Survivor: Micronesia

Survivor: Micronesia

Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites is the sixteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor, being the show's third to include contestants from past seasons, after the all-returning contestant pool from Survivor: All-Stars, and Survivor: Guatemala in which two contestants from Survivor: Palau returned for a second chance.

Applications were due on July 7, 2007. Around August 2007, 800 applicants were selected for an interview by CBS. Out of these 800, about 48 semi-finalists were selected to go to Los Angeles in September 2007. From these semi-finalists, 10 contestants were selected to participate in the show between late October and mid-December 2007. The full cast of 20 contestants was revealed on January 3, 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. Host Jeff Probst revealed that a list of 20 favorites was put together (enough for an entire game) and then 10 of them were cut. Others included for consideration were Shane Powers (of Survivor: Panama), Yul Kwon (of Survivor: Cook Islands), Terry Deitz (of Survivor: Panama), Tom Westman (of Survivor: Palau), and Courtney Yates (of Survivor: China), though Probst confirmed that Westman and Yates declined the opportunity. Pearl Islands winner Sandra Diaz-Twine, who initially declined to be on Survivor: All-Stars, participated in initial casting for Micronesia but was one of those cut at the last minute. The contestants were split into two tribes, fans and favorites, named Airai and Malakal respectively. Both tribes were named after locations in Palau.

The season was filmed in Palau, marking the second time Survivor has filmed there (the first being 2005). The filming locations for this season were the same as those used in Survivor: Palau, with Airai living in the former Koror camp and Malakal living in the former Ulong camp. Exile Island returned this season after being absent from Survivor: China, with a new twist of one castaway from each tribe being sent to Exile Island where they had to compete to find the hidden immunity idol.

For the first time since Survivor: Panama, the final Tribal Council featured a Final Two rather than a Final Three. This was also the first season to have an even numbered jury, with this season having eight jury members, rather than the traditional seven or nine in past seasons. In the end, Parvati Shallow defeated Amanda Kimmel by a vote of 5–3 to become the Sole Survivor. On the reunion show, it was revealed that James Clement, for the second consecutive season, was the viewer's choice of favorite contestant, winning US$100,000. Kimmel and Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth received the next highest number of votes.

This was the final Survivor season to be aired in standard definition.

Shallow, Kimmel, Clement and Cirie Fields returned to play Survivor for a third time on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Kimmel, Fields and Clement were all placed on the heroes tribe, while Shallow was place on the villains tribe. Fields, Clement and Kimmel placed 17th, 14th and 9th respectively, while Shallow was the runner-up.

Lusth returned to play a third time on Survivor: South Pacific. He returned from Redemption Island twice, but ultimately didn't make it to the end, coming in 4th place. However, he became the first person to be voted out three times in one season.

Jonathan Penner returned for his third time on Survivor: Philippines where he finished 7th.

Erik Reichenbach was the first Fan to play again, returning as a Favorite on Survivor: Caramoan where he finished 5th.

Host Jeff Probst has declared this as his second favorite season of all time. Probst also stated that the Tribal Council in which Erik Reichenbach was eliminated was his favorite of all the seasons, and he also said Palau was his favorite filming location.