Survivor: Cook Islands

Survivor: Cook Islands is the thirteenth season of the reality series Survivor.

It was officially announced by Jeff Probst during the Survivor: Panama finale. Applications were due February 3, 2006. In March 2006 about 800 applicants were selected for an interview by CBS. Out of those 800, about 48 semi-finalists were selected to go to Los Angeles during late April and early May. Out of those semi-finalists, 20 were selected to participate in the show between late June and August 2006 on the atoll of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. The location was discovered by the website Survivor Maps before it was revealed on the Survivor: Panama finale. The show premiered on September 14, 2006. The two hour season finale will air on December 17, 2006 with Reunion show live from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. For the first time ever, the Finale will involve five castaways instead of the standard Final 4.

For the first time in Survivor, the contestants were divided into four tribes by race; African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, and White. Previously, tribes have been divided by gender and age.

Contestants

Contestant	Original Tribe	Episode 3 Tribe	Episode 8 Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total votes
File:T sekou.jpg Sekou Bunch 46, Los Angeles, CA	Manihiki				1st Voted Out Day 3	3
File:T virgilio.jpg Billy Garcia 36, New York, NY	Aitutaki				2nd Voted Out Day 6	4
File:T cecilia.jpg Cecilia Mansilla 29, Oakland, CA	Aitutaki	Aitutaki			3rd Voted Out Day 8	5
File:T john.jpg J.P. Calderon 30, Marina Del Rey, CA	Aitutaki	Rarotonga			4th Voted Out Day 11	7
File:T stephannie.jpg Stephannie Favor 35, Columbia, SC	Manihiki	Rarotonga			5th Voted Out Day 14	9
File:T anh.jpg Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" Bui 42, Christiansburg, VA	Puka Puka	Aitutaki			6th Voted Out Day 15	6
File:T cristina.jpg Cristina Coria 35, Los Angeles, CA	Aitutaki	Rarotonga			7th Voted Out Day 15	5
File:T jessica.jpg Jessica Smith 27, Chico, CA	Rarotonga	Aitutaki			8th Voted Out Day 18	6
File:T brad.jpg Brad Virata 27, Los Angeles, CA	Puka Puka	Rarotonga	Rarotonga		9th Voted Out Day 21	7
File:T rebecca.jpg Rebecca Borman 34, Laurelton, NY	Manihiki	Rarotonga	Rarotonga		10th Voted Out Day 24	6
File:T jenny.jpg Jenny Guzon-Bae 36, Lake Forest, IL	Puka Puka	Rarotonga	Rarotonga		11th Voted Out Day 24	6
File:T nathan.jpg Nathan Gonzales 26, Los Angeles, CA	Manihiki	Rarotonga	Rarotonga	Aitutonga	12th Voted Out Day 27	5
File:T adam.jpg Adam Gentry 28, San Diego, CA	Rarotonga	Rarotonga	Rarotonga	Aitutonga
File:T rebekah.jpg Becky Lee 28, Washington, D.C.	Puka Puka	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Aitutonga		3
File:T candice.jpg Candice Woodcock 23, Fayetteville, NC	Rarotonga	Aitutaki	Rarotonga	Aitutonga		1
File:T jonathan.jpg Jonathan Penner 44, Los Angeles, CA	Rarotonga	Aitutaki	Rarotonga	Aitutonga		6
File:T oscar.jpg Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth 25, Venice, CA	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Aitutonga		1
File:T parvati.jpg Parvati Shallow 24, Los Angeles, CA	Rarotonga	Rarotonga	Rarotonga	Aitutonga
File:T sundra.jpg Sundra Oakley 31, Los Angeles, CA	Manihiki	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Aitutonga		2
File:T yul.jpg Yul Kwon 31, San Mateo, CA	Puka Puka	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Aitutonga		4

Template:FnbIn episode 6, Nate was "kidnapped" by Aitutaki and became a part of that tribe through the next Reward Challenge, after which he rejoined Rarotonga.

The game

As said on the Panama reunion show, the concept of an Exile Island returns — with new twist(s). According to a local guidebook, pre-production began in the spring of 2006 and principal filming began on July 3, 2006 and ran through August 11, 2006, for broadcast in September.

