Survivor Winter Park: Redemption Island

## Cast

***Redemption Island*** is the fifth main season of *Survivor Winter Park* and the fifth season in the first era.

The most forgettable season of the first era and the final season before the COVID-19 pandemic, *Redemption Island* saw another evolution of strategy with constantly changing alliances, an unprecedented amount of tie votes, and split tribe dynamics throughout the entire merge phase, with the entire season going without a single unanimous vote. Ethan Taylor's poor jury management skills cost him the game in a 3-2 vote over Grace Wheeler's social dominance.

## Production

Production for *Redemption Island* began on January 7, 2020, following the conclusion of *Good vs. Bad vs. Neutral*. The plan was to have two tribes of six: one tribe of players with previously stained reputations from the game and one tribe of entirely new players, which expanded into tribes of seven a few days later. However, casting plans would continuously shift around with a small returnee pool to contact, resulting in the tribes being made up of mixed players.

To go along with the theme of redemption for former players, the Redemption Island twist would be used from the main show, with an added layer of involvement with players in the main game of the Advantage Board, allowing players to give advantages or disadvantages to players of their choice as an added incentive for winning duels. Unlike the Edge of Extinction twist of *Edge of Extinction*, the twist was always determined to end before the merge, with Cole and Thorin Groth believing it to be a twist for a single shot at redemption rather than multiple chances to return. Thorin was the leader of Redemption Island.

The casting for the season was meant to parallel the casting of the returning players: *Survivor* misfit players who typically wouldn't fit on a regular season, but with a season-worth of them, would lead to new gameplay from the previous more "typical" casts of the past. Notable players who were cast and then dropped include:

* Ellie Meyer and Landon Hurd from *Season 1*
* Madison Lee from *Edge of Extinction*
* Gabriel Fenton-Zeira, Indie Wolfe, William Turner, and Zaki Patni from *Exile Island*
* Danyal Siddiqi and Jesse Roldan from *Worlds Collide*
* Susan Mallen from *The Forest Enigma*
* Diego Lindauer and William Dietz from *Dynamic Duos*

The season was meant to begin with fourteen players. While thirteen players were consistently in the cast, the final spot often changed. Carson Ciambella's twin brother was the last player contacted for this role on the night before the season, but he didn't agree to come at the start of the first day. This resulted in the thirteen-player start that the season ended up seeing, with a last-minute Exile Island crafted to bring a player to Redemption Island (the first time an actual location would be used for Exile Island, which would later be the main location for Exile Island in the eponymous season.

## Twists/Advantages

### **Twists**

* **Redemption Island:** Upon elimination, players were sent to Redemption Island, where they would compete in duels with another eliminated player to survive in the game. The winner of the final duel at the merge would return to the game.
	+ **Advantage Board:** For every duel, both players would select an advantage from a board to will to a player currently in the game. If they won the duel, that player would receive the advantage. The advantage would come from three different sections: "positive", a direct advantage, "neutral", a general power that neither helped nor harmed the recipient
* **Temporary Exile Island:** At the start of the game, due to an uneven number of players, one female from the original Dhuniti tribe was sent to Exile Island, where she would join the losing tribe after Tribal Council. This resulted in Kaley Kolb switching tribes.
* **Tribe Swap:** At the Final 10, the remaining players were shuffled into two tribes of five.

### **Advantages**

* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** A Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at both tribe camps at the start of the game, with a third being added into circulation upon the merge, a fourth after the auction between the Final 8 and 7, and a fifth after multiple were used at the Final 6. The last time they could be used was when there were five players remaining.
	+ **Redemption Island Idol:** Upon returning to the game, Carson Ciambella was gifted with a two-part Immunity Idol. She had to give one half to another player to activate it, requiring both players to survive the following elimination. He elected to give his half to Grace Wheeler before the first vote of the merge, successfully activating it afterwards.

## Season Summary

*Redemption Island* saw an uneven thirteen players split into two tribes of six, with the return of four players who had weak previous performances. The Redemption Island twist was in play, allowing players eliminated in the pre-merge to earn a chance to return. Nicole Salmons would take control of both of her tribes with the intention of taking out any challenge threats for the merge, resulting in her tribe's continuous losses throughout both phases of the pre-merge. Carson Ciambella, eliminated in Round 1, was able to win every duel with absolute dominance to return to the game.

The merge phase would have complicated dynamics, with Carson Gerber constantly in the middle, resulting in two tie votes to begin the merge. Grace Wheeler would begin integrating herself with the other players on her tribe, who began to underestimate her as a potential jury threat, bonding closely with Zaid Khaled after the blindside elimination of Nicole Salmons at the hands of increasingly powerful Tyson Nguyen. After saving Ethan Taylor at the Final 5, Tyson would have his efforts repaid by Ethan betraying him and throwing him into the Final 4 elimination duel with Wheeler, resulting in his elimination. After winning immunity at the Final 3, Wheeler would correctly assess Ethan as the easier beat at the end, despite Gerber's aloof nature throughout the season, taking him to the end.

At the Final Tribal Council, Wheeler faced criticism for a lacking strategic game but was praised by Gerber and Zaid for her social game, with her arguing that she wanted to make others enjoy the experience to enjoy voting her to win. While Ethan was largely credited for the strategic maneuvers of the game, notably the Tyson blindside, he faced harsh opposition by the latter, who took the betrayal very personally. This grudge would prove fatal for Ethan, as Wheeler would go on to be crowned the Sole Survivor in a close 3-2 final vote.

## Trivia

* *Redemption Island* is the second season where the first player voted out (Carson Ciambella) was different from the first player eliminated (Olivia Short), following *Season 2*.
* *Redemption Island* is the first season where a guy was voted out first.
	+ Despite this, it would not be the first season in which a guy was eliminated first (Carson Ciambella returned from the game and Olivia Short was officially eliminated). Ignoring Jacob Thigpen being medically evacuated in *Season 2*, this wouldn't occur until *Bloodlines*.
* Ethan Taylor and Zaid Khaled are the only players from *Redemption Island* to never be eliminated pre-merge.
	+ Ana-Victoria Gomez, Nicole Salmons, and Tyson Nguyen were voted out pre-merge before this season.
	+ Alex Rodriguez, Caleb Bellon, Carson Ciambella, Grace Peters, Kaley Kolb, and Olivia Short were eliminated pre-merge in this season.
	+ Carson Gerber and Grace Wheeler were voted out pre-merge after this season.
* *Redemption Island*'s cast produced four first boots in a row, from *Good vs. Bad vs. Neutral* to *Exile Island*.

## Future return list

* **6 for *Heroes vs. Villains*:** Carson Gerber, Ethan Taylor, Grace Peters, Grace Wheeler, Nicole Salmons, and Tyson Nguyen
* **2 for *Exile Island*:** Alex Rodriguez and Grace Peters
* None for *Bloodlines*
* None for *Worlds Collide*
* None for *Halloween Spooktacular*
* None for *The Forest Enigma*
* **2 for *Island of Desolation*:** Grace Peters and Nicole Salmons
* **1 for *March Madness*:** Alex Rodriguez
* None for *Lord of the Lads*
* **1 for *Guild of the Girlies*:** Kaley Kolb
* **2 for *Clash of the Champions*:** Alex Rodriguez and Grace Wheeler
* None for *Dynamic Duos*
* **1 for *All-Stars*:** Kaley Kolb
	+ **Total returns:** 15 returns across 13 seasons (an average of 1.154 returns per season)