Survivor: Redemption Island is the twenty-second season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. It premiered on February 16, 2011. Applications were due in January 2010, and filming lasted from August to September 2010. The season was filmed near San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the same location as the previous season. The season featured returning players Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano, alongside 16 new contestants.
Mariano was named the winner in the final episode on May 15, 2011, defeating Phillip Sheppard and Natalie Tenerelli in an 8–1–0 jury vote. In addition, Mariano won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season," receiving 40% of the fans' votes; Matt Elrod, with 36%, received the next-highest total.
Format
Survivor is a reality television show based on the Swedish show Expedition Robinson, created by Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons. The series follows a number of participants isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter. One participant is removed from the series by majority vote every three days, with challenges held to give a reward (ranging from living- and food-related prizes to a car) and immunity from being voted out of the series. The last remaining player receives a prize of $1,000,000.
Contestants
The players were initially split into two tribes of nine, each with one returning player: Ometepe and Zapatera, both named after the islands in Lake Nicaragua. Redemption Island featured the return of Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz, who both previously appeared on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and appeared separately on Marquesas and All-Stars (Mariano) and Samoa (Hantz). Their feud was a running storyline in the early episodes of Heroes vs. Villains, and was rekindled months later during the season's live finale. While the sixteen new players were initially assigned tribes prior to the start of the game, Rob and Russell drew buffs to determine which tribe they joined.
Notable new contestants include former NFL players Steve Wright and Grant Mattos; and former Miss Maine USA Ashley Underwood.
+List of Survivor: Redemption Island contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Main game Redemption Island Original Merged Finish Day Finish Day 36 Washington,D.C. rowspan="2" 1st voted outDay 3Lost duel 1Day 6 (Returned to game)2nd voted outDay 51st returneeDay 19 Samoa & Heroes vs. Villains37Dayton,Texas 3rd voted outDay 8Lost duel 2Day 10 46Malibu,California 4th voted outDay 11Lost duel 3Day 12 25Columbia,South Carolina rowspan="3" 5th voted outDay 13Lost duel 4Day 14 26Long Beach,California6th voted outDay 16Lost duel 5Day 17 36Santa Monica,California7th voted outDay 18Lost duel 6Day 19 22Nashville,Tennessee rowspan=13 8th voted outDay 21Lost duel 116th jury memberDay 36 31Del Mar,California rowspan="5" 9th voted out Day 22 Lost duel 117th jury member 31West Hollywood,California10th voted outDay 24Lost duel 71st jury memberDay 25 50Oceanside,California11th voted outDay 27Lost duel 82nd jury memberDay 28 45Lebanon,Virginia12th voted outDay 30Lost duel 104th jury memberDay 33 51Huntington Beach,California 13th voted out Lost duel 93rd jury member Day 31 (Returned to game) rowspan="7" 14th voted out Day 32 2nd returneeDay 36 29West Hollywood,California 15th voted out Day 35 Lost duel 115th jury member 21 Random Lake,Wisconsin 16th voted out8th jury member Day 37 25 Benton,Maine 17th voted out9th jury member Day 38 19Acton,California 2nd runner-upDay 39 52Santa Monica,CaliforniaRunner-up 34 Pensacola,Florida
Future appearances Phillip Sheppard, Andrea Boehlke, and Francesca Hogi returned for Survivor: Caramoan. Natalie Tenerelli and Stephanie Valencia were included on the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia, but neither received enough votes to be chosen. Boehlke returned for the third time in Survivor: Game Changers. Russell Hantz returned to the game on an international level as he appeared on Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders (2018). Rob Mariano returned for the thirty-ninth season Survivor: Island of the Idols serving as a mentor to new contestants, and returned again the next season to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.
Outside of Survivor, Mariano competed on Deal or No Deal Island. In 2025, Mariano competed on the third season of the Peacock reality TV series The Traitors.
Season summary
Sixteen new castaways, previously divided into two tribes, Ometepe and Zapatera, were joined by returning contestants, "Boston" Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz, with Rob joining Ometepe and Russell joining Zapatera by random draw. The tribes were then told about Redemption Island, a secluded location where voted out players would go to compete in challenges for a chance to return to the game.
Rob quickly proved to be leader of Ometepe, and kept wary of the hidden immunity idol, including sending one of his own alliance, Matt, to Redemption Island while trying to flush it out. On Zapatera, the bulk of the tribe recognized the threat that Russell could be, throwing a challenge in order to vote Russell out; Russell would lose to Matt at the next Redemption Island challenge. Matt would continue to win several more duels. After Russell's elimination, Zapatera faltered due to lack of cohesion within the tribe, and eventually approached the merge with only five members remaining, while Ometepe had six.
