Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	35
Filming Location	Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Filming Dates	April 3, 2017 - May 11, 2017
Season Run	September 27, 2017 - December 20, 2017
No. of Episodes	14
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	18
Winner	Ben Driebergen
Runner(s)-Up	Chrissy Hofbeck Ryan Ulrich
Tribes	Levu Soko Yawa Solewa
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Game Changers
Next	Ghost Island

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is the thirty-fifth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

The season continued the trend of three-tribe seasons prominent in the modern era of Survivor by dividing its cast based on how they were seen by their communities. Though the season seemed headed for a straightforward finish with the decimation of the Healers after the merge, a revolt within the majority alliance combined with Ben Driebergen's string of flashy Hidden Immunity Idol plays culminated in an unpredictable end-game. This season also saw the introduction of the mandatory fire-making challenge at the final four, which has had an indelible impact on strategy in the succeeding seasons. In the end, Ben emerged as the Sole Survivor in a 5-2-1 vote over Chrissy Hofbeck and Ryan Ulrich.

Production

The season was filmed in the spring of 2017, following the same schedule that was used for Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. The following season was filmed a few weeks after.

The season's motif was inspired by the British colonization of Fiji from 1875 to 1970, with primary focus on shipping trade. As such, Tribal Council was designed to look like an abandoned warehouse overgrown with vines and cluttered with shipwreck debris. The walkway to Tribal Council consisted of actual disused cart tracks.

The season also saw the introduction of the mandatory fire-making challenge at the final four, which has since become a mainstay in future seasons. Jeff Probst justified the addition of the mechanic as the resolution for a long-standing observation that the person who plays the best game may be voted out at the final four without the ability to plead their case at Final Tribal Council. This mechanic, he explained, gives everyone who makes the final four the chance to earn their way into the finals.

Twists/Changes

• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers: The 18 contestants were divided into three tribes based on how they are perceived by their immediate communities:
  • The Levu​ tribe are the "Heroes", who serve their duties heroically and courageously.
  • The Soko tribe are the "Healers", who serve others by helping them heal physically or emotionally.
  • The Yawa​ tribe are the "Hustlers", who are praised for their work ethic and determination in achieving goals.
• Hidden Immunity Idols: For this season, clues for the regular Hidden Immunity Idols were etched onto trees. In addition to regular idols, before the marooning, a "super-idol" which can be used after the votes are read will be planted beneath the supplies. Unlike its Panama, Cook Islands, Cagayan, and Kaôh Rōng counterparts, this idol could only be used during the first Tribal Council. If its finder's tribe won the first Immunity Challenge, that player must anonymously send the idol to a member of the losing tribe.
• Return of Previous Tiebreaker Rules: The revote, which was removed in the previous season, was reinstated this season. This was announced to the castaways on this season prior to the start of the inaugural Immunity Challenge.
• Tribe Switch: A tribe switch occurred on Day 9, shuffling the remaining fifteen castaways into three tribes of five.
• Vote Blocker: After the Reward Challenge on Day 9, a vote blocker was hidden in a bag of potato chips for the winning tribe. This allows a castaway to block another from voting at the next Tribal Council. Should the person who found the advantage not attend the next Tribal Council, they must block someone on the losing tribe from voting.
• Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game.
• Extra Vote: The extra vote returned, though with a difference in its mechanism. At their next Tribal Council, its finder was allowed to keep a blank parchment instead of casting a vote, allowing them to vote twice at a future Tribal Council.
• Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Final 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 for the right to reach Day 39.
• Expanded Jury and Final Three: The Final Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing an eight-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	Merged Tribe
	Katrina Radke 46, Excelsior, MN Olympian	Levu			1st Voted Out Day 3	5
	Simone Nguyen 25, New York City, NY Diversity Advocate	Yawa			2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
	Patrick Bolton 25, Auburn, AL Small Business Owner	Yawa			3rd Voted Out Day 8	5
	Alan Ball 32, Houston, TX NFL Player	Levu	Levu		4th Voted Out Day 11	2
	Roark Luskin 27, Santa Monica, CA Social Worker	Soko	Soko		5th Voted Out Day 14	3
	Ali Elliott 24, Los Angeles, CA Celebrity Assistant	Yawa	Soko		6th Voted Out Day 16	3
	Jessica Johnston 29, Louisville, KY Nurse Practitioner	Soko	Yawa	Solewa	7th Voted Out Day 19	7
	Desi Williams 27, Newport News, VA Physical Therapist	Soko	Levu		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	11
	Cole Medders 24, Little Rock, AR Wilderness Therapy Guide	Soko	Yawa		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	7
	JP Hilsabeck 28, Los Angeles, CA Firefighter	Levu	Soko		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	6
	Joe Mena 34, Tolland, CT Probation Officer	Soko	Levu		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30	12
	Lauren Rimmer 35, Beaufort, NC Fisherman	Yawa	Yawa		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33	3
	Ashley Nolan 26, Satellite Beach, FL Lifeguard	Levu	Levu		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36	8
	Mike Zahalsky 43, Parkland, FL Urologist	Soko	Yawa		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	9
	Devon Pinto 24, Solana Beach, CA Surf Instructor	Yawa	Levu		Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 38	2
	Ryan Ulrich 23, North Arlington, NJ Bellhop	Yawa	Soko		Second Runner-Up	2
	Chrissy Hofbeck 46, Lebanon Township, NJ Actuary	Levu	Soko		Runner-Up	7
	Ben Driebergen 34, Boise, ID Marine	Levu	Yawa		Sole Survivor	11

