| Survivor: Cook Islands | |
|---|---|
Survivor: Cook Islands Logo |
|
| Genre | Reality television |
| Winner | Yul Kwon (5–4–0) |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| No. of days | 39 |
| No. of survivors | 20 |
| Tribes | Aitutaki Rarotonga Manihiki Puka Puka Aitutonga |
| Fans vs. Favorites | Ozzy Lusth Parvati Shallow Jonathan Penner |
| Heroes vs. Villains | Parvati Shallow Candice Woodcock |
| South Pacific | Ozzy Lusth |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Aitutaki, Cook Islands |
| Filming dates | June 26, 2006 – August 3, 2006 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original run | September 14, 2006 – December 17, 2006 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Survivor: Panama |
| Followed by | Survivor: Fiji |
Survivor: Cook Islands is the thirteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor, having premiered on September 14, 2006. The location was discovered by a Survivor maps website[1] before it was officially revealed on the Survivor: Panama reunion.
The two-hour season finale aired on December 17, 2006, followed by the Reunion show live from CBS Television City in Los Angeles.[2]
During this season of Survivor, the contestants were divided into four tribes by ethnicity; African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and White American, a decision that generated some controversy prior to the premiere. Besides random division or team-choosing by the contestants, tribes had previously been divided by gender and/or age. The respective tribes' names were Manihiki ("Hiki"), Puka Puka ("Puka"), Aitutaki ("Aitu"), and Rarotonga ("Raro"). These four tribes were named after islands located in the Cook Islands. In the third episode, the four tribes evenly divided into two new mixed tribes, just Aitutaki and Rarotonga. After the merge, the tribe decided to name themselves Aitutonga.
A mutiny offer was made to all remaining players during this season. In Survivor: Thailand, mutiny was offered but no one accepted the offer. In this season, two players from the same tribe accepted the mutiny offer, which turned out to be a critically important turning point in the game, as it caused the remaining four members of that tribe to become underdogs through the rest of the competition.
During the Immunity challenge in Episode 9, the losing tribe was given a bottle with a note in it that was only to be revealed after that tribe voted off a member at the following Tribal Council. As it turned out, the note required the losing tribe to immediately vote a second person off, thus creating the first time one tribe has voted off two members during a single Tribal Council.
The concept of Exile Island returned, with a hidden immunity idol located somewhere on the island. While the idol itself was never used to prevent a player from being eliminated, it was used strategically as a lure to swing a vote at a key turning point in the game.
Instead of the usual Final Two players facing a jury of seven, there was a Final Three facing a jury of nine, which included players that were voted out before the merge. The final jury setup meant that a two or three-way tie to decide the winner of the game was possible, though the method to resolve this tie was unknown at the time.[3]
In the end, Yul Kwon defeated Ozzy Lusth and Becky Lee by a vote of 5–4–0 to become the Sole Survivor.
Ozzy Lusth, Jonathan Penner, and Parvati Shallow were selected to be three of the Favorites of Survivor: Micronesia. That season, they placed 9th, 15th, and 1st, respectively.
Shallow would again return for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains along with Candice Woodcock. Shallow was a part of the 'Villains' tribe, and Woodcock was a member of the 'Heroes' tribe. Woodcock was voted out on Day 31 where she placed 8th. Shallow placed 2nd, losing out to Sandra Diaz-Twine in the final.
Lusth would also return for a third time in Survivor: South Pacific. He returned from Redemption Island twice, but was unable to make it to the end, eventually finishing in 4th place and becoming the first person to be voted out three times in the same season.
Although a DVD release of the season has not yet been planned, Amazon.com is currently giving its customers the option to sign up to be notified when the item becomes available.
