Survivor: South Pacific

Survivor: South Pacific is the twenty-third season of . It was first announced by Jeff Probst on the Reunion Show of . It premiered on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute premiere. New player Sophie Clarke beat out veteran player Coach Wade and fellow new player Albert Destrade in a 6-3-0 vote to win the title of Sole Survivor. To date, it has produced five returning players (Brandon Hantz, Dawn Meehan, John Cochran, Ozzy Lusth, and Sophie Clarke) for subsequent seasons.
==Production==
The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu, Samoa, and premiered on September 14, 2011 with a 90-minute debut. It is in the same filming location as and . Fiji and Tonga were said to be alternate locations.
Aggie Grey's, the hotel that was used in the two aforementioned seasons was used once again to accommodate the staff and crew. The duration of their stay was reported to be identical to their last visit to Samoa. The said hotel had no availability from May 16 to September 16, 2011. Locals have been very appreciative hosting the show for a third time, stating that it helped boost their tourism industry (with revenues reported to be approximately $6,000,000 for filming seasons 19 and 20). The show also helped the devastated country recover from the 2009 Samoan tsunami.
==Twists/Changes==
* : Redemption Island returned this season, but with new tweaks. During "group duels," or duels that have more than two competitors, only one winner stays, sending all the other contestants home.
* One Returning Player Per Tribe: Two former contestants returned to compete in this season. Former castaways Coach Wade and Ozzy Lusth joined this season's batch of contestants. Host Jeff Probst stated that their poor social skills had put them to jeopardy in their earlier seasons, and that this would be their chance to improve in that aspect.
* Challenges: Similar to the previous season, with the advent of the Redemption Island duels, this season featured several challenges for both reward and immunity. Only a single standalone Reward Challenge occurred during the season.
* Hidden Immunity Idol: The clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at camp. Once the clue is unearthed, the player will have a better chance of finding the idol.
* Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game.
* Double Elimination: On Day 27, Te Tuna 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
 	Semhar Tadesse24, Los Angeles, CASpoken Word Artist 	 	 	 	 	8
 	Mark Caruso47, Forest Hills, NYRetired NYPD Detective 	 	 	 	 	6
 	Stacey Powell43, Grand Prairie, TXMortician 	 	 	 	 	10
 	Elyse Umemoto27, Las Vegas, NVDance Team Manager 	 	 	 	 	3
 	Mikayla Wingle21, Tampa, FLLingerie Football Player 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Christine Shields Markoski39, Merrick, NYTeacher 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Jim Rice35, Denver, COMedical Marijuana Dispenser 	 	rowspan="14" 	 	 	8
 	Keith Tollefson25, Edina, MNWater Treatment Technician	 	 	 	12 	
 	Dawn Meehan40, South Jordan, UTEnglish Professor 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Whitney Duncan26, Nashville, TNCountry Music Singer 	 	 	 	7 	
 	John Cochran24, Washington, DCHarvard Law Student 	 	 	 	13 	
 	Edna Ma35, Los Angeles, CAAnesthesiologist 	 	 	 	15 	
 	Brandon Hantz19, Katy, TXOil Tanker Crewman 	 	 	 	4 	
 	Rick Nelson51, Aurora, UTRancher 	 	 	 	15 	
 	Ozzy Lusth29, Venice, CA & 	 	 	 	17 	
 	Albert Destrade26, Plantation, FLBaseball/Dating Coach	 	SecondRunner-Up 	 	1 	
 	Coach Wade39, Susanville, CA & 	 	Runner-Up 	 	0 	
 	Sophie Clarke21, Willsboro, NYMedical Student 	 	Sole Survivor 	 	5 	
==Season Summary==
The sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Savaii and Upolu, were joined by returning contestants, Coach and Ozzy, with Coach joining Upolu and Ozzy joining Savaii by random draw. was again in play: voted out players would be sent to Redemption Island and participate in duels, with the winner remaining there until either the next duel or until two specific points where players were brought back into the game.
Both tribes rallied under the leadership of Coach and Ozzy. Ozzy's style was somewhat more aggressive, establishing a rift between the majority of his alliance and the outsiders, specifically the weaker Cochran. Coach, having reflected on his past performances on Survivor, had a more open style, which most of the group readily followed, including Brandon, who later revealed himself to be the nephew of former Survivor castaway Russell Hantz, and had feared revealing this to draw his tribe's ire. Both Coach and Ozzy also found their tribes' respective Hidden Immunity Idols.
The two tribes fared equally at challenges and retained similar numbers, and as they approached the perceived merge, Ozzy offered a plan to volunteer to be voted to go to Redemption Island, where he would likely win the challenge over Christine, a former Upolu member, assuring that the tribes would be equal at six members each when merged. This plan went as expected, and the newly merged tribe named themselves Te Tuna. However, Ozzy's previous rash behavior to Cochran was seen as an opportunity by the former Upolu members, and they were able to turn Cochran to their side on the first vote after the merge, voting out former Savaii member Keith. The Upolu members and Cochran would continue to dominate at Tribal Council, sending the remaining Savaii members to Redemption Island.
With no other Savaii members remaining, Cochran was voted out. Brandon won immunity at the final six, but offered it to his closest ally Albert, who was the intended target of the vote. Brandon was voted out and defeated by Ozzy the next day at the final Redemption duel. Ozzy returned to the game and won the subsequent challenge; at Tribal Council, Sophie broke down into tears but affirmed her commitment to the game, and was spared over Rick. In the Final Immunity Challenge, Sophie was narrowly able to defeat Ozzy; and she and her former Upolu members voted out Ozzy for the third and final time.
Albert, Coach, and Sophie faced the Final Tribal Council, where Coach was criticized for manipulating his tribe while simultaneously preaching the importance of honor, Albert was considered to have given his former tribe members false hope, and Sophie was criticized for being condescending. The jury awarded Sophie the title of Sole Survivor over Coach and Albert in a 6-3-0 vote, respectively.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
* South Pacific is the first season to feature a contestant who is a relative to a previous contestant; Brandon Hantz is a nephew to Russell Hantz.
* South Pacific is the third season to take place in Samoa, following and .
* The location for this season was originally going to be in neighboring Tonga, but it was declined for economic reasons.
* For the first time, no tribe won back-to-back challenges.
* South Pacific is the seventh consecutive season to have a female be the first voted out and the first eliminated.
* South Pacific is the third season to feature a pattern in which the tribe that wins each Immunity Challenge alternates each episode, following and .
* South Pacific is the second season in a row where a tribe gets systematically voted out (a term known in the fandom as pagonged) post-merge.
* South Pacific is the sixth season to feature returning contestants, following , , , Heroes vs. Villains, and .
** This is the third season to feature only a pair of returning players competing.
** This is the sixth season to have a returning player at the Final Tribal Council.
* Ozzy Lusth became the first contestant to be voted out three times in a single season.
* Sophie Clarke is the second winner that was a first-time player to defeat a returning contestant at the Final Tribal Council. The first was Danni Boatwright, who beat Stephenie LaGrossa in Guatemala.
* Three contestants entered the competition through ' casting contest: Mark Caruso, Rick Nelson, and Sophie Clarke.
* South Pacific is the only season to feature  and only have one person return from Redemption Island.
* South Pacific is currently the latest season with a recap episode.
* The rendition of Ancient Voices used in South Pacific would later be used for the Network Ten revival of Australian Survivor.
* South Pacific is tied with for most number of distinct individual immunity winners, with eight.
==References==
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Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: South Pacific
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Category:Seasons with a reused location