Survivor: Ghost Island

Location
 No. of Castaways
 Tribes
Naviti
Yanuya
 Winner

*Survivor: Ghost Island* is the forty-seventh season of Huyopa 2001's Survivor. This season contained twenty new castaways competing for the title of Sole Survivor.

This acclaimed season was highly praised for its diverse casting and clever storytelling. Although many castaways reaped the rewards of the titular *Ghost Island*, others suffered the consequences of merely visiting the island. A tight group of four used their knowledge of the various advantages and alliances this season to work together, which brought them to the Final Four. In the end, Tito won in a 6-4-0 vote over Frank and Abigail because he managed advantages and used his strong social game to take out his biggest threats.

## Production

The earliest stages of production for *Survivor: Ghost Island* took place during the airing of *Survivor: Island of Secrets* in July 2020. It was during this time that production began to reflect on their past mistakes in casting. In particular, there was a desire to respond to the lack of racial diversity from the first generation of this series in addition to the mishandling of race during *Survivor: Argentina*. Although the racial diversity of players greatly improved during the second generation of the series, there was a desire by production to intentionally focus on the inclusivity of their casts moving forward.

It was then decided that the cast of Season 47 should exclusively contain people of colour, though the central twist of this season was not designed around this fact. The unique stories of these culturally diverse castaways were not used as a gimmick either.

It was also agreed by production that, although it is important to produce a *Survivor* season with only people of colour, this would not be the standard moving forward. Rather, production would need to improve how they balance casting people from all ethnic backgrounds for every season in the future. The casting process for *Survivor: Ghost Island* began in February 2021 during the airing of *Survivor: Africa*, with the goal of incorporating people from as many different ethnic backgrounds as possible. This season also attempted to consider greater diversity in the ages of players. Production was forced to reflect on the lack of Indigenous representation in the final cast for *Ghost Island* and responded by promising to cast multiple Indigenous players on Season 48. The *Ghost Island* theme was originally floated during the production of *Survivor: David vs. Goliath* before being shelved. This theme was chosen for Season 47 in response to the lack of twists and advantages creating a predictable outcome on *Survivor: The Congo*.

## Twists/ Changes

Ghost Island: At the conclusion of every pre-merge immunity challenge, each tribe will send one member to Ghost Island. These players will compete in a Ghost Island duel for an advantage, where the winner of this advantage will be told anonymously. The players from the winning tribes will then leave Ghost Island (whether they win the duel or not), whilst players from the losing tribe will remain on Ghost Island. However, players from the losing tribe who also lose the duel will be ineligible to vote at the next tribal council they attend. As a result, no player can make consecutive appearances to Ghost Island without visiting tribal council. The rules were slightly amended following the Day 16 and 18 reward challenges, where one castaway from each tribe was sent to Ghost Island and all players returned to their respective camps before the immunity challenge the following day. With this rule change, players were allowed to make a return or even consecutive visit to Ghost Island, and the losers of the duel did not lose their vote at their next tribal council.

Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden at each camp. However, these idols have two halves, one of which must be given to another castaway before sundown on the same day that it is found. After a minimum period of 24 hours, the two halves can be combined into an idol will full power.

**Secret Hidden Immunity Idol**: In addition to the regular idols hidden at camp, a clue and key to a secret idol was obtained by the winners of the first three Ghost Island duels. That key will allow the castaway to unlock a secret compartment at Tribal Council which contains a Hidden Immunity Idol. Once unlocked, the castaway writes the name of the person they want to use it for on the back of the idol, place it in the urn, and it will be played anonymously. Although three keys were given out to three duel winners, only the first castaway to unlock the compartment at Tribal Council would receive the secret idol, which would be eliglbe for use until the Final Six.

Tribe Expansion: On Day 10, a tribe switch introduced a third tribe, Yanuya, spreading the seventeen remaining players across two tribes of six and a tribe of five.

Idol Nullifier: The Idol Nullifier can be used to void the use of a Hidden Immunity Idol until the Final Six.

**Tribal Council Pass**: The castaway would be able to leave Tribal Council before the vote, effectively making them immune at the cost of not voting. This advantage is usable until the Final Seven.

Vote Blocker: The castaways sent to Ghost Island on Day 16 competed to win a Vote Blocker. This variation did not have to be played at the following Tribal Council regardless if the holder would attend that Tribal Council or not as it was eligible for use until the Final Six.

Extra Vote: The winner of the Ghost Island duel on Day 18 competed for an extra vote. Eligible until the Final Six, the holder was able to vote twice in one tribal council.

Joint Tribal Council: The two tribes who lost the seventh Immunity Challenge on Day 19 were both sent to Tribal Council as a group, but unlike a standard Double Tribal Council, they would vote as a group and only one person was voted out.

Double Elimination: On Day 25, Lavita was subjected to a Double Elimination, where the tribe was divided into two groups of six and two castaways would be eliminated through two separate Tribal Councils on a single night.

## Trivia

* *Survivor: Ghost Island* defeats the previous record for diversity and representation held by *Survivor: The Congo*, as all twenty castaways are people of colour.
	+ This season holds the record for the most black castaways competing, with eight (Abigail, Ebony, Frank, Isaac, Jacob, Luna, Reed and Toya).
	+ It holds the record for the most Asian castaways competing, with six (Angela, Joyce, Malika, Narinder, Trisha and Vincent).
	+ This is also the first season in *Survivor* history with two Middle Eastern men competing (Samir and Tariq).
	+ Due to the nature of the *Ghost Island* cast, this season is the first where the Final Tribal Council only contains people of colour.
	+ This marks the first time that people of colour reach the Final Tribal Council in four consecutive seasons.
* This season introduced a number of new *Survivor* twists:
	+ The Secret Hidden Immunity Idol, which could be played anonymously.
	+ Two separate voting advantages, the Vote Blocker and the Extra Vote.
	+ The pre-merge Joint Tribal Council.
	+ A post-merge Double Elimination where the players were split into groups.
* *Ghost Island* is the first season since *Australia II* to not feature a tied vote.
* *Ghost Island*, *Indonesia* and *Island of Secrets* currently hold the record for the most successful split votes in a season with 3.