Survivor: Nicaragua

From The Right Wiki
(Redirected from Jud Birza)
Jump to navigationJump to search

Survivor: Nicaragua
Season 21
File:Survivor nicaragua season twenty-one region 1 dvd.png
Region 1 DVD cover
Presented byJeff Probst
No. of days39
No. of castaways20
WinnerJud "Fabio" Birza
Runner-upChase Rice
LocationSan Juan del Sur, Nicaragua[1]
No. of episodes15
Release
Original networkCBS
Original releaseSeptember 15 (2010-09-15) –
December 19, 2010 (2010-12-19)
Additional information
Filming datesJune 14 (2010-06-14) –
July 22, 2010 (2010-07-22)
Season chronology
← Previous
Heroes vs. Villains
List of episodes

Survivor: Nicaragua is the 21st season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.[2] It premiered on September 15, 2010, at 8:00pm, moving to the Wednesday timeslot for the first time since Survivor: Borneo.[3][4] Applications were due in January 2010, filming started from June and ended in July 2010. Nicaragua and the following season, Survivor: Redemption Island, were filmed near San Juan del Sur in Rivas Department on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua.[5][2][6] This season's opening titles uses the original version of "Ancient Voices" — Survivor's opening theme song — first used for the debut Survivor season. Traditionally, each season features its own version of "Ancient Voices", using instruments and sounds meant to evoke that season's location or theme. One was created for Nicaragua but was not used, though the song was released onto iTunes on October 10.[7] The reason for this omission has not been publicly disclosed. Survivor host Jeff Probst also announced that the Hidden Immunity Idol will continue to be used in the game. However, as idols had been found too easily in the past two seasons, the idol was hidden differently.[8] The clues to the idols' locations were rebuses rather than text as in past seasons.[9] In addition, the tribes vied for control of a new item, the Medallion of Power, which offered an advantage to the tribe who held it at a challenge, but should they use the Medallion, it went to the other tribe for the next challenge. This season also marked the return of the tribal swap, which was absent in the previous three seasons. When the tribal swap occurred in episode 5, the Medallion of Power was retired. This was the second season in which tribes were divided by age, the first one being Survivor: Panama. Jud "Fabio" Birza was named the winner in the final episode on December 19, 2010, defeating Chase Rice and Matthew "Sash" Lenahan in a 5–4–0 vote. Birza became the youngest person to ever win the game, at age 21 years and 6 months. This was the first Survivor season to have an all-male final three. Jane Bright won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season."

Contestants

File:Jimmy Johnson 2022 (cropped).jpg
Jimmy Johnson
File:Chase Rice - cropped.jpg
Chase Rice

The cast is composed of 20 players, initially splitting into two tribes based on their ages containing 10 members each. The tribes are Espada, contestants aged 40 and over; and La Flor, contestants aged 30 and younger. Their names come from the Spanish words "sword" and "flower", respectively. The merged tribe Libertad means "liberty" or "freedom" in Spanish, which was first suggested by contestant Marty Piombo. Notable contestants this season include Kelly Bruno, a triathlete whose leg was amputated at six months old because of a birth defect, Chase Rice, who became a country music artist after the season aired, and former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson. Bruno is the second Survivor contestant to be an amputee, the first being Chad Crittenden of Survivor: Vanuatu, who lost his right leg to cancer.

List of Survivor: Nicaragua contestants
Contestant Age From Tribe Finish
Original Switched Merged Placement Day
Wendy DeSmidt-Kohlhoff 48 Fromberg,
Montana 		Espada 1st voted out Day 3
Shannon Elkins 30 Lafayette,
Louisiana 		La Flor 2nd voted out Day 6
Jimmy Johnson 67 Islamorada,
Florida 		Espada 3rd voted out Day 8
James "Jimmy T." Tarantino 48 Gloucester,
Massachusetts 		4th voted out Day 11
Tyrone Davis 42 Inglewood,
California 		Espada 5th voted out Day 14
Kelly Bruno 26 Durham,
North Carolina 		La Flor La Flor 6th voted out Day 15
Yve Rojas 41 Kansas City,
Missouri 		Espada Espada 7th voted out
Jill Behm 43 Erie,
Pennsylvania 		La Flor 8th voted out Day 18
Alina Wilson 23 Downey,
California 		La Flor Espada Libertad 9th voted out
1st jury member 		Day 22
Marty Piombo 48 Mill Valley,
California 		Espada La Flor 10th voted out
2nd jury member 		Day 24
Brenda Lowe 27 Miami,
Florida 		La Flor 11th voted out
3rd jury member 		Day 27
NaOnka Mixon 27 Los Angeles,
California 		Espada Quit
4th jury member 		Day 28
Kelly Shinn 20 Mesa,
Arizona 		La Flor Quit
5th jury member
Ben "Benry" Henry 24 Los Angeles,
California 		Espada 12th voted out
6th jury member 		Day 32
Jane Bright 56 Jackson Springs,
North Carolina 		Espada La Flor 13th voted out
7th jury member 		Day 36
Dan Lembo 63 Water Mill,
New York 		Espada 14th voted out
8th jury member 		Day 37
Holly Hoffman 44 Eureka,
South Dakota 		15th voted out
9th jury member 		Day 38
Matthew "Sash" Lenahan 30 New York City,
New York 		La Flor La Flor 2nd Runner-up Day 39
Chase Rice 24 Fairview,
North Carolina 		Espada Runner-up
Jud "Fabio" Birza 21 Venice,
California 		La Flor Sole Survivor

