Survivor: Caramoan — Fans vs. Favorites (commonly referred to as Survivor: Caramoan) is the 26th season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season filmed from May 21 to June 28, 2012, and premiered on February 13, 2013, with a special 90-minute episode.
John Cochran was named the Sole Survivor in the season finale on May 12, 2013, defeating Dawn Meehan and Sherri Biethman in a unanimous 8–0–0 vote. Cochran became the second Jewish winner after Ethan Zohn from Survivor: Africa. Malcolm Freberg won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season", receiving 36% of votes cast over Brenda Lowe, who received 35%.
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 contestants included 10 new players, the "Fans", and 10 former players, the "Favorites", from six previous seasons returning for their second chance at the game. The Favorites include Erik Reichenbach, a "Fan" from the original "Fans vs. Favorites" season, Survivor: Micronesia. Notable "Fan" contestants from this season include future professional stock car racing driver Julia Landauer; and former Miss Missouri USA Hope Driskill, who placed in the top 16 at Miss USA 2011.
Similar to Russell Hantz during Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, the Favorites did not have an opportunity to see Malcolm's game-play in Survivor: Philippines, due to Philippines and this season being filmed back to back. The two premerge tribes were "Bikal" and "Gota" (or more accurately "Gata" for the barangay or barrio), named after two of the barangays or barrios (villages, districts, or wards) in the town or municipality of Caramoan, which the latter includes the Caramoan Islands, or named after the Gota Village Resort and/or Gota Beach, in the case of "Gota" instead of "Gata". The merged tribe was known as "Enil Edam", which contestant Malcolm Freberg named after his mother ("Enil Edam" is the name Madeline spelled backwards).
+List of Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites contestantsContestantAgeFrom Tribe Finish Original Switched Merged Placement Day 38 Brooklyn,New York 1st voted out Day 3 25 Oceanside,New York rowspan="4" 2nd voted out Day 5 23 Jefferson City,Missouri 3rd voted out Day 7 27 Brooklyn,New York Day 10 23 Washington,D.C. 4th voted out South Pacific 21 Katy,Texas 5th voted out Day 13 38 Cincinnati,Ohio rowspan="2" rowspan="5" 6th voted out Day 16 21 Stanford,California 7th voted out Day 19 Gabon 33 Los Angeles, California rowspan=12 8th voted out Day 22 44 New York City,New York 9th voted out1st jury member Day 25 Redemption Island 54 Santa Monica,California rowspan="2" 10th voted out Day 28 Philippines 26 Odessa,New York rowspan="7" 11th voted out3rd jury member Day 30 30 San Francisco,California 12th voted out4th jury member Day 31 Redemption Island 23 New York City,New York rowspan="3" 13th voted out5th jury member Day 33 Nicaragua 29 Miami,Florida 14th voted out6th jury member Day 36 Micronesia 27 Santa Clarita,California Medically evacuated7th jury member 23 New Jersey rowspan="2" 15th voted out8th jury member 41 Boise,Idaho Co-runners-up Day 39 South Pacific 42 South Jordan,Utah rowspan="2" rowspan="2" South Pacific 25 Washington,D.C. Sole Survivor
Future appearances Andrea Boehlke and Malcolm Freberg returned as contestants for their third season in Survivor: Game Changers. John Cochran also made a special appearance in that season's fifth episode, where he gave advice to a contestant who was exiled.
Outside of Survivor, Corinne Kaplan competed in The Amazing Race 31 with two-time Survivor castaway Eliza Orlins. Freberg competed on the 2022 USA Network reality competition series, Snake in the Grass.
Season summary
The two tribes were selected prior to the start of the game: Bikal, composed of 10 returning Survivor contestants (the "Favorites"), and Gota, 10 new players (the "Fans"). Bikal won nearly all the challenges and was dominated by an alliance led by Phillip, dubbed "Stealth R Us". Despite this, dissent existed among Bikal due to Phillip's controlling style of leadership, especially with Corinne and Malcolm, who found the tribe's Hidden Immunity Idol. Brandon was also further put off by Phillip's control and talk behind his back, and at one point broke down and dumped the tribe's supply of rice and beans. Several of the tribe members were emotionally upset at Brandon's display, and the tribe voluntarily forfeited the next challenge so as to vote out Brandon on the spot, though the emotional toll had been taken. The Gota tribe was dominated by an alliance of six led by Sherri, opposed by a minority alliance of four led by Reynold. Reynold's alliance was quickly reduced to Eddie and him, who were spared due to the dwindling tribe needing their strength in challenges.
The tribes were shuffled on day 14, with both new tribes containing four Favorites and three Fans. The significantly weaker new Bikal tribe lost every single challenge, with the Favorite majority sticking together to vote out the new players. Malcolm, now on the Gota tribe, aligned with fellow athletic males Reynold and Eddie to avoid being picked off at the merge.
The tribes merged with eight Favorites and four Fans remaining. The new Enil Edam tribe quickly had two factions emerge: Malcolm and Corinne rallied the remaining Fans together to try to overthrow Phillip, while the rest of the Favorites regrouped under Stealth R Us. Only Sherri and Michael remained from the initial dominant Fans alliance; while Michael chose to align with Corinne's faction, Sherri and Erik decided to join Stealth R Us due to their distrust of Reynold and Eddie. This put Stealth R Us in the majority and Corinne and Michael were eliminated, leaving only Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold in the minority. Their eliminations seemed imminent until Reynold won immunity and Malcolm found an additional Idol, which he gave to Eddie. In the hectic Tribal Council that ensued, Malcolm and Eddie played their Idols and Phillip was voted out.
