Survivor: Cambodia

***Survivor: Cambodia*** (also known as ***Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance*** or simply ***Survivor: Second Chance*** in later seasons) is the thirty-first season of *Survivor*.

In a change to previous installments, *Survivor* fans were given the chance to vote for who would appear on the cast through an online public vote.

The season became highly regarded for its unprecedented degree of strategic gameplay, with long-term allegiances being largely eschewed as each player made the most of their second chance. The season also saw the first elimination by consensus when Kimmi Kappenberg was eliminated on Day 36. After 39 days of high-octane gameplay which also saw one evacuation, Jeremy Collins won the title of Sole Survivor in the series' fourth unanimous jury vote, defeating Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox in a 10-0-0 vote. To date, it has produced five returning players (Ciera Eastin, Jeff Varner, Jeremy Collins, Joe Anglim, and Kelley Wentworth) for subsequent seasons.

## Contents

* 1Production
	+ 1.1Casting
	+ 1.2Second Chance Vote
* 2Twists/Changes
* 3Castaways
* 4Season Summary
* 5Voting History
* 6Trivia
* 7References

## Production

On May 6, 2015, an announcement was made that for the first time in *Survivor* history, fans had the ability to vote for and assemble the cast for the next season. Through social media, fans voted for ten men and ten women from a pool of 32 former castaways, each of whom had played only once. Voting ended one hour into the *Survivor: Worlds Apart* finale, where all of the nominees were present at the Reunion Show with their luggage already prepared for filming.

The final roster of 20 was revealed at the end of the show, and were flown to Cambodia immediately afterward. It should be noted that this season was 32nd to be produced, but the first to be aired, while the 31st season to be produced, *Survivor: Kaôh Rōng*, was pushed back and slated as the 32nd season to air.

Filming commenced in May 31, a date which also marked the 15th anniversary of the series' debut episode, "The Marooning".

Ponderosa was filmed at Sandy Beach Bungalows, located on the neighboring island, Koh Rong Samloem.

The pre-merge contestants were sequestered in Vietnam.

### Casting

According to Jeff Probst, some of the former players who declined the chance to come back to this season were Greg Buis from *Survivor: Borneo*, Elisabeth Filarski from *Survivor: The Australian Outback*, Ian Rosenberger from *Survivor: Palau*, Shambo Waters from *Survivor: Samoa*, and Jeff Kent and RC Saint-Amour from *Survivor: Philippines*. Josh Canfield of *Survivor: San Juan del Sur* confirmed on his Twitter he was approached to return, but he had to decline because his Broadway contract wouldn't allow him to leave. Jaclyn Schultz revealed on her Twitter account that her fiancé Jon Misch (also of *San Juan del Sur*) missed the call and opportunity to compete in *Cambodia*.

### Second Chance Vote

Immediately following the *Survivor: Worlds Apart* episode "Holding On for Dear Life", a shortlist of 32 candidates, all one-time, non-winner contestants, was posted on CBS.com. Contestants were nominated from across 16 seasons, ranging from the first installment, *Survivor: Borneo*, to the most recent, *Survivor: Worlds Apart*. Fans were allowed to vote starting from the end of the said episode until the *Worlds Apart* finale.

At the time of the launch of the poll, two nominated contestants from *Worlds Apart*, Mike Holloway and Carolyn Rivera, were still in the game. Jeff Probst explained that if either one of them eventually wins their season and garnered enough votes to return, they would be ineligible to compete for this season, giving their spot to the candidate of their gender who garnered the 11th highest amount of votes. This did end up being the case, with Mike winning *Worlds Apart* and finishing in the top ten. It is unknown which castaway was in 11th place in the public vote.

 Men
 Women

## Twists/Changes

* **Returning Players:** Twenty former contestants, all of whom have played only once and did not win the game, and whom were determined by public vote, returned for a second chance.
* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** The Hidden Immunity Idols for this season will look different from each other, making it more difficult for the players to know if the idols are real or fake. Also, for the first time, the idols will be hidden in challenges, while the clues will be hidden at camp. This is an idea originally proposed by *Entertainment Weekly* columnist Dalton Ross.
* **Challenges:** The challenges for this season also featured the Second Chance theme, as production incorporated past challenges in which the cast has previously participated during their previous seasons, including some that they have lost before.
* **Impromptu First Tribal Council:** The tribe that loses the first Immunity Challenge will be immediately sent to Tribal Council after the challenge.
* **Tribe Expansion:** For the first time since *Survivor: Pearl Islands*, a third tribe will be introduced after the start of the game, but before the merge. At the tribe switch, the contestants were split into three tribes instead of the expected two. The Angkor​​ tribe, wearing gold buffs, was introduced on Day 7 of the game.
* **Tribe Switch:** On Day 14, a tribe switch occurred, simultaneously dissolving the Angkor tribe and mixing the castaways into two tribes of seven.
* **Early Merge:** For the first time, the merged phase of the game commenced with thirteen players left in the game.
* **Vote Steal:** Similar to *Survivor: Worlds Apart*, a player won the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council, but this time while also preventing another player of their choice to vote.
* **New Jury/Finals Configuration:** For the first time in *Survivor* history, the Final Three faced a 10-person jury.