Survivor: Ghost Island

Survivor: Ghost Island
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	36
Filming Location	Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Filming Dates	June 5, 2017 - July 13, 2017
Season Run	February 28, 2018 - May 23, 2018
No. of Episodes	14
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	20
Winner	Wendell Holland
Runner(s)-Up	Domenick Abbate Laurel Johnson
Tribes	Malolo Naviti Yanuya Lavita
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
Next	David vs. Goliath

Survivor: Ghost Island is the thirty-sixth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

The season was themed around mistakes from seasons past, offering the cast of new players a chance to rewrite history and correct those mistakes to further their own games. Two players, Domenick Abbate and Wendell Holland, dominated over much of the season and both made it to the Final Three, where the jury vote ended in a tie between two players for the first time in Survivor history. With Domenick and Wendell receiving five votes each, the third finalist, Laurel Johnson, broke the tie in favor of Wendell, making him the Sole Survivor.

Production

The season was filmed in the summer of 2017, only a few weeks after filming for Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers wrapped. It followed the same filming schedule that was used for Survivor: Game Changers.

Notable non-playable relics found on Ghost Island include snuffers (all of which host Jeff Probst kept as souvenirs), tribal Immunity Idols, and individual Immunity Necklaces from past seasons. Some props that were previously auctioned off for charity were bought back by production.

Twists/Changes

• Ghost Island: The tribe that wins a Reward Challenge gets the opportunity to banish one member from the losing tribe to Ghost Island, a variant of Exile Island that is adorned with authentic props from past seasons, some of which are Hidden Immunity Idols and advantages that can be played this season. To obtain a relic, inhabitants must first smash an urn to earn the right to play a game of chance. Winning the game earns them the advantage. The playable relics were:
  • Sierra Dawn Thomas's Legacy Advantage from Game Changers (obtained on Ghost Island).
  • Andrea Boehlke's unplayed Hidden Immunity Idol from Caramoan (obtained at the Naviti camp).
  • One of James Clement's unplayed Hidden Immunity Idols from China (obtained at the Malolo camp).
  • The fake Hidden Immunity Idol Ozzy Lusth created in Micronesia, which is now repurposed as a playable idol (obtained at the Malolo camp).
  • Sarah Lacina's Vote Steal, from Game Changers, which for this season is simply an Extra Vote (obtained on Ghost Island). This item was later put back in play on Ghost Island after previously being used on Day 29.
  • The individual Immunity Necklace from Micronesia that Erik Reichenbach infamously gave away before being voted out. This item is now repurposed as a Hidden Immunity Idol (obtained at the Yanuya camp).
  • J.T. Thomas's unplayed Hidden Immunity Idol from Game Changers, which is initially usable only at the immediate Tribal Council, but its shelf life can be extended by up to five times via a game of chance (obtained on Ghost Island).
  • Scot Pollard's and Tai Trang's Hidden Immunity Idols from Kaôh Rōng, the effects of which differ this season, as they are no longer idols on their own, but form a regular Hidden Immunity Idol instead of a Super Idol when combined (both halves hidden separately at the Lavita camp).
  • David Wright's fake idol that Jay Starrett played in Millennials vs. Gen X, which is still a fake idol (obtained at the Lavita camp).
  • Malcolm Freberg's advantage for the Final Immunity Challenge from Philippines, allowing him a second chance at the challenge. The advantage works in the same fashion, allowing the user a second chance at the Day 32 Immunity Challenge (obtained on Ghost Island).
