Survivor: Singapore

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Survivor: Singapore
TBC Info
Position	-
Started writing on	23 November 2007
Released	-
Author	Aran Ho Yeow Yong
Country	Singapore
Rating	-
Survivor Info
Filming location	Pulau Ubin, Singapore
Winner	- (-)
Original run	18 April 2008 –
Filming dates	9 November 2007 – 17 December 2007
No. of episodes	13
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	18
Tribes	Teris Puaka
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: Micronesia
Next	Survivor: Gabon

Survivor: Singapore is the next TBC Collection project and the seventeenth fictional season of the American reality television series Survivor. Survivor: Singapore was also one of the first reality TV to be shown on the newly created Singapore-based channel, Singapore Reality TV. Jeff Probst will return to be the host for this season. Survivor: Singapore is plan to be created and aired between Survivor: China and Survivor: Micronesia. However, its airing dates have been pushed back to 18 April 2008, making Survivor: Singapore airing between Survivor: Micronesia and Survivor: Gabon. This also marks the first season of Survivor to ever started airing before the previous season of Survivor has finished.

Survivor: Singapore is planned to be released on February 2008 to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the "Titanic Book" Collection. However, due to major changes to the game plans, the releasing date for the whole story was delayed further. In addition, although each episodes are to be release episode by episode, the releasing date for the first episode was pushed back to April 2008 despite being promised to be release in March 2008.

The contestant selection process in this season is very unusual. Instead of filling up the contestant application forms and through an interviewing process, the CBS's Survivor Entertainment Crew were forced to select the 18 contestants that a terrorist group have chosen. If the production crew did not follow the terrorist group's instruction, which they did, the terrorist group claims that they will destroy a building in the United States. The selected 13 and 14 years old Singaporean contestants were from the same school and knew each other. The contestants were split into two tribes, named Teris and Puaka respectively. Both tribes were named after rivers in Pulau Ubin, Singapore.

Among the aspects of the Singapore culture included this season were foods, Singapore's architecture and sports being used as games. The show will reportedly have places visited as rewards to several famous buildings in Singapore, including VivoCity. Also, during the The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Probst claims that Survivor: Singapore will have quite a number of twist and interesting contestants, making it "the most interesting season of Survivor ever yet".

The season was filmed in Singapore, marking the first time Survivor was filmed very near to a densely populated place. Keeping the rural-listic of the game, the season was filmed in one of Singapore's last known rural areas.

Quite a number of twists have also appeared in the game. The most talked-about twist was Exile Village, which is similar to Exile Island except that Exile Village is set in a more modern surroundings with modern facilities. It was even set in a village on the same island the game was held, hence its name. Another twist that was also revealed, the Individual Immunity Challenge, was also another most talked-about, citing that CBS got the idea of this twist from Episodes 6 to 8's Double-Power Challenge from the Israelis version of Survivor. Some other twists includes of having three Hidden Immunity Idols in play, being safe from being voted out by getting exiled after a Combined Challenge if the challenge had happen on the same day as the Tribal Council and the tribe with the smallest amount of participants have the rights to sit someone from the other tribe out of the challenge and get exiled.

Story

If you want to read the story episode by episode, go to this link to read the story.

Contestants

The game

^ Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
^ Exile Village was not yet known to the castaways.
^ Gabriel was absent from Tribal Council as he was exiled.
^ Won Individual Immunity.
^ James was absent from Tribal Council as he was exiled.
^ There was no Exile Village.
^ Three castaways were eliminated in this Episode.

Episode 1: Minor Conflict, Major Consequences

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: Except the leader of the tribe, all of the castaways will be blindfolded and chained together. The leader of the tribe will then have to verbally command his tribe through the course and the blindfolded castaways must collect 8 keys along the course. At the end of the course, the blindfolded castaways will have to use the keys to unchain themselves while the leader of the tribe assemble a puzzle bridge. First tribe to cross the bridge and step onto the mat wins the challenge.
• Tie-breaker Challenge: First tribe to get everybody back to the starting mat wins.
• Reward: The winning team wins Tribal Immunity, flint, logs, ropes, shelter covering and a barrel of rice.

