Survivor 39 Island of the Idols

Mamanuca Islands, Fiji Sep 25 – Dec 18, 2019 Filmed Mar 21 – Apr 28, 2019

Tribes LairoVokaiLumuwaku

Format Island of the Idols debut Idol Nullifier Advantage Menu Safety Without Power debut Vote Blocker +4 more

20 Castaways all first-time players
39 Days
10 Jury
Winner Tommy Sheehan won 8-2-0

Survivor legends Boston Rob and Sandra Diaz-Twine return to the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji to serve as non-competing mentors for twenty new castaways in a season also marked by the series' first-ever contestant ejection.

Day one split the cast into two tribes: Vokai and Lairo. Everyone here was new to the game, and none has returned since, so every connection this season made stays inside it.

Starting tribes

Lairo

Dean Kowalski, Elaine Stott, Karishma Patel, Elizabeth Beisel, Missy Byrd, Aaron Meredith, Tom Laidlaw, Chelsea Walker, Vince Moua, Ronnie Bardah

Vokai

Tommy Sheehan, Noura Salman, Lauren Beck, Janet Carbin, Dan Spilo, Jamal Shipman, Kellee Kim, Jack Nichting, Jason Linden, Molly Byman

Full cast & placements

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

Place Castaway Result Days Tribes Votes against
1 Tommy Sheehan
8 of 10 jury votes
39 VokaiLumuwaku 2
2 Dean Kowalski
2 of 10 jury votes
39 LairoLumuwaku 0
3 Noura Salman
0 of 10 jury votes
39 VokaiLairoLumuwaku 6
4 Lauren Beck
Lost final 4 fire challenge
38 VokaiLumuwaku 1
5 Janet Carbin
15th voted out
37 VokaiLairoLumuwaku 2
6 Dan Spilo
Ejected
36 VokaiLumuwaku 5
7 Elaine Stott
14th voted out
35 LairoVokaiLumuwaku 8
8 Karishma Patel
13th voted out
32 LairoLumuwaku 15
9 Elizabeth Beisel
12th voted out
30 LairoVokaiLumuwaku 8
10 Missy Byrd
11th voted out
27 LairoVokaiLumuwaku 3
11 Aaron Meredith
10th voted out
27 LairoVokaiLumuwaku 5
12 Jamal Shipman
9th voted out
24 VokaiLairoLumuwaku 6
13 Kellee Kim
8th voted out
22 VokaiLairoLumuwaku 8
14 Jack Nichting
7th voted out
19 VokaiLairo 2
15 Jason Linden
6th voted out
16 Vokai 6
16 Tom Laidlaw
5th voted out
14 Lairo 6
17 Chelsea Walker
4th voted out
11 Lairo 6
18 Vince Moua
3rd voted out
8 Lairo 7
19 Molly Byman
2nd voted out
6 Vokai 7
20 Ronnie Bardah
1st voted out
3 Lairo 7

Episode guide

All 13 episodes of Survivor 39: when each aired, who won reward and immunity, who left, and how many people watched.