The 20 players were initially divided into four tribes based on race for the first six days of the competition, but later merged into two tribes. An early visit to Exile island resulted in Yul discovering the hidden immunity idol. With the tribes nearly equal on Day 19, Probst announced that any tribe member may mutiny and join the other tribe; Candice and Jonathan opted for this move, leaving the Aitutaki tribe at four members, consisting of Yul, Ozzy, Becky, and Sundra, and an eight-strong Rarotonga tribe. However, this served to only increase the determination of the Aitutaki tribe; between strong teamwork skills, Yul's intelligence, and Ozzy's swimming skills, Aitutaki remained strong and continued to win both tribal and individual challenges and systematically eliminated the Rarotonga members. When the Aitutaki 4 were down to 5 remaining Rarotonga members, Yul cemented his Aitutaki alliance by showing them the idol, and convinced Jonathan to vote along with them in order to even the numbers. The Aitutaki 4 would eventually remain in domination of the game, and ended up as the final four. With Yul holding the hidden immunity idol and Ozzy winning the final challenge, the four agreed to let a fire-making challenge decide who would join them at the Final Tribal Council; despite this taking more than an hour to complete, Becky emerged victorious. The jury, seeing Becky's coat-tailing of Yul and poor performance at the fire-making challenge, did not consider any votes for her, and Yul's brains edged out Ozzy's brawn, 5 votes to 4.
| Contestant | Original Tribe | Absorbed Tribe | Tribe Post-Mutiny | Merged Tribe | Finish | Total votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sekou Bunch 45, Los Angeles, CA |
Manihiki | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
3 | |||
| Billy Garcia 36, New York, NY |
Aitutaki | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
4 | |||
| Cecilia Mansilla 29, Thousand Oaks, CA |
Aitutaki | Aitutaki | 3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
5 | ||
| J.P. Calderon 30, Diamond Bar, CA |
Aitutaki | Rarotonga | 4th Voted Out Day 11 |
7 | ||
| Stephannie Favor 35, Columbia, SC |
Manihiki | Rarotonga | 5th Voted Out Day 14 |
9 | ||
| Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" Bui 42, Christiansburg, VA |
Puka Puka | Aitutaki | 6th Voted Out Day 15 |
6 | ||
| Cristina Coria 35, Los Angeles, CA |
Aitutaki | Rarotonga | 7th Voted Out Day 15 |
5 | ||
| Jessica Smith 27, Chico, CA |
Rarotonga | Aitutaki | 8th Voted Out Day 18 |
6 | ||
| Brad Virata 29, Los Angeles, CA |
Puka Puka | Rarotonga | Rarotonga | 9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21 |
7 | |
| Rebecca Borman 34, Laurelton, NY |
Manihiki | Rarotonga | Rarotonga | 10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24 |
6 | |
| Jenny Guzon-Bae 36, Lake Forest, IL |
Puka Puka | Rarotonga | Rarotonga | 11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24 |
6 | |
| Nate Gonzalez 26, Los Angeles, CA |
Manihiki | Rarotonga1 | Rarotonga | Aitutonga | 12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27 |
5 |
| Candice Woodcock 23, Fayetteville, NC |
Rarotonga | Aitutaki | Rarotonga | 13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30 |
6 | |
| Jonathan Penner 44, Los Angeles, CA |
Rarotonga | Aitutaki | Rarotonga | 14th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33 |
15 | |
| Parvati Shallow 23, Los Angeles, CA |
Rarotonga | Rarotonga | Rarotonga | 15th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36 |
4 | |
| Adam Gentry 28, San Diego, CA |
Rarotonga | Rarotonga | Rarotonga | 16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37 |
5 | |
| Sundra Oakley 31, Los Angeles, CA |
Manihiki | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | 17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38 |
6 | |
| Becky Lee 28, Washington, D.C. |
Puka Puka | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | 2nd Runner-Up | 5 | |
| Ozzy Lusth 25, Fresno, CA |
Aitutaki | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | Runner-Up | 1 | |
| Yul Kwon 31, San Mateo, CA |
Puka Puka | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | Sole Survivor | 5 |
