Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen

Vlachos

***Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites:** Revenge of the Fallen* is the seventh season of ***Survivor***, and was filmed on Saturday, May 29th, 2021.

The season was revealed on the story of the Instagram page @idol.identifiers on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021, where the logo was teased alongside a promotion for the season. The cast was then revealed on Thursday, June 10th, 2021 on the same account. The season premiered on Friday, June 11th, 2021. The finale aired on Friday, July 2nd, 2021, where Corey Davis won the season in a 4-2-1 vote against Richie Gureski and Maggie McNulty. The end of the Finale Episode also leaked information for the next season, *Survivor: Blood vs. Water*.

## Format

* **Fans vs. Favorites**: Instead of traditional casting, the cast involved 7 new contestants, all fans of the game, competing against 7 returning players, all dubbed as the 'Fan Favorites' of the first six seasons of the game.

* **First Impression Vote:** The contestants began the game by publicly voting out a person on each of their tribes, with the two voted out not being out, but being able to pick and choose either an advantage for themselves or an advantage for their tribe in the first immunity challenge.
* **Tribe** **Composition**: The season started out with 14 players divided into 2 tribes of 7.
* **Tribe Expansion**: At the Final 12, the remaining contestants were expanded from two tribes to three tribes within the first tribe swap of the season.
* **Multiple Tribe Swaps**: For the first time in the game, the season had two tribe swaps, once when there was 12 contestants remaining, and another when there was 10 contestants remaining.
* **Comeback Challenge**: Before the merge, the previously eliminated contestants were given an opportunity to come back into the game via. the Comeback Challenge, with the winner earning their place back into the game.
* **Merge Tribe Composition**: The merge tribe was composed of 10 players.
* **Survivor Whitewater Auction**: When there were 8 contestants left in the game, an auction was held and the remaining contestants were given $200 in custom cash. The contestants could use this to buy food or advantages in the game.
* **Hidden Immunity Idols:** The immunity idols were hidden at the tribes' "camps." Once a player finds it, it is theirs to keep until they want to use it. If and when a player uses it, any votes counted against them will not count. On the chance they are voted off they must will their idol to someone still in the game.
* **Final 4 Passage Challenge**: Instead of a typical voteoff at the Final 4, the winner of the Final Individual Immunity Challenge was told to pick someone to go to the end with them, with their choice sending the other two to fight in one last challenge that would determine who would become the third finalist and who would become the final person eliminated from the season.
* **Final Tribal Council Format**: The Final 3 faced a jury of 7. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

## Season Summary

The season began with the Fans and the Favorites both voting someone out on each of their tribes in a *First Impression Votes*. Both of those people got an opportunity to get an advantage either in the game or for themselves and were not actually voted out of the game. The game would then take a turn, as the Fans and the Favorites would both be mixed within two tribes, Tribe Cochran and Tribe Parvati, with the former dominating the latter in multiple challenges.

After a tribe expansion introduced Tribe Vlachos, everything would remain the same, as Tribe Cochran, along with the new Tribe Vlachos, would dominate in challenges against Tribe Parvati. However, a second tribe swap would shake things up, and Tribe Parvati would win the final immunity challenge before the merge. Right before the merge, a Comeback Challenge would occur, with the winner being able to reclaim their spot in the game.

After multiple blindsides, grueling challenges, and shocking tribal councils, three contestants would emerge at the end with the chance to campaign for themselves; Corey Davis, Maggie McNulty, and Richie Gureski. Many on the jury looked past Maggie's quiet game, Richie's gameplay and strategies came off as very confusing to them, and Corey's game originally came off as underwhelming when the jury was first discussing the Final 3 at the Jury Roundtable. In the end, the jury would award Corey the title of Sole Survivor in a 4-2-1 vote, with Richie becoming the runner-up of the season and Maggie becoming the second runner-up of the season.

## Trivia

* *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen* is the first season to not include any returning players from *Survivor: Battle for Cambridge*.
* *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen* is the first season to have contestants go to every tribal council in the tribal phase of the game, those two being Michael Garcia and Vanessa "Ness" Mulyk.
* *Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites: Revenge of the Fallen* is the first season to have a contestant with a disability make it to the Final Tribal Council, that contestant being Richie Gureski.