US viewers per episode

US viewers, episode by episode: 6.1M at the low point to 6.9M at the high. The dashed line is the season average of 6.6M. Episode 4 drew the biggest audience.
# Episode Aired Reward Immunity Voted out Viewers
1 I Vote You Out and That's It Sep 25 Reward Vokai 6.3M viewers Sep 25 Vokai Vokai Ronnie Bardah 6.3M
2 YOLO, Let's Play! Oct 2 Reward Lairo 6.6M viewers Oct 2 Lairo Lairo Molly Byman 6.6M
3 Honesty Would Be Chill Oct 9 Reward Vokai 6.5M viewers Oct 9 Vokai Vokai Vince Moua 6.5M
4 Plan Z Oct 16 Reward Vokai 6.9M viewers Oct 16 Vokai Vokai Chelsea Walker 6.9M
5 Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You Oct 23 Reward Vokai 6.8M viewers Oct 23 Vokai Vokai Tom Laidlaw 6.8M
6 Suck It Up Buttercup Oct 30 Reward Vokai 6.4M viewers Oct 30 Vokai Lairo Jason Linden 6.4M
7 I Was Born at Night, but Not Last Night Nov 6 Reward Vokai 6.8M viewers Nov 6 Vokai Vokai Jack Nichting 6.8M
8 We Made It to the Merge! Nov 13 Reward Dan Spilo, Dean Kowalski, Elaine Stott, Elizabeth Beisel, Noura Salman, Tommy Sheehan 6.1M viewers Nov 13 Dan Spilo, Dean Kowalski, Elaine Stott, Elizabeth Beisel, Noura Salman, Tommy Sheehan Aaron Meredith, Missy Byrd Kellee Kim Jamal Shipman 6.1M
9 Two for the Price of One Nov 20 Reward Noura Salman, Elaine Stott 6.6M viewers Nov 20 Noura Salman, Elaine Stott Noura Salman, Elaine Stott Aaron Meredith Missy Byrd 6.6M
10 Bring on the Bacon Nov 27 6.5M viewers Nov 27 – Noura Salman Elizabeth Beisel 6.5M
11 A Very Simple Plan Dec 4 Reward Janet Carbin, Tommy Sheehan 6.9M viewers Dec 4 Janet Carbin, Tommy Sheehan Lauren Beck Karishma Patel 6.9M
12 Just Go for It Dec 11 Reward Tommy Sheehan 6.8M viewers Dec 11 Tommy Sheehan Dean Kowalski Elaine Stott Dan Spilo Ejected 6.8M
13 Mama, Look at Me Now Dec 18 Reward Dean Kowalski, Noura Salman 6.5M viewers Dec 18 Dean Kowalski, Noura Salman Dean Kowalski, Noura Salman Janet Carbin Lauren Beck Eliminated 6.5M

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 39. A rough proxy for who the season was built around.

  1. 1 Tommy Sheehan 52
  2. 2 Dean Kowalski 47
  3. 3 Lauren Beck 37
  4. 4 Noura Salman 34
  5. 5 Elaine Stott 34
  6. 6 Kellee Kim 34
  7. 7 Janet Carbin 33
  8. 8 Karishma Patel 33
  9. 9 Elizabeth Beisel 24
  10. 10 Missy Byrd 21

457 confessionals across the season. Top 10 of 20 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 Ronnie 7-2 Ep 2 Molly 7-2-1 Ep 3 Vince 5-3-1 Ep 4 Chelsea 6-2 Ep 5 Tom 5-2 Ep 6 Jason 4-3 Ep 7 Jack 2 Ep 8 Kellee 8-5 Ep 8 Jamal 6-3 Ep 9 Aaron 5-1 Ep 9 Missy 3-2 Ep 10 Elizabeth 8-1 Ep 11 Karishma 5-3 Ep 12 Elaine 5-2 Ep 13 Janet 1 Ep 13 Lauren
Tommy Sheehan Molly Elaine Kellee Jamal Missy Karishma Karishma Elaine Janet
Dean Kowalski Ronnie Karishma Karishma Karishma Jack Kellee Jamal Aaron Karishma Karishma Elaine Janet
Noura Salman Molly Jack Dan Jamal Aaron Karishma Karishma Elaine Janet
Lauren Beck Molly Elaine Kellee Karishma Aaron Karishma Karishma Elaine Janet
Janet Carbin Molly Tom Dean Dan Jamal Aaron Karishma Noura Elaine Lauren
Dan Spilo Molly Elaine Kellee Jamal Aaron Elizabeth Noura Noura
Elaine Stott Ronnie Vince Chelsea Jason Kellee Karishma Missy Karishma Karishma Noura
Karishma Patel Ronnie Vince Chelsea Tom Dean Dan Janet Missy Janet Noura
Elizabeth Beisel Vince Chelsea Jason Kellee Karishma Tommy Karishma
Missy Byrd Ronnie Vince Chelsea Jason Kellee Janet Tommy
Aaron Meredith Vince Karishma Chelsea Jason Kellee Jamal Janet
Jamal Shipman Jason Tom Dean Dan
Kellee Kim Molly Tom Dean Dan
Jack Nichting Jason Tom Dean
Jason Linden Molly
Tom Laidlaw Ronnie Karishma Chelsea Karishma
Chelsea Walker Ronnie Vince Karishma
Vince Moua Ronnie Tom
Molly Byman Noura
Ronnie Bardah Vince

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

Fan poll Seasons

Where does Survivor 39 (Island of the Idols) rank among all Survivor seasons?

Tap to vote and see what fans think

Every castaway on this beach, mapped against 50 seasons.

See Survivor 39 in the graph →