***Survivor: Guatemala - The Mayan Empire*** (also known as *Survivor: Guatemala*) was the eleventh season of the American reality show *Survivor*, and was set inside of the ruins of the Maya civilization. The show was filmed in Yaxhá-Nakúm-Naranjo National Park near the more popular Tikal National Park, in northern Guatemala. The season started being shown on TV on September 15, 2005 on CBS. The finale (last episode) was on Sunday, December 11, 2005 on CBS. Danni Boatwright won this season. She won against Stephenie LaGrossa in a 6-1 vote.

Applications had to be given on January 14, 2005. Around March 2005, 800 people were chosen for an interview by CBS. Out of these 800, 48 people were chosen to go in Los Angeles sometime around April 2005. From these 48, 16 were chosen to be in the game this season, which was filmed from June to August 2005. Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard from *Survivor: Palau* also returned this season. LaGrossa also returned once again in *Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains*. Her place is unknown because the season has not been shown on TV yet.

Host Jeff Probst says that temperatures seemed to be over 110 °F (43 °C) with a lot of humidity. He talked about it during some of the challenges. Challenges like the 11-mile (18 km) walk through the jungle and "Mayan basketball" showed how tired all the players were. In Day 1, many of the Nakúm men were sick after the walk, and had a hard time getting better.

After the tribes were merged (combined), production put a small Immunity Idol in the Xhakúm tribe. Gary Hogeboom found it up in a tree, saving him from being voted off at that Tribal Council. Unlike later seasons, this Idol could only be used before the vote instead of after, and once it was used, it wouldn't be used anymore. However, it could be used until the Final Four.

The tribes were Yaxhá (blue buffs, living in a shelter in the jungle) and Nakúm (yellow buffs, living near the Mayan ruins). Both of these tribes were named after two old Mayan cities. When there were 10 people left, the tribes merged one tribe, which the players named "Xhakúm" (red buffs, at Nakúm's old camp), named by blending the names "Yaxhá" and "Nakúm".

Tina Scheer, a player on *Survivor: Panama*, was supposed to be on the show this season, but her son had been killed in a car accident and she backed out.

The players came on June 22 and began filming on June 27. Filming ended on August 4 and players returned home August 5. (Source from Survivor Fever Archived 2021-02-14 at the Wayback Machine)

Players
-------

| Player | Starting tribe | Switched tribe | Merged tribe | Finish | Total votes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Jim Lynch**63, Northglenn, CO | Nakúm |  |  | 1st Voted OutDay 3 | 8 |
| **Morgan McDevitt**21, Decatur, IL | Yaxhá |  |  | 2nd Voted OutDay 6 | 8 |
| **Brianna Varela**21, Edmonds, WA | Yaxhá |  |  | 3rd Voted OutDay 8 | 7 |
| **Brooke Struck**25, Hood River, OR | Nakúm | Nakúm |  | 4th Voted OutDay 11 | 5 |
| **Blake Towsley**24, Dallas, TX | Nakúm | Yaxhá |  | 5th Voted OutDay 14 | 5 |
| **Margaret Bobonich**43, Chardon, OH | Nakúm | Nakúm |  | 6th Voted OutDay 15 | 7 |
| **Brian Corridan**22, New York, NY | Yaxhá | Yaxhá |  | 7th Voted OutDay 15 | 7 |
| **Amy O'Hara**39, Revere, MA | Yaxhá | Yaxhá |  | 8th Voted OutDay 18 | 4 |
| **Brandon Bellinger**22, Manhattan, KS | Nakúm | Yaxhá | Xhakúm | 9th Voted OutDay 21 | 6 |
| **Bobby Jon Drinkard**28, Troy, AL | Nakúm | Yaxhá | 10th Voted Out1st Jury MemberDay 24 | 8 |
| **Jamie Newton**24, North Hollywood, CA | Yaxhá | Nakúm | 11th Voted Out2nd Jury MemberDay 27 | 10 |
| **Gary Hogeboom**46, Grand Haven, MI | Yaxhá | Yaxhá | 12th Voted Out3rd Jury MemberDay 30 | 8 |
| **Judd Sergeant**34, Ridgefield, NJ | Nakúm | Nakúm | 13th Voted Out4th Jury MemberDay 33 | 5 |
| **Cindy Hall**31, Naples, FL | Nakúm | Nakúm | 14th Voted Out5th Jury MemberDay 36 | 6 |
| **Lydia Morales**42, Lakewood, WA | Yaxhá | Nakúm | 15th Voted Out6th Jury MemberDay 37 | 10 |
| **Rafe Judkins**22, Providence, RI | Yaxhá | Nakúm | 16th Voted Out7th Jury MemberDay 38 | 2 |
| **Stephenie LaGrossa**25, Philadelphia, PA | Yaxhá | Nakúm | Runner-Up | 2 |
| **Danni Boatwright**30, Tonganoxie, KS | Nakúm | Yaxhá | Sole Survivor | 1 |

