Survivor: Fiji

Survivor: Fiji is the fourteenth season of the CBS competitive reality television series . It was filmed in Macuata, Vanua Levu, Fiji during 2006 and aired on television in 2007. Earl Cole was declared the winner in the first unanimous jury vote in Survivor history. He defeated Cassandra Franklin and Dreamz Herd in a 9-0-0 vote. It would ultimately feature one quit, and has to date produced one returning player (Yau-Man Chan) for subsequent seasons.
==Production==
Applications were due June 16, 2006. Mellisa McNulty, a 27-year-old talent manager from Los Angeles, was supposed to be the twentieth castaway but dropped out the night before the show began because of panic attacks, making this the first season of Survivor to feature an odd number of castaways, with 19. Due to the timing and lack of alternates, her spot could not be replaced, making it the first time in which a contestant backed out of Survivor and was not replaced. Gary Stritesky was the only contestant who applied to be on the show; Mellisa and the other 18 contestants were recruited. The cast retained the same amount of racial diversity as the previous season, , in a conscious effort intended to show that the diversity of Cook Islands was not just a ratings stunt.
Survivor: Fiji was filmed in the eastern region of the Macuata province, on Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu, about 15 miles (24 km) from the town of Labasa. Tribal Council, the production camp ("Tent City"), and several challenges were located in close proximity to the village of Vunivutu. Other challenges were held on Katawaqa Island, Tivi Island, Vatudamu Point, and fields along the Wainikoro River. The Moto (and later, Bula Bula) tribe lived on a peninsula in Vunivutu Bay, while the Ravu tribe lived on Druadrua Island under much harsher conditions. 's actual name is Sausau Island. Reward getaways included trips to the Namale Resort and Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort in the town of Savusavu, as well as a rafting excursion on the Navua River on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu.
On December 5, 2006 (Day 37), a coup d'état was initiated by Fiji's military leader, . While there was some speculation that a full evacuation of the Survivor crew members from Fiji would take place, only a few crew members on the mainland were relocated to the second-smallest island. However, the political turmoil prior to the coup did prevent the families of the cast members from coming to Fiji to participate in a Reward Challenge (as usually occurs on Survivor) towards the end of filming.
==Twists/Changes==
*Odd-Numbered Cast: Prior to the start of filming, Mellisa McNulty suffered a severe panic attack and the medical team deemed her unfit to compete, thus she was removed from the cast. Due to Mellisa's abrupt removal and production being unable to have an alternate contestant be flown in on time, the game began with nineteen contestants.
*Haves vs. Have Nots: The castaways (after they had been divided into tribes) would compete for the right to the luxurious camp in the first episode that all nineteen helped to build, the losing tribe would move to a new camp with the very basic of materials.
*Rehashed Hidden Immunity Idol Mechanism: Unlike previous seasons wherein the Hidden Immunity Idol would be played after the votes have been read, the new format forces the holder to play it after the votes have been cast, but prior to the votes being read.
* : After a Reward Challenge, players may banish a player from the rival tribe to Exile Island. This island (entirely separate from the existing camps) will force the banished player to fend for themselves until the upcoming Immunity Challenge, unless stated otherwise. The banished player will be given clues to a Hidden Immunity Idol, as well as basic supplies for survival.
*Message in a Bottle: A message forced the winning tribe of a pre-determined challenge to choose between keeping the luxurious camp or keeping immunity.
*Tribe Switch: A Schoolyard Pick was conducted between two captains to determine the new tribes. After the pick was done, the captains would then draw buffs to determine which tribe they would be members of.
*Post-merge Team Immunity Challenge: In the first round as a merged tribe, the group split into two teams of five. The winning group would be immune from Tribal Council under the rules of tribal immunity.
*Final Three and Expanded Jury: A Final Three faced a jury of nine.
==Castaways==
Contestant	Contestant 	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Finish	VotesAgainst
Contestant	Contestant 	Original Tribe 	Switched Tribe 	Merged Tribe 	Finish	VotesAgainst
 	Jessica deBen27, Los Angeles, CAFashion Stylist 	 	 	 	 	6
 	Erica Durousseau26, Baton Rouge, LANon-profit Fundraiser 	 	 	 	 	6
 	Sylvia Kwan52, Ross, CAArchitect 	 	 	 	 	6
 	Gary Stritesky55, Ramsey, MNSchool Bus Driver 	 	 	 	 	0
 	Liliana Gomez25, Los Angeles, CALoan Officer 	 	 	 	 	6
 	Rita Verreos38, San Antonio, TXSingle Mother 	 	 	 	 	6
 	Anthony Robinson32, Compton, CAExpert Witness Locator 	 	 	 	 	10
 	Rocky Reid28, Los Angeles, CABartender 	 	 	 	 	5
 	Lisi Linares36, Los Angeles, CACustomer Service Representative	 	 	 	 	7
 	Michelle Yi22, Cincinnati, OHStudent 	 	 	rowspan="10" 	 	3
 	Edgardo Rivera28, Miami Beach, FLAdvertising Executive 	 	 	 	5 	
 	Mookie Lee24, Chicago, ILBusiness Consultant 	 	 	 	6 	
 	Alex Angarita28, Los Angeles, CALawyer 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Stacy Kimball27, Boulder, COWeb Producer 	 	 	 	4 	
 	Boo Bernis34, Lafayette, LAConstruction Worker 	 	 	 	5 	
 	Yau-Man Chan54, Martinez, CAInternet Technology Director 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Cassandra Franklin42, Los Angeles, CACollege Administrator 	 	 	Runners-Up 	5 	
 	Dreamz Herd24, Wilmington, NCCheerleading Coach 	 	 	Runners-Up 	2 	
 	Earl Cole35, Santa Monica, CAAdvertising Executive 	 	 	Sole Survivor 	1 	
==Season Summary==
Due to one player dropping out prior to the game, the season started with 19 players. After arriving at their beach as one group, instructions and materials for building a camp were dropped from a plane. Before the first challenge, the tribes were divided by Sylvia, the one they saw as their leader; as she was the odd-one out, she became the first to visit . After the challenge, the winning tribe, Moto, returned to the constructed camp, while the losing tribe, Ravu, was directed to a different beach where only meager supplies awaited them; Sylvia joined Ravu after the first Tribal Council. 
