Survivor 23 South Pacific

Upolu, Samoa Sep 14 – Dec 18, 2011 Filmed May 30 – Jul 7, 2011

Tribes SavaiiUpoluTe Tuna

Format Double Elimination Redemption Island Returning Players Hidden Immunity Idol

18 Castaways 2 returning
39 Days
9 Jury
Winner Sophie Clarke won 6-3-0

Set in Samoa, this season features the return of Redemption Island and two former players leading tribes of new contestants in a battle for the title of Sole Survivor.

Day one split the cast into two tribes: Upolu and Savaii. Two castaways arrived with prior seasons played, and six of this cast would go on to play again.

Starting tribes

Savaii

Oscar Lusth, John Cochran, Whitney Duncan, Dawn Meehan, Jim Rice, Keith Tollefson, Elyse Umemoto, Mark Caruso, Semhar Tadesse

Upolu

Sophie Clarke, Benjamin Wade, Albert Destrade, Rick Nelson, Brandon Hantz, Edna Ma, Mikayla Wingle, Stacey Powell, Christine Shields Markoski

Full cast & placements

Days, tribes and votes are on each castaway's page.

Place Castaway Result Days Tribes Votes against
1 Sophie Clarke Also played S40
6 of 9 jury votes
39 UpoluTe Tuna 5
2 Benjamin Wade Returnee Also played S18, S20, S50
3 of 9 jury votes
39 UpoluTe Tuna 0
3 Albert Destrade
0 of 9 jury votes
39 UpoluTe Tuna 1
4 Oscar Lusth Returnee Also played S13, S16, S34, S50
17th voted out
38 SavaiiTe Tuna 17
5 Rick Nelson
16th voted out
37 UpoluTe Tuna 15
6 Brandon Hantz Also played S26
15th voted out
35 UpoluTe Tuna 4
7 Edna Ma
14th voted out
32 UpoluTe Tuna 15
8 John Cochran Also played S26
13th voted out
30 SavaiiTe Tuna 13
9 Whitney Duncan
12th voted out
27 SavaiiTe Tuna 7
10 Dawn Meehan Also played S26
11th voted out
27 SavaiiTe Tuna 9
11 Jim Rice
10th voted out
24 SavaiiTe Tuna 8
12 Keith Tollefson
8th voted out
21 SavaiiTe Tuna 12
13 Mikayla Wingle
6th voted out
16 Upolu 4
14 Elyse Umemoto
5th voted out
14 Savaii 3
15 Stacey Powell
4th voted out
11 Upolu 10
16 Mark Caruso
3rd voted out
8 Savaii 6
17 Christine Shields Markoski
2nd voted out
5 Upolu 4
18 Semhar Tadesse
1st voted out
3 Savaii 8

Episode guide

All 14 episodes of Survivor 23: when each aired, who won reward and immunity, who left, and how many people watched.

US viewers per episode

US viewers, episode by episode: 10.5M at the low point to 13.1M at the high. The dashed line is the season average of 11.2M. Episode 14 drew the biggest audience.
# Episode Aired Reward Immunity Voted out Viewers
1 I Need Redemption Sep 14 Reward Savaii 10.7M viewers Sep 14 Savaii Upolu Semhar Tadesse 10.7M
2 He Has Demons Sep 21 Reward Savaii 10.5M viewers Sep 21 Savaii Savaii Christine Shields Markoski 10.5M
3 Reap What You Sow Sep 28 Reward Upolu 10.7M viewers Sep 28 Upolu Upolu Mark Caruso 10.7M
4 Survivalism Oct 5 Reward Savaii 10.7M viewers Oct 5 Savaii Savaii Stacey Powell 10.7M
5 Taste the Victory Oct 12 Reward Upolu 10.7M viewers Oct 12 Upolu Upolu Elyse Umemoto 10.7M
6 Free Agent Oct 19 Reward Savaii 11.2M viewers Oct 19 Savaii Savaii Mikayla Wingle 11.2M
7 Trojan Horse Oct 26 Reward Upolu 11.8M viewers Oct 26 Upolu Upolu Oscar Lusth 11.8M
8 Double Agent Nov 2 11.9M viewers Nov 2 – Dawn Meehan, Oscar Lusth Keith Tollefson 11.9M
9 Cut Throat Nov 9 10.8M viewers Nov 9 – Jim Rice, Whitney Duncan Oscar Lusth Jim Rice 10.8M
10 Running the Show Nov 16 11.7M viewers Nov 16 – Sophie Clarke Dawn Meehan Whitney Duncan 11.7M
11 Cult Like Nov 30 Reward Albert Destrade, Benjamin Wade, John Cochran 11.1M viewers Nov 30 Albert Destrade, Benjamin Wade, John Cochran Albert Destrade, Benjamin Wade, John Cochran John Cochran 11.1M
12 Ticking Time Bomb Dec 7 Reward Oscar Lusth, Albert Destrade, Brandon Hantz, Benjamin Wade 11.6M viewers Dec 7 Oscar Lusth, Albert Destrade, Brandon Hantz, Benjamin Wade Benjamin Wade Edna Ma 11.6M
13 Then There Were Five Dec 14 Reward Brandon Hantz, Rick Nelson, Albert Destrade 10.9M viewers Dec 14 Brandon Hantz, Rick Nelson, Albert Destrade Brandon Hantz, Rick Nelson, Albert Destrade Brandon Hantz 10.9M
14 Loyalties Will Be Broken Dec 18 13.1M viewers Dec 18 – Oscar Lusth, Sophie Clarke Rick Nelson Oscar Lusth 13.1M

