Survivor: Worlds Apart

Survivor: Worlds Apart
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	30
Filming Location	San Juan del Sur, Rivas, Nicaragua
Filming Dates	August 4, 2014 - September 11, 2014
Season Run	February 25, 2015 - May 20, 2015
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	18
Winner	Mike Holloway
Runner(s)-Up	Carolyn Rivera Will Sims II
Tribes	Escameca Masaya Nagarote Merica
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	San Juan del Sur
Next	Cambodia

Survivor: Worlds Apart, also known as Survivor: Worlds Apart — White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar, is the thirtieth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The initial tribes were divided based on the economic/professional background of their members. To date, it has produced four returning players (Hali Ford, Joe Anglim, Shirin Oskooi, and Sierra Dawn Thomas) for subsequent seasons.

This season saw an abnormally high level of interpersonal strife between contestants. Major incidents included: the controversial invective that Will Sims II directed against Shirin; the misogynistic conduct of Rodney Lavoie Jr.; the fraught social standing of Dan Foley; the latter's emotional conflict with Mike Holloway; Nina Poersch's feelings of exclusion from her tribe based on her hearing impairment; and Jenn Brown's withdrawal from the main social action of the game after the elimination of her friend, Hali. After an extended streak of Immunity Challenge victories, Mike won the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-1-1 jury vote over Will and Carolyn Rivera.

Production

Filming commenced weeks after Survivor: San Juan del Sur, while information about this season was revealed at the end of that season's live Reunion Show.

Originally, the season was planned to feature returning players to mark the show's 15th anniversary and 30th installment, but Executive Producer Mark Burnett decided to have new contestants instead. Host Jeff Probst said:

“	Leading up to 30, we spent almost a year talking about whether we should do some sort of all-star season with returning players, and that seemed to be the conventional wisdom. A lot of people were expecting us to do that. But Mark and I were talking on the phone one day and Mark said something so simple. Mark said, Just keep in mind, Jeff—it is our 30th season, but it is also just our 30th season. And that really struck me, and from that moment on I realized, yeah, this is not the end of Survivor. It just happens to be a big number. Let's just do a great season.	”
—Jeff Probst, on conceptualizing season 30

Probst explained why San Juan del Sur failed to be on par with the past four seasons. He stated that they decided on the theme (the "Blood vs. Water" concept) before casting. In an attempt to remedy last season's less than stellar performance, the host said they went into casting before they decided how they were going to divide them into tribes.

The idea of "White Collar vs. Blue Collar" was considered but the producers found the concept flat on its own. But with the success of Survivor: Cagayan's "Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty", they settled on having a third tribe, thus "No Collar"'s conception. Probst claimed that the "No Collar" archetype was his idea.

The contestants that were eliminated before the jury phase were sequestered in Costa Rica.

The motif of the season was inspired by classic shipwreck novels Swiss Family Robinson and Gilligan's Island.

Twists/Changes

• Tribe Division by Profession: The 18 castaways are divided according to their professions and approaches to life:
  • The Masaya ("White Collar") tribe is made up of castaways who work in the corporate world with a degree of authority. They "make the rules."
  • The Escameca​ ("Blue Collar") tribe is made up of castaways who work on manual labor. They "follow the rules."
  • The Nagarote​​ ("No Collar") tribe is made up of castaways who are free spirits with passion-based occupations. They "break the rules."
• Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden at each one of the tribe's camps.
• Tribe Leaders: At the beginning of the season, two people from each tribe would be chosen as "leaders" and would have to decide together between either receiving a large bag of beans or receiving a smaller bag of beans and a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 12, a tribe switch occurred, simultaneously dissolving the Masaya tribe and mixing the castaways into two tribes of seven.
• Merge: This season merged with twelve castaways in the game.
• Extra Vote: A castaway would get the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council. The intention of using the second vote should be voiced immediately after all the votes are cast and is valid until the final five. It is at the voter's discretion whether they would throw this vote away, vote for the same person twice, or vote against two targets.
• Expanded Jury and Final Three: The Final Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing an eight-person jury.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	So Kim 31, Long Beach, CA Retail Buyer	Masaya			1st Voted Out Day 3	4
	Vince S. 32, Santa Monica, CA Coconut Vendor	Nagarote			2nd Voted Out Day 6	3
	Nina Poersch 51, Palmdale, CA Hearing Advocate	Nagarote			3rd Voted Out Day 8	4
	Lindsey Cascaddan 24, College Park, FL Hairdresser	Escameca			4th Voted Out Day 11	5
	Max Dawson 37, Topanga, CA Media Consultant	Masaya	Nagarote		5th Voted Out Day 14	5
	Joaquin Souberbielle 27, Valley Stream, NY Marketing Director	Masaya	Escameca		6th Voted Out Day 16	4
	Kelly Remington 44, Grand Island, NY State Trooper	Escameca	Nagarote	Merica	7th Voted Out Day 19	4
	Hali Ford 25, San Francisco, CA Law Student	Nagarote	Nagarote		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 22	8
	Joe Anglim 25, Scottsdale, AZ Jewelry Designer	Nagarote	Escameca		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	8
	Jenn Brown 22, Long Beach, CA Sailing Instructor	Nagarote	Nagarote		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	18
	Shirin Oskooi 31, San Francisco, CA Yahoo! Executive	Masaya	Nagarote		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	7
	Tyler Fredrickson 33, Los Angeles, CA Ex-Talent Agent Assistant	Masaya	Escameca		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 32	5
	Dan Foley 47, Gorham, ME Postal Worker	Escameca	Escameca		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 35	9
	Sierra Dawn Thomas 27, Roy, UT Barrel Racer	Escameca	Escameca		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	6
	Rodney Lavoie Jr. 24, Boston, MA General Contractor	Escameca	Escameca		Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 38	5
	Carolyn Rivera 52, Tampa, FL Corporate Executive	Masaya	Nagarote		Runners-Up	10
	Will Sims II 41, Sherman Oaks, CA YouTube Sensation	Nagarote	Nagarote			4
	Mike Holloway 38, North Richland Hills, TX Oil Driller	Escameca	Escameca		Sole Survivor	4