		Challenges
Episode Title	Air Date	Reward	Immunity	Exiled	Eliminated	Vote	Finish
I Can Forgive Her But I Don't Have To Because She Screwed With My Chickens	2006-09-14	Puka Puka, Aitutaki, Rarotonga 2		Jonathan	Sekou	3–2	1st Voted Out - Day 3
Dire Straights and Dead Weight	2006-09-21	Puka Puka, Rarotonga, Manihiki 2,3		Yul	Billy	4–1	2nd Voted Out - Day 6
Flirting and Frustration	2006-09-28	None 4	Rarotonga	Candice	Cecilia	5–3	3rd Voted Out - Day 8
Ruling the Roost	2006-10-05	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Adam	J.P.	7–2	4th Voted Out - Day 11
Don't Cry Over Spilled Octopus	2006-10-12	Rarotonga	Aitutaki	Jonathan	Stephannie	7–1	5th Voted Out - Day 14
Plan Voodoo	2006-10-19	Aitutaki	None 5	None 5	Cao Boi	6–1–1	6th Voted Out - Day 15
					Cristina	4–2	7th Voted Out - Day 15
A Closer Look	2006-10-26	Recap Episode
Why Aren't You Swimming?!	2006-11-02	Aitutaki	Rarotonga	Adam	Jessica	6–1	8th Voted Out - Day 18
Mutiny	2006-11-09	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Candice	Brad	7–1	9th Voted Out - Day 21
People That You Like Want To See You Suffer	2006-11-16	Aitutaki	Aitutaki	Candice	Rebecca	6-1	10th Voted Out - Day 24
					Jenny	4-2	11th Voted Out - Day 24
Why Would You Trust Me?	2006-11-23	None	Ozzy	None	Nate	5–4	12th Voted Out - Day 27
You're A Rat	2006-11-30

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

Template:FnbThe first two challenges were combined reward and immunity challenges. In addition, the tribe that came in first got an additional reward.
Template:FnbIn the second reward and immunity challenge, Puka Puka and Rarotonga tied for first, and both won reward.
Template:FnbThere was no reward challenge in Episode 3 due to the tribe merger.
Template:FnbThis was a double elimination episode and thus there was no immunity challenge and nobody was exiled.

Elimination notes

1. Sekou - Two alliances: Sekou and Nathan, and Sundra and Rebecca, formed, with Stephannie as the self-proclaimed swing vote. In the end she decided to vote with the girls and Sekou was voted out. Sekou was seen as a tribe leader, albeit a lazy one. (3–2)
2. Billy - Believing that Billy was a liability to their tribe because of his poor work ethic and his attempts to pit them against each other, the Aitutaki tribe decided to intentionally lose the immunity challenge to vote him out. (4–1)
3. Cecilia - The newly reshuffled Aitutaki tribe lost the third immunity challenge. Cao Boi, Ozzy, Sundra, Jessica, and Cecilia conspired to get rid of Becky, whom they perceived to be the weakest person in their tribe. However, Yul and Jonathan, who had an alliance with Becky and the exiled Candice, convinced Cao Boi and Jessica to vote for Cecilia. Their plan worked, and Cecilia was promptly voted out. (5–3)
4. J.P. - In a moment of frustration, Stephannie accepted responsibility for losing the Immunity Challenge, but soon regretted doing so. The girls took the opportunity to band together with Adam and Brad to vote out J.P. for his demanding (and somewhat lazy) nature at camp. Going into the vote, it seemed that most of the women would vote for J.P. while most of the men would vote for Stephannie, with Brad and Parvati as swing votes. However, both of the swing votes went against J.P., and mysteriously Adam voted for J.P. as well. (7–2)
5. Stephannie - Cristina's tribemates were ready to vote her out for being bossy like J.P., but Stephannie made a mistake by telling Nate that she was ready to eat mashed potatoes and gravy. Everybody took that as a second sign that Stephannie had given up, and voted her out. (7–1)
6. Cao Boi - Although Cao Boi trusted most of his tribe in his plan to flush out the Immunity Idol, he was betrayed and was voted for by everyone but Jessica. He was also seen as annoying, and Becky never trusted him again after he attempted to get rid of her in episode 3. (6–1–1)
7. Cristina - Cristina performed well in the challenge, but her tribemates still saw her as bossy and voted her out. (4–2)
8. Jessica - Becky, Candice, and Yul plotted to vote out Ozzy before Jessica, but the tribe switched to Jessica for being annoying and lobbying too hard. (6–1)
9. Brad - Brad's comment that the game would soon become "every man for himself" aroused paranoia among the members of Rarotonga. Despite the addition of Jonathan and Candice, the tribe decided to eliminate Brad before he had the chance to switch sides. In a twist, Brad was revealed to be the first member of the jury. (7-1)
10. Rebecca - After Rarotonga lost another Immunity challenge, members of the tribe felt frustrated by Rebecca's poor performance in the challenges, as well as her laziness around camp. Dubbed "the weakest link," she was the next to go. (6-1)
11. Jenny - In a surprise twist, Raro was forced to vote out another member right after voting out Rebecca. Jenny was voted out because there had been earlier speculation that Jenny would become a threat, as she would pull for Candice's elimination and could switch sides after the merge.(4-2)
12. Nathan - After the merge, the former Rarotonga tribe had the numbers advantage. Yul, sensing that the former Aitutaki members were in trouble, showed Jonathan his hidden immunity idol and convinced him to realign himself with the former Aitutaki members. Jonathan was given the advantage to choose the member who would be voted out, and chose Nate because he felt that he was the one he knew and trusted the least. (5-4)

