Survivor 23

***Survivor 23*** is the twenty-third season of the PM Survivor Series.

The season concluded with Itay Haviv defeating Jax Nicholson in a 7-2 jury vote to win the title of Sole Survivor. The season featured the first ever four-way tie and the second overall rock draw tie breaker. To date, it has produced one returning player (Jax Nicholson) for subsequent seasons.

## Production

The season officially being announced on September 18, 2022. Originally the season was going to take place with 9 men and women in the cast, but due to the uneven balance of men and women in the previous season, this season will feature more women than men to balance out the gender ratio.

Like the previous season, the season will film in advance then produced on the website. The second overall season to do so. Filming took place from September 19 to October 8.

Starting this season, contestants will originate from other countries outside of the United States.

## Twists

* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** Unlike the last couple seasons, the idol is only playable until Day 35.
* **Extra Vote:** A castaway would get the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council.
* **Double Elimination:** On Day 35, Tiwai was subjected to a Double Elimination. The tribe competed in two individual challenges before Tribal Council. The first challenge awarded the winner immunity for the first vote while the second winner was awarded immunity during the second vote. The first challenge winner could be voted off during the second vote whereas the second winner could be voted out during the first vote which would void individual immunity completely during the second vote.

## Season Summary

The eighteen castaways were divided into two tribes, Hausa and Makeni. Makeni struggled out the gates losing the first two immunity challenges sending the tribe into chaos between choosing whether to keep or vote Kostas Panayi. An alliance created by Jax Nicholson including showmance Itay Haviv and Jennifer Goodman, and loyalist Robin Coffey controlled the power to keep him until the second loss where they decide to cut ties. After Kostas's elimination, Makeni's luck began.

On Hausa, the tribe harmony quickly soured as the tribe became annoyed with Paris Springs. Despite the unity in the first vote, the tribe continued a losing streak where the tribe quickly became divided into four pairs: Boone Knox and Tyler Knight, Clementine Toussaint and Yuke Kim, Greta Baker and Tarek Mufti, and Melvin McClain and Reina Valenzuela, resulting in the first ever four-way tie. Greta and Tarek were the victorious pair to successfully eliminate their target. Ultimately leading to Greta's downfall at the next tribal council where the tribe turned against her. The rivalry between Clementine and Tyler led to the tribe turning against Tyler, despite the rivalry, Yuke helped sway Tyler away from voting out Clementine.

On Day 16, the tribes were shuffled drawing new lines at six versus six. The new Hausa tribe consisted of four original Hausa members and 2 original Makeni members.The new Makeni tribe consisted of 5 original Makeni members and 1 original Hausa member. The new Makeni tribe proved to be the weaker tribe where they were sent to tribal council. Though seemingly original Makeni having the numbers, the tribe chose to turn on themselves.

The tribes merged with original Makeni outnumbering original Hausa, 6-5. The Makeni alliance continued to control the game as they successfully took out the strongest link on the Hausa tribe at the first merge tribal. Thus beginning to the rise of Jax's turn on original Makeni members to blindside Tarek and Jennifer before Itay managed to reel him back in for the next two tribal councils. Despite their rivalry, Clementine and Tyler voted together to deadlock the votes to save Tyler, unluckily the only other number on their side was eliminated in the rock draw. The two immediately went into defense mode to save themselves, but Clementine's move to attempt to save Tyler cost her the game as the Makeni alliance turned against her first before taking Tyler out next. With Jax winning his fifth and the final immunity challenge, his relationship with Itay was strong enough to bring him to the Final Tribal Council.

At Final Tribal Council, Jax was praised for his five individual immunity wins, tying the record for most wins in a single season, however, his betrayal to many jury members was condemned. Itay was criticized for the lack of control of the game during the merge stage, but in spite of that he was commended for never being a major target due to the relationships he built to protect him until the end of the game. In the end, Itay became the 23rd Sole Survivor in a 7-2 vote against Jax.

## Trivia

* *Survivor 23* is tied with *Survivor 21* with most LGBT contestants in a single season, with 6: Boone, Clementine, Paris, Pat, Tyler and Yuke. It would be followed by *Survivor 24*.
* This is the first season to have a four-way tie occur.
* This is the only season where a tribe swap lasted for a single tribal council.
* This is the second season overall to have a rock draw, following *Philippines*.