Survivor: Cuba

**Survivor: Cuba** is the fifteenth season of *PM Survivor​*.

This season featured ten new contestants, dubbed as "the super-fans" facing ten of the most popular castaways at the time.

Retaining control in the most dominant alliance of the season despite the target on his back earned Daughtry Haynes the win against Ryleigh Ferguson in a 6-3 vote. To date, it has produced two returning players (Alessia Gaston and Daughtry Haynes) for subsequent seasons.

## Production

The idea of a fans vs favorites season was considered for season 15 or 16, but ultimately was decided to be season 15. The cast was chosen shortly after the run of *Survivor: Philippines*. However, the season itself would not be "filmed" for the month of January. The dates of filming are undecided, but could run February, March, or late April.

As of February, the season will air during the month of March, however, would have no specific run date. Episodes will sporadically happen over March and April.

Cast reveal for the season will also occur randomly until the premiere of the season. The first reveal being on the 21st of February. The final reveal ended on March 17th.

The season episode airdates will also sporadically occur throughout the season. One episode can happen within the span of a day, couple days, or a week.

A few former cast members that were considered to return as Favorites were; Martin Castro, Michele Donahue, Rohan Carver, and Zoey Bennett.

## Twists

* **Fans vs. Favorites**: One tribe, Fayit​​, is composed of ten Survivor "superfans", while the other, Calvo, is composed of ten popular castaways from past seasons.

## Season Summary

The 20 players were divided into two tribes: Calvo consisting of ten favorites, and Fayit consisting of ten fans. On the favorites, a majority alliance created by Triniti Cavazos including Alessia Gaston, Daughtry Haynes, Jamir Weaver, and Saloma Taylor solidified their power in the early stage of the game. While on the fans tribe, a majority alliance wasn't created until Day 8 by Keegan Keats to include Angelo Shoutt, Julia Hallows, Nate Whitlock, and Theo Rawlings.

With the tribes remaining even at the final 14, Fans remained with numbers on the new Calvo tribe while Favorites remained with the numbers on the new Fayit tribe. Both tribes stuck with the majority on their first votes. However, a flip caused by Julia Hallows and Rob Hallows gave the favorites the numbers going into the merge.

The tribes merged at 11 with favorites going in with 6 members and fans with 5 members. The fans were picked off back to back despite an idol play by Julia. The first blindside on the favorites tribe was against Triniti, but followed by another fan going home. Rosalie Gonzales played her hidden immunity idol to take out Jamir who was apart of the powerful trio along with Alessia and Daughtry. With Alessia and Daughtry surviving to the final three, Ryleigh Ferguson winning the final immunity challenge resulted in Alessia going home a day before Final Tribal Council.

At Final Tribal Council, Ryleigh was commended for breaking tribal lines and showing commitment to play the game with the fans. However, Daughtry was praised for retaining control throughout the merge despite becoming a huge target. His strategic work and relationships within the jury earned him the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-3 vote.

## Trivia

* This is the first season to have an equal number of returning players and new players at the beginning of the game.
* This is the only season that Alessia Gaston played where she does not make it to Day 39.