As said on the Exile Island 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.[4][5][6][7]
| Episode Title | Air Date | Challenges | Exiled | Eliminated | Vote | Finish | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | ||||||||||
| "I Can Forgive Her But I Don't Have To Because She Screwed With My Chickens" | September 14, 2006 | Puka Puka1 | Jonathan | Sekou | 3–2 | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
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| Aitutaki | |||||||||||
| Rarotonga | |||||||||||
| "Dire Strengths and Dead Weight" | September 21, 2006 | Puka Puka2 | Yul | Billy | 4–1 | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
|||||
| Rarotonga2 | |||||||||||
| Manihiki | |||||||||||
| "Flirting and Frustration" | September 28, 2006 | None3 | Rarotonga | Candice | Cecilia | 5–3 | 3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
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| "Ruling the Roost" | October 5, 2006 | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | Adam | J.P. | 7–2 | 4th Voted Out Day 11 |
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| "Don't Cry Over Spilled Octopus" | October 12, 2006 | Rarotonga | Aitutaki | Jonathan | Stephannie | 7–1 | 5th Voted Out Day 14 |
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| "Plan Voodoo" | October 19, 2006 | Aitutaki | Nate11 | None4 | Cao Boi | 6–1–1 | 6th Voted Out Day 15 |
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| Cristina | 4–2 | 7th Voted Out Day 15 |
|||||||||
| "A Closer Look" | October 26, 2006 | Recap Episode | |||||||||
| "Why Aren't You Swimming?!" | November 2, 2006 | Aitutaki | Rarotonga | Adam | Jessica | 6–1 | 8th Voted Out Day 18 |
||||
| "Mutiny" | November 9, 2006 | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | Candice | Brad | 7–1 | 9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21 |
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| "People That You Like Want To See You Suffer" | November 16, 2006 | Aitutaki | Aitutaki | Candice | Rebecca | 6–1 | 10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24 |
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| Jenny | 4–2 | 11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 24 |
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| "Why Would You Trust Me?" | November 23, 2006 | None5 | Ozzy | None5 | Nate | 5–4 | 12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27 |
||||
| "You're a Rat..." | November 30, 2006 | Survivor Auction6 | Adam | Candice6 | Candice | 5–3 | 13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30 |
||||
| "Arranging a Hit" | December 7, 2006 | Parvati, [Adam, Sundra] | Ozzy | Jonathan | Jonathan | 6–1 | 14th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33 |
||||
| "I Have the Advantage...For Once" | December 14, 2006 | Ozzy, Parvati, Yul7 | Ozzy | Adam | Parvati | 4–2 | 15th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36 |
||||
| "This Tribe Will Self-Destruct in 5, 4, 3..." | December 17, 2006 | None | Ozzy | None | Adam | 4–1 | 16th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 37 |
||||
| Ozzy | Sundra | 2–28 | 17th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 38 |
||||||||
| "Reunion" | December 17, 2006 | Jury Vote | Becky | 5–4–0 | 2nd Runner-Up | ||||||
| Ozzy | Runner-Up | ||||||||||
| Yul | Sole Survivor | ||||||||||
^1 : The challenge was a combined reward and immunity challenge. In addition, Puka Puka received an additional reward for coming in first.
^2 : The challenge was a combined reward and immunity challenge. Puka Puka and Rarotonga tied for first and both won reward.
^3 : There was no reward challenge in Episode 3 due to the tribe merger.
^4 : This was a double elimination episode and thus there was no immunity challenge and nobody was exiled.
^5 : There was no reward challenge in Episode 11 due to the tribal merger and nobody was exiled.
^6 : Instead of a Reward Challenge, there was a Survivor Auction where Becky won the right to send someone to Exile Island and chose Candice.
^7 : In this challenge, the Top 3 finishers got to go for the reward. Ozzy placed first, Parvati was second and Yul was third.
