Survivor: Ural Mountains

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Survivor: Ural Mountains is the fourth season of Survivor. This season is remembered for it's group of likeable characters, producing a strong winner.

## Twists/Changes

* ***3 Tribes.*** - This season has 3 starting tribes as opposed to the standard 2.
* ***Refuge Ridge.*** - Once eliminated, castaways will be sent here. They will compete in duels to stay alive in the game. In addition, castaways will be exiled to Refuge Ridge throughout the game where they can communicate with the castaways residing there.
* ***Joint Tribal Council.*** - Both tribes will head to a combined Tribal Council after the first swap and vote together. One member of each tribe will be at Refuge Ridge during Tribal Council, and one member of each tribe will have individual immunity.

## Season Summary

The season began with eighteen new castaways divided into three tribes - Yamantau, Narod Naya, and Manaraga. Yamantau quickly became a force to be reckoned with as they conquered challenges and became the first people to visit Refuge Ridge where Aishia found the Yamantau idol. On Narod Naya, a threesome of Danny, Shiloh, and John quickly formed to take out the less active players, successfully getting rid of Zachary at their first Tribal Council. On Manaraga, the core alliance of Austin and Emma set to work to get a unanimous vote off each time, taking out Liam, Ian, and Lyle in a row.

On Refuge Ridge, Liam and Ian quickly formed an alliance to take out all of their contenders. Their duo succeeded as every player to visit Refuge Ridge was voted out one by one. Around this time, the Manaraga tribe was decimated and the players swapped into the Narod Naya and Yamantau tribes. However, both tribes headed to Tribal Council where Houston and Alexis won individual immunity, whereas Emma and Hannah were sent to exile. Both tribes agreed to vote out Michael Gato before going back to their respective camps.

On new Narod Naya players Austin, Hannah, and Tyler quickly formed a bond with Hannah finding her tribe's hidden immunity idol. They quickly pulled in Alexis to hold the tribe's majority, yet it mattered not. Yamantau quickly was brought down by the Narod Naya tribe with their tribemate Aishia removed for cheating and voting to send Houston home for good.

The tribes swapped for the final time with John visiting Refuge Ridge in solitude, and Shiloh and Fiona leaving Narod Naya for Yamantau. Yamantau finally pulled through with another victory, which resulted in Narod Naya sending Kyle out the door.

The tribes merged and became known as Dyatlov, after the revered explorer. There, the two sides began to flesh out - Alexis, Austin, and Hannah against Danny, Shiloh, and John. Tyler and Emma were left in the middle as they sent Fiona packing before flipping to the other side to blindside Alexis. At Refuge Ridge, Liam and Ian finally sent Fiona to the jury and returned to the game, ready for redemption.

Due to Kaeden's cockiness and sudden overplaying, he was voted out unanimously at the following Tribal Council. John was then taken out for being too much of a threat before Austin and Hannah turned on their ally Tyler due to him being given Hannah's idol and for being a dominant social threat. As the numbers began to dwindle, Austin's alliance began to take complete control of the game. They succeeded in taking out potential threats Liam and Shiloh, headed to the final five where Ian and Hannah had been written off as goats - it was Danny the underdog, Austin the controller, and Emma the swing vying for victory.

Emma, Danny, and Ian had enough of Austin's control, however, and flipped on him to take out his number one ally Hannah. However, despite their plans to take out Austin once and for all, he won final immunity and the next biggest threat in the final four's eyes, Emma, became the final member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Ian was mostly written off by the jury for following Liam for the majority of the game. Danny was seen as a small underdog yet not worthy of winning by the jury. Austin was seen as the strongest of the three and, in the end, his prowess won him the title of Sole Survivor.

## Trivia

* This is the first season with 3 Starting Tribes.
* This is the first season with multiple Tribe Switches.
* This is the final season hosted by Johnny Poteet until *Survivor: Sicily*.
* This is the only season with Players who were voted out previously in the season being eligible to return.
* This is the only season with a Final 3 and a Jury of 9.
* This is the first season to have a player removed from the game due to cheating. Aishia configured her score for a challenge.
	+ Linus and Roxy cheated in *Survivor: Solomon Islands* by talking after Linus was eliminated, however due to it being found during Final Tribal Council Linus was removed from the Jury rather than the game and Roxy's opponent Ned gained a free jury vote.