Season Summary

The 18 new players were initially divided into three tribes: Levu, Soko, and Yawa. Yawa struggled early on losing two members; while Levu lost only one member, the tribe was dysfunctional due to Alan's paranoia; Soko went undefeated. With 15 players remaining, a Tribe Switch occurred. On the new Soko tribe, original Yawa member Ryan found himself as the swing vote, and he ended up flipping on his fellow Yawa member Ali and aligning with original Levu member Chrissy.

After the tribes merged, the former Levus and Yawas formed an alliance against the original Soko Alliance. However, the former alliance eventually splintered as Ashley, Ben, Devon, and Lauren formed a sub-alliance, though this alliance also dissolved as Ben became the main target for being perceived as the biggest threat. However, he managed to play three Hidden Immunity Idols, ending up in the final four along with Chrissy, Devon, and Ryan. After Chrissy won the Final Immunity Challenge, a new twist required her to save one of the remaining three players, which would force the other two players to compete in a fire-making challenge. Chrissy saved Ryan, forcing Ben and Devon to compete in the fire-making challenge. Ben won, joining Chrissy and Ryan in the finals.

At the Final Tribal Council, Ryan was chastised for his weak strategic game and laziness around camp, while Ben and Chrissy received mixed reception. Ben was respected for his strategic play and ability to make it to the end despite being a huge threat, while Chrissy was commended for her prowess in Immunity Challenges, but both, particularly Ben, were criticized for their weak social games. Ben's strong strategic game and ability to make it to the end despite the odds stacked against him beat out Chrissy's dominance in challenges and Ryan's weak gameplay, and he was awarded the title of Sole Survivor in a 5-2-1 vote.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"I'm Not Crazy, I'm Confident"	September 27, 2017	Soko	Soko	Katrina (5-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	8.33	1.8/7
			Levu	Yawa
2	"I'm a Wild Banshee"	October 4, 2017	Soko1		Simone (5-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	8.15	1.6/6
			Levu1
3	"My Kisses Are Very Private"	October 11, 2017	Levu1		Patrick (4-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	8.02	1.7/7
			Soko1
4	"I Don't Like Having Snakes Around"	October 18, 2017	Yawa	Yawa	Alan (2-0)2	4th Voted Out Day 11	8.12	1.8/7
				Soko
5	"The Past Will Eat You Alive"	October 25, 2017	Levu	Yawa	Roark (3-2)	5th Voted Out Day 14	8.22	1.7/7
			Yawa	Levu
6	"This Is Why You Play Survivor"	November 1, 2017	Soko	Yawa	Ali (3-1)	6th Voted Out Day 16	7.69	1.6/6
			Yawa	Levu
7	"Get to Gettin'"	November 8, 2017	None	Desi	Jessica (7-5)2	7th Voted Out Day 19	7.82	1.6/6
8	"Playing with the Devil"	November 15, 2017	Chrissy, Cole, Devon, JP, Ryan [Joe]4	Cole	Desi (4-4-1-1; 7-1)5	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	8.85	1.7/6
9	"Fear of the Unknown"	November 22, 2017	Chrissy, Cole, JP, Joe, Mike	Lauren	Cole (7-1-0)2	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	7.37	1.4/5
10	"Buy One, Get One Free"	November 29, 2017	Lauren [Ashley, Ben, Devon]	Ashley	JP (5-3-1)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	8.27	1.8/7
			Ashley, Ben, Devon, Joe	Chrissy	Joe (4-2-0)2	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30
11	"Not Going to Roll Over and Die"	December 6, 2017	Chrissy [Ashley, Mike, Ryan]	Ashley	Lauren (1-0)2	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33	8.96	1.8/7
12	"The Survivor Devil"	December 13, 2017	Chrissy, Devon [Ryan]	Chrissy	Ashley (5-1)2	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36	8.74	1.8/7
13	"Million Dollar Night"	December 20, 2017	Chrissy1		Mike (1-1-0; 2-1)2,5	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	8.70	1.9/8
			[Devon, Mike]
			None	Chrissy	Devon (No vote)6	Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Ryan (5-2-1)	Second Runner-Up
					Chrissy (5-2-1)	Runner-Up
					Ben (5-2-1)	Sole Survivor
14	"Reunion"						5.97	1.2/5
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^4 Joe drew the odd-colored rock when the teams were being formed, and as a result automatically joined the winning team on reward without competing. ^5 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^8 Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Immunity Challenge, Chrissy, would choose someone to take with them into the Final Three. She chose to take Ryan with her, leaving the two remaining castaways, Ben and Devon, to compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Voting History

