Survivor: Blood vs. Water is the 27th season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season filmed in May–June 2013 and premiered on Wednesday, September 18, 2013, featuring returning castaways and their loved ones competing against each other. It was the third consecutive season, and the ninth season overall, to feature returning contestants. As with the previous two seasons, the season was filmed in the Philippines and this was the third season filmed in the country, but this time at Palaui Island, Cagayan. Tyson Apostol was named the Sole Survivor in the season finale on December 15, 2013, defeating runners-up Monica Culpepper and Gervase Peterson in a 7–1–0 vote.
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 cast consists of 10 pairs of loved ones, each composed of one new player and one returning player with varying relationships, including mother-daughter, spouses, fiancees, dating, brothers, and uncle-niece. The tribe names were Galang and Tadhana, which means "respect" and "destiny", respectively, in Filipino. The merged tribe was Kasama, which means "companion" in Filipino. Notable cast includes former NFL player Brad Culpepper, competing alongside his wife, Survivor: One World castaway Monica, and Big Brother 12 winner Hayden Moss, playing alongside his girlfriend Kat Edorsson, also from One World. Moss is the first former Big Brother contestant to appear on Survivor. The cast also contained two former Survivor winners, Tina Wesson and Aras Baskauskas.
+List of Survivor: Blood vs. Water contestants Contestant Age From Tribe Main game Redemption Island Original Switched Merged Finish Day Finish Day (Remained in game) Day 1SwitchedplacesDay 1 Cook Islands& Heroes vs. Villains30Washington,D.C. rowspan="2" 2nd voted outDay 11 49Indianapolis,IndianaSwitchedplacesLost duel 1Day 4 Gervase's niece21Chapel Hill,North Carolina rowspan="2" 3rd voted outDay 3Lost duel 3Day 9 Tyson's girlfriend33Provo,Utah4th voted outDay 6Lost duel 2Day 7 One World22Collinsville,AlabamaQuitDay 7 Candice's husband30Washington,D.C. rowspan="2" 5th voted outDay 8Lost duel 7Day 19 Monica's husband44Tampa,Florida6th voted outDay 10Lost duel 5Day 14 (Returned to game) rowspan="2" 7th voted outDay 13 1st returneeDay 19 One World23Orlando,Florida rowspan="3" 8th voted outDay 16Lost duel 6Day 17Rupert's wife44Indianapolis,Indiana 9th voted outDay 18Lost duel 7Day 19 Panama31Santa Monica,Californiarowspan=12 10th voted outDay 21Lost duel 81st jury memberDay 25 Aras's brother33Santa Monica,California rowspan="2" 11th voted outDay 22Lost duel 9Day 27 (Returned to game) rowspan="2" 12th voted outDay 242nd returneeDay 36 Samoa43Salem,Oregon 13th voted outDay 26Lost duel 126th jury member Colton's fiancé26Collinsville,Alabama rowspan="4" 14th voted outDay 29Lost duel 103rd jury memberDay 30 Tina's daughter25New York City,New YorkEliminatedDay 32Lost duel 114th jury memberDay 33 Kat's boyfriend27Springtown,Texas rowspan="2" 15th voted outDay 35Lost duel 125th jury memberDay 36 Laura M.'s daughter24Salem,Oregon16th voted outDay 37 & All-Stars52Robbinsville,North Carolina rowspan="4" 17th voted out8th jury memberDay 38 Borneo43Philadelphia,Pennsylvania2nd runner-upDay 39 One World42Tampa,FloridaRunner-up Tocantins& Heroes vs. Villains34Provo,UtahSole Survivor
Future appearances Ciera Eastin, Vytas Baskauskas, and Brad Culpepper were included on the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia. Eastin and Baskauskas were chosen to compete; while Culpepper was not. Culpepper eventually returned, along with Eastin, for Survivor: Game Changers. Monica Culpepper also appeared on Survivor: Game Changers as a loved one. Tyson Apostol later returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War. Rachel Foulger also appeared on Survivor: Winners at War as part of the loved ones visit.
Outside of Survivor, Rupert and Laura Boneham competed as a team in The Amazing Race 31. In 2022, Apostol competed on the first season of The Challenge: USA. In 2026, Apostol competed on the third season of House of Villains.
Season summary
The players were divided into two tribes of ten: Galang, composed of returning players, and Tadhana, the returning players’ loved ones. Tadhana lost the first four consecutive challenges, and was initially dominated by a men's alliance led by Brad. Brad's decision to blindside his ally John resulted in Brad's subsequent elimination and the end of the men's alliance. When Galang first went to Tribal Council, Aras spearheaded the elimination of Laura M. in hopes that she could eliminate Brad in a Redemption Island challenge to ensure the loyalty of Brad's wife, Monica. The plan was successful, and Laura M. returned to the game at the merge.
The tribes merged with 11 players remaining, including three pairs of loved ones: Aras and Vytas, Tina and Katie, and Laura M. and Ciera. The five players without loved ones remaining in the game formed an alliance led by Tyson, and were able to recruit Laura M. and Ciera to send Aras, Vytas, and Tina to Redemption Island before betraying Laura M. for being the stronger member of the final intact pair. With no pairs remaining, the new players outnumbered the returnees four to three, but the new players’ attempt to seize control was foiled by Ciera, who sided with the returnees. However, with six players left, she changed allegiances, forcing a tie which was resolved through random draw, resulting in Katie's elimination. This allowed the returning players alliance of Tyson, Monica, and Gervase to take control, voting out the others and making it to the end of the game.
