35--O23--San Juan Del Sur: Blood vs. Water II

Rank: Original #23
Season # 29
Title:  Survivor: San Juan Del Sur:  Blood vs. Water
Location: San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Broadcast: Fall, 2014
New Players:  18
Returning Players: 0
Days: 40
Winner:  Natalie Anderson
Final Tribal Council:  3 Players 8 Jury
Initial Tribes: Coyopa Hunahpu
Swap at 14
Merge: at 12 Huyopa
Jury: at 11 
Premise:  Players came in pairs of loved ones, one on each tribe after each pair spent the first night (Day 0) together.   Also included Exile Island.

Two additional players were in the cast but were removed due to a medical emergency prior to the season.   They were sisters, which left the final 18 at an imbalance of 10 men and 8 women 

The season was also known as Blood vs. Water II, but did not have the Redemption Island element in it.   Instead it brought back Exile Island.  

This season introduced us to Jeremy Collins, Kelley Wentworth and Keith Nale, and brought Nadiya and Natalie Anderson from the "Amazing Race."   Our guest celebrity sports celebrity was John Rocker, a former baseball pitcher who made some controversial statements, which unfortunately became a huge part of the early season. 

The loved one pairs were Married (Jeremy/Val), Couples (Josh/Reed, John/Julie Jon/Jaclyn), Parent/Child (Keith/Wes, Dale/Kelley,  Missy/Baylor) and Siblings (Natalie/Nadiya Alec/Drew) 

Twists started early as the first reward challenge pitted two loved ones Jeremy and Val.  Winner won reward for their tribe and loser went to exile island.   Jeremy won, and Val was accompanied by Keith on Exile Island (picked by Jeremy).  

It also was one-sided in the wins as Coyopa lost the first 4 challenges.  

One of the things that makes Survivor interesting is that when it's an all new cast, nobody knows anything about each other and have to learn about each other from scratch.  But Survivor tends to be enthralled with bringing celebrities or other Reality Show contestants in.  This hurt Nadya as she played on "The Amazing Race" Twice with Natalie, and other players knowing her was part of the reason she left first.   John Rocker is remembered for making some controversial statements in an interview, and Jeremy used that against him after he perceived Rocker as not protecting his wife, when in reality, he thought she had an Idol, and did not play it.   Made for an ugly immunity challenge.   John was also not much of a strategic player anyway.  

In both cases it really detracted from the season, and contributed to Rocker's Girlfriend, Julie to quit a few episodes later.   It also didn't help that both tribes started out with a 5-4 Male/Female advantage.   Five left the game in the first 9 removals, however the final 4 women lasted until the final 5 with 3 being at FTC.  

Of course there's Lazy Drew.  His only two contribution was trying to get the fishing gear back after his tribe found the flint, and was shot down by Jeff, and then throwing the Immunity Challenge which resulted in him being voted off.   His Brother Alec also seemed pretty clueless, although he seemed to have more ambition, but no self-awareness. 

At the swap, we found out why Hunahpo did so well at challenges:  They pretty much ate all of their rice for 39 days in 10.  Jeff made a trade on Day 14 for everything at their camp, except for a flint, pot and machete.  Jeremy (an original Hunahpo) was unhappy but everyone else seemed good with it.

The post merge was not very interesting, with Missy, Jaclyn and Natalie competing at FTC.  Natalie won in a 5-2-1 vote with Jaclyn 2nd. 

So far this is the last Blood vs. Water concept.   It's an interesting twist, but once the loved one is gone, it becomes just the same as a regular season.  


 

  







 









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