Survivor India – The Ultimate Battle (Hindi TV series)

Survivor Hindi is an Indian Hindi-language reality television show, which was originally based on Swedish show Expedition Robinson created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons and is part of Survivor India. The series was filmed in the summer of 2011 and premiered on 6 January 2012 on Star Plus. The show was hosted by Sameer Kochhar. The show is produced by Miditech Pvt. Ltd. and is aired on weekend nights. Like many of its counterparts, the show has a set number of contestants stranded on an isolated area for a pre-determined number of days until one remains and is given the title Sole Survivor. Aside from the title, the winner also receives ₹ 10 million.
Survivor India: Caramoan Islands is the first and only season of the series. It was shot on the islands of Caramoan in the Philippines, from mid September to October 2011. Raj Rani was named the winner in the final episode on 17 March 2012, defeating JD Majethia and Stithpragya in a 4–2–1 vote.
Twenty two castaways embarked on the journey of a lifetime in the pristine yet treacherous Philippines. The two tribes were pre-selected before the start of the show. The contestants were divided into two tribes by popularity, Catan, which consisted of castaways who were celebrities, and Tayak, which consisted of castaways who were ordinary people. Catan's inaugural victory in the reward challenge caused them to underestimate their opposing tribe's mettle. At the first tribal council faced by the Catan tribe, Sylvie was blindsided by her fellow mates and was voted off. With a great comeback the Catan tribe won the successive challenges gaining consecutive two immunity which resulted in eliminations of two of the female members of the Tayak tribe – Sanober and Gisele. From the tenth day on wards, Tayak dominated in challenges, while the depleted Catan lost Priyanka, Karan, Rishi and Shilpa. Priyanka was sent home for being too manipulative under the game-play adopted by the two masterminds of Catan – Shilpa and Rohit. Karan, due to his worsening health problems, became the first contestant in the history of Survivor India to quit. Ex-Tayak members (Rishi, Raj Rani, Shivam and Stithpragya) who joined Catan after the tribe switch saw a change in their alliance when Shivam voted against Rishi, hence, kicking him out of the game. Shivam decided to side with his initial allies after getting to know of Shilpa's intentions to vote against him. JD's vote against Shilpa resulted in her ouster from the island.
After Rishi's elimination, he was mysteriously secluded to a new island and was told to await further clues for his survival there. From that point on, the outcasts who were vote out of the game, formed a new tribe on the island of Ayunan with the same name. Rajesh and Evelyn were blindsided by their members at Tayak and Michael got voted out for engaging in too many verbal fights with fellow castaways. Soon the tribe consisted of a total of five eliminated contestants. A new twist revealed that the outcasts were being given a chance to make a comeback in the game. After an endurance challenge among the five of them, Michael emerged as the winner and was given the choice to pick one of the four remaining members to join the game again. Michael chose Shilpa for her determination and therefore the game ended for Rishi, Evelyn and Rajesh.
After making a surprise entry in the game, the two returnees are not very warmly welcomed by their ex-tribe mates. Shilpa and Michael, being immune, were safe from the outcome of the next immunity challenge which Tayak ended by losing and facing tribal council for the fourth time in a row. Preeti fell target to Rohit's game-plan and was voted out. Deprived of, almost, all of the rewards offered in the challenges, Tayak tribe members suffered from starvation while Catan enjoyed consecutive feasts. Standing against Munisha both Michael and Sai from Tayak were soon voted off. Shilpa was blindsided by her fellow mates, who vowed not to vote against her, and was sent home.
The ten survivors left witnessed a tribal merge and formed a new tribe named "Walo Walo".
The two initial tribes were Catan, represented by a stingray and the color yellow, and Tayak, represented by a shark and the color red. Initially, the Catan tribe consisted of 11 celebrities and Tayak of 11 non-famous people chosen from all over India. Following the tribe switch, the first five eliminated members were mysteriously secluded to the island of Ayunan where they formed a new tribe, competing for a chance to return to the game. The final ten players merged into the Walo Walo tribe, represented by a snake and the color blue.
^1 Combined Reward and Immunity challenge. ^2 There was no Reward Challenge due to the tribal merge.