*The **Total Votes** is the number of votes a player got during Tribal Councils where the player is able to be voted out of the game. It does not count the votes they got during the final Tribal Council.*

The game
--------


| Episode name | Date shown on TV | Challenges | Eliminated | Vote | Finish |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reward | Immunity |
| "Big Trek, Big Trouble, Big Surprise" | September 15, 2005 | Nakúm | Yaxhá | Jim | 8-1 | 1st Voted OutDay 3 |
| "Man Down" | September 22, 2005 | Nakúm | Nakúm | Morgan | 8-1 | 2nd Voted OutDay 6 |
| "The Brave May Not Live Long,but the Cautious Don't Live at All" | September 29, 2005 | Nakúm | Nakúm | Brianna | 7-1 | 3rd Voted OutDay 8 |
| "To Betray or Not to Betray" | October 6, 2005 | None | Yaxhá | Brooke | 5-3 | 4th Voted OutDay 11 |
| "Crocs, Cowboys and City Slickers" | October 13, 2005 | Yaxhá | Nakúm | Blake | 5-2 | 5th Voted OutDay 14 |
| "Big Ball, Big Mouth, Big Trouble" | October 20, 2005 | Nakúm | Rafe | Margaret | 6-1 | 6th Voted OutDay 15 |
| Gary | Brian | 5-1 | 7th Voted OutDay 15 |
| "Surprise Enemy Visit" | October 27, 2005 | Yaxhá | Nakúm | Amy | 4-1 | 8th Voted OutDay 18 |
| "The Hidden Immunity Idol" | November 3, 2005 | None |  Gary | Brandon | 6-4 | 9th Voted OutDay 21 |
| "Secrets and Lies and an Idol Surprise" | November 10, 2005 |  Judd[Bobby Jon, Stephenie] |  Jamie | Bobby Jon | 6-2-1 | 10th Voted OutDay 24 |
| "Eating and Sleeping With the Enemy" | November 17, 2005 |  Danni, Gary,Judd, Stephenie |  Rafe | Jamie | 6-2 | 11th Voted OutDay 27 |
| "Everything Is Personal" | November 24, 2005 |  Cindy [Rafe] |  Rafe | Gary | 6-1 | 12th Voted OutDay 30 |
| "Price for Immunity" | December 1, 2005 | Survivor Auction |  Danni | Judd | 4-2 | 13th Voted OutDay 33 |
| "Big Win, Big Decision, Big Mistake?" | December 8, 2005 |  Cindy[Stephenie] |  Stephenie | Cindy | 4-1 | 14th Voted OutDay 36 |
| "Thunder Storms & Sacrifice" | December 11, 2005 | None |  Rafe | Lydia | 3-1 | 15th Voted OutDay 37 |
|  Danni | Rafe | 1-0 | 16th Voted OutDay 38 |
| "The Reunion" | December 11, 2005 | Jury Vote | Stephenie | 6-1 | Runner-Up |
| Danni | Sole Survivor |
|

*In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.*

**^** There was no reward challenge due to tribal switch.

**^** There was no Reward Challenge due to tribal merge.

### Episode summaries

**Episode 1:** The sixteen new players learned upon arriving in the Guatemalan jungle that Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephenie LaGrossa from *Survivor: Palau* were returning. They were also told that their first reward challenge would be an 11-mile (18 km) walk to a campsite near some Mayan ruins. Nakúm won, and Yaxhá was told to find a new campsite. Yaxhá won the first Immunity Challenge, and because of his illness and injuries he got during the challenges, Jim was voted out of Nakúm (8-1).

**Episode 2:** Before the Reward Challenge, Blake had cramps and hyperventilation. Nakúm won fishing gear as their reward, and later won Immunity as well. Morgan was voted out because her tribe thought she was weak and lazy (8-1).