Season Summary

The eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes of six based on profession: Escameca (Blue Collar), Masaya (White Collar), and Nagarote (No Collar). Despite frequent arguments between the Blue Collars, they only went to Tribal Council once, as did the White Collars. Though the No Collars lost two members, a core alliance of Hali, Jenn, and Joe formed, with Will as their fourth. With 14 players remaining, the players were redistributed into two tribes of seven; on Escameca, Blue Collar Rodney and White Collar Joaquin aligned, but Rodney's former Blue Collar allies, led by Mike, blindsided Joaquin to break up the pair and retain Rodney's loyalty.

When the tribes merged, two alliances vied for dominance: the Nagarote Alliance of No Collars, now with White Collar Shirin, against the Escameca Alliance of Blue Collars. However, due to White Collars Carolyn and Tyler, alongside Will joining the Blue Collars' side, the Escameca Alliance took control of the game, systematically eliminating the Nagarote Alliance. Though Rodney remained with the Blue Collars, he constructed his own alliance with the swing vote Carolyn, Tyler, and Will to eventually take down the other Blue Collars to avenge Joaquin.

Mike overheard Rodney's inner alliance plotting his blindside and outed his plans, but instead found himself ousted from the majority alliance and made the primary target. However, Mike won five of the last six Immunity Challenges and played a Hidden Immunity Idol the only time he was vulnerable. Due to the alliance being unable to get rid of Mike, they were forced to turn on each other. Eventually Mike's immunity wins and the use of the Hidden Immunity Idol enabled him to make it to the end along with Carolyn and Will.

At the Final Tribal Council, Mike was praised for winning so many Immunity Challenges and making it to the end despite being a massive target, but was criticized for his poor social game, Carolyn received some criticism for backstabbing her ally Tyler, and Will was berated for making derogatory comments toward Shirin and her family. In the end, Mike was awarded with six of the eight jury votes, and the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-1-1 vote.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"It's Survivor Warfare"	February 25, 2015	Nagarote1		So (4-2)	1st Voted Out Day 3	10.04	2.4/7
			Escameca1
2	"It Will Be My Revenge"	March 4, 2015	Masaya1		Vince (3-2-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	9.77	2.3/7
			Escameca1
3	"Crazy Is as Crazy Does"	March 11, 2015	Escameca1		Nina (3-2)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	9.25	2.2/8
			Masaya1
4	"Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner"	March 18, 2015	Nagarote	Nagarote	Lindsey (2-2-2; 3-0-0)2	4th Voted Out Day 11	9.62	2.3/7
			Masaya	Masaya
5	"We're Finally Playing Some Survivor"		Escameca	Escameca	Max (5-2)	5th Voted Out Day 14
6	"Odd Woman Out"	March 25, 2015	Nagarote	Nagarote	Joaquin (4-3)	6th Voted Out Day 16	9.64	2.3/8
7	"The Line Will Be Drawn Tonight"	April 1, 2015	None	Joe	Kelly (4-1-0)3	7th Voted Out Day 19	9.59	2.2/8
8	"Keep It Real"	April 8, 2015	Joe [Carolyn, Shirin, Tyler, Will]	Joe	Hali (7-4)	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 22	9.84	2.5/8
9	"Livin' on the Edge"	April 15, 2015	Dan, Mike, Shirin, Sierra, Tyler	Tyler	Joe (5-4-1)	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	9.35	2.2/8
10	"Bring the Popcorn"	April 22, 2015	Survivor Auction	Mike	Jenn (5-3-1)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	10.19	2.4/8
11	"Survivor Russian Roulette"	April 29, 2015	Carolyn, Dan, Tyler, Will	Carolyn	Shirin (4-2-2)	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29	9.25	2.2/8
				Mike
12	"Holding On for Dear Life"	May 6, 2015	Carolyn, Mike, Sierra	Carolyn	Tyler (3-0)3	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 32	9.22	2.1/8
13	"My Word Is My Bond"	May 13, 2015	Carolyn, Mike, Will	Mike	Dan (2-0)3	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 35	9.61	2.3/8
14	"It's a Fickle, Fickle Game"	May 20, 2015	Mike	Mike	Sierra (4-1)	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 37	9.74	2.3/7
			None	Mike	Rodney (2-2; Tiebreaker)4	Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Will Carolyn (6-1-1)	Runners-Up
					Mike (6-1-1)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						7.21	1.8/6
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^4 Per Survivor rules, in the event of a tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied castaways.