Contestants were given two minutes to salvage whatever they could from a boat before having to paddle to their shore. As the castaways frantically scoured the ship for supplies, Puka Puka's Yul grabbed a chicken, got distracted by the commotion and the chicken escaped and got into the hands of Rarotonga's Jonathan. At Aitutaki, Billy haplessly created shelter, but Ozzy's survival skills duped him. In Rarotonga, Jonathan's stolen chicken escaped when Jessica accidentally freed it, angering Jonathan. At Manihiki, the women complained as their leader Sekou took a lot of breaks. In a combined Reward/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. The Manihiki guys (Sekou and Nate) sent Jonathan from Rarotonga to Exile Island in return for Puka Puka's lost chicken (much to the girls' dismay; for they felt isolated as the boys took the responsibility of sending someone to Exile Island for themselves). In the end, Stephannie, Sundra and Rebecca banded together to get rid of their overbearing but weak leader Sekou in a 3–2 decision. After the vote, they received their flint so they can make fire.
Day 4 started well for Manihiki when the tribe managed to start a fire. Jonathan returned from Exile Island to Rarotonga, and was disappointed as nothing much has changed since he left. At Puka Puka, tribe members rapidly became fed up with Cao Boi's jokes and never-ending stories. At Aitutaki, feeling like his tribe could do better, Ozzy forced his tribe to throw the next 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 broken compass) in the sand. At Tribal Council, Billy gushed about finding love with Rarotonga's Candice, which was later found to be his taking her comments to him wildly out of context. Candice said "We love you" to him as he said that he may be the next to go, but he was mislead and claimed that she said "I Love you" to him. Either way, Billy became the second castaway to be voted out 4–1.
Instead of a reward challenge, the four racially-divided tribes will be merged as two new ones. Manihiki and Puka Puka were abolished, but the supplies that were left at those camps will be equally divided by the newly-rehashed Aitutaki and Rarotonga tribes. At the new Aitutaki, Cecilia told Candice of what happened during the previous Tribal Council (Billy's "I Love You" incident), leaving a bewildered Candice laughing as she made alliances with Yul, Becky and Jonathan. Yul also told Becky that he found the Hidden Immunity Idol. During the Immunity Challenge, the Aitutaki men tried to fend off the fronting Rarotonga men (Adam, Brad, J.P., and Nate) but to no avail as Rarotonga tackled them, securing Immunity for their team. Rarotonga banished Candice to Exile Island, thus throwing the Becky-Candice-Jonathan-Yul alliance plans into disarray as she will be immune from the vote and will not need to go to Tribal Council. Cao Boi, Cecilia, Jessica, Ozzy, and Sundra banded together to try to vote out Becky. After strong lobbying by Jonathan and Yul, Cao Boi and Jessica switched their vote to Cecilia, who was voted out 5–3.
At Aitutaki, Ozzy became furious about the elimination of his only remaining fellow Aitutaki tribemate Cecilia, but his tribemates comforted him. At Rarotonga, the women complained about the men's growing egotism, specifically J.P.'s bossiness. Aitutaki won the Reward Challenge of pillows, blankets, and a hammock. They chose Adam to be Exiled. After the Reward Challenge, Cao Boi went egg hunting, but instead knocked down a chick from a nest, which disturbed Jonathan. However, Cao Boi successfully returned the chick to the nest. Cao Boi's tactics, though odd (e.g. dancing crazily with a smoking coconut husk) nevertheless carried Aitutaki past Rarotonga at the fire-making 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 women, who then used the opportunity to vote J.P. out. Adam and Brad secretly decided to betray J.P. and Nate and helped to vote out J.P. 7–2.