While both tribes vied equally in challenges, it was apparent that the Moto tribe's well-off living condition had lopsided the competition, sending Ravu to five of the first six Tribal Councils, though Moto had their share of mishaps, such as Gary's body's averse reaction to bug bites (causing him to quit the game) and surrendering their immunity to Ravu to keep their shelter after a twist at the Day 11 Immunity Challenge. Ravu's losing streak, however, served to build an alliance between Earl and Yau-Man. When Earl became a target to be sent to Exile Island, he conspired with Yau-Man to find one of the two Hidden Immunity Idols located at the camps.
A Tribe Switch on Day 15 served to further alliances. At the new Moto tribe, Earl and Yau-Man added Boo, Cassandra, and Michelle to their alliance, while at the new, all-male Ravu tribe, Alex became the leader of an alliance between himself, Dreamz, Edgardo, and Mookie, self-titling themselves the Four Horsemen. Alex, Edgardo, and Mookie searched for the idol, which Mookie found, and Ravu would lose three more Immunity Challenges.
The tribes merged by traveling to Exile Island, then returning to the original Moto camp, finding that all the structures and luxuries had been removed. The first post-merge Immunity Challenge divided the contestants into two randomly selected teams, putting Michelle with most of the Horsemen, and leading up to her being voted out. After Dreamz found out that his allies kept the idol from him and flipped to the Syndicate Alliance. A critical game play moment came at Tribal Council on Day 27 when the Syndicate Alliance was able to trick Alex into playing Mookie's idol, but instead targeted and eliminated an unsuspecting Edgardo, which led to the elimination of Mookie and Alex in the subsequent votes.
The Reward Challenge played by the final six players was for a truck. Yau-Man won the challenge, but made a deal with Dreamz to trade the truck in exchange for the final challenge's Immunity Necklace should Dreamz win it. Yau-Man also became the first player to send himself to Exile Island, in hopes of using the clue there to find a Hidden Immunity Idol. Dreamz tried to get out of the truck deal by targeting Yau-Man before the final four. This plan failed as Yau-Man played his idol at final six and won individual immunity at final five. Dreamz won the Final Immunity Challenge, leaving him with a big decision to make. That night at Tribal Council, Yau-Man was voted out after Dreamz reneged on his promise to give up the Immunity Necklace.
At the Final Tribal Council, a mostly averse jury expressed their disgust at Dreamz for his deceptive gameplay, and controversial actions about the truck deal, while Cassandra was also criticized by the jury because of her perceived coattail-riding gameplay, and greediness. The jury of nine unanimously voted for the strategic, yet ethical Earl to win the title of Sole Survivor.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
* Due to Mellisa McNulty dropping out only hours before the castaways were set adrift, the crew was unable to pick a replacement contestant and the season started with 19 castaways. This makes Fiji the first and only season to begin with an odd number of castaways.
* Fiji is the first season to have an uneven number of male and female players. It would later be followed by .
*Fiji is the second season, after , where Jeff Probst did not meet the contestants on Day 1. It would be followed by .
* Gary Stritesky became the first castaway to quit due to an illness.
* Fiji was supposed to have a family visit, but due to the political turmoil in at the time of filming, the challenge was scrapped and the loved ones stayed home.
* Fiji is the first and, thus far, only season with an all-African-American Final Three.
* Fiji is the first season to have two runners-up; Cassandra Franklin and Dreamz Herd both received no votes from the jury, thus there were two second-place finishers and no third-place finisher. This later occurred in , , , , and .
** This is the first season to have a unanimous jury vote.
* During the finale, both Earl Cole and host Jeff Probst mentioned that Earl had never received a vote against him. However, this is untrue as Rita Verreos voted against him during the third Tribal Council.
* Fiji is tied with  for the most African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic-American contestants, with five of each race.
**Due to Mellisa dropping out of the competition, this is the first season in which the number of African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic-American contestants outnumbered the amount of Caucasian contestants. 
==References==
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Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: Fiji