi | |
| | | Shay | Hannah | | Tony | Lou | | | Mike | Lee | Mike | Jak | Jak | Barb | Barb | | | |
| | | Shannon | | Dee | | | | Exiled | | Lee | Mike | Sala | Jak | Barb | | | | |
| | | Jak | | Dee | | | | | Shay | Shay | Shay | Sala | Nate | | | | | |
| | | Sala | Hannah | | Tom | Izzy | | Georgia | | Lee | Mike | Jak | | | | | | |
| | | Lee | | Dee | | | | | Shay | Shay | | | | | | | | |
| | Georgia | Georgia | | Dee | | | | Avi | | | | | | | | | | |
| Lou | Lou | Lou | Hannah | | Avi | Tom | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Izzy | Izzy | Izzy | Hannah | | Tony | Tom | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Tony | Tony | Tony | Hannah | | Tom | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dee | Dee | Dee | | Barb | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hannah | Hannah | Hannah | Izzy | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Final vote :
| Episode # | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Day # | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Finalist | Barb | Tom | Avi |
| Votes | 6–1–0 | 6–1–0 | 6–1–0 |
| Juror | Vote | Vote | Vote |
| Nate | | | Avi |
| Mike | | | Avi |
| Jak | | Tom | |
| Shay | | | Avi |
| Shannon | | | Avi |
| Sala | | | Avi |
| Lee | | | Avi |
* 1 2 There was no Redemption Island duel as there were fewer than two inhabitants.
* ↑ There were no challenges due to the double Tribal Council.
* ↑ Shannon was exiled to Redemption Island for 24 hours after drawing the black buff during the tribe switch. She joined the tribe that lost the next Immunity Challenge, Hermosa, after their Tribal Council.
* 1 2 3 Returned to game upon winning Redemption Island duel.
* ↑ Immediately after the Tribal Council vote on Day 20, a second immunity challenge and Tribal Council vote were held; there was no reward challenge.
* ↑ Immediately after the Tribal Council vote on Day 20, a second immunity challenge and Tribal Council vote were held.
* ↑ Lou was medically evacuated from the game.
* ↑ Shannon was exiled to Redemption Island for 24 hours after drawing the black buff during the tribe switch. She joined the tribe that lost the next Immunity Challenge, Hermosa, after their Tribal Council.