At Aitutaki, Cao Boi complained about Becky, Candice, and Sundra being lazy. At the modified weight-holding Reward Challenge, the tribes began trash-talking each other; but Rarotonga's Nate and Adam came in victorious. Rarotonga sent Jonathan back to Exile Island since he had been there before. Back at camp, Cristina's tribemates complained about her being bossy like JP. 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. That afternoon, Rarotonga collectively decided that Cristina would be voted off next. But when Stephannie and Nate gathered water from the well, Stephannie told Nate that she "wanted mashed potatoes and gravy". Nate took this as a sign of weakness, and relayed it to the tribe. Even though Cristina spilled their octopus lunch earlier and continued to irritate others, the vote swung against Stephannie 7–1.
Back at Rarotonga's camp after Tribal Council, Cristina again clashed with her tribemates after being pointed out as being annoying. At Aitutaki, Jonathan argued over bringing the Immunity Idol to the next Reward Challenge. Jonathan believed that unnecessarily taking the Immunity Idol in Reward Challenges and Tribal Councils was tantamount to gloating over the other tribe, but Cao Boi claimed he had 'spiritual reasons' for bringing the idol along. At the Reward Challenge, it was revealed that regardless of who won, both tribes would have to vote a member out. Aitutaki won the Reward Challenge, and had to go to Tribal Council first. Before Tribal Council, Cao Boi awoke from a strange dream that spawned a strategy he called "Plan Voodoo." Its purpose was to reveal the hidden Immunity Idol by splitting a 3-3 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 Whites would be eliminated. Unfortunately, his ally Yul possessed the idol. Yul did not want to reveal his idol; furthermore, he was fed up with Cao Boi's eccentric behavior, and so he decided to remove the threat. "Plan Voodoo" backfired as Cao Boi was voted out 6–1–1. Aitutaki then enjoyed a feast as they got to listen in on Rarotonga's Tribal Council. Just before Rarotonga's vote, Aitutaki was given the opportunity to "kidnap" one member of Rarotonga who would be ineligible to vote, immune from the vote, given a share of Aitutaki's reward and would be staying at Aitutaki's camp until the next Reward Challenge. Aitutaki selected Nate. Though Cristina made amends with her tribe, her lobbying still failed and she was sent packing in a 4–2 decision.
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 was given a chance to make Nate perform at the challenge for their tribe or just sit out. After much deliberation, they chose Nate to sit out in the challenge. Nate got helplessly irked as his team fell apart as Aitutaki easily won in the Reward Challenge. They selected Adam to go to Exile Island for a second time. After the Reward Challenge, Brad's tribemates were upset at him for not performing the swimming portion of the Reward Challenge, claiming that "he's better at puzzles." They considered him as one of their strongest swimmers and the swimming part of the challenge was where they fell behind. Despite losing morale as well as challenges, Rarotonga finally ended their losing streak by winning the immunity challenge. Jessica lobbied hard to have Jonathan voted out, but her efforts failed and she was the first white to be voted out 6–1.
At Aitutaki, Candice and Jonathan plotted for the impending Merge. At Rarotonga, Brad revealed that he doesn't trust his tribemates at all, speaking about his fate if he made it to the merge - a speech in which turned his tribe against him. At the Reward Challenge, a new twist called "Mutiny" was presented where anybody could change tribe affiliations. Candice and Jonathan decided to jump back to Rarotonga (their original tribe, for they're members of the tribe once composed of the whites). A decimated Aitutaki (Aitu's down at 4, adding Raro's roster at 8) regrouped and made a comeback victory at the reward challenge, thus winning 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 (Cao Boi's previous predictions of a "White's Alliance" may come true after all). In the Immunity Challenge, Rarotonga already got a sizeable lead but Jonathan got infuriated about the painstaking task (even yelling at Jeff Probst to shut up at his commentaries) brought the patient Aitutaki the victory. 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 "Every Man for Himself" speech cost him dearly and he was unanimously voted out. Unexpectedly, Brad was announced as the first member of the Jury - the first person ever on the Jury outside the Final Nine.
