Survivor: Japan

Location
 No. of Castaways
 Tribes
Heiwa (Beauty)
Jishin (Brains)
 Winner

*Survivor: Japan* is the twenty-ninth season of Huyopa 2001's Survivor. The season featured 18 castaways returning, and being originally split up into Brains, Brawn and Beauty.

The Final Three of the season included Alexys, a previously shy castaway of *Survivor: Worlds Apart*, who was voted out early in her first season and later played in an overall calculating game. Her fellow finalists included Igor, one of the four intruders and Peighton, who was Alexys' partner in crime. In the end, Alexys had a more vicious gameplay that was praised by most of the jury. She won in a 6-3-0 vote, with Igor receiving the other jury votes from his fellow intruders.

## Production

This season began pre-production around the time that the American version of Survivor: Kaôh Rōng was airing, so there were initial plans to create a *Kaôh Rōng* season using the Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty twist. However, circumstances changed the location of the season to Japan. A number of former castaways were contacted for the season, which include:

## Twists/ Changes

Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty: Much like Survivor: Cagayan, the tribes were originally split into 3 tribes based on their qualities throughout their time as castaways in previous seasons, whether it be Brains, Brawn or Beauty.

**Tribe Switch**: On Day 10, the castaways were split into 3 tribes of 6 castaways, with the Brains, Brawn and Beauty twist being over.

**4 Intruders**: During the tribe switch, four new castaways were introduced and played the game as normal competitors. They were all originally placed on the same tribe to avoid being voted out too early.

**Merge with 3 Tribes**: Other seasons with three starting tribes had tribe dissolves before merging. However, the three tribes later merged, with no dissolve occurring beforehand.

Double Tribal Council: On Day 14, the Jishin tribe won immunity and did not go to Tribal Council. However, Heiwa and Chikara had to vote out one member of their tribe. Alice and Cami were later voted out of Heiwa and Chikara respectively.

## Trivia

* The author takes no credit for the creation of the logo for this season, but does not know its original source. However, the author designed and created the buffs for the tribes.
* Survivor: Japan is the first season where:
	+ Late arrivals entered the game, the second counting Joe's late entry during Survivor: South Pacific.
	+ The same number of castaways were on the switched tribes as they were during their original incarnations.
	+ All Hidden Immunity Idols were played in succession.
* Survivor: Japan is the second season where:
	+ The Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty twist was used, following Survivor: Cagayan.
	+ A black pre-merge tribe existed, following Survivor: Tocantins.
	+ Only three people won individual immunity during the merge, along with Survivor: Gabon.
* Alexys becomes the youngest female to win the game at age 20.
* Igor becomes the first person to join later in the game and make it to the Final Tribal Council.
* This is the second of three consecutive seasons to have the Sole Survivor be a returning player from Survivor: Worlds Apart, following Derrick winning Survivor: Cambodia and later being followed by Blue Jay winning Survivor: Malaysia.
* Survivor: Japan currently holds the record for the most unanimous votes, with seven.