Survivor 43

Survivor 43 saw its cast strategize around the twists and format established in Survivor 41 and 42. The season saw high levels of strategic gameplay and frequent blindsides, with two players—Cody Assenmacher and Jesse Lopez—taking most of the accountability. After Jesse turned on Cody, he was eliminated in the fire-making challenge by Mike Gabler, whose willingness to take risks won him the jury's respect and the title of Sole Survivor in a 7-1-0 vote over Cassidy Clark and Owen Knight.

Production[]

Following the production of Survivor 41 and 42 under COVID-19-mandated restrictions, contestants were also required to be vaccinated as an added precaution. Jeff Probst described his preference for elements and mechanics introduced during the preceding seasons, particularly supporting the continuation of the 26-day game format, the continued implementation of the Shot in the Dark mechanic, and the on-location aftershow following the announcement of the Sole Survivor at the Final Tribal Council.^[4]

In an interview, Probst confirmed the Hourglass Advantage and Do or Die, both highly controversial game mechanics from the last two seasons, were retired.^[5] During the Survivor 44 coverage of On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, he admitted that both were his ideas and regretted their implementation following the negative criticism from fans.^[6]

Continuing from Survivor 42, there were no longer full episodes of "Life at Ponderosa", which depicted the jury members' stays at Ponderosa following their eliminations. Instead, shorter clips were released as part of the "Beyond the Snuff" series, which were posted on official Survivor social media accounts. Unlike the "Life at Ponderosa" episodes, these clips also covered players who were eliminated pre-jury.

Twists/Changes[]

• 26-Day Game
• Tribe Division: The 18 castaways were divided into 3 tribes of 6. No unifying theme was used in dividing the tribes.
• Penalties for Losing Immunity Challenges: The tribe that lost an Immunity Challenge was forced to surrender their flint to Jeff and could only win it back if they won the next Immunity Challenge.
• Beware Advantage/Hidden Immunity Idol: Each camp had one idol that mandated its finder to collect a unique bead from each of their tribemates; once the bracelet is complete with all the special beads, the idol will have power. Until then, the idol remains powerless and their finders without a vote at Tribal Council. Like in 42, the idols would gain full power after the merge when the vote penalty ended, regardless of whether the task was completed.
• Shot in the Dark
• Journeys: Castaways from different tribes were taken to another island where they were given a choice between protecting or risking their vote on their next visit to Tribal Council. Those who chose to "risk" their vote would play a game of chance, drawing from a bag containing the same number of possible advantages as players who chose to "risk" their vote. One player would receive an advantage, while the others would risk their votes. Those who "protected" their vote would keep their vote.
  • Time-Limited Hidden Immunity Idol
  • Vote Steal
  • Knowledge is Power
• Earn the Merge: The final 13 players were divided into 2 teams of 6 by random draw. The teams competed in an Immunity Challenge where the members of the winning team won individual immunity, a spot on the merge tribe, and the merge feast. Before the challenge, the odd player out predicted which team will win the challenge and if correct, will also receive immunity and the merge feast.
• Knowledge is Power: On Day 14, the Knowledge is Power advantage was re-hidden at the Gaia camp.
• Double Elimination: On Day 17, the Gaia tribe was subjected to a Double Elimination, where the tribe was divided into two groups of five and two castaways were eliminated through two separate Tribal Councils. Following the Immunity Challenge, one group remained at the Gaia camp, while the other was sequestered at the old Vesi camp for the afternoon.
• Choose Your Champion: At the final seven, an advantage was introduced that allowed its finder to make a prediction as to who would win the upcoming Immunity Challenge; in the case of a correct prediction, all votes against the finder would be nullified. The guess was revealed before the votes were read.
• Simplified Final Four Tribal Council
• Expanded Jury and Final Three: The Final Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing an eight-person jury.
• Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak individually, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists. The discussion was divided into three portions—"social", "physical", and "strategic".