At Rarotonga, Jenny and Parvati were alarmed over Candice and Adam's closeness. The tiny tribe of Aitutaki crushed the over-populated 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 — then the mysterious bottle was finally opened. Initially assuming that the note inside the bottle will give them instructions about the impending merge — since they're just 10 remaining castaways — usual time for the merge, everything got turned on its head as Parvati reads the message. It read: "Now you have voted off one member of your tribe, it's time to vote another." Though Jonathan's the next intended target, the four white members of Rarotonga voted Jenny out (believing that Jenny, the last remaining Asian left in Rarotonga, might switch sides with her former Puka Puka teammates Yul and Becky come post-merge). Showing complete disappointment over the surprise 4-2 vote, an angry Jenny stormed away as her torch was snuffed.
Expecting a challenge, the tribes arrived to be surprised by the announcement of the merge. The castaways chose to live on Rarotonga beach, and decided to call themselves "Aitutonga." The former Aitutaki merged at a 4–5 member disadvantage. Yul and Becky agreed that Jonathan was the best bet to flip. Yul informed Sundra and Ozzy about the hidden Immunity Idol and his plan to bring Jonathan over. Ozzy outlasted Candice holding onto poles to win the first individual Immunity Challenge. Yul decided to show the hidden Immunity Idol to Jonathan to sway him back to his side: if Jonathan did not vote with Yul and Aitutaki, they would vote for Jonathan, and Yul's idol would deflect the former Rarotonga members' highest votes and would send Jonathan home. Jonathan requested that Yul vote for Nate in exchange for him flipping to their side, which Yul readily agreed to. Jonathan blindsided his old Raro tribemates and joined the former Aitutaki members in voting out Nate 5–4.
Instead of a Reward Challenge, a Survivor Auction was held. Becky, teaming up with Yul, outbid Candice and Adam to win a note that was advertised as "the power to change the game." The note said that she would select somebody to immediately go to Exile Island and therefore forfeit all of their remaining money to her. Upon being told that Candice and Adam had not yet spent any of their money, Becky selected Candice. Before Candice left for Exile Island, Yul revealed to everybody that he had the Immunity Idol. After the Survivor Auction, everybody was annoyed at Jonathan due to his arrogant behavior after sweeping a lot of items during the auction. Though worried about him being voted out next, Adam put up a good fight as he "casually" won the Immunity Challenge. Back at camp, Adam, Candice, and Parvati were taking a "snuggling session" in the shelter while the majority alliance downed a handful of fish that Jonathan caught. But Candice, seeing all the action, started confronting Jonathan about his arrogance and told him that the whole tribe hates him. In a heated Tribal Council, the three continued their crusade against Jonathan, but ultimately failed and Candice was voted out 5–3.
Upon returning from Tribal Council, Jonathan felt uneasy after being called a "rat" and "cancer" but he declared that he will not let [Adam and Parvati] ruin his gameplan. Meanwhile, assuming that they were doomed, Adam and Parvati asked a favor to Yul that if they help them vote Jonathan out before them, they will give their jury votes in return. Parvati accidentally whacked her thumbnail with a machete while cutting open a coconut, which required medical attention, but not removal from the game. At the Reward Challenge, the castaways were surprised by the arrival of their loved ones, who partnered up with the castaways in the challenge. An injured Parvati was able to work through her injury and win the Reward Challenge. Her reward was a picnic with her Dad and the right to send somebody to Exile Island. Parvati selected Jonathan to make sweet revenge for his deception. Parvati's Dad was allowed to select two other castaways to join in the picnic without any input from Parvati. He selected Sundra and her Mom and Adam and his Dad. While the Reward Challenge winner and invitees were enjoying the picnic, Ozzy, Yul, and Becky decided that they would agree to hide food from Parvati and Adam, and surprisingly, Jonathan too. But the plan collapsed after Parvati and Adam brought back some leftovers from the picnic. Ozzy easily won the Immunity Challenge. Though he saved the Aitutaki 4 from near extinction, the former Aitutaki members turned on Jonathan as they banded with Adam and Parvati in voting him out 6–1.