		Original Tribes			Switched Tribes			Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		9	10		11	12	13
Voted Out		Katrina	Simone	Patrick	Alan	Roark	Ali	Jessica	Tie	Desi	Cole	JP	Joe	Lauren	Ashley	Tie	Mike	Devon	Ryan	Chrissy	Ben
Vote		5-1	5-1	4-1	2-02	3-2	3-1	7-53	4-4-1-14	7-1	7-1-02	5-3-1	4-2-02	1-02	5-13	1-1-02,4	2-1	No vote7	5-2-1
►►	Ben	Katrina	—	—	—	—	—	Jessica	Desi	Desi	Cole	Mike	Joe	Lauren	Ashley	Devon	Devon	—	Jury Vote
►►	Chrissy	Katrina	—	—	—	Roark	Ali	Jessica	Joe	Desi	Mike	Joe	Ashley	Ben	Ashley	Ben	Mike	—
►►	Ryan	—	Simone	Patrick	—	Roark	Ali	Jessica	Desi	Desi	Cole	Mike	Ashley	Ben	Ashley	Ben	Mike	—
►►	Devon	—	Simone	Patrick	None1	—	—	Jessica	Desi	Desi	Cole	JP	Joe	Ben	Ashley	Mike	None	Eliminated	Ryan
►►	Mike	—	—	—	—	—	—	Chrissy	Joe	Joe	Cole	JP	Ryan	Ben	Ashley	Ben	None			Chrissy
►►	Ashley	Katrina	—	—	Joe	—	—	Jessica	Joe	Desi	Cole	JP	Joe	Ben	Mike					Chrissy
►►	Lauren	—	Simone	Patrick	—	—	—	Jessica	None5		Cole	JP	Joe	Ben							Ben
►►	Joe	—	—	—	Alan	—	—	Chrissy	Ben	None	Cole	JP	Ryan								Ben
►►	JP	Katrina	—	—	—	Roark	Ali	Jessica	Desi	Desi	Mike	Mike									Ben
►►	Cole	—	—	—	—	—	—	Chrissy	Joe	Desi	Ben										Ben
►►	Desi	—	—	—	Alan	—	—	Chrissy	Lauren	None											Ben
►►	Jessica	—	—	—	—	—	—	Chrissy
►	Ali	—	Simone	Patrick	—	Chrissy	JP
►	Roark	—	—	—	—	Chrissy
►	Alan	Katrina	—	—	Joe
	Patrick	—	Simone	Lauren
	Simone	—	Patrick
	Katrina	Ashley
Notes: ^1 This castaway's vote was blocked by a Vote Blocker. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^4 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. ^5 This castaway used an advantage that allowed them to abstain from the vote in exchange for an Extra Vote that can be used at a future Tribal Council. ^6 Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Immunity Challenge, Chrissy, would choose someone to take with them into the Final Three. She chose to take Ryan with her. The remaining two castaways, Ben and Devon, would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Trivia

• The font used for this season is P22 Operina.
• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers marks the first time that all three starting tribes remained in existence entering the merge, as Millennials vs. Gen X started with two tribes and later expanded to three tribes.
  • Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers marks the first tribe switch where three starting tribes switched to produce three new tribes.
  • Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is the first season with three tribes not to have a tribe dissolution.
• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is the first season since Marquesas in which only one man won an individual Immunity Challenge.
• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers ties with David vs. Goliath and Island of the Idols for the most Hidden Immunity Idols played, with seven.
• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is the only season with three starting tribes where the highest-placing member of every tribe was a man.
• Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is the most recent season where all three finalists received at least one jury vote.
• Until Natalie Anderson received four votes in Winners at War, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers was the most recent season in which a woman received any jury votes.