Castaways[]

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Morriah Young 28, Philadelphia, PA Teacher	Baka		1st Voted Out Day 3	5
	Justine Brennan 29, Marina Del Ray, CA Cyber Security Saleswoman	Vesi		2nd Voted Out Day 5	3
	Nneka Ejere 42, Weatherford, TX Pharmacist	Vesi		3rd Voted Out Day 7	5
	Lindsay Carmine 42, Downingtown, PA Pediatric Nurse	Coco		4th Voted Out Day 9	4
	Geo Bustamante 35, Honolulu, HI Project Manager	Coco		5th Voted Out Day 11	4
	Elie Scott 31, Salt Lake City, UT Clinical Psychologist	Baka		6th Voted Out Day 13	7
	Dwight Moore 21, Collierville, TN Graduate Student	Vesi	Gaia	7th Voted Out Day 14	7
	Jeanine Zheng 24, San Francisco, CA UX Designer	Baka		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 16	9
	James Jones 36, Philadelphia, PA Event Planner	Coco		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 17	8
	Ryan Medrano 24, El Paso, TX Warehouse Associate	Coco		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 17	9
	Noelle Lambert 25, Manchester, NH U.S. Paralympian	Vesi		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 19	6
	Sami Layadi 19, Las Vegas, NV Pet Cremator	Baka		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 21	7
	Cody Assenmacher 35, Honolulu, HI Elevator Salesman	Vesi		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 23	5
	Karla Cruz Godoy 28, Newark, DE Educational Project Manager	Coco		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 24	7
	Jesse Lopez 30, Durham, NC Political Science Ph.D.	Vesi		Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 25	1
	Owen Knight 29, New Orleans, LA College Admissions Director	Baka		Second Runner-Up	4
	Cassidy Clark 26, Austin, TX Designer	Coco		Runner-Up	5
	Mike Gabler 51, Meridian, ID Heart Valve Specialist	Baka		Sole Survivor	0

Season Summary[]

Survivor 43 continued the trend of the last two seasons' shortened, yet accelerated game, but with the castaways now fully knowledgeable of most of the new game mechanics introduced such as the occasional cross-tribe summits, Shot in the Dark and the Knowledge is Power advantage.

On Baka, Elie and Gabler initially aligned, but later came to be at odds with each other following the latter's personality quirks and possession of a temporary Hidden Immunity Idol. Vesi suffered consecutive challenge losses despite being a generally cohesive tribe. During their tribe's losing streak, Cody and Jesse easily consolidated control of the tribe by being the physically strongest members. Coco, the last tribe to attend Tribal Council, was later ganged up on by the other tribes to reduce their numbers. On Day 13, the tribes formally merged into the Gaia tribe with 4 members each.

The influx of advantages at the merge stirred paranoia, particularly the Knowledge Is Power Advantage, which prompted the castaways to pass their advantages among their allies. This caused a long streak of blindsides: Dwight who passed the Baka idol he received from Jeanine to Jesse; James who expressed overconfidence following his possession of Knowledge Is Power; and Cody, who passed the Vesi idol to Jesse for safekeeping, only to have it used against him. During Cody's elimination, Karla was spooked by Jesse's bold idol play and used the Coco idol to save herself despite not being the target.

At the Day 24 Tribal Council, Jesse, who had become the primary target following his betrayal of Cody, shocked everyone by revealing Jeanine's idol. Declaring his intention to play the idol, the final five started to make last-minute deals, but Karla ultimately took the fall for being the next biggest target. Cassidy won the Final Immunity Challenge and took Owen with her to the Final Three, forcing Gabler and Jesse to compete in the fire-making challenge. Despite suffering health problems during the game's final days, Gabler won, sending Jesse to the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Cassidy was lauded for being on the right side of the vote the most frequently of the finalists, but was chided for not actually leading the charge during those votes. Gabler was commended for having the strongest social bonds, but was criticized that his eccentric personality overshadowed his gameplay. Owen was praised for his resilience despite being left out of the vote several times, but was chastised for his lack of agency. In the end, Gabler's effective articulation of his "hiding in plain sight" narrative won over the jury and thus the title of Sole Survivor in a 7-1-0 vote.