Future appearances

Brenda Lowe returned to compete on Survivor: Caramoan as a member of the "Favorites" tribe.

Season summary

File:Beach Vista - Playa Hermosa - South of San Jose del Sur - Nicaragua - 03 (31060217114) (2).jpg
The season filmed in San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua.

Twenty new castaways were divided into tribes by age: La Flor, which consisted of castaways 30 and younger, and Espada, which consisted of castaways 40 and older. Both tribes also vied for ownership of the newly-introduced Medallion of Power, which granted them advantages either at camp or when played in challenges. Every time a tribe used its power, ownership of the Medallion would shift to the other tribe. Several members of the older Espada tribe vied for leadership. While Jimmy J. initially took control, he was quickly overthrown by Marty and voted out. Marty furthered his control of the tribe by finding the Hidden Immunity Idol and voting out aspiring leader Jimmy T. Despite dominating the challenges in the first eleven days of the game, the younger La Flor tribe also had their own share of conflicts. Two warring alliances emerged, one led by Shannon and the other led by Brenda, with both alliances vying for Chase's vote. A confused Shannon lashed out at La Flor's first Tribal Council, causing Chase and some of Shannon's own alliance members to vote him out. A tribe swap on Day 12 caused allegiances to shift. Alina, Benry, Chase, and NaOnka moved to Espada, while Marty, Jill, and Jane moved to La Flor. At the new Espada, Holly and Dan aligned themselves with the younger members. At the new La Flor, the once-powerful Marty fell from grace, and Jane teamed up with the original La Flor tribe members. Brenda planned to split the vote between Marty and original La Flor outsider Kelly B. in order to flush Marty's idol and send Kelly B. home. Unfortunately for them, Marty decided not to use his idol and Kelly B. was sent home anyway, while Marty still had his immunity idol. Sash told Marty that in order to remain in the game, he must give him his idol. Marty complied, and Sash stayed true to his word by keeping him around, only to send Jill, Marty's closest ally, home instead. On Day 19, the two tribes were merged into the Libertad tribe. Brenda's original La Flor alliance regrouped, with the addition of Holly and Jane. Marty, however, convinced Dan, Benry, and Fabio to follow him. Without any alliances, Alina was targeted by both voting blocs and sent to the jury first. Marty then tried to form an all-male rebellion against the females, which did not work and sent him home instead. It seemed that Brenda and Sash were in total control of the tribe, but Holly made her own move by turning everybody else on Brenda. Brenda put her faith wholly in her alliance without attempting to plead with them, but they ultimately eliminated her. Meanwhile, while the tribe was at a challenge, their unattended fire ignited their cache of food and supplies, burning them and part of their tarp. The remaining tribe members struggled with the meager rations. With Brenda gone and the sudden voluntary exits of Kelly S. and NaOnka as a result of the camp fire, Sash was left alone without any allies, but eventually regained power by winning the next Immunity Challenge, becoming the swing vote between Holly, Chase and Jane's alliance and the alliance of Dan, Fabio and Benry. Sash joined Chase, Holly and Jane to eliminate an unsuspecting Benry, whom Sash saw as the bigger threat. The newly formed majority alliance planned to eliminate Fabio next, but he went on to win individual immunity. While Dan was the only non-immune of the minority alliance, Chase, Holly and Sash decided to turn on jury threat Jane, and voted her out instead. Fabio won immunity again and Dan was voted out, but after Fabio won his third successive immunity challenge, Chase and Sash decided to turn on Holly, who they thought had the best chance to win the game against them. At the Final Tribal Council, the jurors made it clear they would not vote for Sash for his numerous lies and deceptions. Chase was blasted for his inability to make strategic and social decisions, and Fabio was accused of being clueless about what was going on, not voting in the majority many times. Chase was praised however for his honesty, performing well in team challenges, and making relationships with people. Fabio said he was open with everyone, and intentionally was strategically clueless because he didn't want to hurt or play with anyone's emotions. Because of this, Fabio's unique strategy earned him the votes of five jurors, to Chase's four and Sash's zero.

