South Pacific

Survivor: South Pacific · Season 23

Episode Guide

How Survivor: South Pacific unfolded, week by week.

  1. 1“I Need Redemption”Sep 14, 2011Eighteen players hit the South Pacific split into Savaii and Upolu, each tribe seeded with a returning mentor, Ozzy Lusth on Savaii and 'Coach' Benjamin Wade on Upolu, and the dreaded Redemption Island is back: get voted out and you duel for a way in. Savaii drops the opener after Semhar Tadesse fumbles a crucial puzzle, and she's voted out first, shipped off to Redemption Island alone.
  2. 2“He Has Demons”Sep 21, 2011Upolu makes its first trip to Tribal, and Christine Shields Markoski, already at odds with Coach's tight little group, is the odd one out, voted out and sent to join Semhar at Redemption Island. The two duel, Christine wins handily, and Semhar becomes the first player eliminated for good.
  3. 3“Reap What You Sow”Sep 28, 2011Savaii is back at Tribal, and Mark 'Papa Bear' Caruso, an older player short on numbers, is the cut. He heads to Redemption Island, duels the surging Christine, and loses, eliminated as Christine keeps her improbable run alive.
  4. 4“Survivalism”Oct 5, 2011Upolu loses again and turns on Stacey Powell, sending her to Redemption Island. Christine, by now the queen of the arena, dispatches Stacey in the duel to extend her streak, refusing to go quietly.
  5. 5“Taste the Victory”Oct 12, 2011Savaii's alliance lines wobble, and Elyse Umemoto, one of Ozzy's closest allies, is voted out as the tribe's numbers shift beneath her. Out at Redemption Island, Christine wins yet again, sending Elyse home and stretching her duel streak to a remarkable length.
  6. 6“Free Agent”Oct 19, 2011Brandon Hantz, Russell's volatile nephew, has fixated on his Upolu tribemate Mikayla Wingle, uneasy about his own attraction to her, and he pushes hard to get the strong, capable Mikayla out anyway. Coach lets him have his way, Mikayla is voted out, and she too falls to Christine in the duel.
  7. 7“Trojan Horse”Oct 26, 2011Facing a numbers crunch, Ozzy hatches a bold gambit: he engineers his own vote-out so he can go to Redemption Island, beat Christine, and storm back with Savaii's numbers intact. The first half works perfectly, Ozzy is sent to the arena and finally ends Christine's long, defiant run, eliminating her. Now the challenge beast just has to win his way back.
  8. 8“Double Agent”Nov 2, 2011The tribes merge into Te Tuna, and the game turns on a single decision. John Cochran, the nervous superfan who'd felt disrespected and threatened by his own Savaii tribe, flips to Coach's Upolu alliance at the first merge vote and hands them control. Keith Tollefson is blindsided, voted out as the first member of the jury, and Ozzy's whole gambit lies in ruins.
  9. 9“Cut Throat”Nov 9, 2011Now firmly in command, the Upolu alliance begins mopping up the stranded Savaii players. Jim Rice, a sharp strategic threat, makes a desperate pitch but can't crack the bloc, and he's voted out to Redemption Island, where Ozzy is waiting to send him to the jury.
  10. 10“Running the Show”Nov 16, 2011Upolu's machine rolls on, and the last of the Savaii holdouts fall as Dawn Meehan and Whitney Duncan are picked off, erasing what's left of the old tribe. Out at Redemption Island, Ozzy keeps winning, stacking up duel after duel but still stuck on the outside looking in.
  11. 11“Cult Like”Nov 30, 2011With Savaii wiped out, the Upolu alliance, so tight and prayer-bound that outsiders call it cult-like, has no one left to cut but its own hangers-on. John Cochran, who'd flipped expecting a reward, learns his betrayal bought him nothing: the alliance votes him out to the jury, his much-discussed move earning him no respect at all.
  12. 12“Ticking Time Bomb”Dec 7, 2011The alliance starts trimming its own. Edna Ma, Coach's most loyal foot soldier, has always sat at the bottom of the group despite her devotion, and when the numbers tighten Sophie and Albert cut her loose. Edna is voted out to the jury, blindsided by the very alliance she'd served.
  13. 13“Then There Were Five”Dec 14, 2011Brandon Hantz, ever the wild card, wins immunity at the final six, then stuns everyone by handing it to Albert, trusting Coach's promise that he's safe. It's a fatal misread. The alliance turns on the volatile Brandon and votes him out to the jury, leaving just four in the game with Ozzy still grinding away at Redemption Island.
  14. 14“Loyalties Will Be Broken”FinaleDec 18, 2011Finale night. Ozzy Lusth finally wins his way off Redemption Island in the last duel and crashes back into the game at the final five, but the Upolu wall holds. Rick Nelson, the quiet cowboy, is voted out in fifth, and then the alliance takes its last shot at Ozzy, voting the challenge beast out in fourth to end his marathon comeback for good. That leaves Coach, Sophie, and Albert at the end, and at Final Tribal the jury weighs Sophie Clarke's sharp, controlling game against Coach's redemption-arc leadership and Albert's maneuvering, crowning Sophie the Sole Survivor 6-3-0, with Albert shut out.