At the Final Tribal Council, Gervase was berated by the jury for his perceived rudeness and hiding behind more dominant players, while Monica was castigated for threatening to flip to the other alliance but ultimately never following through. This led the jury to award Tyson the title of Sole Survivor, receiving seven of the eight votes to win, and Monica receiving one.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeRedemption IslandChallenge winner(s)Voted outNo.TitleOriginal air dateWinner(s)EliminatedRewardImmunityTribePlayer1"Blood Is Thicker Than Anything"September 18, 2013rowspan=4 colspan=2 rowspan=3 colspan=2 CandiceRupertcolspan=2 Marissa2"Rule In Chaos"September 25, 2013Candice Rupertrowspan=2 colspan=2 rowspan="2" RachelMarissa3"Opening Pandora's Box"October 2, 2013Candice Rachelcolspan=2 rowspan=2 ColtonMarissaJohn4"One Armed Dude and Three Moms"October 9, 2013John Marissarowspan=2 colspan=2 rowspan="2" BradCandice5"The Dead Can Still Talk"October 16, 2013John Candicerowspan=2 colspan=2 rowspan="2" Laura M.Brad6"One-Man Wrecking Ball"October 23, 2013Laura M. Bradrowspan=2 colspan=2 rowspan="2" KatJohn7"Swoop In For The Kill"October 30, 2013John Katrowspan=2 colspan=2 rowspan="2" Laura B.Laura M.8"Skin of My Teeth"November 6, 2013 John rowspan="4" Vytas rowspan="15" ArasLaura B.9"My Brother's Keeper"November 13, 2013rowspan=2 colspan=2 MonicaVytasKatieTina10"Big Bad Wolf"November 20, 2013Vytas Aras Monica(Caleb,Ciera, Gervase,Hayden, Katie,Laura M., Tyson) Monica Laura M.Tina11"Gloves Come Off"November 27, 2013Laura M. Vytasrowspan=2 Monica CalebTina12"Rustle Feathers"December 4, 2013Laura M. Caleb Gervase[Monica, Tyson] KatieTina13"Out On a Limb"December 11, 2013Laura M. Katie Ciera[Hayden] HaydenTina14"It's My Night"December 15, 2013 TinaHayden rowspan="3" Tyson CieraLaura M.TysonTina15"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 tribesSwitched tribesMerged tribeEpisode1234567891011121314Day1367810131618212224262932353738Tribecolspan=2 colspan=3 EliminatedLaura B.CandiceRupertMarissaRachelColtonJohnBradKat ArasVytasTinaCalebKatieHaydenCieraTinaVotes Swap8–15–2–1Quit6–13–33–17–15–14–17–2–27–1–17–14–33–32–23–23–03–1VoterVoteTysonLaura M.Laura M.ArasVytasTinaLaura M.CalebHaydenHaydenHaydenCieraTinaMonicaCandiceLaura M.KatLaura B.ArasVytasTinaLaura M.CalebHaydenNoneHaydenCieraTinaGervaseCandiceLaura M.ArasVytasTinaLaura M.CalebHaydenHaydenHaydenCieraTinaTinaCandiceLaura M.KatLaura B.CieraVytasTysonGervaseGervaseCieraLaura B.MarissaJohnJohnBradArasKatieTinaLaura M.CalebMonicaMonicaGervaseGervaseHaydenLaura B.MarissaRachelJohnCieraCieraArasVytasTinaLaura M.CieraMonicaGervaseKatieMarissaMarissaJohnJohnBradBradKatLaura B.CieraVytasMonicaLaura M.CieraMonicaMonicaCalebLaura B.MarissaRachelJohnBradBradArasVytasTinaLaura M.CieraLaura M.CandiceLaura B.ArasVytasTinaKatieVytasLaura B.MarissaRachelJohnCieraBradKatLaura B.Laura M.TysonAras GervaseLaura M.Laura M.Laura B.MarissaLaura M.KatVytasKatCandiceLaura M.VytasBradLaura B.MarissaRachelJohnCieraJohnLaura B.MarissaRachelCieraColtonCandiceQuitRachelKatieMarissaCiera MarissaBradKatieRupertLaura M.SwapCandiceLaura M.
Jury voteEpisode15Day39FinalistTysonMonicaGervaseVotes7–1–0JurorVoteTinaCieraLaura M.HaydenKatieCalebVytasAras
Production Filming Redemption Island, a twist formerly seen in Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: South Pacific, was utilized after a three-season hiatus. In conjunction with the "Blood vs. Water" twist, remaining contestants were given the option to switch places with their loved one if their loved one was on Redemption Island. The game began with a twist called Day Zero, in which each of the ten pairs was marooned in a separate location, spending the night together before congregating as a full cast the following morning and dividing into two tribes. Due to this twist, this season is one of three to last longer than 39 days, after Survivor: The Australian Outback which lasted 42 days, and being followed by Survivor: San Juan del Sur, the second "Blood vs. Water" season, which also began with Day Zero. This season also marks the second occurrence of the rock-picking tiebreaker, 23 seasons after it first occurred in Survivor: Marquesas in 2002. This is also the first time in 13 seasons, since Survivor: Fiji, to not feature a fan favorite vote that would award one player with US$100,000. And this is the first time in 27 seasons not to ever feature a cast intro.
Casting Roberta "R.C." Saint-Amour from Philippines and her father, Craig, were originally cast and traveled to Palaui Island with the other castaways, but were pulled from the game the day before filming began due to Craig having high blood pressure. They were replaced by Candice Woodcock Cody from Cook Islands and Heroes vs. Villains, and her husband John. "Troyzan" Robertson from One World was initially cast with his brother Todd, however they were cut a week before filming. Robertson would later return for Survivor: Game Changers. Jim Rice from South Pacific was asked to compete with his wife, but neither of them were able to participate.