However, their fortune was not to last, and Malcolm and Reynold were subsequently eliminated. While Eddie seemed the likely next target, he was spared when the former members of Stealth R Us decided to turn on one of their own, eliminating strategic threat Andrea with an Idol in her pocket, and Brenda after a kind-hearted gesture at the Loved Ones Challenge put her in a good social position. After Erik was evacuated from the game due to low blood pressure, Eddie was the final player voted out due to his popularity with the jury and having betrayed no one during the game.
Sherri, Cochran, and Dawn ultimately were the final three players. During the Final Tribal Council, Sherri was largely ignored, being perceived as a coattail rider after her original alliance collapsed. While Cochran and Dawn were acknowledged as a pair in their strategic gameplay, Dawn was grilled due to her emotional instability throughout the game while betraying several close allies, whereas Cochran was praised for being able to separate emotions from the game in addition to his dominance in the immunity challenges. This led to the jury of eight unanimously voting for Cochran to win.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeChallenge winner(s)EliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateRewardImmunityTribePlayer1"She Annoys Me Greatly"February 13, 2013Francesca2"Honey Badger"February 20, 2013colspan=2 Allie3"There's Gonna Be Hell to Pay"February 27, 2013colspan=2 Hope4"Kill or Be Killed"March 6, 2013rowspan=2 rowspan=2 ShamarLaura5"Persona Non Grata"March 13, 2013Brandon6"Operation Thunder Dome"March 20, 2013Matt7"Tubby Lunchbox"March 27, 2013Julia8"Blindside Time"April 3, 2013Cochran rowspan="9" Corinne9"Cut Off the Head of the Snake"April 10, 2013Cochran,Eddie, Erik,Michael, ReynoldBrendaMichael10"Zipping Over the Cuckoo’s Nest"April 17, 2013Cochran,Dawn, Erik,Phillip, ReynoldReynoldPhillip11"Come Over to the Dark Side"April 24, 2013CochranMalcolm12"The Beginning of the End"May 1, 2013 AndreaReynoldErikAndrea13"Don't Say Anything About My Mom"May 8, 2013Brenda[Dawn](Cochran, Eddie,Erik, Sherri)DawnBrenda14"Last Push"May 12, 2013 Cochran CochranErikEddie15"Reunion" 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
Voting history
Original tribesSwitched tribesMerged TribeEpisode1234567891011121314Day357101316192225283031333638Tribecolspan=2 colspan=2 colspan=2 EliminatedFrancescaAllieHopeShamarLauraBrandonMattJuliaCorinneMichaelPhillipMalcolmReynoldAndreaBrendaErikEddieVotes6–46–43–3–35–1–0Evacuated6–08–13–34–07–57–3–13–3–36–0–03–2–23–2–1Evacuated3–1VoterVoteCochranFrancescaBrandonMattMichaelJuliaCorinneMichaelMalcolmMalcolmMalcolmEddieEddieBrendaEddieDawnFrancescaBrandonMattJuliaJuliaCorinneMichaelEddieReynoldMalcolmReynoldEddieBrendaEddieSherriAllieHopeHopeLauraCorinneMichaelEddieReynoldMalcolmReynoldAndreaBrendaEddieEddieShamarShamarLauraSherriAndreaPhillipAndreaMalcolmSherriBrendaErikDawnErikAndreaBrandonCorinneMichaelPhillipMalcolmMalcolmEddieAndreaEddieEvacuatedBrendaAndreaBrandonCorinneMichaelEddieReynoldMalcolmReynoldAndreaEddieAndreaFrancescaBrandonCorinneMichaelEddieMalcolmReynoldBrendaReynoldShamarShamarShamarLauraSherriAndreaPhillipAndrea ErikMalcolmFrancescaBrandonSherriReynoldPhillipAndrea PhillipFrancescaBrandonMattMichaelJuliaCorinneMichaelMalcolmMichaelAllieEddieHopeLauraJuliaJulia SherriAndreaCorinneFrancescaBrandonMattJuliaJuliaSherriJuliaAllieHopeHopeLauraDawnMichael MattAllieEddieHopeLauraJuliaBrandonAndreaPhillipLauraAllieHopeHopeReynoldShamarAllieEddie EvacuatedHopeShamarShamar AllieShamarFrancescaAndrea
Jury voteEpisode15Day39Finalist Cochran Dawn SherriVotes8–0–0JurorVoteEddieErikBrendaAndreaReynoldMalcolmPhillipMichael
Production Filming As with Survivor: Micronesia, the first season to have the "Fans vs. Favorites" subtitle, this season initially featured a tribe of 10 returning contestants from previous seasons opposing a tribe of 10 new players. It was the eighth season overall to feature returning players. Production of the show took place in the Caramoan Islands in the Philippines, the same location as the previous season. Participants' applications were due on October 4, 2011, with about 800 chosen for interviews in various states. From these semifinalists, 10 contestants were selected to participate in the show as fans.
Casting According to Jeff Probst, producers had asked both Matt Elrod from Redemption Island and Shannon "Shambo" Waters from Samoa if they wanted to return for another season, but they both turned the offer down, believing that one season was enough for them and not wanting to let Survivor define their lives. The casting crew had also considered asking Lisa Whelchel from Philippines to participate, but realized that asking a mother to participate in back-to-back seasons would be difficult. "Troyzan" Robertson from One World was also considered, but ultimately cut. He would later return on Survivor: Game Changers. Tyson Apostol from Tocantins and Heroes vs. Villains was considered, but casting opted to go in a different direction. He would eventually return the following season, Blood vs. Water, and again for Season 40, Survivor: Winners at War. Stephen Fishbach from Tocantins was also considered but did not make the cut. He would later return for Survivor: Cambodia.
Reception