Exile notes

1. Jonathan - By losing the Immunity Challenge, Manihiki was allowed to send anyone else to Exile Island. They decided to send Jonathan after they heard that he stole Puka Puka's chicken.
2. Yul - Aitutaki chose to send Yul, believing him to be Puka Puka's strongest member. During his stay, Yul found the hidden immunity idol.
3. Candice - After the newly reshuffled Aitutaki tribe lost the Immunity Challenge, Rarotonga was told to choose someone from Aitutaki to go to exile. They chose Candice, protecting her from the next tribal council.
4. Adam - Aitutaki won the Reward Challenge and selected Adam to go to Exile Island because of his strength. He would later return in time to compete in the Immunity Challenge.
5. Jonathan - Rarotonga sent Jonathan back to Exile Island because he had been there once before. He suggested that the hidden immunity idol had been found upon his return to the other tribe members after this trip to Exile Island.
6. Nobody was exiled due to the double elimination.
7. Adam - Aitutaki won the Reward Challenge and selected Adam to go to Exile Island because of his strength.
8. Candice - In a special twist called Mutiny, Candice and Jonathan switched tribes and went to Rarotonga. Aitutaki won the reward challenge and as revenge sent Candice to Exile Island.
9. Candice - Candice was sent to Exile Island for the second straight time as part of Aitutaki's revenge for her betrayal. Yul commented that it was strategy as much as it was betrayal.
10. Nobody was exiled due to the merge.

Voting history

Starting Tribes			1st Merge					Mutiny			Merge
Episode:	Episode 1	Episode 2	Episode 3	Episode 4	Episode 5	Episode 6	Episode 7	Episode 8	Episode 9 8		Episode 10	Episode 11
Eliminated:	Sekou 3/5 Votes	Billy 4/5 Votes	Cecilia 5/8 Votes	J.P. 7/9 Votes	Stephannie 7/8 Votes	Cao Boi 6/8 Votes	Jessica 6/7 Votes	Brad 7/8 Votes	Rebecca 6/7 Votes	Jenny 4/6 Votes	Nathan 5/9 Votes
						Cristina 4/6 Votes
Voter	Vote
Adam				J.P.	Stephannie	Cristina		Brad	Rebecca	Jenny	Yul
Becky			Cecilia			Cao Boi	Jessica				Nathan
Candice			Exiled6			Cao Boi	Jessica	Brad	Rebecca	Jenny	Yul
Jonathan			Cecilia			Cao Boi	Jessica	Brad	Rebecca	Jenny	Nathan
Ozzy		Billy	Becky			Cao Boi	Jessica				Nathan
Parvati				J.P.	Stephannie	Cristina		Brad	Rebecca	Jenny	Yul
Sundra	Sekou		Becky			Cao Boi	Jessica				Nathan
Yul			Cecilia			Cao Boi	Jessica				Nathan
Nathan	Sundra			Stephannie	Stephannie	Kidnapped7		Brad	Rebecca	Jonathan	Yul
Jenny				J.P.	Stephannie	Cristina		Brad	Rebecca	Jonathan
Rebecca	Sekou			J.P.	Stephannie	Cristina		Brad	Jonathan
Brad				J.P.	Stephannie	Jenny		Jonathan
Jessica			Cecilia			Jonathan	Jonathan
Cristina		Billy		J.P.	Stephannie	Jenny
Cao Boi			Cecilia			Candice
Stephannie	Sekou			J.P.	Cristina
J.P.		Billy		Stephannie
Cecilia		Billy	Becky
Billy		Ozzy
Sekou	Sundra

