Survival Challenge: 2019

Survival Challenge: 2019 is the seventh season of the Survival Challenge live reality game.

The season featured twenty-four contestants. Like the previous season, it was filmed in Macomb, Illinois and lasted for five days. Anthony Demott beat Louie DiPaolo in a 7-4 vote to become the Sole Survivor. Livestreams for the season can be found here.

## Twists & Advantages

* **Marooning:** At the beginning of the game, players were placed in groups of four and dropped off in the middle of the woods with a map to find mystery items for their campsites. Later, the groups would meet up to create the three tribes of eight people each.
* **Multiple Round Reward Challenge**: On Day 2, players competed in a series of reward challenges. The winning tribes would be able to select survival items to take back to their camp site. Furthermore, the tribes would earn points, and the tribe with the highest points would win a reward feast. Keya ultimately won the reward feast.
* **Surprise Individual Reward Challenge**: On Day 2, players competed in pairs of two, with the four winning pairs engaging in a scavenger hunt for clues to immunity idols hidden back at their camp.
* **Gifted Idol**: On Day 2, during the Matchmaker reward challenge, two large bottles were hidden that when matched, made the player select on member secretly from the other tribe to receive an "item of value" (a hidden immunity idol). Austin matched the bottles and gifted an idol to Sam.
* **Advantage Auction**: At the merge, players competed in a reward auction. Each player was given 3 items to use as currency. These items could be used at a future challenge for an advantage, or used in the auction for any of five secret bags of items. Players could pool their items to bid together. The secret items ranged from an apple to an extra vote.
* **No Swaps**: Players did not swap tribes until the merge.
* **Early Merge**: The season merged with 13 players left in the game.
* **Expanded Jury**: The jury was comprised of 11 players, creating a Final Two, not an expected 10 person jury with a Final Three.

## Trivia

* The season featured unusually hot conditions. Several players sat out of reward challenges on Day 2 due to the heat, and Brendan was hospitalized after he was voted out, returning to the game for the final tribal council.
* The season featured two returning players. Jen had previously played in Survival Challenge: 2018, and Donna had played in Survival Challenge: 2016.
* This was the first season to have no former CBS Survivor players in the cast, but many were still on location volunteering and watching the event.
* This was the first season to have an all male Final 4, as well as an all male Final Tribal Council.
* This was the first season to have tribal immunity challenges oscillate between one tribe being immune and two tribes being immune. Previous seasons had either only one or two tribes win immunity over the course of the game.
* This season was the second season to feature no tribe swaps (the first being Survival Challenge: 2016). This season does have the longest portion of the game devoted to the merge to date.
* Several players on the season had known or played with other cast members in other live reality games:
	+ Both Lance and Austin had previously played in Pirate Survival Expedition 2017, which was hosted at the same location as Survival Challenge: 2019. Lance and Austin also had both played with each other previously in Surviving Reelfoot season 4.
	+ William, David, Austin, and Jason had previously volunteered at past Survival Challenge seasons. William is also one of the videographers for three previous seasons.
	+ Sam and Rachel are friends from college, and when reunited at the merge, were able to communicate with each other using American Sign Language. They also know each other through Survivor: Time & Change.
	+ Anthony and Luke had previously played with each other the previous summer in Adventure Kokopelli.
* Luke is the younger brother of Kourtney, the winner of Survival Challenge: 2018.
* David is the son of Bob Crowley, winner of Survivor: Gabon.
* The tribe names were all drawn from Native American Dakota language. Zica means squirrel, Upan means elk, Keya means turtle, and Sunka means dog.