As Jeff welcome the eighteen castaways, it started to drizzle. Jeff then divided the castaways into two tribes: Teris and Puaka, and inform the castaways to run through the forest to their respective tribe camp. An Individual Immunity Idol were there at each tribe camp for the first castaway on each tribe to find them, with the stipulation that they were only good for the first time they went to Tribal Council. TQ and James got the Individual Immunity Idol each. Aran and Gan Chai were then appointed at the leader of their respective tribe. On Day 2, an alliance between Aran, TQ, Jeremy and Kenny from the Puaka tribe was formed. An alliance between James and Jason was also formed in the Teris tribe. In a flashback during the episode, it appears that Aran and James had formed an alliance together before the game started. At the combined Reward and Immunity challenge, despite the Teris tribe taking an early lead, both tribe won the challenge at the same time and both tribes will have to take part in a tie-breaker challenge, in which the Teris tribe won the tie-breaker. After the challenge, Vimmal and Hakesh kept on blaming Kenny for making the tribe losing the challenge. Aran then tried to defend Kenny and shouted at Vimmal and Hakesh, making Vimmal, Hakesh and Keith forming an alliance to vote Aran out. Both of the alliances now depends on Anderson and Gopalan as they were the deciding votes in which, at Tribal Council, Anderson voting for Hakesh and Gopalan voting for Aran, making Hakesh to be voted out 5-4.

Episode 2: Sudden and Unexpected Events

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: In a playing area similar to a football field, the tribes start at opposite ends of the playing field with ten tennis ball-size "bombs". The tribes have to try to collect as much bombs as they can within the time limit. After which, the tribes will have to use their bombs and throw them at the other tribe's "City of Skyscrapers", which are just wooden planks rooted onto the ground, within the time limit. The tribe that knock down the most skyscrapers wins the challenge.
• Reward: Feast
• Individual Immunity Challenge: Those castaways who choose to take part in the challenge will have to swim to a floating platform, collect their coloured buffs, swim back to the shore and place it in their coloured chest. First person to collect all eight buffs wins individual immunity.

After Day 3's Tribal Council, Anderson and Gopalan formed an alliance together. The next morning, James saw a Hidden Immunity Idol hidden within the bushes when he was moving some stuff around the camp. He was placing it into his bag when Jason caught a glimpse of it, causing both of them to be shocked. Being part of an alliance together, both of them decided to keep it as a secret. Back at Puaka's camp, TQ and Jeremy formed a alliance together secretly, planning to vote Aran out after getting rid of both Keith and Vimmal. At Teris camp, Gan Chai and Nathanael planned a strategy that will throw Gabriel of guard, making Gabriel think that he wouldn't be voted out at the next Tribal Council when in fact, he will be voted out. As Nathanael walking towards James, Jason and Ezekiel to tell them about the plot, he heard their conversation about voting Gan Chai out at the next Tribal Council, narrowly escaping from being caught by running into the forest nearby when he was discovered. On that night, it rained heavily and it destroyed part of Teris's shelter. The next morning, Gan Chai and Nathanael make this situation to keep Gabriel off guard and quarrelled with one another. More castaways then join in the quarrel and at one point, James saying that he should be the tribe's leader instead of Gan Chai. Before the challenge starts, the Teris tribe had an extra person and Gabriel sat himself out, which he was exiled to Exile Village, a spin-off of Exile Island but with modern facilities and islanders. This prevents Gabriel from being voted out at the next Tribal Council, making Gan Chai's plan a failure. In addition, Jeff mentioning a twist in the game. During the challenge, Puaka won the challenge and Teris will then have to take part in an Individual Immunity Challenge, which is a new twist. Daniel, Gan Chai, James, Jason and Nathanael took part in the challenge, where James won the Individual Immunity. During Tribal Council, James passed the Hidden Immunity Idol secretly to Jason. Jeff caught them doing this and asked them what was the item. Both James and Jason, however, denied passing around the item. Gan Chai was then ultimately voted out 5-3.

