Survivor: China
Template:Infobox Television Survivor Template:ChineseText Survivor: China is the fifteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 20, 2007. Host Jeff Probst claimed the show was the first full American TV series to be filmed entirely within China.[1] It is also the northernmost Survivor season held to date, well outside of the tropical zone. Applications were due on January 30, 2007. Around March 2007, 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 in April–May 2007. From these semi-finalists, about 16 were selected to participate in the show between June and August 2007. The final contestants and their original tribes, Fei Long (飞龙) and Zhan Hu (战虎), meaning Flying Dragon and Fighting Tiger respectively, were officially announced on August 20, 2007.[2][3] The merged tribe was Hae Da Fung (黑打風), which means Black Fighting Wind, a name proposed by Peih-Gee Law.[citation needed] The complete season was released on DVD from CBS Home Entertainment, via Amazon.com's CreateSpace, on January 27, 2014. It is set to have significantly more special features than recent releases.
The "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" slogan used in previous season's logos has been replaced by Chinese characters. The characters translate to "compete in intelligence" (比智慧, bĭ zhìhuì), "compete in skill" (比技巧, bĭ jìqiǎo), and "compete in endurance" (比耐力, bĭ nàilì).[4] Among the many aspects of Chinese culture and history included this season were a Buddhist ceremony and a 100-foot (30 m) tall replica of a historic temple used for Tribal Council. Each tribe received a copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu. As stated by Probst: "Survivor is a war. The book deals with leadership and how you defeat the other tribe. It's interesting how much it plays into the game all the way through." The show had "unprecedented access" to several historical Chinese monuments, including the Shaolin Temple and the Great Wall of China.[2]
Exile Island from the previous three seasons was discarded for this season, but the Hidden Immunity Idol was still part of the game. In lieu of Exile Island, the tribes had the ability to kidnap a player from the opposing tribe as part of winning a Reward Challenge. The kidnapped player remained with that tribe through the next Immunity Challenge and received a clue to the location of an Immunity Idol at that camp. However, this clue must be given, unread, to a member of the other tribe prior to the next Immunity Challenge. Ultimately, neither of the two Idols available to the castaways were used; James Clement was voted out with both in his possession. Three players went to the Final Tribal Council, continuing the pattern that began in Survivor: Cook Islands and again in Survivor: Fiji. Probst explained that having a final three "prohibits one person winning through to the end and then taking an extremely unlikable person with them."[5] In the end, Todd Herzog won, defeating Courtney Yates and Amanda Kimmel by a vote of 4–2–1. During the reunion, James Clement was awarded a $100,000 prize as the most popular player in Survivor: China, beating fellow favorites Denise Martin and Peih-Gee Law.
Contestants
| Contestant | Original tribe | Switched tribe | Merged tribe | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve "Chicken" Morris 47, Marion, Virginia |
Zhan Hu | 1st voted out Day 3 | ||
| Ashley Massaro 28, East Northport, New York |
Zhan Hu | 2nd voted out Day 6 | ||
| Leslie Nease 38, Tega Cay, South Carolina |
Fei Long | 3rd voted out Day 9 | ||
| Dave Cruser 37, Simi Valley, California |
Zhan Hu | 4th voted out Day 12 | ||
| Aaron Reisberger 32, Venice, California |
Fei Long | Zhan Hu | 5th voted out Day 15 | |
| Sherea Lloyd 26, Atlanta, Georgia |
Zhan Hu | Fei Long | 6th voted out Day 18 | |
| Jaime Dugan 22, Columbia, South Carolina |
Zhan Hu | Zhan Hu | Hae Da Fung | 7th voted out 1st jury member Day 21 |
| Jean-Robert Bellande 36, Las Vegas, Nevada |
Fei Long | Fei Long | 8th voted out 2nd jury member Day 24 | |
| Michael "Frosti" Zernow 20, Chicago, Illinois |
Zhan Hu | Fei Long | 9th voted out 3rd jury member Day 27 | |
| James Clement 30, Lafayette, Louisiana |
Fei Long | Zhan Hu | 10th voted out 4th jury member Day 30 | |
| Erik Huffman 26, Nashville, Tennessee |
Zhan Hu | Zhan Hu | 11th voted out 5th jury member Day 33 | |
| Peih-Gee Law 29, Marina del Rey, California |
Zhan Hu | Zhan Hu | 12th voted out 6th jury member Day 36 | |
| Denise Martin 40, Douglas, Massachusetts |
Fei Long | Fei Long | 13th voted out 7th jury member Day 38 | |
| Amanda Kimmel 22, Kalispell, Montana |
Fei Long | Fei Long | 2nd runner-up | |
| Courtney Yates 26, New York City, New York |
Fei Long | Fei Long | Runner-up | |
| Todd Herzog 22, Pleasant Grove, Utah |
Fei Long | Fei Long | Sole Survivor |
Future appearances
James Clement and Amanda Kimmel both returned to compete in the following season, Survivor: Micronesia where they placed 7th and 2nd, respectively. The pair returned again in 2010 for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains along with Courtney Yates; Clement placed 14th, Yates placed 11th, and Kimmel placed 9th. Peih-Gee Law returned for Survivor: Cambodia, where she placed 18th.