• Meager Supplies: For this season, tribes will only be supplied with a machete, pot, a fishing kit, and a supply of rice cut in half from the minimum the medical team allots for the castaways.
• Tribe Leader: Shortly after entering the game, both tribes will select a leader, who will, in turn, choose two people, one athletic and one puzzle solver, for an immediate Reward Challenge.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 7, the eighteen remaining castaways were spread across two tribes of nine.
• Tribe Expansion: On Day 15, a second tribe switch introduced a third tribe, Yanuya​, spreading the fifteen remaining players across three tribes of five.
• Merge: The merge occurred with thirteen players remaining.
• Split Tribal Council: On Day 29, Lavita was subjected to a Split Tribal Council. The tribe was divided into two groups of five and two castaways would be eliminated through two separate Tribal Councils on a single night.
• Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the final four Immunity Challenge got to choose one person to take with them to the Final Three. The remaining two castaways competed in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be eliminated.
• Expanded Jury and Final Three: Instead of the conventional Final Two facing the jury of seven, the Day 39 Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing a ten-person jury.
• Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak one by one, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation				Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Expanded Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Stephanie Gonzalez 26, Ocala, FL Graphic Saleswoman	Malolo				1st Voted Out Day 3	8
	Jacob Derwin 22, Brooklyn, NY Music Teacher	Malolo				2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
	Morgan Ricke 29, Orlando, FL Marine Animal Trainer	Naviti	Naviti			3rd Voted Out Day 9	4
	Brendan Shapiro 40, Herndon, VA Physical Education Teacher	Malolo	Malolo			4th Voted Out Day 12	5
	Stephanie Johnson 34, Chicago, IL Yoga Instructor	Malolo	Malolo			5th Voted Out Day 14	7
	James Lim 24, New York City, NY Business Analyst	Malolo	Naviti	Malolo		6th Voted Out Day 17	6
	Bradley Kleihege 26, Los Angeles, CA Law Student	Naviti	Malolo	Naviti		7th Voted Out Day 19	8
	Chris Noble 27, Brooklyn, NY Male Model	Naviti	Naviti	Yanuya	Lavita	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 22	10
	Libby Vincek 24, Houston, TX Social Media Strategist	Malolo	Naviti	Naviti		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 25	8
	Desiree Afuye 21, Brooklyn, NY Student	Naviti	Malolo	Malolo		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	10
	Jenna Bowman 23, Venice Beach, CA Account Executive	Malolo	Malolo	Yanuya		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	3
	Michael Yerger 18, Los Angeles, CA Real Estate Agent	Malolo	Malolo	Malolo		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 29	15
	Chelsea Townsend 25, Los Angeles, CA EMT	Naviti	Malolo	Naviti		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 32	5
	Kellyn Bechtold 30, Denver, CO Career Counselor	Naviti	Malolo	Malolo		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35	8
	Sebastian Noel 22, Satellite Beach, FL Fishing Guide	Naviti	Malolo	Yanuya		15th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 36	5
	Donathan Hurley 25, Kimper, KY Caretaker	Malolo	Naviti	Naviti		16th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37	11
	Angela Perkins 42, Cincinnati, OH Army Veteran	Naviti	Naviti	Malolo		Eliminated 10th Jury Member Day 38	3
	Laurel Johnson 29, Minneapolis, MN Financial Consultant	Malolo	Naviti	Yanuya		Second Runner-Up 11th Jury Member Day 39	3
	Domenick Abbate 38, Nesconset, NY Construction Supervisor	Naviti	Naviti	Naviti		Runner-Up	2
	Wendell Holland 33, Philadelphia, PA Furniture Company Owner	Naviti	Naviti	Yanuya		Sole Survivor	5