**Episode 3:** At the Reward Challenge, Nakúm won pillows, blankets and a tarp before going on to win their fourth challenge in a row, the Immunity Challenge. At Tribal Council, Brianna of Yaxhá was voted out because her tribe thought she was weak (7-1).

**Episode 4:** At the Reward Challenge, the tribes were switched; Brooke, Cindy, Judd, Margaret, Lydia, Stephenie, Rafe and Jamie were the new Nakúm and Amy, Brian, Gary, Danni, Brandon, Blake and Bobby Jon were the new Yaxhá. After the new Yaxhá tribe won the Immunity Challenge, Judd make his original Nakúm teammates upset and helped to vote Brooke out (5-3).

**Episode 5:** At the Reward Challenge, Yaxhá won chips, drinks and a crocodile-proof swimming cage. Nakúm won immunity and Blake was voted out for being selfish, (5-2).

**Episode 6:** Nakúm won their second challenge in a row, and both tribes would be going Tribal Council. As part of their reward, Nakúm had an individual Immunity Challenge, which was won by Rafe. He was also able to watch part of the Yaxhá tribal council. Margaret, due to personality problems, was voted out of Nakúm (6-1), and Yaxhá voted out Brian (5-1), because they thought they could not trust him.

**Episode 7:** Yaxhá won the reward of a jungle canopy zipline ride, then invited Nakúm to camp for Danni's birthday. They swam together in the crocodile-proof cage. Nakúm won the Immunity Challenge, and with Amy still having an ankle injury that she got days ago, Yaxhá thought it was best to vote her out (4-1). After the vote, the four Yaxhá members left moved to the Nakúm camp for the tribal merge.

**Episode 8:** It was told that there was a Hidden Immunity Idol located near the camp of the new Xhakúm tribe (the old Nakúm camp). The tribes merged (combined) into one tribe and named the new tribe "Xhakúm". At the Challenge, Jeff said that it would be both for Reward and Immunity. However, only those who didn't think they needed immunity would go to the food reward while the others played for immunity. Gary ended up winning the individual immunity, saving himself because the old Nakúm members (Stephenie, Jamie, Judd, Rafe, Lydia and Cindy) wanted to vote off Gary. With Gary safe from being voted off, they thought about voting off Bobby Jon, but Stephenie told her allies to keep him in the game, allowing him to at least make the Jury. Instead, Brandon, likely the strongest player of the old Yaxhá members, was voted off (6-4).

**Episode 9:** Gary found the Hidden Immunity Idol. Judd won reward (shared with Bobby Jon and Stephenie), and Jamie won immunity. Gary, whom Nakúm wanted gone, surprised the tribe with the Hidden Immunity Idol at Tribal Council. With Gary safe from the vote once again, Bobby Jon was voted out instead (6-2-1) and became the first member of the Jury. He lasted three days longer than he did on *Survivor: Palau*.

**Episode 10:** At the very messy reward challenge, the team of Danni, Gary, Stephenie and Judd won a night away from camp and videos from home. After Rafe won Immunity, Jamie became worried about being voted out; they actually didn't want to vote him out that night, but him being too worried annoyed everyone else. They made his worst nightmare come true, voting him out (6-2).

**Episode 11:** Cindy won the reward challenge, and took Rafe with her on a reward of a feast, waterfall pool and massage. Rafe won Immunity again, and at Tribal Council, the old Nakúm tribe finally got to vote off Gary (6-1).

**Episode 12:** The final six's loved ones came to the camp after the Survivor Auction. Danni won an Immunity Challenge advantage, and Judd's wife, Cindy's twin sister and Stephenie's boyfriend were allowed to stay overnight at camp. As a result of her advantage, Danni won the Immunity Challenge. Safe with immunity, Danni also was able to turn the game around for herself by convincing Stephenie, Rafe and Lydia that Judd could not be trusted and was too much of a threat to keep around. In a (4-2) vote, Judd was sent packing, but not before he said some last words to the players left, quote "Bye, guys. Hope you get eaten by a freakin' crocodile. Scumbags."

**Episode 13:** After winning the Reward Challenge, Cindy was given the choice of keeping her newly won 2006 Pontiac Torrent or giving one to each of the other players left. Cindy chose to keep the car, a decision which made Rafe made. After Stephenie won Immunity, Rafe was able to get Cindy voted out (4-1).

