Survivor: Pearl Islands

Survivor: Pearl Islands is the seventh season of James' Survivor FanFiction. Sixteen strangers will compete against one another while battling the elements. They must learn to adapt, or they will be voted out. If they can learn to outwit, outplay, and outlast the rest, they will be given the million dollar prize and the title of sole survivor!

The winner of the season was Jamal, defeating Callum in a 4-3 vote for the title of Sole Survivor and the $1,000,000 prize. Mina was named the "Player of the Season", winning $100,000.

Production
This season featured sixteen all new castaways, divided into two tribes of eight. For the first time, the game began without the contestants being aware, forcing them to enter the game with a single set of clothes on their backs. The tribes this season were Drake, wearing yellow, and Morgan, in orange. The tribes are named after pirates/explorers Sir Francis Drake and Sir Henry Morgan. Unbeknownst to the players, a third tribe called "The Outcasts" featured the first six players voted out of the game, wearing purple. On Day 21, the tribes merged into Balboa, with its color being black.

Twists

 * Unexpected Start: The contestants were invited to a yacht under the impression they were going to take some publicity pictures to promote the season. Much to their surprise, they were told the game had begun unexpectedly, and that they would start it wearing only the clothes they possessed on their backs (with their luxury items and other personal belongings staying on the boat, besides the shoes that were given to them by Jeff Probst). After being divided into the two tribes, they were sent to a small fishing village with 100 Panamanian Balboas (roughly $100) to buy their supplies they would need for the next thirty-nine days.
 * Looting: Aside from the actual prize that a tribe gets after winning a Reward Challenge, the Survivor's experience pirate life by pillaging from the losing tribe's camp. One member of the winning tribe is sent to the other tribe's camp to loot one item of their choice. This twist was not continued once the merge arrived due to the castaways living on the same beach and being one unified tribe and was inactive during episode one and seven pre-merge.
 * Buried Treasure: Aside from looting items from the rival tribe, the tribe that wins a Reward Challenge also gets a third prize: a clue to the whereabouts of a hidden treasure chest buried somewhere on the tribes' respective islands. The clues were cumulative with each one being more useful then the last. There was a maximum of three clues for each tribe. Inside the chest once discovered would be luxury items to make life at camp more enjoyable.
 * Entirely Distant Camps: Unlike previous seasons of the series where the two tribes would dwell on the same island (but on opposite sides), the two tribes lived on two entirely different islands, with an equal amount of resources. This went along with the pirate theme for the season as rival groups would not have shared the same island.
 * Outcast Twist: On Day 19, the ten remaining castaways faced a third tribe comprised of the first six departed castaways in a 3-way special challenge. If The Outcasts win, both Drake and Morgan will go to separate Tribal Council sessions and will vote one of their own. The Outcasts will vote two of their own back into the game, with the remaining four being eliminated for good. The two returning castaways will be granted immunity at their first visit to Tribal Council. If The Outcasts finish second, only one of them will be voted back in the game, and only the losing tribe will vote somebody out. If The Outcasts lose to both tribes, they are all eliminated from the game, and Morgan and Drake merge without voting anybody out.

Trivia

 * Callum and Jamal hold the distinction of being the first all-male final two in Survivor history.
 * Both boys also tied for the most individual immunity wins this season, each having achieved two wins. This is also the fourth consecutive season where the Sole Survivor won (or tied for) the most individual immunity wins.
 * In the eighth episode, Luke's elimination came about due to a failure on the part of the writer/simulator. This is due to the fact that it was forgotten when simulating that both outcasts actually were given automatic individual immunity upon their return, and therefore should not have been eligible to go home. As the season had already been completed far in advance to recognising this error, the act of Luke giving up his individual immunity to Holly was written into the story.
 * Pearl Islands was noted for taking a much longer time to write than usual seasons, in particular some episodes being written over a period of days. For this reason, the writer does not hold the quality of the season in high regards.
 * However, prior to writing it was suggested that the cast is not viewed as being as interesting as those in other seasons.
 * Mina received the most votes cast against her during the season, with a total of 12 votes during her thirty-seven days. However, it must be noted that she was in fact voted out initially on day eighteen, only to re-enter the following day and ultimately be re-voted out on day thirty-seven. Of the players only voted out once, Marcus received the most votes against himself, with a total of 10 votes during his nineteen day stay.
 * The future All Stars returning players of this season is now regretted, as post-writing it feels as though other seasons had more interesting characters who had stronger cases to return.
 * Additionally, it is noted that realistically not so many of the Pearl Islands cast would have been fit and ready to begin filming All Stars so soon after the season, particularly those who made the final few days of the game.
 * Going purely based off the season as written up, the author has announced that he would only have cast Mina, and likely replaced Holly and Michael with an alternate season's cast member.
 * The jury competing in an immunity challenge twist that occured at the final four in the real season was scrapped in the fanfic due to the host regarding it as both unfair and pointless.