Survivor: The Congo

Location
 No. of Castaways
 Tribes
Lunda
 Winner

*Survivor: The Congo* is the forty-sixth season of Huyopa 2001's Survivor. This season contained twenty new female castaways competing for the title of Sole Survivor.

This season is best known for its two alliances that dominated the pre-merge phase of the game, but were overthrown at the first merged tribal council when their detractors banded together. Despite a few explosive votes during the merge phase, this season largely suffered from a lack of twists or advantages and an unwillingness by some players to overthrow the dominant alliance. The winner of the season, Annaliese, won in an 8-1-0 vote due to her strong social game with the entire jury and for only making small but necessary strategic decisions.

## Production

Production for *Survivor: The Congo* began during the airing of *Survivor: Africa*. It was decided the Season 46 cast would compete in The Democratic Republic of the Congo considering its relative proximity to Kenya, where *Africa* was being filmed. After being shelved during the production of *Survivor: Island of Secrets* and *Africa*, the theme of All Women was reintroduced and many finalists for previous seasons were contacted.

* Kari was a finalist for *Survivor: Vanuatu* and *Survivor: Borneo*.
* Sukhvinder was an alternate for *Survivor: Mamanuca Islands*.
* Jeana and Rio were apart of the original All Women season.
* Sue was an alternate for *Island of Secrets* as a prospective member of the original Ta'alo tribe for living in Ohio at the filming.

## Twists/ Changes

**All Women**: For the first time in *Survivor* history, twenty female castaways would compete against each other for the title of Sole Survivor.

**One-Time Exile**: During the tribe switch, 14 castaways would be assigned to either Bemba or Lunda, leaving one person without a tribe. That person would be sent to Exile Island, where they would be ineligible for the next vote and would join the losing tribe immediately after they voted out one player at tribal council.

Vote Steal: The exiled castaway received a clue that the Vote Steal advantage was hidden somewhere on the island. This advantage allows the castaway to steal the vote of another so they could vote twice. The player had until they were assigned a tribe to find the advantage, where they would lose their vote at the next tribal council as punishment if the advantage was not found.

## Trivia

* The author takes no credit for the creation of the logo and buffs for this season, which were taken from u/PumpSmash on Reddit.
* *Survivor: The Congo* is the first season in *Survivor* history to comprise of castaways from only one gender, with an entirely female cast.
	+ However, Bemba and Lunda are the second and third pre-merge tribes to only consist of female castaways after Penang from *Survivor: Malaysia*.
	+ As a result of this twist, *The Congo* is one of four seasons with an all female Final Three. It follows *Survivor: Blood vs. Water*, *Survivor: South Pacific* and *Survivor: Kaôh Rōng*.
	+ It should be acknowledged that although Alex identifies as genderfluid, they were chosen for this season because they are comfortable being referenced using she/her pronouns.
* *Survivor: The Congo* defeats the previous record for diversity and representation held by *Survivor: Thailand II*, as thirteen castaways from this cast of twenty are people of colour.
	+ This season currently holds the record for the most black women competing, with six (Alex, Alisha, Annaliese, Da'Vonne, Kari and Rio).
	+ It also holds the record for the most Asian women competing, with four (Erica, Helena, Jeana and Priyanka).
* This is the first season where only players who remained on their original tribe were voted out after the Tribe Switch.
* *The Congo* currently ties with *The Amazon* for the most failed split votes in a season, with two.