Season Summary

The twenty castaways were divided into two tribes, Malolo and Naviti. Naviti's dominance in the early challenges allowed them to gain the majority even through two tribe switches and enter the merge with an 8-5 supermajority. Despite their successes, fractures within Naviti still surfaced, notably between Chris and Domenick, with both competing over tribe leadership. During the pre-merge, Domenick and Wendell also found allies from the dwindling Malolo tribe in Donathan and Laurel.

At the merge, Domenick rallied both tribes into voting out his rival Chris before the Naviti Alliance began to systematically eliminate the former Malolos. Despite the majority's imminent success, an all-female coup led by Desiree was foiled by Laurel, who already cemented her pact with Domenick and Wendell and leaked the plot, with Desiree swiftly paying the price. The purging of the Malolos continued until only Donathan and Laurel remained. With eight castaways remaining, the Naviti Alliance crumbled and the women from the Naviti alliance tried to take out Domenick and Wendell, but with Domenick and Wendell each possessing a Hidden Immunity Idol, they were virtually untouchable.

With the end in sight, Donathan began to waver in his pact with Domenick and Wendell and plotted to have their idols flushed out, but ultimately failed, getting himself voted out by both of them. After winning the Final Immunity Challenge, Domenick chose Laurel to join him in the Final Three, pitting his closest ally Wendell against Angela in a fire-making challenge with the goal that Angela will beat Wendell. Wendell however defeated Angela, advancing him to the Final Tribal Council with Domenick and Laurel.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury lambasted Laurel for wasting multiple opportunities to come out of her own and turn against Domenick and Wendell, while torn between Domenick's aggressively strategic game and Wendell's stronger social game. The jury vote ended up in a 5-5-0 vote between the two, which was broken by third-placer Laurel, who voted for Wendell in respect to their closer friendship in the game. The deciding vote was read live, and with six votes to Domenick's five, Wendell was crowned Sole Survivor.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Exiled	Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Can You Reverse the Curse?"	February 28, 2018	Malolo	Naviti	Jacob	Gonzalez (8-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	8.19	1.7/7
			Naviti1		Donathan	Jacob (5-2-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6
2	"Only Time Will Tell"	March 7, 2018	Malolo1		Chris	Morgan (4-3-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 9	8.23	1.7/7
3	"Trust Your Gut"	March 14, 2018	Naviti	Naviti	Kellyn	Brendan (5-4)2	4th Voted Out Day 12	8.39	1.7/7
4	"A Diamond in the Rough"	March 21, 2018	Naviti	Naviti	Stephanie	Stephanie (7-1)	5th Voted Out Day 14	8.61	1.8/7
5	"Fate Is the Homie"	March 28, 2018	None	Yanuya	None	James (4-1)	6th Voted Out Day 17	8.15	1.7/7
				Naviti
6	"Gotta Risk It for the Biscuit"	April 4, 2018	Naviti	Yanuya	Kellyn	Bradley (4-1)	7th Voted Out Day 19	8.42	1.7/7
			Yanuya	Malolo
7	"Fear Keeps You Sharp"	April 11, 2018	None	Kellyn	Chris	Chris (10-2)3	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 22	7.97	1.6/7
8	"The Sea Slug Slugger"	April 18, 2018	Angela, Chelsea, Donathan, Laurel, Libby, Wendell	Angela	Jenna	Libby (4-1-0)4	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 25	7.73	1.6/7
9	"It's Like the Perfect Crime"	April 25, 2018	Chelsea, Jenna, Kellyn, Michael, Sebastian	Chelsea	Angela	Desiree (8-2)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	7.81	1.6/7
10	"The Finish Line Is in Sight"	May 2, 2018	None	Chelsea	None	Jenna (3-1-0)4	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	7.84	1.5/7
				Domenick		Michael (2-2-1-1; 3-0)5	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 29
11	"A Giant Game of Bumper Cars"	May 9, 2018	Sebastian [Domenick, Donathan, Wendell]6	Domenick	Wendell	Chelsea (5-3)	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 32	7.74	1.5/7
12	"Always Be Moving"	May 16, 2018	Domenick, Wendell [Laurel]	Laurel	Sebastian	Kellyn (3-3-1; 4-1)5	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35	7.54	1.5/6
13	"It Is Game Time Kids"	May 23, 2018	Wendell1		None	Sebastian (4-1-1)	15th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 36	7.31	1.4/6
			[Angela, Sebastian]
			None	Wendell		Donathan (4-0)2,4	16th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37
				Domenick	Angela, Domenick, Laurel, Wendell	Angela (no vote)7	Eliminated 10th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote			Laurel (6-5-0)8	Second Runner-Up 11th Jury Member Day 39
						Domenick (6-5-0)	Runner-Up
						Wendell (6-5-0)	Sole Survivor
14	"Reunion"							4.62	0.8/3
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^3 The Legacy Advantage was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^4 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^5 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^6 Sebastian was instructed to send someone to Ghost Island where the person going would be guaranteed to win an advantage. Wendell volunteered to go, giving up his spot on reward. ^7 Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Immunity Challenge, Domenick, would choose someone to take with them into the Final Three. He chose Laurel. The remaining two castaways, Angela and Wendell, would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist. ^8 The final vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, the second runner-up, Laurel, would become a member of the jury and cast the tiebreaking vote.