Voting History[]

		Original Tribes					Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		10	11	12	13
Voted Out		Morriah	Justine	Nneka	Lindsay	Geo	Elie	Dwight	Jeanine	James	Ryan	Noelle	Sami	Cody	Karla	Jesse	Owen	Cassidy	Gabler
Vote		5-1	3-1-1	4-1	4-1-1	3-2	7-2-1-1	7-3-2	9-2	4-1	4-1	5-2-1	6-0	4-0-05	4-05	No vote6	7-1-0
►	Gabler	Morriah	—	—	—	—	Elie	Ryan	Jeanine	—	Ryan	Noelle	Sami	Cody	Karla	—	Jury Vote
►	Cassidy	—	—	—	Lindsay	Geo	Elie	Dwight	Ryan	—	Ryan	Noelle	Sami	Cody	Karla	—
►	Owen	Morriah	—	—	—	—	James	Ryan	Jeanine	None2	—	Karla	Sami	Cody	Karla	—
►	Jesse	—	Justine	Nneka	—	—	None1	Dwight	Jeanine	—	Ryan	Noelle	Sami	Cody	Karla	Eliminated			Gabler
►	Karla	—	—	—	Lindsay	Geo	Owen	Dwight	Jeanine	James	—	Noelle	Sami	Owen	Jesse				Gabler
►	Cody	—	Justine	Nneka	—	—	Elie	Dwight	Jeanine	—	Ryan	Noelle	Sami	Karla					Gabler
►	Sami	Morriah	—	—	—	—	Elie	Dwight	Jeanine	James	—	Karla	None4						Gabler
►	Noelle	—	Nneka	Nneka	—	—	Cassidy	James	Jeanine	James3	—	Sami							Gabler
										James3
►	Ryan	—	—	—	Lindsay	Cassidy	Elie	Dwight	Jeanine	—	Cassidy								Gabler
►	James	—	—	—	Lindsay	Geo	Elie	Dwight	Jeanine	Owen								Cassidy
►	Jeanine	Morriah	—	—	—	—	None1	Ryan	Ryan										Gabler
►	Dwight	—	None1	Nneka	—	—	Elie	James
►	Elie	Morriah	—	—	—	—	James
	Geo	—	—	—	Cassidy	Cassidy
	Lindsay	—	—	—	Geo
	Nneka	—	Justine	Noelle
	Justine	—	Cody
	Morriah	Owen
Notes: ^1 This castaway lost their vote at the summit, thus they were unable to cast a vote. ^2 This castaway's vote was stolen by the Vote Steal. ^3 This castaway played the Vote Steal advantage, allowing them to steal another castaway's vote to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^4 This castaway played their Shot in the Dark, making them ineligible to vote at Tribal Council. The scroll they selected, however, read "Not Safe", thus all votes against them remained valid. ^5 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^6 Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Immunity Challenge, Cassidy, would take someone with them to the Final Three. She chose Owen. The remaining two castaways, Gabler and Jesse, would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Trivia[]

• Survivor 43 is the first season to include contestants residing outside North America at the time of filming.
• The original cast photo for Survivor 43 was taken before Geo joined the cast as an alternate contestant and thus had to be retaken shortly before the game began with the cast already in their in-game attire.^[20]
• Survivor 43 is the fourth season where only one man was voted out pre-merge, after Samoa, Millennials vs. Gen X and David vs. Goliath.
• Survivor 43 is the first season since Samoa to not have a split vote be successfully executed.
• Survivor 43 is the first season that was won by the oldest member of its cast.
• The last three challenges of Survivor 43 were the same as the last three challenges of Millennials vs. Gen X.
• Survivor 43 is the third consecutive season where the jury vote was 7-1-0. This marks the first time that three consecutive seasons have had the same jury vote outcome.

References[]