Survivor: Thailand

Survivor: Thailand is the fifth 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 Salma, defeating Julius in a 4-3 vote for the title of Sole Survivor and the $1,000,000 prize. Salma was also named the "Player of the Season", winning an additional $100,000.

Production
This season featured sixteen all new castaways, divided into two tribes of eight. The tribes this season were Chuay Gahn, wearing orange, and Sook Jai, in purple. The tribes are Thai phrases for "to help one another" and "a happy heart". On Day 25, the two tribes merged into the Chuay Jai tribe, a portmanteau of the initial tribe names, with its color being gold.

Twists

 * Tribes Divided by the Eldest: Unlike the previous four editions where the producers pre-selected the contestants' tribe affiliations, this season had the contestants choose their own tribemates. The fact that elders are given utmost respect in Thailand was incorporated into the game by allowing the eldest male contestant, Ricardo, and the eldest female contestant, Salma, to divide the rest of the group into two tribes.
 * Camp Advantages and Disadvantages: Similar to the previous season, the tribes had camps with pros and cons. Camp Chuay Gahn is virtually a cave, thus making shelter a non-issue, though its water source was on the other side of the island. Sook Jai's camp has a nearby water hole, though they have to make their own shelter.
 * Mutiny: On Day 14 the castaways were invited to change tribal affiliation at their own will.
 * Fake Merge and Delayed Merge: On Day 19, the Sook Jai tribe was instructed to move to Chuay Gahn's old camp. This created a situation where the two tribes lived at the same camp without being merged (as they were soon to find out). The actual merger took place six days later, on Day 25.

Trivia

 * This is the third season to feature tribes merging with an equal number of members, following Borneo and The Australian Outback.
 * However, this was mostly due to the fact that the season featured a delayed merge, giving Chuay Gahn the opportunity to come back from their numbers disadvantage.
 * This season saw the first African-American male to not at least reach the jury merge stage of the game. As the first person voted out, it also saw the second consecutive season where the first person voted out was not Caucasian.
 * Thailand is the first season to feature a tribe being consecutively taken out one by one after the merge by their rival tribe.
 * Salma holds the distinction of being the oldest Sole Survivor of all time.
 * Her win is also the first to occur during a 4-3 vote, or a final vote in which only one vote separates the winner and the runner-up.
 * Like the previous season, the winner managed to win the most individual immunity challenges during the game, having tied with 2 wins alongside runner-up Julius.
 * Thailand is the first season in which the winner of the final immunity challenge did not go on to win the game.
 * This is the first season in the shows history to feature an all Caucasian final two. It is also the first instance of a woman beating a man at the final tribal council.
 * Phillip received the most votes during the season, with 9 cast against him during the thirty-six days he played.