Challenge winners and eliminations by episode
Episode Challenge winner(s) Eliminated
No. Title Original air date Reward Immunity Tribe Player
1 "Young at Heart" September 15, 2010 Brenda[lower-alpha 1]
(La Flor) 		La Flor Espada Wendy
2 "Fatigue Makes Cowards of Us All" September 22, 2010 Espada La Flor Shannon
3 "Glitter in Their Eyes" September 29, 2010 La Flor Espada Jimmy J.
4 "Pulling the Trigger" October 6, 2010 La Flor Espada Jimmy T.
5 "Turf Wars" October 13, 2010 Espada La Flor Espada Tyrone
6 "Worst Case Scenario" October 20, 2010 Jill[lower-alpha 2]
(La Flor) 		Jill
(La Flor) 		La Flor Kelly B.
Holly
(Espada) 		Espada Yve
7 "What Goes Around, Comes Around" October 27, 2010 Espada Espada La Flor Jill
8 "Company Will Be Arriving Soon" November 3, 2010 None[lower-alpha 3] Jane Libertad Alina
Fabio
9 "Running the Camp" November 10, 2010 Benry,
Dan, Fabio,
Marty, Sash 		Brenda Marty
10 "Stuck in the Middle" November 17, 2010 Chase,
Fabio, Jane,
Kelly S., NaOnka 		Jane Brenda
11 "We Did it Guys" November 24, 2010 Recap Episode
12 "You Started, You're Finishing" December 1, 2010 Benry, Chase,
Holly,[lower-alpha 4]
NaOnka
[Dan][lower-alpha 5] 		None[lower-alpha 6] Libertad NaOnka
Kelly S.
13 "Not Sure Where I Stand" December 8, 2010 Chase
[Holly, Jane] 		Sash Benry
14 "This is Going to Hurt" December 15, 2010 Chase
[Holly, Sash] 		Fabio Jane
15 "What About Me?" December 19, 2010 None Fabio Dan
Fabio Holly
16 "Reunion"
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.
  1. ↑ Brenda found the Medallion of Power, giving La Flor possession of it to start the game.
  2. ↑ Each tribe competed separately for individual immunity. The two winners, Jill and Holly, moved on to the final round. Jill won the final round, winning reward for La Flor.
  3. ↑ There was no reward challenge due to the merge.
  4. ↑ Holly gave up her reward in exchange for a tarp and a can of rice for the tribe.
  5. ↑ Dan did not participate in the challenge after not being chosen for a team, but he had correctly guessed the winning team and, as a result, joined them on the reward.
  6. ↑ There was no immunity challenge due to NaOnka and Kelly S. quitting the game.

Episodes

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleRating/share
(household)		Rating/share (18-49)Original air dateU.S. viewers
(millions)		Weekly rank
3051"Young at Heart"6.8/12[10]4.0/13[10]September 15, 2010 (2010-09-15)12.23[10]#7[11]

The game started with the castaways split into two groups. When they arrived at the beach, Jeff announced the Medallion of Power, though did not explain what the power was, and that it was hidden in a lagoon nearby. The castaways scrambled to find it, with Brenda finding it up a tree. When the castaways reassembled in front of Jeff, he announced that the groups they arrived in are not the tribes, but instead the tribes would be split by age, with the 40 and over castaways called Espada and the 30 and under castaways called La Flor. La Flor then traded the Medallion of Power to Espada in exchange for flint and fishing gear. Once at the Espada camp, Jane started a fire with a pair of reading glasses. At the La Flor campsite, Kelly B. showed her tribe her amputated leg, which made several of her tribemates cautious about a sympathy vote for her should she make it to the final Tribal Council. Chase made an alliance with Shannon and then made another one with Brenda. Alina and Kelly B. found a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol while picking up the tree mail. They could not decipher the clue, but decided to keep the clue to themselves.