Voting History

		Original Tribes					Switched Tribes		Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4		5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Voted Out		So	Vince	Nina	Tie	Lindsey	Max	Joaquin	Kelly	Hali	Joe	Jenn	Shirin	Tyler	Dan	Sierra	Tie	Rodney	Will	Carolyn	Mike
Vote		4-2	3-2-1	3-2	2-2-21	3-0-0	5-2	4-3	4-1-02	7-4	5-4-1	5-3-1	4-2-2	3-02	2-02	4-1	2-24	Tiebreaker	6-1-1
►►	Mike	—	—	—	Lindsey	Lindsey	—	Joaquin	Jenn	Hali	Joe	Jenn	Tyler	Tyler	Dan	Sierra	Rodney	—	Jury Vote
►►	Carolyn	So	—	—	—		Max	—	Jenn	Hali	Jenn	Jenn	Shirin	Tyler	Dan	Sierra	Rodney	—
►►	Will	—	Vince	Nina	—		Max	—	Hali	Hali	Jenn	Jenn	Dan	Mike	Carolyn	Sierra	Carolyn	—
►►	Rodney	—	—	—	Sierra	None	—	Joe	Jenn	Hali	Joe	Shirin	Shirin	Mike	Carolyn	Sierra	Carolyn	Eliminated	Will
►►	Sierra	—	—	—	Rodney	None	—	Joaquin	Jenn	Hali	Joe	Shirin	Shirin	Tyler	Carolyn	Rodney				Carolyn
►►	Dan	—	—	—	Lindsey	Lindsey	—	Joaquin	Jenn	Hali	Joe	Shirin	Shirin	Mike	Carolyn						Mike
															Carolyn3
►►	Tyler	So	—	—	—		—	Joe	Jenn	Hali	Jenn	Jenn	Dan	Mike							Mike
►►	Shirin	So	—	—	—		Will	—	Kelly	Dan	Joe	Jenn	Tyler								Mike
►►	Jenn	—	Vince	Nina	—		Max	—	Kelly	Dan	Dan	Carolyn									Mike
►►	Joe	—	Nina	Nina	—		—	Joaquin	Kelly	Dan	Jenn										Mike
►►	Hali	—	Vince	Will	—		Max	—	Kelly	Dan											Mike
►►	Kelly	—	—	—	Sierra	Lindsey	Max	—	Jenn
►	Joaquin	Carolyn	—	—	—		—	Joe
►	Max	So	—	—	—		Will
	Lindsey	—	—	—	Rodney	None
	Nina	—	Jenn	Will
	Vince	—	Jenn
	So	Carolyn
Notes: ^1 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. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^3 This castaway played an Extra Vote advantage, allowing them to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^4 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied players in case of a tie at the final four Tribal Council.

Trivia

• Worlds Apart marks the first time since Samoa that there have been three seasons in a row to feature only new contestants.
• Worlds Apart is the first season with more than two starting tribes where all three tribes attended a Tribal Council before a tribe switch or absorption.
• Worlds Apart is the first season where all the Hidden Immunity Idols found were played effectively. Jenn Brown, Mike Holloway, and Carolyn Rivera all played their respective idols to negate a majority of the votes.
• Worlds Apart is the first season in Survivor (U.S.) where a castaway was able to vote twice at the same Tribal Council.
• Worlds Apart is tied with Borneo for fewest eliminations by a unanimous vote, with one.
  • Coincidentally, in both seasons, the only unanimous vote happened at the final five Tribal Council.
• Worlds Apart is the first season since Gabon to utilize the fire-making tiebreaker challenge.
• Worlds Apart is the first season where the finalists were not given the chance to give opening statements at Final Tribal Council.
• Worlds Apart is the first season with three starting tribes to have a representative from each of the original tribes present in the Final Three. Carolyn represented Masaya, Mike represented Escameca, and Will Sims II represented Nagarote. It would be followed by Survivor 42.
• Worlds Apart the first season since South Pacific to not have any contestants eliminated via evacuation or quit.
  • Additionally, it is the first season with three starting tribes to feature no evacuations or quits.