Template:FnbCandice was exiled in episode three. However, she was not returned to her tribe until after tribal council, meaning she could not be voted out or participate in the vote.
Template:FnbAs another twist to Aitutaki winning reward, they were allowed to "kidnap" one of Rarotonga's members. They selected Nate and he was granted immunity and could not vote.
Template:FnbAfter losing the Immunity Challenge, Rarotonga was given a sealed bottle with a note inside that was opened after they voted out a member. The note said that another member was to be immediately voted out; so two people were eliminated by vote at the same tribal council.

Episode notes

Episode 1: Contestants were given two minutes to salvage whatever they could from a boat before having to paddle to their shore. There was a combined reward and immunity challenge. All tribes (except for Manihiki) won reward (flint) and immunity. In addition, Puka Puka, who came in first, got an extra reward in the form of a fire-making kit that included kerosene and water-proof matches. Manihiki, the losing tribe, chose to send Jonathan from Rarotonga to Exile Island. Manihiki went to Tribal Council and eliminated Sekou by a vote of 3–2.

Episode 2: Day 4 started well for Manihiki when the tribe managed to start a fire. Jonathan returned from Exile Island to Rarotonga, where nothing much has changed since he left. At Puka Puka, tribe members couldn't stand Cao Boi's jokes. At Aitutaki, feeling like his tribe could do better, Ozzy forced his tribe to throw the reward/immunity challenge to get rid of Billy, who had not been putting in much effort at camp. At the challenge, Puka Puka and Rarotonga tied for first place, so they each received two large tarps as reward and immunity. Manihiki finished third and was also safe from Tribal Council. The losing tribe, Aitutaki, sent Yul from Puka Puka to Exile Island, where he successfully deciphered the clues to discover the hidden immunity idol (a compass) in the sand. At Tribal Council, Billy confessed an apparent romance with Rarotonga's Candice, which was later found to be taken out of context. Despite his efforts, Billy became the second castaway to be voted out 4–1.

Episode 3: Instead of a reward challenge, the four tribes were merged into two racially and/or ethnically mixed tribes by school yard pick. Cecilia and Parvati were chosen by lot to start picking amongst the women and Brad and Jonathan amongst the men. The group headed by Cecilia and Jonathan were merged by chance. Yul, Becky, Jonathan, and Candice quickly formed an alliance at the newly created Aitutaki. Yul also told Becky that he found the hidden immunity idol. Aitutaki lost the immunity challenge to Rarotonga. The challenge was exactly the same as a challenge that took place in Survivor: Palau. Rarotonga selected Candice to be sent to Exile Island, thus throwing the Yul-Becky-Jonathan-Candice alliance plans into disarray. The others in the tribe banded together to try to vote out Becky. After strong lobbying by Yul and Jonathan, Cao Boi and Jessica switched their vote to Cecilia, who was voted out 5–3.

Episode 4: At Rarotonga, the women complained about the men's growing egotism, specifically J.P.'s bossing around. Aitutaki won the Reward Challenge of pillows, blankets, and a hammock. They choose Adam to go to Exile Island. After the Reward Challenge, Cao Boi went egg hunting, but instead knocked down a booby chick from a nest, which disturbed Jonathan. However, Cao Boi successfully returned the chick to the nest.

Aitutaki easily won the Immunity Challenge. Out of frustration, Stephannie accepted blame for the defeat and put herself up to be voted out. However, later on, she retracted the offer to the other girls, who then used the opportunity to vote J.P. out 7–2.

Episode 5: At Aitutaki, Cao Boi complained about Becky, Candice, and Sundra being lazy. At the Reward Challenge, Rarotonga won a weight-holding competition, and selected Jonathan to go back to Exile Island because he had been there once before. After spilling an octopus into the ocean, Cristina's tribemates complained about her being bossy like J.P. Cao Boi, Jessica, and Ozzy went exploring around the bay and accidentally ended up on Rarotonga's island. Their unexpected visit did not sit well with Rarotonga. Meanwhile, back at Aitutaki, Becky, Candice, and Yul tried to pull Sundra into their alliance with Jonathan. Aitutaki came from behind to win the Immunity Challenge. Cristina's tribemates were unanimous in wanting to vote her out next, but Stephannie made a mistake in showing weakness to Nate, and the vote swung to her, 7–1.