  • Immunity Challenge: One castaway would stand at the top of a tower and pour water down five gutters held by five castaways. The water would fill a barrel, which would release a net of puzzle pieces when full. The four remaining castaways would assemble the puzzle. The first tribe to assemble their puzzle would win.
  • Medallion Advantage: Starting the challenge with the barrel filled one-fifth of the way.

At the Immunity Challenge, Jeff explained the power behind the Medallion of Power. Espada decided to not use the Medallion and then lost the challenge. Before heading to Tribal Council, the tribe debated between getting rid of Jimmy J. or Wendy for being weak links. Holly was conflicted due to her pact with Wendy. At Tribal Council, Wendy made a short speech just before the vote in an effort to remain in the game. The appeal worked against her and she seemed to confirm the tribe's decision to boot her. The votes were read and Wendy was voted out unanimously.

3062"Fatigue Makes Cowards of Us All"7.0/12[12]4.0/12[12]September 22, 2010 (2010-09-22)12.59[12]#19[13]

At La Flor, Sash made an alliance with NaOnka and Brenda and talked about creating a "minority alliance". NaOnka thought somebody stole her pair of socks out of her shoes while they were hanging up, so she took Fabio's spare socks and then had a short confrontation with him when he attempted to ask her about the socks. Over at Espada, Holly snapped at Jill for eating snails which Holly thought were inedible. Holly dumped the snails, which caused the rest of her tribe to question what had gone wrong with her. Holly overheard Dan calling her "crazy" and decided to take revenge on him by dumping his $1,600 pair of alligator-skin shoes into the ocean. After a while, she confessed to the tribe to dumping them into the sea. Holly thought about quitting the game, but decided to keep going after receiving counseling from Jimmy J.

  • Reward/Immunity Challenge: One at a time, four tribe members would crawl in the mud under a net and then retrieve a ball from a stack of hay. Once all four balls were retrieved, three tribe members would use small shields to bounce one ball at a time into a barrel. The first tribe to have all four balls in the barrel would win a choice of a tarp and a rope or fishing gear.
  • Medallion Advantage: Starting the challenge with one ball already in the barrel and having one tribe member sit out the challenge.
32016"Reunion"6.1/11[14]3.0/8[15]December 19, 2010 (2010-12-19)11.19[14]#14[14]
Months later, the votes were revealed as they were cast, Fabio won the title of Sole Survivor over Chase and Sash in a 5–4–0 vote. The castaways return to discuss the season with host, Jeff Probst.

Voting history

  1. ↑ The first Tribal Council vote resulted in a tie. Per the rules, a second vote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those who tied.
  2. ↑ No vote: NaOnka and Kelly S. chose to quit the game.
  3. ↑ Sash played a hidden immunity idol, therefore the one vote against him did not count.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kelly B. and Marty were not eligible to vote in the second round of voting.

Reception

Survivor: Nicaragua was heavily panned by critics and fans, and is often considered to be one of the worst seasons in the series. Survivor columnist Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly ranked Nicaragua as the second-worst season of the entire series, only better than Island of the Idols, for four reasons: "1) Splitting the tribes up by age and the Medallion of Power were both enormous flops. 2) Like One World, Thailand and Fiji, just too many unlikable players. 3) Two people quitting with only 11 days left. 4) No big memorable moments. Even Thailand had the fake merge and Fiji had the big Yau-Man/Dreamz free car deal gone bad, but what was Nicaragua's signature moment? Unfortunately, it was people quitting, and that was memorable for all the wrong reasons."[16] This season was similarly ranked as the second-worst by Inside Survivor in 2020 due to underwhelming gameplay, pointless twists, and an unlikeable cast.[17] Nicaragua was ranked as the worst season by fan site "The Purple Rock Podcast" in 2020, describing it as having "terrible casting, a terrible gimmick, and a terrible winner," combined to make "a truly horrendous Survivor viewing experience."[18] In 2015, a poll by Rob Has a Podcast ranked rank 27th out of 30 with Rob Cesternino ranking it at number 23.[19] This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings, ranking 34th.[20] The gameplay of winner Jud "Fabio" Birza also received very negative reception. Birza placed last out of the first 34 winners in a fan poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly in 2017 and also received the most last-place and second-to-last-place votes out of every winner in the poll - by a wide margin.[21] When Jimmy Fallon, a longtime fan of the show interviewed Jeff Probst on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he said that he was disappointed with this season and called it a popularity contest. Probst felt that Nicaragua was boring, and was the motivating factor that led the producers and himself to add the "Redemption Island" twist for the following season (which would fare even worse than Nicaragua due in no small part to the twist).[22] Nicaragua is ranked as the third-worst season of the series by Examiner.com (only ahead of Gabon and Fiji), and the fourth-worst season by The Wire (only ahead of Samoa, Gabon, and Redemption Island).[23] In 2012, when Survivor fan site "Survivor Oz" held its first annual poll ranking every season of the series (up to that point), Nicaragua was ranked as the second-worst season of the series, only ahead of Redemption Island.[24] In the official issue of CBS Watch magazine commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor, Probst stated that Nicaragua's tribe division by age "is a division I hope we never do again," (however, 6 years later, Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X saw a similar division) and also called the Medallion of Power "one of the worst named and most poorly executed twists we’ve ever come up with [and] embarrassing on all accounts."[25]