Survivor 23 also aired 1 recap or special broadcast, which sit outside this numbering.

Episode, twist and location facts adapted from Survivor Fandom and Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-07-21. Licensed CC BY-SA.

Who got the edit

Confessional counts: the to-camera interviews the edit gave each castaway across Survivor 23. A rough proxy for who the season was built around.

  1. 1 Benjamin Wade 78
  2. 2 John Cochran 61
  3. 3 Oscar Lusth 48
  4. 4 Brandon Hantz 31
  5. 5 Sophie Clarke 25
  6. 6 Albert Destrade 25
  7. 7 Jim Rice 25
  8. 8 Dawn Meehan 23
  9. 9 Edna Ma 18
  10. 10 Christine Shields Markoski 13

400 confessionals across the season. Top 10 of 18 castaways shown.

Voting history

Every tribal-council vote of the season. Rows are castaways by finish, columns are councils in order. Each cell is who that castaway voted for.

Key Vote matched the boot Struck through = vote nullified by an idol No vote cast (immune, absent, or already out)

Voter Ep 1 Semhar 8-1 Ep 2 Christine 4-3-1-1 Ep 3 Mark 6-1-1 Ep 4 Stacey 7-1 Ep 5 Elyse 3-2-2 Ep 6 Mikayla 4-3 Ep 7 Oscar 5-1 Ep 8 Keith 12-10 Ep 9 Oscar 9-2 Ep 9 Jim 7-3 Ep 10 Dawn 7-2 Ep 10 Whitney 7-1 Ep 12 John 5-2 Ep 13 Edna 5-1 Ep 14 Brandon 3-2 Ep 15 Rick 3-2 Ep 15 Oscar 3-1
Sophie Clarke Stacey Stacey Edna Keith Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney John Edna Brandon Rick Oscar
Benjamin Wade Christine Stacey Mikayla Keith Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney John Edna Brandon Rick Oscar
Albert Destrade Christine Stacey Edna Keith Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney John Edna Sophie Rick Oscar
Oscar Lusth Semhar Mark John John Rick John Sophie Albert
Rick Nelson Stacey Stacey Mikayla Keith Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney John Edna Brandon Sophie
Brandon Hantz Christine Stacey Mikayla Keith Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney John Edna Sophie
Edna Ma Stacey Stacey Mikayla Keith Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney Rick Brandon
John Cochran Semhar Mark Elyse Oscar Rick Oscar Jim Dawn Whitney Rick
Whitney Duncan Semhar Mark Dawn Oscar Rick Oscar Edna Edna John
Dawn Meehan Semhar Mark Elyse Oscar Rick Oscar Edna Edna
Jim Rice Semhar John Elyse Oscar Rick John Edna
Keith Tollefson Semhar Mark Dawn Oscar Rick
Mikayla Wingle Christine Stacey Edna
Elyse Umemoto Semhar Mark John
Stacey Powell Sophie Edna
Mark Caruso Semhar Jim
Christine Shields Markoski Edna
Semhar Tadesse John

See how every season's jury and boot votes compare on the final votes hub.

Fan poll Seasons

Where does Survivor 23 (South Pacific) rank among all Survivor seasons?

Tap to vote and see what fans think

Every castaway on this beach, mapped against 50 seasons.

See Survivor 23 in the graph →