**Episode 14:** In the final four, Rafe won his fourth individual immunity, and Lydia was voted out for being liked by the jury (3-1). After a two-hour, 38 minute challenge, Danni won the last immunity challenge. She chose to vote out Rafe, because she thought she would have a better chance at winning the game against Stephenie. (1-0). At the live reunion and finale (last episode), Danni beat Stephenie in a (6-1) vote. Stephenie had lasted 9 days longer than she did on *Survivor: Palau*.

### Voting history


|  | Original Tribes | Switched Tribes | Merged Tribe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Episode # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Reunion |
| Eliminated: | Jim8/9 votes | Morgan8/9 votes | Brianna7/8 votes | Brooke5/8 votes | Blake5/7 votes | Margaret6/7 votes | Brian5/6 votes | Amy4/5 votes | Brandon6/10 votes | Bobby Jon6/9 votes | Jamie6/8 votes | Gary6/7 votes | Judd4/6 votes | Cindy4/5 votes | Lydia3/4 votes | Rafe1 vote | Stephenie1/7 votes | Danni6/7 votes |
| Voter | Vote |
| Danni | Jim |  |  |  | Blake |  | Brian | Amy | Jamie | Stephenie | Jamie | Gary | Judd | Cindy | Lydia | Rafe | Jury Vote |
| Stephenie |  | Morgan | Brianna | Brooke |  | Margaret |  |  | Brandon | Bobby Jon | Jamie | Gary | Judd | Cindy | Lydia |  |
| Rafe |  | Morgan | Brianna | Brooke |  | Margaret |  |  | Brandon | Bobby Jon | Jamie | Gary | Judd | Cindy | Lydia |  | Stephenie |  |
| Lydia |  | Morgan | Brianna | Brooke |  | Margaret |  |  | Brandon | Bobby Jon | Jamie | Gary | Judd | Cindy | Danni |  |  | Danni |
| Cindy | Jim |  |  | Lydia |  | Margaret |  |  | Brandon | Bobby Jon | Jamie | Gary | Lydia | Rafe |  |  | Danni |
| Judd | Jim |  |  | Brooke |  | Margaret |  |  | Brandon | Bobby Jon | Gary | Gary | Lydia |  |  | Danni |
| Gary |  | Morgan | Brianna |  | Blake |  | Brian | Amy | Jamie | Cindy | Jamie | Cindy |  |  | Danni |
| Jamie |  | Morgan | Brianna | Brooke |  | Margaret |  |  | Brandon | Bobby Jon | Gary |  |  | Danni |
| Bobby Jon | Jim |  |  |  | Blake |  | Brian | Amy | Jamie | Stephenie |  |  | Danni |
| Brandon | Jim |  |  |  | Brian |  | Brian | Amy | Jamie |  |
| Amy |  | Morgan | Brianna |  | Blake |  | Brian | Bobby Jon |  |
| Brian |  | Morgan | Brianna |  | Blake |  | Bobby Jon |  |
| Margaret | Jim |  |  | Lydia |  | Judd |  |
| Blake | Jim |  |  |  | Brian |  |
| Brooke | Jim |  |  | Lydia |  |
| Brianna |  | Morgan | Lydia |  |
| Morgan |  | Lydia |  |
| Jim | Margaret |  |
|

Other websites
--------------

* Official CBS Survivor Guatemala Website

| * v
* t
* e
*Survivor (U.S.) seasons* |
| --- |
| Borneo (2000) · The Australian Outback (2001) · Africa (2001) · Marquesas (2002) · Thailand (2002) · The Amazon (2003) · Pearl Islands (2003) · All-Stars (2004) · Vanuatu (2004) · Palau (2005) · Guatemala (2005) · Panama (2006) · Cook Islands (2006) · Fiji (2007) · China (2007) · Micronesia (2008) · Gabon (2008) · Tocantins (2009) · Samoa (2009) · Heroes vs. Villains (2010)· Nicaragua (2010) · Redemption Island (2011) · South Pacific (2011) · One World(2012) · Philippines (2012) · Caramoan (2013) · Blood vs. Water (2013) · Cagayan (2014) · San Juan del Sur (2014) · Worlds Apart (2015) · Cambodia (2015) · Kaôh Rōng (2016) · Millennials vs. Gen X (2016) · Game Changers (2017) · Survivor 35 (2017) |