Survivor: Caramoan

Casting

According to Jeff Probst, producers had asked both Matt Elrod from Redemption Island and Shannon "Shambo" Waters from Samoa to return but both turned the offer down, believing one season was enough for them and not wanting to let Survivor define their lives. The casting crew had also considered asking fan favorite Lisa Whelchel from Philippines to participate, but realized that asking a mother to participate in back-to-back seasons would be difficult. Colton Cumbie from One World stated that he was asked to return but declined as he felt he "wasn't ready" to want to play again. However, he returned to the game in the following season, Blood vs. Water.

Castaways who were purportedly cut include Tyson Apostol from Tocantins and Heroes vs. Villains, who was not chosen due to the season taking a "different direction"; Stephen Fishbach, also from Tocantins; and One World castaway Troy "Troyzan" Robertson, who was allegedly replaced by Malcolm Freberg. Apostol returned for the following season, Survivor: Blood vs. Water, while Fishbach and Robertson were eligible to return for Survivor: Cambodia; Fishbach returned while Robertson did not. Robertson eventually returned to play in Survivor: Game Changers.

Contestants

The contestants included 10 new players, the "Fans," and 10 former players, the "Favorites," from six previous seasons returning for their second chance at the game. The Favorites include Erik Reichenbach, a "Fan" from the original "Fans vs. Favorites" season, Survivor: Micronesia. The two pre-merge tribes were "Bikal" and "Gota", named for towns in the Caramoan Islands. The merged tribe was known as "Enil Edam", which contestant Malcolm Freberg named after his mother ("Enil Edam" is the name "Madeline" spelled backwards).

Future appearances

Andrea Boehlke and Malcolm Freberg will return for the third time in Survivor: Game Changers. Freberg was the fourth person voted out, placing 17th.

Season summary

The two tribes were selected prior to the start of the game: Bikal, composed of ten returning Survivor contestants (the "Favorites"), and Gota, ten new players (the "Fans"). Bikal won nearly all the challenges and was dominated by an alliance led by Phillip, dubbed "Stealth R Us". Despite this, there was dissent amongst Bikal due to Phillip's controlling style of leadership, especially with Corinne and Malcolm, who found the tribe's Hidden Immunity Idol. Brandon was also further put off by Phillip's control and talk behind his back, and at one point broke down and dumped the tribe's supply of rice and beans. Several of the tribe members were emotionally upset at Brandon's display, and the tribe voluntarily forfeited the next challenge as to vote out Brandon on the spot, though the emotional toll had been taken. The Gota tribe was dominated by an alliance of six led by Sherri, opposed by a minority alliance of four led by Reynold. Reynold's alliance was quickly reduced to him and Eddie, who were spared due to the dwindling tribe needing their strength in challenges.

The tribes were shuffled in Day 14, with both new tribes containing four Favorites and three Fans. The significantly weaker new Bikal tribe lost every single challenge, with the Favorite majority sticking together to vote out the new players. Malcolm, now on the Gota tribe, aligned with fellow athletic males Reynold and Eddie to avoid being picked off at the merge.

The tribes merged with eight Favorites and four Fans remaining. The new Enil Edam tribe quickly saw two factions emerge: Malcolm and Corinne rallied the remaining Fans together to try and overthrow Phillip, while the rest of the Favorites regrouped under Stealth R Us. Only Sherri and Michael remained from the initial dominant Fans alliance; while Michael chose to align with Corinne's faction, Sherri decided to join Stealth R Us due to her distrust of Reynold and Eddie. This put Stealth R Us in the majority and Corinne and Michael were eliminated, leaving only Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold in the minority. Their eliminations seemed imminent until Reynold won immunity and Malcolm found an additional Idol, which he gave to Eddie. In the hectic Tribal Council that ensued, Malcolm and Eddie played their Idols and Phillip was voted out.

However, their fortune was not to last, and Malcolm and Reynold were subsequently eliminated. While Eddie seemed the likely next target, he was spared when the former members of Stealth R Us decided to turn on one of their own, eliminating strategic threat Andrea with an Idol in her pocket, and Brenda after a kind-hearted gesture at the Loved Ones Challenge put her in a good social position. After Erik was evacuated from the game due to low blood pressure, Eddie was the final player voted out due to his popularity with the jury and having betrayed no one during the game.

Sherri, Cochran, and Dawn ultimately were the final three players. During the Final Tribal Council, Sherri was largely ignored, being perceived as a coattail ride after her original alliance collapsed. While Cochran and Dawn were acknowledged as a pair, Dawn was grilled due to her emotional instability throughout the game while betraying several close allies, whereas Cochran was praised for being able to separate emotions from the game. This led to the jury of eight unanimously voting for Cochran to win.

In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.

Reunion show controversy

For the first time in Survivor history, contestants that did not make it to the jury phase of the game were not allowed on stage. Of the 10 cast members that were allowed to sit on the stage, only six were spoken to (Cochran, Dawn, Andrea, Reynold, Malcolm, and Phillip). While Jeff Probst claimed that the new stage could not accommodate all 18 of the attending contestants, the format change caused controversy amongst the show's fans and fellow contestants, who all felt that it was unfair for the pre-jury contestants to be left out in the audience. This was also the first reunion in Survivor history where two contestants did not have an in-studio appearance on the reunion show. Brenda appeared by satellite as she was unable to fly out and attend because she was in the late stages of her pregnancy. Brandon also did not attend the reunion, but this was upon a mutual agreement between Brandon and the show's producers following his explosive exit on the show.

Erik, who finished 5th and was not given an opportunity to speak at the reunion, called out the producers for their treatment of the contestants at the reunion. Calling it a farce, he criticized how the reunion show left so many unanswered questions about the other contestants and his own evacuation during the season finale. He also voiced discontent on how the pre-jury contestants were completely left out in favor of featuring the show's previous contestants, like Rob Mariano and Rudy Boesch. Allie, who placed 19th, wrote a post on Facebook about how poorly she was treated at the reunion and shared her thoughts on what actually happened.