Voting History

		Original Tribes		Switched Tribes			Expanded Tribes		Merged Tribe
Episode		1		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10			11	12		13
Voted Out		Gonzalez	Jacob	Morgan	Brendan	Stephanie	James	Bradley	Chris	Libby	Desiree	Jenna	Tie	Michael	Chelsea	Tie	Kellyn	Sebastian	Donathan	Angela	Laurel	Domenick	Wendell
Vote		8-1	5-2-1	4-3-1	5-42	7-1	4-1	4-1	10-24	4-1-05	8-2	3-1-05	2-2-1-16	3-0	5-3	3-3-16	4-1	4-1-1	4-02,5	No vote8	6-5-09
►►►	Wendell	—	—	Angela	—	—	—	—	Chris	Michael	Desiree	—	Michael	Michael	Chelsea	Kellyn	Kellyn	Sebastian	Donathan	—	Jury Vote
►►►	Domenick	—	—	Angela	—	—	—	Bradley	Chris	Michael	Desiree	—	Michael	Michael	Chelsea	Kellyn	Kellyn	Sebastian	Donathan	—
►►►	Laurel	Gonzalez	Jacob	Morgan	—	—	—	—	Chris	Libby	Desiree	—	Kellyn	None	Chelsea	Kellyn	Kellyn	Sebastian	Donathan	—			Wendell
►►►	Angela	—	—	Libby	—	—	James	—	Libby	Michael	None3	Jenna	—		Wendell	Donathan	Kellyn	Sebastian	Donathan	Eliminated			Wendell
►►►	Donathan	Gonzalez	Exiled1	Morgan	—	—	—	Bradley	Chris	Michael	Desiree	Sebastian	—		Chelsea	Domenick	None	Domenick	Laurel				Wendell
►►►	Sebastian	—	—	—	Brendan	Stephanie	—	—	Chris	Michael	Desiree	Jenna	—		Chelsea	Donathan	Donathan	Donathan					Wendell
►►►	Kellyn	—	—	—	Brendan	Stephanie	James	—	Chris	Libby	Desiree	—	Laurel	Michael	Wendell	Donathan	None						Wendell
													Laurel7
►►►	Chelsea	—	—	—	Brendan	Stephanie	—	Bradley	Chris	Libby	Michael	Jenna	—		Wendell								Wendell
►►►	Michael	Gonzalez	James	—	Bradley	Stephanie	James	—	Chris	Wendell	Desiree	—	Wendell	None								Domenick
►►►	Jenna	Gonzalez	Jacob	—	Bradley	Stephanie	—	—	Chris	Michael	Desiree	Donathan										Domenick
►►►	Desiree	—	—	—	Brendan	Stephanie	James	—	Libby	Libby	Michael											Domenick
►►►	Libby	Gonzalez	James	Morgan	—	—	—	Bradley	Chris	Michael												Domenick
►►►	Chris	—	—	Exiled1	—	—	—	—	None3													Domenick
►►	Bradley	—	—	—	Brendan	Stephanie	—	Libby
►►	James	Gonzalez	Jacob	Morgan	—	—	Desiree
►	Stephanie	Gonzalez	Jacob	—	Bradley	Desiree
►	Brendan	Gonzalez	Jacob	—	Bradley
►	Morgan	—	—	Angela
	Jacob	Exiled1	Michael
	Gonzalez	Donathan
Notes: ^1 After winning the Immunity Challenge, Malolo was given the opportunity to send one member of the losing tribe to Ghost Island, allowing them to abstain from Tribal Council. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, however, no votes were cast against its user. ^3 This castaway lost their vote on Ghost Island, thus they were unable to cast a vote. ^4 The Legacy Advantage was played, but did not negate any votes against its user. ^5 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^6 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^7 This castaway played an Extra Vote advantage, allowing them to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^8 Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Immunity Challenge, Domenick, would choose someone to take with them into the Final Three. He chose Laurel. The remaining two castaways, Angela and Wendell, would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist. ^9 The final vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, the second runner-up, Laurel, would become a member of the jury to cast the tiebreaking vote.

Trivia

• With an average age of 27.9 among its castaways, Ghost Island has the youngest average age of any season.
• Ghost Island is the first season since Samoa to have a cast of all new castaways and not have a themed tribe division.
• Ghost Island is the first season since Cook Islands to have a Tribe Switch result in two tribes of nine.
• Ghost Island is the first season where both starting tribes had multiple members be voted out at their first Tribal Council.
• Ghost Island is the first and only season in which a tie occurred at the Final Tribal Council.
  • As a result, Ghost Island is the first season to have 11 jurors. This record would be broken by the 13-person jury in Edge of Extinction, and later by the 16-person jury in Winners at War.