Survivor: Pearl Islands - Season Summary

Season Summary

The start of the game was announced as a surprise to the contestants, who were told that they would be participating in the clothes on their backs, most believing they were getting publicity shots prior to the contest, and that no additional supplies would be given to them. The contestants were split into the two tribes, Morgan and Drake, and given their running shoes, a small bag of money and a map to a nearby village where they could use the money to buy what they believed were essential goods for survival as well as a boat trip to their beach, and were told to swim the rest of the way. Drake, thanks in part to Sandra's ability to speak Spanish and Rupert's idea of stealing the abandoned shoes of Morgan and using them as bartering goods, was able to secure numerous supplies, while Morgan did not plan as well. A twist revealed for the season sent one player from the tribe winning reward to steal one item from the other tribe's camp. Morgan lost most of the initial Reward and Immunity challenges, leaving them three players down and with fewer items to work with at camp. During this time, Osten, a member of Morgan, began to express a desire to quit the game.

With Drake apparently set to continue to win, Burton concocted a plan to throw the fourth Immunity challenge in order to get rid of the tribe's weaker players, among them Trish and Christa. Though Rupert and others felt this was a bad idea, they went through with it anyway, purposely allowing Morgan to win. In a twist, Jeff Probst revealed that Morgan had won the right to "kidnap" one Drake member for a period to extend through the next Reward challenge, and Morgan quickly selected Rupert. As a result, Burton was voted out at Drake's first tribal council. The shift in power led to Morgan's winning the next two Immunity challenges and leaving the tribes equal in size, each having five members.

Upon arrival at their next challenge, the tribes found they faced another twist, as the six voted-off players were returned to the game as an "Outcast tribe". In the subsequent challenge, the outcasts' tribe beat out Morgan and Drake; both would be required to vote off a player at separate tribal councils, while the Outcasts' tribe would vote in two players to return to the game in their places. Osten used this opportunity to quit the game at tribal council. Jeff Probst expressed open disgust at Osten's decision to quit. The Outcasts' tribe selected Lillian and Burton to return to the game, both, by chance, returning to their original tribes but having immunity at the next tribal council. While Burton made up with his former tribe, Lillian's return was resented by Andrew and other Morgan members.

The next day, the two tribes merged into Balboa, a name given to a sea snake Rupert had found and tried unsuccessfully to nurse back to health. The tribe moved to Drake's beach. Burton and Rupert managed to gain individual immunities, and, along with Lillian's resentment, helped to voted out former Morgan members Andrew and Ryan O., gaining the numbers for the former Drake. Jon and Burton began seeing Rupert as a physical threat for challenges and conspired to vote him off, irking Rupert's alliance members Sandra and Christa. In the next reward challenge, where family and loved ones of the contestants were brought to the islands, Jon had conspired weeks before with his best friend to present the tale of a "dead grandmother", hoping to use it to gain sympathy. Though Sandra saw through the lie, Jon convinced the other players, causing them to give up the reward to him, which caused them to spend the night on Morgan's old beach while Jon and his friend hung out alone, celebrating the success of their plot. Jon and Burton continued to conspire against the remaining female players, voting off Tijuana and Christa. With five players remaining, Burton won a car reward and took Jon with him as he drove away from camp. This allowed Sandra, Lillian, and Darrah to hatch a plan to vote off Burton, having Sandra act as if the next vote was settled and that she would be eliminated. Burton and Jon dismissed the possibility that the woman were working against them, and to his surprise, Burton was voted off at the following tribal council, leaving Jon in a scramble to try to win back any of the women's favor. The following immunity challenge included yet another twist, in that it consisted of a trivia contest with the current jury playing; this was a fifth challenger and it effectively denied any of the remaining players immunity. Darrah was voted off, leaving Jon, Lillian, and Sandra as the final three.

During the final immunity challenge, Sandra fell out early, allowing Jon to try to convince Lillian to take him to the final two. Lillian refused and outlasted Jon, winning immunity. Lillian struggled with her decision of whom to take to the final tribal council but ultimately selected Sandra. During the final tribal council, Lillian's behavior during the game was contrasted with what people expected of a scoutmaster, questions Lillan had a hard time answering to their satisfaction. Sandra was voted the Sole Survivor on a vote of 6-1; Tijuana cast the lone vote for Lillian, later explaining that she was swayed by Sandra's declaration that Lillian was responsible for voting out everyone on the final jury, which indicated to her that Lillian played effectively. In the subsequent reunion show, several jury members responded to Jeff's question about a potential Lillian-Jon Final 2 by saying they would have given their votes to Lillian, who reiterated her belief that she would have lost to either Jon or Sandra, and voted out Jon because she had more respect for Sandra.