Survivor: Whakaari

## Series Chronology

***Survivor: Whakaari – Torched Targets*** is the eighth season of the third generation Suitman's Survivor Series, which premiered on May 19, 2020 and ended with the winner reveal on June 3, 2020.

It ended with Hufus D. defeating Keith S. and Jimmy T. at the Final Tribal Council in a 5-4-1 vote.

## Production

The eighth season was announced on May 3, 2020, alongside the season subtitle *Torched Targets*. Applications for new players opened on May 7, 2020, closing over one week later on May 15, 2020. 28 people applied, 12 were cut from the casting, and 16 went on to become the new castaways competing in the game. They were joined by 4 hand-picked returning players from the first five seasons. The full cast was revealed on May 17, 2020, along with the tribal designations.

This season, twenty castaways were divided into four tribes of five. The tribes are named after places in New Zealand - Katikati, wearing brown, Maketu, in black, Rotorua, with green, and Tauranga, having purple. On Day 7, the tribes merged into Aotearoa, wearing red.

The series is produced and hosted by SuitMan13, with production assistance from Haus Gaga.

## Features

### Twists

* **Torched Targets:** This season players, could find themselves having other players become their "quarries". Taking a quarry out of the game with their own vote at Tribal Council rewards the player with a brand new game advantage - the Vote Torcher.
* **SuitBucks:** The SuitBucks twist returned this season. Each faction had their own SuitBucks balance, and the faction with the most SuitBucks would win immunity for the first two rounds of the merge. However along the way there were temptations for individual power, that players could either buy themselves or sell to other factions.
	+ **Factions:** As part of the SuitBucks twist, the castaways were divided into four factions, based on their original tribes.
	+ **Tengaged Membership:** This season the castaways were divided into four tribes based upon when they joined the *Tengaged.com* website.
* **Joint Tribal Council:** The three tribes who lost the fourth Immunity Challenge on Day 4 were all sent to Tribal Council as one group, together voting out a single person. Less significant Joint Tribals occurred as part of the Solo Tribe twist.
* **Tribe Switch:** On Day 5, the Katikati, Maketu, Rotorua and Tauranga tribes underwent a tribe switch, mixing up the tribes in a school-yard pick. The Maketu tribe was dismantled in the switch.
	+ **Solo Tribe:** The last person picked to join a tribe was forced to compete alone on their own tribe for the remainder of the pre-merge, tasked with beating at least one tribe in the challenge to avoid joining the losing group at a Joint Tribal Council.
* **Vote Sacrifice**: With SuitBucks ending at the merge, a new currency was introduced whereby people would have to sacrifice their own vote at Tribal Council in exchange for an advantage in the game.
* **Returning Players:** Four castaways from the first five seasons, who did not make the cast of *All-Stars*, returned this season to compete for a second time.

### Powers

* **Vote Torcher:** A brand new power won through the Torched Targets twist, allowing the player to block one player from voting, or void three votes cast against a particular player.
* **Hidden Immunity Idols:** There was one hidden idol placed in each tribe camp, which could be found by correctly guessing the location in camp where it was hidden.
* **Ejector Seat:** This power enables the user to leave Tribal Council. They cannot be voted out, but also cannot vote at Tribal.
* **Vote Stealer:** This power enables the user to take away someone's vote and instead cast two themselves at a particular Tribal Council.
* **Extortion Advantage:** This power is the ability to force a player to sit out of the next Immunity Challenge, unless they meet another player's demands.
* **Challenge Advantage:** This power gives the user a boost in a particular Immunity Challenge.

## Contestants

* **^Note 1** : Chase played a Vote Torcher, negating 3 votes against him.
* **^Note 2** : Wes played a Hidden Immunity Idol, therefore 6 votes against him were not counted.
* **^Note 3** : Vlad played a Hidden Immunity Idol, but didn't negate any votes against him.
* **^Note 4** : JB played a Vote Torcher, negating 3 votes against him.
* **^Note 5** : Lilly played a Vote Torcher, negating 1 votes against her.
* **^Note 6** : Paulette played a Vote Torcher, negating 3 votes against her.
* **^Note 7** : Hufus played a Vote Torcher, but didn't negate any votes against him.
* **^Note 8** : Paulette played a Hidden Immunity Idol, therefore 3 votes against her were not counted.

## The Game

* **^Note 1** : Only one tribe won immunity this episode, sending the other three tribes to a Joint Tribal Council together, where they voted out one person.
* **^Note 2** : A Vote Torcher was used, negating up to 3 votes against a player.
* **^Note 3** : As only one castaway could receive votes, Mike was eliminated by default.
* **^Note 4** : A Hidden Immunity Idol was used, negating all votes against the user.
* **^Note 5** : Due to a tie, there was a re-vote between the tied players.
* **^Note 6** : Due to a tie at the Final Four, the two tied castaways drew rocks to decide who would leave.

## Voting Table

* **^Note 1** : A Vote Torcher was used, negating up to 3 votes against a player.
* **^Note 2** : An Ejector Seat was used, allowing this castaway to leave Tribal Council before the vote.
* **^Note 3** : Since Mike was the only castaway eligible to receive votes, he was eliminated by default.
* **^Note 4** : Tisha used a Vote Stealer, taking away Sam's vote at this Tribal Council and cast two votes herself.
* **^Note 5** : A Hidden Immunity Idol was used, negating all votes against the user.
* **^Note 6** : A player gave up their right to vote at this Tribal Council in exchange for an advantage in the game.
* **^Note 7** : Due to a tie at the Final Four, the two tied castaways drew rocks to decide who would leave.