Sameer Kochchar, the host of Survivor India, welcomes 22 competitors who are to be marooned for 45 days in the exotic yet dangerous Caramoan islands in Philippines, without food, drinking water, shelter, technology and civilization. The competitors must salvage food and shelter and survive the island and each other. The 22 competitors are divided into two tribes of eleven, celebrities against ordinary people, and they will reside in two separate islands. The Catan tribe, with the yellow bandana, consists of Payal, Karan, Shilpa, Rohit, Rajesh, Sangram, Abhinav, JD, Priyanka, Munisha and Sylvie. The Tayak tribe, with the red bandana, consists of Raj, Rishi, Shivam, Michael, Preeti, Gisele, Sanober, Harrison, Evelyn, Sthitpragya and Sai. The two tribes face a reward challenge.
In Tayak tribe, Preeti's tribemates allay her fear and convince her to stay in the competition. Michael accuses his tribemates of stealing his footwear to sabotage him. Failing to start a fire, Tayak tribe eats raw rice to survive. In Catan tribe, JD and Abhinav have a disagreement over boating. After 3 days, the two tribes meet for an Immunity cum Reward challenge. Gisele from Tayak tribe, abstains from participating in the challenge due to an injury. Tayak tribe wins the immunity challenge and chooses fire kit as their reward. Michael scares his tribemates with his tantrum. JD's tribemates find him domineering. After losing the immunity challenge, Catan tribe faced tribal council. Sylvie's incompetent skills in the challenges due to her old age lead to her vote out by 10–1.
Fourth night on the island and Michael's aggression gets to the Tayak tribemates. Meanwhile, the Catan tribemates try to salvage their clothes and food from pouring rain. Payal uses up clean water to bathe, leaving her tribemates without drinking water. Michael's generous eating habit depletes Tayak tribe's food ration. The two tribes meet for an immunity cum reward challenge. Catan tribe wins the challenge with the most game points and chooses fruit basket as their reward. While Catan tribe enjoys the delicious fruits, Tayak tribe decides to vote Michael or Sanober off the game. Enmity between Gisele and Sanober intensifies. After losing the challenge, Tayak tribe faced Tribal council and Sanober was voted out 8–2–1.
Pouring rain, dwindling food and rats take a toll on the two tribes. In Tayak tribe, Michael impressed his tribe mates by kindling fire in pouring rain. Catan tribe has a bad start when their precious watermelon decays. The two tribes form a five members team each and build a raft for their immunity challenge. Evelyn abstained from participating because of being overweight. Samir Kochchar imparts a tragic news to Gisele. Gisele was conflicted about leaving the competition for her sick grandmother, but eventually refused to quit the show. After losing the challenge, Tayak tribe faced Tribal council. Gisele's inability to take part in challenges because of her injury lead to her eventual vote out by 7–2–1.
Roosters flock the island and delight the non-vegetarians in both the tribes. Tayak tribe celebrates their first egg while Catan tribe dreams of chicken meat. Payal sets about cleaning the island to make a better impression on her tribe mates. Meanwhile, Karan and Priyanka form a close bond. Their relationship becomes a hot topic for gossip among the Catan tribe mates. The two tribes meet for an immunity challenge. After losing the challenge, Catan tribe faced Tribal council. Priyanka's tribe mates found her manipulative and she was voted out 6–2–1–1.
Day eleven in Tayak tribe, Michael finds sweet potatoes growing on the island. While his tribe mates savour the potatoes, Evelyn and Preeti have an altercation that ends in tears. Catan tribe splits into two after Priyanka is voted off the game. While Shilpa, JD and Payal rejoice Priyanka's departure, Karan forms a group with Rajesh and Abhinav. The two tribes meet for an immunity cum reward challenge. After losing the challenge, Catan tribe faced Tribal council. Munisha's bad performance in challenges and Karan's deteriorating health, made them ideal candidates for the vote out, however, Karan's inability to cope with the living conditions that developed because of losing two reward challenges in a row leading to Catan running short of food forced him to quit the game, hence, no vote occurred for his removal.
Raj Rani impresses Shilpa with her spicy sweet potatoes. While Tayak tribe savours chicken soup, Catan tribe wallows in hunger and two consecutive defeats. Michael gifts a jar of salt to Shilpa. Day thirteen on the island, the two tribes met for an exclusive reward challenge.