Season summary
The two tribes, Fei Long and Zhan Hu, were predetermined prior to the start of the game. As an added bonus for winning reward challenges was that the winning tribe was given the opportunity to kidnap a member from the losing tribe, where they would live at the winning tribe's camp until the next Immunity Challenge. This person would receive a container with a clue to the hidden immunity idol that they had to give to one of the winning tribe members.
After the first 12 days, Fei Long held a slight edge thanks to the strength of James and leadership of Aaron. A strong alliance had been formed on Fei Long between Todd, Amanda, Aaron, and Courtney. On Day 14, each tribe, separately, selected two members of the other tribe to bring into theirs; Fei Long selected Sherea and Frosti, while Zhan Hu selected James and Aaron. Believing that James and Aaron would remain true to the other Fei Long members when the merge occurred, Jaime and Peih-Gee struck a plan to lose the next Immunity Challenge on purpose so that they would be able to remove the former Fei Longs from the game. Zhan Hu would end up losing the challenge, and subsequently voted Aaron out.
On Fei Long, Todd had been working to find the Hidden Immunity Idol. At the next reward challenge on Day 16, Fei Long won and kidnapped James. With the clue from James, Todd was able to find the idol, which he gave to James to use to eliminate a Zhan Hu, and also told James that the same clues would apply at the Zhan Hu camp. While James found the second idol, Zhan Hu won the next immunity challenge thus rendering Todd's plan moot and leaving James with both idols.
The tribes merged on Day 19, with the former Fei Longs holding a 6–4 advantage. After voting out Jaime, Jean-Robert and Frosti, Amanda became concerned that James would not give back one of the two idols, and worked with her other tribe members to blindside him, with James leaving the game with the two idols still in his possession. The remaining Fei Long held on to their lead, and Todd, Amanda and Courtney's alliance held strong and the three went to the Final Tribal Council. All three were criticized by the jury, but Todd ultimately won with four votes to Courtney's two and Amanda's one.
| Episode Titles[6] | Original air date | Challenge winner(s) | Kidnapped | Eliminated | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | |||||
| "A Chicken's a Little Bit Smarter" | September 20, 2007 | Fei Long[a] | None | Chicken | 1st voted out Day 3 | |
| "My Mom Is Going to Kill Me!" | September 27, 2007 | Fei Long | Fei Long | Jaime | Ashley | 2nd voted out Day 6 |
| "I Lost Two Hands and Possibly a Shoulder" | October 4, 2007 | Zhan Hu | Zhan Hu | Leslie | Leslie | 3rd voted out Day 9 |
| "Ride the Workhorse Till the Tail Falls Off" | October 11, 2007 | Fei Long | Fei Long | Dave | Dave | 4th voted out Day 12 |
| "Love Is In the Air" | October 18, 2007 | None[b] | Fei Long | None[b] | Aaron | 5th voted out Day 15 |
| "That's Love, Baby! Make You Strong!" | October 25, 2007 | Fei Long | Zhan Hu | James | Sherea | 6th voted out Day 18 |
| "I'm Not As Dumb As I Look" | November 1, 2007 | None[c] | Frosti | None[d] | Jaime | 7th voted out 1st jury member Day 21 |
| "High School Friend Contest" | November 8, 2007 | Amanda, James, Jean-Robert, Todd |
Courtney | Jean-Robert | 8th voted out 2nd jury member Day 24 | |
| "Just Don't Eat the Apple" | November 15, 2007 | Amanda, Courtney, Erik, Frosti |
Peih-Gee | Frosti | 9th voted out 3rd jury member Day 27 | |
| "Ready to Bite the Apple" | November 29, 2007 | Peih-Gee, [Denise, Erik] |
Erik | James | 10th voted out 4th jury member Day 30 | |