Threatened by the presence of the impenetrable Aitu 4, Parvati and Adam tried to figure a way to befriend one of the four to swing the vote. Ozzy won the mud-carrying reward challenge, and sent Adam to Exile Island. Parvati and Yul, the 2nd and 3rd place winners, also got to partake in the reward: a day trip to a local spa for a shower, massage, and dinner. During this reward, Parvati tried to get closer to Ozzy in order to secure his vote, even with Yul around. Meanwhile, Becky and Sundra discussed the possibility of voting challenge monster Ozzy off. When Yul returned from the reward, Becky informed him of her plan, but Yul believed it would be best to wait at least until after the next Immunity Challenge to determine if this was necessary. For the second time in a row, Ozzy handily won the Immunity Challenge. Adam, with very little time left, talked to Yul about keeping him on the island over Parvati, which Yul agreed to as long as Adam didn't try to sway the other Aitutaki members. However, Adam and Parvati were later caught trying to gain Ozzy's vote. Prior to Tribal Council, Yul decided to bring Jonathan's hat (which he had left at camp prior to being voted off) to return it to him as requested. While Jonathan was happy at Yul's anonymous good deed, Jeff Probst decided to A) let everyone know that Yul brought back the hat and B) editorialize on how this was an example of Yul's politicking and efforts to sway the jury to his side. In the end, the Aitutaki 4 was indeed tight, voting off the somewhat craftier Parvati over physical threat Adam, with a vote of 4–2.
In the most difficult puzzle challenge ever in Survivor according to Jeff Probst, Ozzy won Immunity for the third straight time. Back at camp, Adam tried to stir up the vote by trying to get Ozzy and Sundra to vote for Yul, for the sole purpose of making Yul use the Hidden immunity Idol and making the game more interesting after he was gone. However, Adam's plot failed and the Aitutaki Four held and voted out Adam 4–1.
In a twist, the Aitutaki Four were told that they would be competing in the final Immunity Challenge and memory walk together, meaning that the final vote would have 3 people eligible to win. Ozzy outlasted Sundra to win the final Immunity Challenge. Initially, Yul offered Becky his Hidden Immunity Idol to try to save her, but Becky declined because she felt it wasn't fair to blind-side Sundra just to get to the Final 3 as the foursome had gone through so much together, and tight friendship forged between them to just turn on each other. So the Aitutaki Four decided to let the third spot in the final Tribal Council be decided in a fair manner, with Ozzy and Sundra voting for Becky and Becky and Yul voting for Sundra. Jeff then announced a tiebreaker fire-making challenge between Becky and Sundra would commence. Neither Becky nor Sundra could get their fire started with flint and machete after one hour and the jury became bored and restless. As an alternative, matches were given to Becky and Sundra, but both had trouble again maintaining a fire long enough to burn the rope. In the end, Sundra ran out of matches after half an hour, whereas Becky finally kept a fire long and high enough to burn the rope to secure her spot on the final three.
At the final Tribal Council, the jury saw Becky as riding the coattails of Ozzy and Yul even though she tried to convince the jury that she had played the game with much integrity as possible and claimed that she and Yul shared voting strategies and not just Yul alone. She received no votes whereas between Yul and Ozzy, the jury was split on the importance of Yul's masterminding of the social game versus Ozzy's physical ability to win challenges, and which contributed the most to all of the Aitutaki Four making it to the end. The final vote was 5–4-0 in favor of Yul and he became the thirteenth Sole Survivor.