Formation of new Tayak and Catan tribes evokes mixed feelings in the Survivor India contestants. Shilpa forms an alliance with the remaining celebrities in the new Catan tribe. JD finds Sthitpragya, Raj Rani and Shivam's youthful vigor refreshing. The two tribes meet for an immunity challenge. Shilpa's cheer for Tayak tribe upsets JD. After losing the challenge, Catan tribe faced Tribal council. Rishi's new tribe mates found him weak in challenges and he was voted out 5–3. Rishi was then marooned on a secluded island called Ayunan to form a third tribe consisting of the eliminated tribe members after his vote-out onwards.
Shivam's deceit by voting Rishi off the island leaves Raj Rani and Sthitpragya distressed. All alone in the Ayunan tribe, with no tribe mates or any other resources to survive, Rishi goes frantic. An immunity and reward challenge is set up between the two tribes. After losing the challenge, Catan tribe faced Tribal council. Ex-Tayak members along with JD chose to blindside Shilpa and she was voted out 4–3. Like Rishi, Shilpa was also marooned on the discrete island of Ayunan and told to await further clues about her survival there.
After losing the challenge, Tayak tribe faced Tribal council. For the first time in the history of Survivor India, a tie resulted at the council after which a tie-breaker re-voting occurred between Rajesh and Michael. Rohit chose to betray his alliance with Rajesh and changed his vote from Evelyn to Rajesh. This resulted in Rajesh getting voted out and sent to the island of Ayunan.
In Tayak tribe, Abhinav doubts Rohit's intentions. In Ayunan tribe, Rajesh tells Shilpa about Rohit's betrayal. In Catan tribe, while JD forms an alliance with the non celebrities, Payal and Sangram's friendship grows stronger.
After losing the challenge, Tayak tribe faced Tribal council. Evelyn's proud nature despite her failing attempts at the challenges made her underestimate Munisha's bonding with her tribe members. With the vote of 7–1 Evelyn was blindsided by her fellow mates and was voted off the island and marooned to Ayunan with Rishi, Shilpa and Rajesh.
The Tayak tribe starves as their food stock dwindles. They utilize the preserved chicken to satiate their hunger. In Catan, Sangram receives birthday wishes from his tribe mates. Tayak and Catan meet for immunity cum reward challenge. Tayak tribe, in the beginning, took a heavy lead when Catan tribe members missed a couple of shots at smashing the tiles, however, a great comeback from the Catan tribe resulted in them becoming the winners of the challenge and the immunity. Munisha, due to her leg injury and to equal members on both sides, was asked to sit out of the challenge. After losing the challenge, Tayak tribe faced Tribal council. Rohit's strategy to eliminate the original Tayak members proved successful once again and with the vote of 4–3 against Preeti, Michael was voted out and sent to Ayunan.
For Rishi, Evelyn and Rajesh it was the end of the road in Survivor India.
The two tribes meet for an immunity challenge which the Catan tribe wins. After losing the challenge, Tayak tribe faced Tribal council. Rohit's manipulation of votes and Munisha's bonding with her tribe members proved successful once again and with the vote of 4–3 Preeti was voted off the island.
Day twenty six, Tayak tribe is lacking food and stamina. JD tries to win back Payal and Sangram's trust. The two tribes are assaulted by incessant pouring rain throughout the night. The tribe meet for a challenge. To equal members on both tribes Shilpa from Catan sat out of the challenge. JD and Shivam play strong at the challenge accompanied by a score from Harrison from Tayak who accidentally threw the ball in Catan's basket. Catan wins the immunity cum reward challenge. For the first time in Survivor India, due to a cyclone, tribal council was held in Tayak Island where Michael was voted off the island 4–2.
After four days of cyclone, the two tribes return to their respective islands to witness nature's destruction. They set about re-building shelter and removing the debris. The survivors remain stoic in the face of destruction but break down on receiving letters from their beloved ones. As the tribes arrived for the Reward Challenge, Sameer shocked them, saying that whoever wins, both tribes would go to Tribal Council to vote someone out. To equal members on both tribes Payal and Raj Rani from Catan sat out of the challenge. Catan tribe won the challenge. Later at Catan Tribal Council, Shilpa was perceived as a manipulative politician and was again voted out 6–1. While watching Tayak's sixth straight Tribal Council, Catan tribe hungrily consumed the kebabs without any compunction. Sai fell target to the power of Rohit, Abhinav and Munisha's alliance and was voted out 3–2.
Day thirty two, Catan and Tayak tribes are united to form a new tribe called "Walo Walo" consisting of the existing ten survivors. After a fulfilling meal of Indian food, the survivors worry about forming new alliances. Walo Walo tribe mates meet for an individual immunity challenge which Rajrani wins. After a lot of deliberation, Rohit's tactics were soon figured out by his tribe mates and he was voted out 6–4.
