Survivor 22

***Survivor 22*** is the twenty-second season of the PM Survivor Series. To date, it has produced four returning players (Ahmad Maseeh, Canyon Christensen, Mandy Ramos and Samir Zaman) for subsequent seasons.

## Production

Seasons 21 and 22 were slated to follow each other before returning for the eighteenth season of PM Big Brother. Originally planned for 22 to commence the month after 21, the season was pushed back a month, now going to air in the month of June.

Within the cast, there will be nods to a previous solo series featuring players used in that series being brought over as new players.

For the first time in the series, Survivor 22 will be "filmed" before being published on the website. The release of the season will premiere in June on a scheduled basis. With the conclusion of Survivor 22 being filmed in an advance, it was made official that this would be the final season of the series to feature Redemption Island. Additionally, the casting mistake offsetting the gender ratio will be rectified the following season.

## Twists/Changes

* **Three Tribes:** The castaways are divided into three tribes of six members each.
* **Rivals:** Unbeknownst to the players, they will be paired with a rival from their personal lives. Every castaway will be playing individually, so they will remain in the game even if their rival is voted out. This season, each pairs will be placed together on the same tribe, comprising each tribe to three rival pairs each.
* **Redemption Island:** Anyone voted out will be sent there and will then compete in a three-person duel. The last place finisher in each contest is out of the game for good, while the top two remain.
* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** Like the previous season, the person who finishes first in each duel will also get to give a clue to the location of a Hidden Immunity Idol to any person from either tribe that they choose. If a castaway wins a game-returning duel, the castaway could also keep the clue for his or herself.
* **Double Elimination:** The Patid tribe was briefly split into two groups (one of six and one of five) with each group attending a separate Tribal Council to vote out a member. Following the Immunity Challenge, one group remained at the Patid camp, while the other was sequestered at the old Daraga camp for the afternoon.
* **Vote Steal:** A player would get the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council, but this time while also preventing another player of their choice to vote.

## Season Summary

Upon entering the season, eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes of six alongside a rival from their lives: Daraga, Libon, and Pontao. Despite being divided early in the game Daraga only went to Tribal Council once, as did Pontao. Libon is the only tribe to lose two members before the tribe swap. With 14 players remaining, the players were redistributed into two tribes of seven. The newly formed Daraga tribe reigned superior over the new Pontao tribe winning all three immunity challenges. On the Pontao tribe, a core alliance of Ahmad, Samir and Selina formed recruiting Reyes and Benito until they were forced to turn against each other at the last tribal council before merge.

With three players fighting for a shot to return to the game, Benito, earned a second chance in the game and starting the beginning of the merge. The swapped Daraga tribe's crack began to show immediately as three members were targeted at the first three tribals. Luckily, Carola used a Hidden Immunity Idol to save herself and send Reyes home, weakning a number from the swapped Pontao tribe.

The trend of targeting the swapped Daraga members continued for the following three tribal councils. At the final six tribal council, Benito, Carlos and Mandy realized the split position against the core three from the swapped Pontao tribe. The three of them worked together to convince Samir and Selina to turn against Ahmad. Fortunately for him, he re-entered the game as the final returnee from Redemption Island, but was voted right back out at the following Tribal Council. With the power trio being broken, the struggle for power continued where Mandy took the reigns to flip on the two guys to vote out Carlos then ultimately flipping back with Benito to convince Samir to turn against his ally, Selina.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury praised Benito's ability go from being voted out of the game and find himself in a better position within the tribe. Samir was criticized for flipping on his closest allies in the game and Mandy was condemned for her flip-flop strategy throughout the game. In the end, Benito earned six of the nine jury votes, and the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-2-1 vote.

## Trivia

* This is the third season to take place in the Philippines, following *Survivor: Philippines* and *Survivor 21*.
* *22* is the first season to have an uneven number of male and female players.
* *22* holds the record for most Hidden Immunity Idols found in a single episode, with 3 being found in the first episode.
* *22* is the only season whose Sole Survivor was voted out during the game.