Episode 3: Shut Up, Jeff...We're Busy Here

• Reward Challenge: 4 castaways from each tribe will have to swim out and collect one of 20 keys. That swimmer will then swim back to shore and attempt to unlock one of the four chests. If any of the chests are unlocked, the next swimmer will then swim out and collect one of the remaining keys. However, the swimmer is unable to unlock any of the chests, the same swimmer will have to swim back again and collect one of the remaining keys. Once all four chests have been unlocked, the remaining tribe members will then take the puzzle pieces out of the chests and solve the puzzle.
• Reward: A visit by a local fisherman and his family who will teach the tribe how to fish, and will bring additional food.
• Immunity Challenge: Using their own tribe's boat, the tribe will have to race their boat through the course and back to the start.
• Individual Immunity Challenge: Those castaways who choose to take part in the challenge will have to row their canoes to the five buoys, collecting a key from each of the buoys. The participates will then have to row back to shore, unlock the five chests using the keys, take out the puzzle pieces and solve the puzzle.

After arriving back at camp, James have been sitting along the shoreline at night which he eventually slept along the shoreline, leading everyone at the Teris tribe to be worried that James had fall sick. During the Reward Challenge, Aran purposely distract Teris' puzzle-solvers to buy some time. This make the Teris tribe to get pissed off at Aran. James was then exiled and found the set of clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol that he has found back at Teris camp. To his surprise, there are three Hidden Immunity Idols in play. On the next morning at Exile Village, James was shocked to receive a Breakfast-in-Bed, prepared secretly by the Village Teenage Girls. At Teris camp, Nathanael and Ezekiel were having a chat while the rest are playing soccer with a coconut. Ezekiel accidentally knock over's Jason bag, revealing the Hidden Immunity Idol James has given to him. Jason saw what happen and told Ezekiel and Nathanael not to tell anyone. At the Immunity Challenge, James' wrong choice of action led his tribe to lose. Ezekiel then won the Individual Immunity Challenge. Back at Teris camp, Benjamin, Daniel and Gabriel form an alliance to vote Jason out. Ezekiel then join in the conversation, ultimately telling the other about this. Ezekiel, James, Jason, Nathanael and Kalai then decided to change their vote from Gabriel to Benjamin, which Benjamin was blindsided and betrayed by Daniel, leading Benjamin to be voted out.

Episode 4: Only the Strongest Will Survive

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: For supporting the Singapore's bid for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, a castaway from each tribe would swim out to a multi-level net tunnel that they would have to crawl through. After another short swim, they would reach a floating platform that contained a wall with a set of pictograms related to the Olympics. The castaways would then return to the starting position and attempt to replicate the pattern of symbols onshore.
• Reward: Bathing gears, fresh clothes from their own luggage, pizza, banana split and soft drinks.

On Day 9's morning, the members of the Puaka tribe were talking about their own experiences on Survivor: Singapore so far. During the chatting, Aran predicted that there will be a Combined Challenge on the next day. He even predicted that each member from each tribe will be exiled on Exile Village for the following day. Aran then told his tribe mates not to be so dependent of him, with a plan of voting out those who are not in his alliance. With Benjamin voted out, the members of the Teris tribe were thrilled by not having him in camp. Surprisingly, James gave his leadership role to Nathanael, without anyone noticing that this is one of James strategy: he did this so that he could enter Aran's tribe hassle free should a Tribal Switch happen. During the Combined Challenge on Day 10, despite having a lead, Teris lost to Puaka in the closely matched challenge for the fourth time in a row. Before the Challenge officially begins, Jeff revealed that Teris have the rights to sit someone from the Puaka tribe, which they has chosen Aran and he was sent to Exile Village. At the end of the challenge, James was sent to Exile Village to join Aran. Jeff also gave Puaka a choice to either take the reward and go to Tribal Council, or give the reward to Teris and let them go to Tribal Council. Puaka then decided to give the reward to Teris, preventing Puaka from going to Tribal Council. At Exile Village, Aran and James went to look for the second Hidden Immunity Idol, with both of them discussing about the current Alliance's situation. Back at Teris camp, Ezekiel has plotted to vote Jason out as he is very vulnerable due to the absence of James. He tried to convince the others to vote him out, but his plan failed, leading Gabriel to be voted out 4-2 instead. Also, during the discussion at Tribal Council, Jason confess that he have an alliance together with James.