Day thirty four, WaloWalo tribe mates meet for an exclusive reward challenge. Sangram wins the challenge and is rewarded with cosmetics. The survivors are served a feast and Sangram is given the right to allot a specific dish to each of his tribe mates. For the second time in a row, Raj Rani wins the immunity challenge. After a lot of deliberation, the survivors face the tribal council where Rohit sits as the first jury member and Harrison is voted out of the game over Sthitpragya in a close 5–4 vote despite Sangram betraying his original alliance.
Day thirty six, the remaining eight survivors were given ten thousand rupees to participate in a fun auction where Samir Kochchar auctions off food and cosmetics. JD wins an advantage for the immunity challenge in the auction. Payal breaks the alliance with JD's group after the blow up between Rajrani and her. To win back Rajrani's alliance, Sangram apologizes for voting against Sthitpragiya in the previous tribal council. Walo Walo tribe mates meet for a solo immunity challenge. JD wins the challenge and gains immunity. Sangram succeeds at professing his love to Payal, however, fails at convincing his tribe mates not to vote against him. Payal and Raj Rani indulge into a heated argument with each other. Eventually, Sangram was voted out 5–1–1–1 against Payal, Shivam and Raj Rani.
Day 38, the remaining seven survivors are overwhelmed when their family members come to meet them. The tribe mates and their families face an exclusive reward challenge. Shivam and his father win the challenge and are rewarded with a picnic at an exotic spot on the island. Shivam shares the picnic with Sthitpragiya and his brother. Walo Walo tribe mates meet for an immunity challenge, which Abhinav wins. The survivors face the tribal council and Munisha is voted out 5–2.
Day forty, the remaining six survivors meet for an exclusive reward challenge. Abhinav wins the challenge and chooses to share his reward with Sthitpragya and Rajrani. While they indulge in the luxury, Payal, JD, and Shivam discuss elimination strategy. Raj Rani thanks Abhinav for giving her a memorable birthday. Walo Walo tribe mates meet for a solo immunity challenge. Abhinav wins immunity two times in a row. After a lot of deliberation, Payal is voted off the game 4–2.
JD wins the immunity challenge on day 42. Raj Rani, JD, Shivam, and Sthitpragya remain loyal to their group and vote against Abhinav at the tribal council. On day 43, Sthitpragya wins immunity and becomes the first finalist of Survivor India. Sthitpragya and Shivam decide that Raj Rani is a threat and decide to vote against her. However, Sthitpragya, feeling sorry for Raj Rani, decides to tell her that he and others are going to vote her out. Raj Rani is upset by the news and cries. Shivam is angry at Sthitpragya for telling Raj Rani. JD, however, thought Raj Rani was the most deserving player to win Survivor and that it was unfair to vote her out. He secretly tells her to vote against Shivam. At tribal council, Raj Rani and Shivam tie with two votes each. Raj Rani wins the tie-breaker and Shivam is out of the game. Back at camp, Sthitpragya is upset at JD for his betrayal and gets into an argument with him. The top three finalists burn down their shelters to celebrate the end of their journey on the island.
Samir Kochchar, the host of Survivor India welcomes the 3 finalists, JD, Raj Rani, and Sthitpragya along with the 7 jury members to the Grand Finale. The 22 survivors reunite to relive their experiences, rivalries and alliances on the show during the 45 days on the Caramoan Islands. The finalists make their speeches before the 7 jury members cast their votes. Raj Rani wins Survivor India and walks away with one crore rupees.
The show generally received positive reviews both from the media and the audience IBN Live credited the show as "bold and intriguing" and predicted it to go even beyond India's biggest reality show Bigg Boss.
Survivor India, in its very first week, found place in the Top 10 chart issued by TAM India, with 3.82 points. The show figured was placed No. 8 on the charts. What caught everyone’s attention is that the Star Plus reality show, adapted from the popular American format, scored high without any big Bollywood names on board. The show started on 6 January and its opening numbers beat the figures scored by the likes of Hrithik Roshan (3.7), Preity Zinta (3.3), Akshay Kumar (3.0) and Shah Rukh Khan (2.6) over the last year with their shows Just Dance, Guinness World Records – Ab India Todega, Khatron Ke Khiladi Torchaar and Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout respectively.