Episode 6: Back at Rarotonga's camp after Tribal Council, Cristina clashed with her tribemates after being pointed out as being annoying. At Aitutaki, Jonathan argued with Cao Boi after Cao Boi wanted to take the Immunity Idol to the next Reward Challenge. At the Reward Challenge, it is revealed that after the Reward Challenge, there will be a double elimination where both tribes had to vote a member out. Aitutaki won the Reward Challenge and received a feast, went to Tribal Council first, and got to listen in on Rarotonga's Tribal Council. At Aitutaki, Cao Boi woke up from a strange dream that spawned a plan he called "Plan Voodoo" to reveal the hidden Immunity Idol by splitting a 3 to 3 vote between Jonathan and Candice. He chose these two in particular for two reasons: 1) He believed Jonathan had the immunity idol, and 2) Even if he did not, one of the two people from the original tribe of Caucasians would be eliminated. Regardless, his plan backfired and he was voted out 6–1–1. Just before Rarotonga's vote, it was announced that Aitutaki would "kidnap" one member of Rarotonga who would be immune from the vote, could not vote, given a share of Aitutaki's reward, and stay at Aitutaki's camp until the next Reward Challenge. Aitutaki selected Nate. Cristina's lobbying failed and she was voted out 4–2.

Episode 7: At Aitutaki, Jessica felt blindsided by the previous Tribal Council where Cao Boi was voted out. She confronted the rest of the tribe with Nate watching after being "kidnapped". Becky, Candice, and Yul plotted their preferred order of elimination: Ozzy, Jessica, Sundra, Jonathan. At the Reward Challenge, Aitutaki easily beat Rarotonga to win peanut butter and potatoes. They selected Adam to go to Exile Island for a second time. After the Reward Challenge, Brad's tribemates were upset at him for sitting out the swimming portion of the Reward Challenge as he considered himself one of their strongest swimmers and the swimming part of the challenge is where they fell behind. Rarotonga rebounded to edge out Aitutaki for immunity. Jessica lobbied hard to have Jonathan voted out, but her efforts failed and she was voted out 6–1.

Episode 8: Candice and Jonathan plotted their paths post-merger. At Rarotonga, Brad said "it's like every man for himself", which turned his tribe against him. At the Reward Challenge, a new twist called "Mutiny" was presented were anybody could change tribe allegiances. Candice decided to jump to Rarotonga, and Jonathan quickly followed. A decimated Aitutaki regrouped and won the reward of coffee, pastries, letters, and pictures from home. Aitutaki quickly selected Candice to go to Exile Island in revenge for mutinying. With Candice at Exile Island, Jonathan tried to form an alliance of the remaining original Rarotonga members, Adam and Parvati. After Yul discovered a shortcut in the Immunity Challenge, Aitutaki came from behind to win. It appeared as Jonathan might get voted out by his new tribe because of a distrust for him after he easily sold out his former tribe, and Adam becoming infuriated after learning that Jonathan decided he should go to Exile Island on previous instances. Ultimately though, Brad's tribemates feared that he would join Yul and Becky post-merger, so they voted him out 7–1. Unexpectedly, Brad was announced as the first member of the jury.

Episode 9: At Rarotonga, Jenny and Parvati showed concern over Candice and Adam's closeness. Aitutaki crushed Rarotonga at the Reward Challenge and sent Candice back to Exile Island as continued revenge of her betrayal. Aitutaki took their fourth straight win by winning the Immunity Challenge. A sealed bottle with a note inside was given to Rarotonga after they lost the Immunity Challenge. The bottle was to be opened after the vote at Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, Rebecca was seen as the weakest link and she was voted out 6–1. The sealed bottle was then opened and the note said that another member of Rarotonga would be immediately voted out. Jenny had earlier been seen as a threat as she would want Candice voted out at the next Tribal Council. So Jenny was voted out 4-2.