References

  1. ↑ Dorn, Adriana (May 16, 2010). "Nicaragua to host two seasons of hit TV series Survivor". PR Log. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "'Survivor: Nicaragua' is Next". CBS News. May 17, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  3. ↑ Fienberg, Daniel (May 19, 2010). "CBS's 2010–2011 fall primetime schedule features 'Survivor,' 'Big Bang Theory' shifts". HitFix. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  4. ↑ Rice, Lynette (July 22, 2010). "CBS reveals fall premiere dates". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Nicaragua to host two seasons of hit TV series Survivor". PRLog. May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  6. ↑ Andy Dehnart (May 18, 2010). "San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, hosting both Survivor seasons 21 and 22". Reality Blurred. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  7. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Ancient Voices - The Survivor Themes, Vol. 2 by Russ Landau". Itunes.apple.com. October 10, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
  8. ↑ Rocchio, Christopher (May 3, 2010). "Jeff Probst: 'Survivor' changing hidden idols due to Russell Hantz". Reality TV World. Retrieved July 4, 2010.
  9. ↑ Ross, Dalton (August 9, 2010). "'Survivor: Nicaragua': New cast and new twists revealed!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Seidman, Robert (September 16, 2010). "'Survivor' & 'Big Brother' Rise in Finals; 'Outlaw' Falls". TVbytheNumbers.com. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
  11. ↑ Seidman, Robert (September 21, 2010). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'Sunday Night Football', 'Survivor', 'America's Got Talent' Top Final Week of Broadcast 'Summer'". TVbytheNumbers.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "CBS SWEEPS WEDNESDAY IN VIEWERS, ADULTS 18-49 AND ADULTS 25-54" (Press release). CBS. September 23, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  13. ↑ Seidman, Robert (September 28, 2010). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'Sunday Night Football', 'Glee,' 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Dancing with the Stars' Top Premiere Week". TVbytheNumbers.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TVbytheNumbersEp2114b
  15. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CBSEp2115
  16. ↑ Ross, Dalton (December 11, 2019). "Survivor recap: A player is removed from the game for first time ever". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  17. ↑ Holmes, Martin (September 29, 2020). "Best Season Rankings – No. 39 – Nicaragua". Inside Survivor. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Survivor season rankings (with spoiler-free summaries)". The Purple Rock Survivor Podcast. May 22, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Survivor Top 30 All-Time Season Rankings Results". Rob Has a Podcast. September 21, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings | #34: Nicaragua". Rob Has a Podcast. February 17, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Ranking every Survivor winner (from first to worst)". EW.com. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  22. ↑ Writers:David Angelo, Michael Blieden, Patrick Borelli, Gerard Bradford, Jeremy Bronson, Mike DiCenzo, Jimmy Fallon, Eric Ledgin, Morgan Murphy, Amy Ozols, Bobby Patton, Gavin Purcell, Diallo Riddle. Jon Rineman, Bashir Salahuddin, Justin Shanes, Michael Shoemaker, and Bobby Tisdale, Director: Dave Diomedi (February 15, 2011). "N0. 396". Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Season 3. Episode 26. NBC.
  23. ↑ Reid, Joe (February 26, 2014). "A Definitive Ranking of Every Season of 'Survivor'". The Atlantic.
  24. ↑ "Top 24 Survivor Seasons of All Time – Rankings from 24 to 1!". September 15, 2012.
  25. ↑ Andy Dehnart (February 2, 2015). "Highlights from the Survivor 30 Seasons CBS magazine". Reality Blurred. Retrieved February 9, 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://rightwiki.org/index.php?title=Survivor:_Nicaragua&oldid=21321947"