Survivor 21

***Survivor 21*** is the twenty-first season of the PM Survivor Series.

With the season starting under the impression the loved ones will be playing with each other, they were informed that they would play against each other in addition to a game-changing twist of Redemption Island. Despite losing his loved one at the first merge vote, Alan Nayak-Rangel seized control in his new majority alliance that took him all the way to the final 3 where he won in a 4-3-2 vote against Mireia Amoros and Eddie Dubois. To date, it has produced two returning players (Ben Dubois and Kasey Portero) for subsequent seasons.

## Production

Beginning in 21, seasons will no longer be named after twists or overarching themes and will simply be identified by their season number.

As the previous season, *Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains*, an era of PM Survivor officially came to a close. While PM seasons 1-20 adapted and revamped from televised seasons 1 to 20 of Survivor. The new era of Survivor will adapt and revamp seasons of Survivor from 21 to modern Survivor at a much faster pace while adapting new twists/theme/ideas into the series.

## Twists/Changes

* **Blood vs. Water:** Players will be paired with a competing family member or loved one on the cast. Every castaway will be playing individually, so they will remain in the game even if their family member is voted out.
* **Day Zero:** A day before the actual game starts, the 9 pairs will be sent out at sunset to 9 different locations to live by themselves for the night, under the notion that the pairs will be placed in the same tribe. They will then all meet up to be officially welcomed and to start the game the next morning.
* **Redemption Island:** In a drastic, game-changing twist, when a player gets voted out from Tribal Council, that player will not be eliminated right away. Instead, they will go to Redemption Island, where they will fend for themselves during their entire stay. When the next person gets voted out, the two players will compete in a "duel". The winner gets to stay at the island, while the loser is eliminated from the game for good. At a certain point, the last person standing on Redemption Island will return to the main game and will continue his/her pursuit of the one million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor.
* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** The person who finishes first in each duel will also get to give a clue to the location of a Hidden Immunity Idol to any person from either tribe that they choose. If a castaway wins a game-returning duel, the castaway could also keep the clue for his or herself.
* **Tribe Switch:** On Day 10, the remaining castaways randomly drew for new tribes

## Season Summary

Upon entering the season, the nine pairs of loved ones were separated onto two tribes: Kawil and Samahan. The tribes were then told about Redemption Island, a secluded location where voted out players would go to compete in challenges for a chance to be brought back into the game. Both tribes were even in their challenge performances with both losing two immunity challenges. On Samahan, the Samahan Alliance took early control to keep the tribe united and unanimous. On the Kawil, the Kawil Alliance was formed, but early cracks showed and resulted on Eddie Dubois playing a Hidden Immunity Idol to blindside an ally.

After a tribe swap, the new Kawil took the Samahan approach by keeping the tribe united meanwhile Samahan took the opportunity to take out big threats which would divide the tribe.

The two tribes came together for a merge of twelve, including Mireia Amoros, who returned from Redemption Island. The two original alliances of Kawil and Samahan against each other with Dennis Nayak-Rangel and Mason Rocha playing in the middle. The first merge vote led to chaos when idols were played by Eddie and Mireia to completely nullify the vote, unknown where loyalties the lie, the Kawil Alliance turned against their number with Dennis, leaving his loved one Alan Nayak-Rangel forced to play more aggressively.

Following the first merge tribal, Eddie flipped on his alliance to send Tom Rocha to Redemption Island, and ultimately put Kawil in the minority until loved ones Loren Kang and Magnus Kang turned against their alliance to blindside Kasey Portero. Wilsama turned against the wild cards in the game making easy unanimous decisions until the six players remaining were divided in 2 sides of three. Magnus played his Hidden Immunity Idol to eliminate Eddie, however, he won the Redemption Island duel and returned to the game.

With the sides being even again, the Samahan Alliance convinced Reya Rowe to turn against the remaining loved one pair in attempt to split their votes, working successfully, they were able to vote out the loved one pair back to back. A fire challenge win by Eddie secured his spot in the final three alongside Alan and Mireia.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury was split in their decision with each player displaying an aspect to win the game. Eddie's cutthroat strategic gameplay was praised, but ultimately earned him two votes to win. Mireia played a social gameplay making sure she was protected from all sides, which garnered her three votes to win. Despite Alan's physical performance, his threat level was minimal due to his alliances and connections, respecting his game the jury awarded him with four votes. Alan won the title of Sole Survivor in a 4-3-2 vote.

## Trivia

* This season has the record for most LGBT contestants, with 6: Alan, Ben, Dennis, Fleur, Kasey, and Mireia. It would later be followed by *Survivor 23* and *Survivor 24*.
* This is the first season to feature a contestant who is a relative to a previous contestant; Alan Nayak-Rangel is Lorenzo Quinteiro's half brother.
	+ Coincidentally, both were deemed the Sole Survivor for their first seasons.
* With the Day Zero twist, this season is the longest season in terms of number of days, lasting 39.5 days.
* Branson Koch and Cassie Koch were the first and last castaways to be eliminated during the pre-merge while Dennis Nayak-Rangel was the first eliminated during the merge stage and Alan Nayak-Rangel was the last standing during the merge.
* This season currently holds the record for least amount of castaways voted out by the end of the season, with Alan Nayak-Rangel being the only one to never be voted out.