| "Going for the Oscar" | December 6, 2007 | Denise, [Amanda, Todd] |
Peih-Gee | Erik | 11th voted out 5th jury member Day 33 | |
| "Hello, I'm Still a Person" | December 13, 2007 | Denise, [Courtney, Todd] |
Amanda | Peih-Gee | 12th voted out 6th jury member Day 36 | |
| "A Slippery Little Sucker" | December 16, 2007 | Amanda, [Todd] |
Amanda | Denise | 13th voted out 7th jury member Day 38 | |
| "The Reunion" | December 16, 2007 | Jury vote | ||||
| Amanda | 2nd runner-up | |||||
| Courtney | Runner-up | |||||
| Todd | Sole Survivor | |||||
- In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | US viewers (millions) | Rating/share (18-49) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 215 | 1 | "A Chicken's a Little Bit Smarter" | September 20, 2007 | 15.35 | 9.0/15 |
| 216 | 2 | "My Mom Is Going to Kill Me!" | September 27, 2007 | 14.15 | 8.3/14 |
| 217 | 3 | "I Lost Two Hands and Possibly a Shoulder" | October 4, 2007 | 14.14 | 8.5/14 |
| 218 | 4 | "Ride the Workhorse Till the Tail Falls Off" | October 11, 2007 | 14.22 | 8.6/14 |
| 219 | 5 | "Love Is In the Air" | October 18, 2007 | 14.03 | 8.5/13 |
| 220 | 6 | "That's Love, Baby! Make You Strong!" | October 25, 2007 | 14.19 | 8.5/14 |
| 221 | 7 | "I'm Not As Dumb As I Look" | November 1, 2007 | 14.44 | 8.5/14 |
| 222 | 8 | "High School Friend Contest" | November 8, 2007 | 14.86 | 8.7/14 |
| 223 | 9 | "Just Don't Eat the Apple" | November 15, 2007 | 14.68 | 8.9/14 |
| 224 | 10 | "It’s Been Real and It's Been Fun" | November 22, 2007 | N/A | TBA |
| 225 | 11 | "Ready to Bite the Apple" | November 29, 2007 | 13.57 | 8.3/13 |
| 226 | 12 | "Going for the Oscar" | December 6, 2007 | 14.05 | 8.2/13 |
| 227 | 13 | "Hello, I'm Still a Person" | December 13, 2007 | 13.86 | 8.7/14 |
| 228 | 14 | "A Slippery Little Sucker" | December 16, 2007 | 15.18 | 8.5/13 |
| 229 | 15 | "Reunion" | December 16, 2007 | N/A | TBA |
Voting history
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Controversy
During the Reunion show, Denise Martin stated that she lost her job as a lunch lady after her return from filming. As a result, producer Mark Burnett gave her $50,000 in compensation. However, the school district Denise worked for has refuted her version of what happened after she returned from Survivor. According to Douglas Public School District Superintendent Nancy T. Lane, Denise asked for and received a promotion to the higher-paying full-time custodian position before filming began for Survivor. When Denise returned to work, she returned to her new position. She requested to transfer back to her old position but it was no longer available.[7] On the December 19, 2007 broadcast of The Early Show, Martin apologized, stating that it was "not [her] intention to be misleading" and asked that the $50,000 be donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.[8]
References
- ^ Survivor: Fiji live reunion special, May 13, 2007
- ^ a b Rudolph, Ileane (2007-08-20). "Survivor: China Exclusive: Meet the Fei Long Tribe". TV Guide. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ Rudolph, Ileane (2007-08-20). "Survivor: China Exclusive: Meet the Zhan Hu Tribe". TV Guide. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ Washburn, Dan (2007-05-21). "Survivor China Update: Remote island of ... Jiangxi?". Gothamist, LLC. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
The Chinese characters on the logo say, 'Compete in intelligence, compete in skill, compete in endurance.'
- ^ "Returning Shows". Retrieved 2007-09-21.
- ^ "Survivor: China Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved November 7, 2007.
- ^ "Worcester Telegram & Gazette Mega News".
- ^ "'Survivor' lunch lady to donate $50,000 gift".