Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Redemption Island

***Survivor: Blood vs. Water:** Redemption Island* is the eighth season of ***Survivor***, and was filmed on Friday, July 9th, 2021 and Saturday, July 10th, 2021.

The season's logo and theme was revealed at the end of the *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen Reunion Episode*, and filmed over the course of two days in early July of 2021. Although, sneak peaks were revealed throughout the coming weeks prior on the Instagram account, @idol.identifiers. The season premiered on Sunday, July 18th, 2021.

## Format

* **Blood vs. Water**: Instead of traditional casting, the cast involved pairs of at least one returning player playing the game with a loved one.
* **2 Days:** For the first time since the original season, the game took place over the course of two days.
* **Tribe Mediation:** After the game ended on Night 1, all of the remaining players in the game were able to converse with each other, no matter their tribe.
* **Tribe** **Composition**: The season started out with 14 players divided into 2 tribes of 7.
* **Tribe Swap**: When only 11 contestants remained, they were divided into 2 tribes of 5, with the 11th contestant being exiled in the Solo Room until the next tribal council, where they would join the tribe who would lose a member.
* **The Solo Room:** At the tribe swap, whoever pulled a tan buff out of the bag would be exiled into the Solo Room for the rest of that round. This contestant would be given an opportunity for an advantage, and they would remain in there until after the next tribal council, where they would join the tribe who just returned from tribal council.
* **Redemption Island:** Instead of leaving the game once being voted out of it, the eliminated contestant would go to a separate location, dubbed "Redemption Island". While on Redemption Island, they are not in the game, but they are also not officially eliminated from the game. It is here where they will wait for another contestant to go into a 1:1 duel against. The winner of this duel would get to stay on Redemption Island, and the loser would be officially eliminated from the game. After a certain amount of duels, the winner of one predetermined duel would make a return to the game, officially earning their spot back into the game.

* **Merge Tribe Composition**: The merge tribe was composed of 10 players.

* **Final Tribal Council Format**: The Final 3 faced a jury of 7. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

## Season Summary

The game would be presented with adding a layer to the game, the layer being that each contestant would have a loved one in the game with them. The connections each person had with them would greatly impact the game at hand, as strategy would form around who was paired to who, as well as Redemption Island, a twist that allowed eliminated players to compete against each other in duels in hopes of returning to the game. At the start of the game on Night 1, Tribe Natalie would go on an immunity streak, with Tribe Tyson going to the first three Tribal Councils, where Christian, Kathy, and Vin were able to take control long enough to get rid of JP, Grant, and Jack.

On Day 2, a Tribe Swap would switch things up, as Tribe Natalie went on a losing streak, giving opportunities for big moves that led to Breanne's and Kathy's eliminations, with the former winning her way back from beyond the grave, shocking everyone as blindsides happened left and right as the New Jersey Alliance and the Whitewater Alliance went at each other, with some people positioning themselves right in the middle.

In the end, the New Jersey Alliance would reign victorious, as the Final 3 would consist of Em Pena, Lea Mueller, and Vin Petruzzella, with all three having respectable sociostrategic games. What separated their games though was that Em had burned some people along the way and had the reputation of riding Vin's coattails, Lea would be seen to have played an overly quiet and passive game, and Vin would be seen as a questionable strategic player for some of his social moves involving him voting outside of the majority to not burn jurors on their way out. However, their respects for Vin's game would be very high, with Vin winning the game in a 4-2-1 vote, with Lea becoming the runner-up of the season and Em becoming the second runner-up of the season.

*Note: When in the Solo Room, Lea received the Slip-Up Disadvantage and would later use it against Nathan. Because he did not make it the required distance within the first individual immunity challenge, Nathan received one vote against him at the 6th tribal council due to the Slip-Up Disadvantage.*

## Trivia

* *Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Redemption Island* is the first, and currently only, season to feature Redemption Island.
* *Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Redemption Island* is the second season to be completed over the course of two days, succeeding *Survivor: Battle for Cambridge*.
* *Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Redemption Island* is the first season since *Survivor: Twist Manor* to feature the Solo Room.