Episode 10: Expecting a challenge, the tribes arrived to be surprised by the announcement of the merger. The castaways selected to live on Rarotonga's beach and decided to call themselves Aitutonga. Yul and Becky decided to show Jonathan that Yul has the Immunity Idol in an effort to sway him to the former Aitutaki side believing that Jonathan is the most rational player and would understand the advantages of aligning with the Immunity Idol holder. Yul informed Sundra and Ozzy about the plan to bring Jonathan over to their side. Ozzy outlasted Candice to win the first individual Immunity Challenge. Jonathan requested that the former Aitutaki members vote for Nate in exchange for him flipping to their side, which they readily agreed to. Jonathan decided to join the former Aitutaki members and voted out Nate 5-4.

Filming locations

Two of the four tribal camps were on Motu Rakau and Motu Rapota. Tribal Council was filmed near Vainamu, Arutanga on the main island of Aitutaki. Motukitiu was the location of Exile Island and Motu Maina was the overnight reward location. Challenges were filmed on Motu Akiami, which also hosted the eliminated contestants (known colloquially to some as the "Mutiny Motel").

Diversity and controversy

The decision to divide the teams by race and ethnicity has made this series of Survivor controversial even before airing. Members of the New York City Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus have called on CBS to dump Survivor. Those who work with the show indicate that as divisions by age, gender, or gender and age combined, have been accepted this should not be treated much different or it would set race apart. Host Jeff Probst conceded, by implication, a small difference in that racial segregation had actually been practiced in US history.

Conversely, previous seasons have been criticized for not having many non-Caucasian contestants. Compared to a system of proportional representation used by some affirmative action programs, and favored by many civil rights groups, this scheme represented much higher exposure particularly for Asian Americans who were only slightly above five percent of the US population in 2000, and normally underrepresented on most network television shows, as well as the other minority groups. Native Americans were not represented as a separate group. Probst has since pointed out that over 80% of Survivor's applicants are Caucasian.

According to Advertising Age Magazine, more than a half dozen major advertisers such as General Motors and Coca Cola withdrew their advertising after hearing about the teams' division. However, a New York Times report indicates that the decision by several advertisers to advertise for the current season, including General Motors, Coca Cola, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, and Campbell Soup, was made three months prior to the start of the show and unrelated to the show's racial format.

The early advertisements for the season also attracted some criticism, as they all coyly hinted at how the tribes would be divided, despite the producers having completely revealed the racial divide some time earlier.

MADtv parodied Survivor: Cook Islands in its twelfth season premiere episode, which aired September 16, 2006. The parody involved giving the white challengers significantly easier tasks, such as a swimming challenge which allowed the white challengers to use a canoe, or building a fire with a fire building kit that consisted of gasoline and a DVD on how to build fire, the Hispanic contestants received flint, the Asians received a matchstick, and the African-Americans were given a glass of water.

In the Survivors Strike Back blog on the official website, several Survivor contestants from past seasons criticized the castaway choices, saying that many of them are not good players and are not Survivor fans and are merely there to gain fame. Evidence of this is the fact that well over half are from California and several of them are models or involved in the entertainment industry in some way. Another reason is that there was a limited number of choices because of the low number of non-caucasians that applied to be on the show. In early interviews, Jeff Probst has said that they had to go hunting for some contestants and several of those who made the show did not actually apply to be on Survivor. The bloggers at Survivor Strikes Back have also said that this season's contestants have had it easy because they were given all their supplies in the first episode.

Trivia

• Candice Woodcock broke a record by being the castaway to last the most episodes before going to tribal council.
• This season marks the first time that two males were voted off first (Sekou then Billy).
• This season is the first time that people chose to leave their tribe to join the other tribe. A twist like this was introduced in Survivor: Thailand but when Jeff Probst asked if anyone wanted to switch tribes, nobody accepted.
• This season is the first to have a jury start at the final 12.
• The beginning of some episodes include a small clip of the episode before the opening sequence.
• This is the second season to feature more than one double elimination and the first to do so only via tribal council. (Survivor: Palau eliminated 2 contestants when picking tribes in episode 1 and had a double tribal council during episode 5.)
• This season marks the first time that two people from the same tribe were voted out in the same episode.
• Jonathan received votes in 5 straight tribal councils and in four of them, the votes came from the castaway who was eliminated that night.
• The Rarotonga tribe, after the tribal intergration in Episode 3, equaled the record for fewest wins by a tribe, 3 (Two immunities and one reward). However, there have been worse losses, such as the Maraamu tribe in Survivor: Marquesas who won one immunity and two rewards and the Ulong tribe in Survivor: Palau who won three rewards, and no immunities.

External links

• Official site
• What Cook Islanders think of the show