Survivor: Tocantins

Survivor: Tocantins, also known as Survivor: Tocantins — The Brazilian Highlands, is the eighteenth installment in the U.S. reality show . It was filmed in Tocantins, Brazil and premiered on February 12, 2009. Once production of was underway, CBS began casting for this season. Shooting occurred between October and December 2008. The season saw one medical evacuation and has to date produced four returning players (Coach Wade, J.T. Thomas, Stephen Fishbach, and Tyson Apostol) for subsequent seasons.
J.T. Thomas became the Sole Survivor on the live finale broadcast May 17, 2009. He finished the first "perfect game" in the history of the show, not having a single vote cast against him all season and earning all seven jury votes in a unanimous decision, beating out Stephen Fishbach. In addition, J.T. was named "Sprint Player of the Season", earning the fans' vote over Taj Johnson-George and Sierra Reed.
==Production==
==Twists/Changes==
* First Impressions: On Day 1, Jeff Probst instructed the newly marooned castaways to make their first vote-off. Relying only from first impressions, the tribes must select which of their tribemates will be the biggest liability to their team, and these two players will "not make it to the journey." The contestants assumed that the two would be eliminated, but the "journey" was revealed to be a four-hour trek to their camps. The two people who were singled out (Sierra from Timbira and Sandy from Jalapao) will be airlifted to their camps, while their tribemates underwent a treacherous walk to their respective encampments.
* One-Time Use Hidden Immunity Idol: After being whisked away to their camps, the two left out players were given a choice between creating a shelter (to possibly change their perceptions of them) or search for a one-time use Hidden Immunity Idol that can only be good at their first visiting Tribal Council. Unfortunately, both idols were never found and wasted away in the process.
* Hidden Immunity Idol: Hidden Immunity Idols return this season, with one being hidden at each tribe and clues for the idol being found on Exile Island.
* : Exile Island returns this season, with new twists. After a Reward Challenge, the winning tribe must send one person from the losing tribe to Exile Island, and in return, the said person must pick one member from the winning tribe to join him/her on Exile Island. Another twist is that, upon reaching Exile Island, the two banished players will get to chose between two unmarked bottles; one bottle contained a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol, hidden somewhere at their camps. The player who gets the clue will also have the option to switch tribes at will (hypothetically, if an exiled player already found his/her tribe's idol, the player in question may switch tribes to potentially find the other tribe's idol). The person who gets the second bottle will get nothing.
**: The person who receives the idol clue also receives the chance to mutiny to the other tribe. However, nobody took the offer.
==Castaways==
Contestant	Contestant 	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Finish	VotesAgainst
Contestant	Contestant 	Original Tribe 	Merged Tribe 	Finish	VotesAgainst
 	Carolina Eastwood27, West Hollywood, CABartender 	 	 	 	7
 	Candace Smith31, Los Angeles, CAAttorney 	 	 	 	7
 	Jerry Sims49, Rock Hill, SCU.S. Army Sergeant 	 	 	 	6
 	Sandy Burgin53, Louisville, KYBus Driver 	 	 	 	6
 	Spencer Duhm18, Gainesville, FLStudent 	 	 	 	5
 	Sydney Wheeler24, San Diego, CAModel 	 	 	 	4
 	Joe Dowdle26, Austin, TXReal Estate Salesman 	 	rowspan="10" 	 	1
 	Brendan Synnott30, Vail, COEntrepreneur 	 	 	4 	
 	Tyson Apostol29, Heber City, UTProfessional Cyclist 	 	 	5 	
 	Sierra Reed23, Los Angeles, CAModel 	 	 	11 	
 	Debbie Beebe46, Auburn, ALSchool Principal 	 	 	6 	
 	Coach Wade37, Bolivar, MOSoccer Coach 	 	 	6 	
 	Taj Johnson-George37, Nashville, TNFormer Pop Star 	 	 	7 	
 	Erinn Lobdell26, Milwaukee, WIHairstylist 	 	 	5 	
 	Stephen Fishbach29, New York City, NYCorporate Consultant	 	Runner-Up 	1 	
 	J.T. Thomas24, Mobile, ALCattle Rancher 	 	Sole Survivor 	0 	
==Season Summary==
The players were split into two tribes, Timbira and Jalapao, prior to the game beginning. Timbira won the majority of the Immunity Challenges, and was dominated by an alliance led by Coach and Tyson. Both the Hidden Immunity Idol and twists were in play, with the clues to the Hidden Idols available at Exile. The winning tribe of each Reward Challenge would be able to select one member of the losing tribe to be exiled, while the exiled player would be able to choose a member of the winning tribe to join them. 
On one of these occasions, Brendan from Timbira and Taj from Jalapao formed a secret cross-tribal alliance for the merge, bringing in Sierra and Stephen, respectively. The alliance members saw several repeat visits to Exile, securing both Immunity Idols by sharing the clues. After J.T. accidentally stumbled upon the Hidden Immunity Idol in Stephen's pocket, Taj and Stephen agreed to bring J.T. into their own alliance, and the three decided to share the use of the Idol. Timbira was able to win the last three Immunity Challenges before the merge.
While Timbira had the numerical advantage entering the merge, they were fractured due to lack of trust; with Coach and Tyson recruiting J.T. and Stephen into their alliance to overthrow Brendan and Sierra. With Taj and Stephen deciding to betray the Exile Alliance and Brendan neglecting to play his Idol, he was voted out. With the dissent among Timbira exposed and through recruiting Erinn, J.T., Stephen, and Taj managed to navigate between the two Timbira factions to eliminate them all. At the final 4, J.T. and Stephen opted to blindside Taj for being a jury threat. When J.T. won the Final Immunity Challenge, he brought Stephen to the Final Two.
At the Final Tribal Council, the jury unanimously voted for J.T. to be named the Sole Survivor, believing he played a stronger and more strategic game compared to Stephen.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
* Tocantins marks the third country (Brazil) to be revisited as a location of filming, following Panama and Palau, though it became the first country to host two seasons in two separate locations. While was filmed in the Rio Negro river, this season was shot in an entirely different province of Brazil, at the Rio Novo river.
* Tocantins is the only Survivor season with "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" entirely on the top of its logo.
* Tocantins is the first season since to follow the original format that was used during the first four seasons (a pool of sixteen contestants, with ten making the merge, a Final Two, and a seven person jury).
** Tocantins is the most recent season with 16 contestants.
* Thus far, Tocantins is the only season to feature black as the color for a starting tribe. Black has otherwise only been used as the color of the merged tribe.
* Tocantins is the first season since to feature an all-male Final Two.
* Abi-Maria Gomes from was originally recruited for this season. However, she was cut because she might gain an advantage due to her being Brazilian. Abi-Maria is originally from Goiás, a neighboring state of Tocantins.
* Tocantins has produced the most returning players, all of the same gender, with four, all of whom being male. 
** All four returning players from Tocantins have reached the Final Tribal Council at some point in their Survivor careers.
==References==
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Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: Tocantins