Episode 5: Bingo! You’ve hit the Jackpot!

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Episode 13

Voting history

Survivor records and firsts

• This Survivor season marked the first time that all of the Survivors are below the mininium age requirement of 20 years old.
• A couple of the contestants are 13 years old, beating Shane's son Boston, who appeared in Survivor: Pulau Episode 12. Shane is only 14 years old when he appear live on Survivor during actual game play.
• This is the first time in all of the Survivor series that there was no Caucasian contestants or American contestants.
• This is the first time where all of the contestants were either not born, live, work or study in the US.
• This is the first time where all of the contestants did not go through the normal interview and audition process.
• This is the first time where all of the contestants are male.
• This is the first time where a season of Survivor has started airing before the previous season has finished airing.
• This is the first time where a castaway was absent from Tribal Council.

Sprint's Survivor: Singapore Fans Choice Award

Introduced on May 18, 2008 on the Survivor: Singapore official website, the Sprint's Survivor: Singapore Fans Choice Award allows fans to vote for their favourite Survivors in their respective Award categories. The winners of the respective categories will be shown at the Live Reunion show.

Beverly Hills CBS Studio Seige

On September 11 2007, a claim-to-be-harmless terrorist group held everyone that work in CBS's Survivor Entertainment Group Studios in Beverly Hills, California hostage. The leader of the terrorist group, Edward Dickenson, made a simple request via broadcasting live worldwide. Dickenson claims that he will blow up a couple of buildings from around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore, if his request was not met when it reaches the deadline. His request was to create a Survivor game in Singapore, regardless of the location, with the selected 18 Singaporean students selected by him.

Aftermath

With CBS favouring the "proposal" made by Dickenson, plus the support from the U.S. government and the Singapore government, CBS agreed on creating a Survivor game on Singapore. The terrorist group then release the hostages upon hearing this news. Surprisingly to everyone, none of the members of the terrorist group were caught by the police, bringing up rumours that the hostage crisis is just an act by CBS and the U.S. government. Despite the rumours, both parties claims that they did not do such a thing.

Controversies

Several controversies have been brought up ever since the Beverly Hills CBS Studio Seige. One of the most infamous controversy is the threat made by Dickenson. Despite Dickenson threatening to blow up buildings from around the world by sleeper cells in these countries, several governments from all around the world questions about how will the terrorist group be able to blow up the building. In addition, to date, there has been no such whereabouts of the sleeper cells, let alone how many such cells are there.

Another of the most infamous controversy is the arrest of the terrorist group. Millions of people worldwide have been protesting about the arrest of the terrorist group members ever since CBS agreed to create a Survivor game in Singapore. The U.S. government claims that the terrorist group "promised" not to do such thing again, making that the reason not to arrest any of the members of the terrorist group. This eventually led to the suspicion of both the U.S. government and CBS of planning the whole hostage crisis. The Singapore government also disagree that the U.S. government and CBS of planning such "nonsense".

There has also been other controversies such as the contestants selected and the location selected, but the threat made by Dickenson and the arrest of the terrorist group memebers made Survivor: Singapore the "most controversial, most highly anticipated, and the most interesting season of Survivor ever yet", as claimed my Jeff Probst.

Locations used during the gamplay of Survivor: Singapore on Pulau Ubin, Singapore. The brown-coloured line boundary shows the marine restriction boundary, meaning that, except for boats certified to use during the game, no other boats and vessels can sail into the marked boundary unless that boat or vessel have the permission from the Survivor Production Crew to sail into the boundary.