Ozzy subsequently won a new car (a Mercury Mariner) based on a viewer's poll in which Ozzy and Yul were nearly tied again.
| Original Tribes |
Absorbed Tribes | Post-Mutiny | Merged Tribe | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode #: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 610 | 7 | 8 | 912 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ||||
| 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 |
Cristina 4/6 votes |
Jessica 6/7 votes |
Brad 7/8 votes |
Rebecca 6/7 votes |
Jenny 4/6 votes |
Nate 5/9 votes |
Candice 5/8 votes |
Jonathan 6/7 votes |
Parvati 4/6 votes |
Adam 4/5 votes |
Sundra8 2/4 votes |
|
| Voter | Vote | |||||||||||||||||
| Yul | Cecilia | Cao Boi | Jessica | Nate | Candice | Jonathan | Parvati | Adam | Sundra | |||||||||
| Ozzy | Billy | Becky | Cao Boi | Jessica | Nate | Candice | Jonathan | Parvati | Adam | Becky | ||||||||
| Becky | Cecilia | Cao Boi | Jessica | Nate | Candice | Jonathan | Parvati | Adam | Sundra | |||||||||
| Sundra | Sekou | Becky | Cao Boi | Jessica | Nate | Candice | Jonathan | Parvati | Adam | Becky | ||||||||
| Adam | J.P. | Stephannie | Cristina | Brad | Rebecca | Jenny | Yul | Jonathan | Jonathan | Sundra | Yul | |||||||
| Parvati | J.P. | Stephannie | Cristina | Brad | Rebecca | Jenny | Yul | Jonathan | Jonathan | Sundra | ||||||||
| Jonathan | Cecilia | Cao Boi | Jessica | Brad | Rebecca | Jenny | Nate | Candice | Adam | |||||||||
| Candice | Exiled9 | Cao Boi | Jessica | Brad | Rebecca | Jenny | Yul | Jonathan | ||||||||||
| Nate | Sundra | Stephannie | Stephannie | Kidnap11 | 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 | |||||||||||||||||
| Jury vote | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Finalist: | Becky 0/9 votes |
Ozzy 4/9 votes |
Yul 5/9 votes |
| Juror | Vote | ||
| Sundra | Yul | ||
| Adam | Yul | ||
| Parvati | Ozzy | ||
| Jonathan | Yul | ||
| Candice | Yul | ||
| Nate | Ozzy | ||
| Jenny | Ozzy | ||
| Rebecca | Ozzy | ||
| Brad | Yul | ||
^8 Lost in fire-making tiebreaker challenge.
^9 Candice 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.
^10 This was a double elimination episode.
^11 As 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.
^12 After 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.
The tribal camps, Exile Island, and many challenges of Survivor: Cook Islands were filmed on small "motu" (Polynesian word for "islet") in the Aituaki lagoon. The Rarotonga (later Aitutonga) tribe's camp was on Moturakau. The Aitutaki tribe lived on Motukitiu. The short-lived tribes of Manihiki and Puka Puka lived on Rapota and Muritapua, respectively. Most challenges were filmed on Tekopua and Tapuaetai (One Foot Island). Exile Island is a small sand cay south of Tapuaetai, and the bow of the wooden ship was brought in for the show. Just to the West of Tapuaetai is another sand cay called "Nude Island" by locals in reference to its lack of vegetation. The third challenge was played in the shallow waters just off the shore of Nude Island. Akaiami hosted challenges and also "The Ponderosa," where eliminated contestants were sequestered until the end of the game. Tribal Council, the production camp, and a few challenges were located on the main island of Aitutaki. There were three reward trips to the neighboring islands of Atiu, Mitiaro, and Rarotonga.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10] Host Jeff Probst conceded, by implication, a small difference in that racial segregation had actually been practiced in US history.[11]
Conversely, previous seasons have been criticized for not having many non-white contestants. This scheme represented much higher exposure particularly for Asian Americans who were only 3.6 percent of the US population in 2000. Native Americans were not represented as a separate group. Probst has since pointed out that over 80% of Survivor's applicants are white.[11]
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.[12] However, a New York Times report indicates that the decision by several advertisers not 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.[13]
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.
Possibly in response to the criticism, Jeff asked the contestants on the reunion show how they felt about the racial divide, and they said that it helped to disprove the stereotypes about them.
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.
