Survivor: Redemption Island

Survivor: Redemption Island is the twenty-second season of . It premiered on February 16, 2011. Filming took place in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the same location used in the previous season. The winner of the season was veteran player Rob Mariano after defeating Phillip Sheppard and Natalie Tenerelli in a 8-1-0 vote. To date, it has produced four returning players (Andrea Boehlke, Francesca Hogi, Phillip Sheppard, and Rob Mariano) for subsequent seasons.
==Production==
The production staff stayed in Nicaragua after filming because they enjoyed the warm hospitality and also to minimize production costs. Also, the location of Ponderosa this season was the same location used in Nicaragua.
The idea of bringing back Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz came from the Reunion Show, where Rob (who was eliminated by Hantz's alliance) said he would like to compete against Russell in a future season to settle their rivalry.
After the controversial inclusion of NaOnka Mixon and Kelly Shinn to the jury after their simultaneous voluntary exits in the previous season, Mark Burnett has stated that starting from this season, post-merge quitters may or may not be put on the jury. This decision will be decided by the producers before the next Tribal Council, where the jurors will watch its proceedings. According to Burnett, "It's very unlikely any quitter will be on the jury again."
==Twists/Changes==
* : In a drastic, game-changing twist, when a player gets voted out from Tribal Council, that player will not be eliminated right away. Instead, they will go to Redemption Island, where they will fend for themselves during their entire stay. When the next person gets voted out, the two players will compete in a "duel". The winner gets to stay at the island, while the loser is eliminated from the game for good. At a certain point, the last person standing on Redemption Island will return to the main game and will continue their pursuit of the one million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor.
* Challenges: In the advent of the Redemption Island duels, this season featured several challenges both for reward and immunity.
* Two Returning Contestants: Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz returned as contestants to settle their heated rivalry during .
* Hidden Immunity Idol: Hidden Immunity Idols were available this season, with one hidden at each camp.
* Early Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game.
* New Camp for Merger: This is the first time since where the merged tribe lived in an entirely new camp, rather than using either of the existing camps.
* Double Elimination: On Day 30, Murlonio was subjected to a double elimination, where two castaways would be eliminated after two rounds of voting.
* Expanded Jury and Final Three: Instead of the conventional Final Two facing the jury of seven, the Day 39 Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing a nine-person jury.
==Castaways==
Contestant	Contestant 	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Finish	RedemptionIsland Status	VotesAgainst
Contestant	Contestant 	Original Tribe 	Merged Tribe 	Finish	RedemptionIsland Status	VotesAgainst
 	Francesca Hogi36, Washington, DCAttorney 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Russell Hantz37, Dayton, TX & 	 	 	 	 	8
 	Kristina Kell45, Malibu, CALaw Student 	 	 	 	 	9
 	Krista Klumpp25, Columbia, SCPharmaceutical Representative	 	 	 	 	6
 	Stephanie Valencia25, Long Beach, CAWaitress 	 	 	 	 	8
 	Sarita White35, Santa Monica, CAVisual Effects Producer 	 	 	 	 	6
 	David Murphy31, West Hollywood, CADefense Attorney 	 	rowspan="14" 	 	 	8
 	Julie Wolfe50, Oceanside, CAFirefighter 	 	 	 	6 	
 	Steve Wright51, Huntington Beach, CAEx-NFL Player 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Ralph Kiser44, Lebanon, VAFarmer 	 	 	 	10 	
 	Grant Mattos29, West Hollywood, CAEx-NFL Player 	 	 	 	10 	
 	Matt Elrod21, Nashville, TNPre-Med Student 	 	 	 	10 	
 	Mike Chiesl30, Del Mar, CAIraq War Veteran 	 	 	 	6 	
 	Andrea Boehlke21, Random Lake, WIStudent 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Ashley Underwood25, Benton, MENurse 	 	 	 	3 	
 	Natalie Tenerelli19, Acton, CAProfessional Dancer 	 	SecondRunner-Up 	 	1 	
 	Phillip Sheppard52, Santa Monica, CAFormer Federal Agent 	 	Runner-Up 	 	17 	
 	Rob Mariano34, Pensacola, FL, , & 	 	Sole Survivor 	 	7 	
==Season Summary==
The sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Ometepe and Zapatera, were joined by returning contestants, Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz, with Rob joining Ometepe and Russell joining Zapatera by random draw. The tribes were then told about , a secluded location where voted out players would go to compete in challenges for a chance to be brought back into the game.
Rob quickly proved to be leader in Ometepe, and kept wary of the Hidden Immunity Idol, including sending one of his own alliance, Matt, to Redemption Island while trying to flush it out. On Zapatera, the bulk of the tribe recognized the threat that Russell could be, throwing a challenge in order to vote Russell out; Russell would lose to Matt at the next Redemption Island challenge. Matt would continue to win several more duels against several Zapatera players after Ometepe dominated the challenges, while Zapatera suffered due to the loss of cohesion within their tribe.
The tribes merged with twelve players left in the game, including Matt, who returned from Redemption Island. Matt discussed blindsiding Rob with the former Zapatera members, however he eventually decided against it, telling this to Rob in an attempt to prove his loyalty. Despite this, Rob decided Matt could not be trusted, using his alliance to send Matt back to Redemption Island, establishing a firm Ometepe majority. The former Ometepe tribe used their numerical advantage to completely eliminate the remaining former members of Zapatera, before having to turn on themselves. 
Rob then orchestrated the eliminations of those whom he felt would be threatening to him, including close allies Andrea and Grant. Though Andrea would return to the game from Redemption Island, she was unable to secure any other alliances, and was voted out a second time. Rob's plans were nearly derailed by Ashley's immunity run, but Rob managed to win immunity on Day 38 to send her to the jury and complete his ideal Final Three scenario. Ultimately, the Final Three were Rob, Natalie, and Phillip.
At the Final Tribal Council, Natalie was criticized for simply following in Rob's footsteps, Phillip was chastised for his behavior, while Rob was criticized for his cutthroat gameplay. Rob, after 117 days of fighting in the game over four seasons, was voted the Sole Survivor receiving 8 of the 9 jury votes, while Phillip received one vote.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
 
* There was supposed to be a gray Buff worn by the inhabitants of Redemption Island but it was never used. Instead, the survivors retained their original Buffs.https://imgur.com/oqoFuF0
* With Rob's appearance in this season, he is the first contestant to play  four times.
* Redemption Island is the first season to have no standalone Reward Challenges, due to the presence of Redemption Island taking up the first challenge of each episode. 
* Redemption Island is the first season to have a three-way tie at Tribal Council.
* All individual Immunity Challenges were won by members of the former Ometepe tribe.
* Redemption Island is the first season since where the highest-placing member of every tribe was a man.
* Redemption Island is the fifth consecutive season where all the finalists started on the same tribe.
* The font used on the lettering of this season's tribe names is called "Hobo Std".http://fontzone.net/font-details/HoboStd/
* Redemption Island is the most recent season to not contain any openly LGBT contestants.
==References==
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Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: Redemption Island
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Category:Seasons with a reused location