The tribes merged with 12 players left in the game, including Matt, who returned from Redemption Island. Zapatera attempted to lure Matt to their side in order to tie the vote; while Matt considered blindsiding Rob, he eventually decided against it, telling this to Rob in an attempt to prove his loyalty. Despite this, Rob decided Matt could not be trusted, using his alliance to send Matt back to Redemption Island, establishing a firm Ometepe majority. The former Ometepe tribe used their numerical advantage to completely eliminate the remaining former members of Zapatera, starting with Mike, who dominated with his close friend Matt at Redemption Island. Meanwhile, Rob orchestrated the eliminations of those who he felt would be threatening to him, including Andrea and close allies Grant and Ashley. The final three were Rob, Natalie, and Phillip; both Natalie and Phillip were criticized by the jury for simply following in Rob's footsteps, and Rob was voted the Sole Survivor in a vote of 8-1-0.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeRedemption IslandChallengewinner(s)EliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateWinnerEliminatedTribePlayer1"You're Looking at the New Leader of Your Tribe"February 16, 2011 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Francesca2"You Own My Vote"February 23, 2011Matt3"Keep Hope Alive"March 2, 2011MattFrancescaRussell4"Don't You Work for Me?"March 9, 2011MattRussellKristina5"We Hate Our Tribe"March 16, 2011MattKristinaKrista6"Their Red-Headed Step Child"March 23, 2011MattKristaStephanie7"It Don't Take a Smart One"March 30, 2011MattStephanieSarita8"This Game Respects Big Moves"April 6, 2011MattSaritaNatalie rowspan="17" Matt9"The Buddy System"April 13, 2011colspan="2" rowspan="2" GrantMikeAndreaDavid10"Rice Wars"April 20, 2011Mike David Rob JulieMatt11"A Mystery Package"April 27, 2011Matt JulieGrant[Andrea, Rob]RalphMikeRobSteve12"You Mangled My Nets"May 4, 2011Mike Steve Rob AndreaMattRalph13"Too Close For Comfort"May 11, 2011Mike Ralph Ashley[Natalie] GrantMattAndrea14"Seems Like a No Brainer"May 15, 2011 AndreaGrant Ashley AndreaMattMikeRobAshley15"Reunion" In the case of the immunity and reward winner being able to share their reward with others, the invitees are in brackets.
Episodes
Voting history
Original tribesMerged tribeEpisode1234567891011121314Day35811131618212224273032353738Tribecolspan="2" colspan="2" EliminatedFrancescaMattRussellKristinaKristaStephanieSaritaMattMikeDavidJulieRalphSteveAndreaGrantAndreaAshleyVotes4–3–24–2–03–3–35–1–04–36–25–24–26–5–16–56–46–36–26–15–14–14–03–1VoterVoteRobFrancescaMattPhillipMattMikeDavidJulieRalphSteveAndreaGrantAndreaAshleyPhillipFrancescaKristinaKristinaMattMikeDavidJulieRalphSteveAndreaGrantAndreaAshleyNatalieKristinaMattKristinaMattMikeDavidJulieRalphSteveAndreaGrantAndreaAshleyAshleyKristinaMattKristinaMattMikeDavidJulieRalphSteveAndreaGrantAndreaPhillipAndreaKristinaKristinaKristinaMattMikeDavidJulieRalphStevePhillipRobGrantFrancescaMattPhillipMattMikeDavidJulieRalphSteveAndreaNatalieSteveRussellRussellKristaStephanieSaritaGrantPhillipRobPhillipRobGrantRalphRussellKristaStephanieDavidGrantPhillipRobPhillipRobJulieStephanieRussellKristaStephanieSaritaGrantPhillipRobPhillipDavidStephanieRussellKristaSaritaSaritaGrantPhillipRobMikeRussellRussellKristaStephanieSaritaGrantPhillipMattFrancescaPhillipSteveSaritaStephanieRussellKristaStephanieDavidStephanieRalphSteveSaritaKristaRalphRalphSteveKristinaPhillipPhillipPhillipRussellRalphFrancescaPhillip
Jury voteEpisode15Day39Finalist Rob Phillip NatalieVotes8–1–0JurorVoteAshleyAndreaMikeMattGrantRalphSteveJulieDavid
Production Filming This season introduced "Redemption Island" to the American version of Survivor, based in part on concepts already used in foreign versions of the show, including "Moondram Ulagam" (3rd Island) in the Tamil version, "The Island of the Dead" in the Israeli version, "Isla Purgatoryo" (Purgatory Island) in the Philippine version's second season, "Ghost Island" in the Serbian version's second season, and the duels in the 2002 Swedish edition.
Instead of being out of the game immediately upon being voted out of their tribe, the voted off contestant would be taken to a secluded area known as Redemption Island. Once there, they were to sustain themselves in the same manner as when living with the tribe: living on limited food, water and shelter. They would be joined by the next person voted out, and those two people would face off in a duel in an arena constructed to resemble an old ruined temple, joined by two representatives from each tribe acting as observers. The winner remains in the game, and continues living at Redemption Island. The loser exits the game for good, throwing their buff into a small fire pit on their way out of the arena. At two predetermined points during the game, at the merge and with four players remaining in the game proper, the winner of the Redemption Island duel returns to the game.
Host Jeff Probst compared Redemption Island to the Pearl Islands Outcast tribe, stating that the latter concept did not seem to work well with the audience because the Outcast twist was not revealed to the players ahead of time, and was considered unfair to the remaining players in the game. However, the Outcast tribe survived on the same meager rations as everybody else in the game. With Redemption Island, the players were told at the start of the game of the existence and rules of Redemption Island, and Probst expected that this would affect how the tribes would vote out members. Probst also stated that the change would allow for the newer players to have a chance to recover from early mistakes such as choosing the wrong alliance or making a poor vote at Tribal Council. Entertainment Weeklys Dalton Ross correctly speculated that due to the Redemption Island duel as part of each episode, all regular challenges in the show were combined Reward/Immunity challenges until the tribes merged. The duels used at Redemption Island were scaled-back versions of previous challenges the show had used, and Probst stated that this was because these challenges "worked well" and eliminated any risk of the challenges going astray. The idea for allowing other players to watch the duel was a last-minute addition made by Mark Burnett. According to Probst, it gave those that attended the duel "valuable information" they could have used in their gameplay strategy, but also could have left them vulnerable to alliance shifts that might have occurred while they were absent from the tribe.
Reception