Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains is the twentieth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. Premiering on February 11, 2010, it was the show's fourth season to feature contestants from past seasons, after Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Guatemala, and Survivor: Micronesia, and was only the second season to feature a cast consisting entirely of returning players, after All-Stars. The season was filmed in Upolu, Samoa. Unlike previous seasons, the preceding season and this season were filmed back-to-back due to budget constraints stemming from the worldwide Great Recession.
After 39 days, Sandra Diaz-Twine became the first two-time Survivor winner, defeating Parvati Shallow and Russell Hantz with a vote of 6–3–0. Despite receiving zero jury votes, Hantz was voted by fans to win "Sprint Player of the Season" award for the second consecutive season and the $100,000 prize that went with it, earning the fans' vote over runner-up Rupert Boneham.
Format
Survivor is a reality television show based on the Swedish show Expedition Robinson, created by Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons. The series follows a number of participants isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter. One participant is removed from the series by majority vote every three days, with challenges held to give a reward (ranging from living- and food-related prizes to a car) and immunity from being voted out of the series. The last remaining player receives a prize of $1,000,000.
Contestants
There were twenty contestants overall, divided into two tribes, Heroes and Villains. After ten contestants were eliminated, the tribes were combined, or merged, to form one tribe, Yin Yang. Nine contestants made up the jury, who ultimately decided who would win the game and the $1 million grand prize.
Due to the back-to-back filming of Survivor: Samoa and this season, the other players did not have an opportunity to see Russell Hantz's gameplay in Samoa nor reveal more information about him; however, prior to the start of the game the production crew did tell the players that Hantz was considered "one of the five most notorious male villains of all time".
+List of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains contestantsContestantAgeFrom TribeFinish Original Merged Placement Day Gabon 30 Los Angeles,California rowspan="2" 1st voted out Day 3 Palau & Guatemala 29 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania 2nd voted out Day 6 Gabon 50 Austin,Texas 3rd voted out Day 8 Panama & Micronesia 39 Norwalk,Connecticut rowspan="2" 4th voted out Day 11 Palau 45 New York City,New York 5th voted out Day 14 Tocantins 30 Heber City,Utah 6th voted out Day 15 China & Micronesia 32 Lafayette,Louisiana 7th voted out Marquesas & All-Stars 33 Pensacola,Florida rowspan="3" 8th voted out Day 18 Tocantins 37 Susanville,California 9th voted out1st jury member Day 21 China 28 New York City,New York 10th voted out2nd jury member Day 24 James "J.T." Thomas Jr.Tocantins 25 Mobile,Alabama rowspan="3" rowspan="10" align="center" 11th voted out3rd jury member Day 27 China & Micronesia 25 Los Angeles,California 12th voted out4th jury member Day 30 Cook Islands 26 Washington,D.C. 13th voted out5th jury member Day 31 Panama 28 Los Angeles,California 14th voted out6th jury member Day 33 Pearl Islands & All-Stars 45 Indianapolis,Indiana rowspan="2" 15th voted out7th jury member Day 36 The Australian Outback & All-Stars 35 Los Angeles,California 16th voted out8th jury member Day 37 The Australian Outback & All-Stars 38 Los Angeles,California rowspan="4" 17th voted out9th jury member Day 38 Samoa 36 Dayton,Texas 2nd Runner-up Day 39 Cook Islands & Micronesia 26 Los Angeles,California Runner-up Pearl Islands 35 Fayetteville,North Carolina Sole Survivor
Future appearances Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano returned to compete once again in Survivor: Redemption Island. Hantz later competed in Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders at an international level. Benjamin "Coach" Wade returned to compete in Survivor: South Pacific. Rupert Boneham, Candice Woodcock, and Tyson Apostol returned for Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Boneham returned with his wife, Laura, who appeared in Heroes vs. Villains as a loved one; Woodcock, now using her husband's surname Cody, returned with her husband John; and Apostol returned with his girlfriend (now wife), Rachel Foulger. Cirie Fields, James "J.T." Thomas Jr., and Sandra Diaz-Twine returned to compete in the 34th season of the show, Survivor: Game Changers. Diaz-Twine and Mariano returned in Survivor: Island of the Idols to serve as mentors, and they both returned the very next season, along with Shallow and Apostol, to compete on Survivor: Winners at War. In 2026, LaGrossa (now Lagrossa-Kendrick), Fields, Wade, and Donaldson once again competed on Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. Diaz-Twine also competed on Australian Survivor: Blood V Water with her daughter Nina. Fields and Shallow represented the USA on Australian Survivor: Australia V The World in 2025, where Shallow won.
Outside of Survivor, Boneham competed on The Amazing Race 31 with his wife Laura. Apostol competed on the first season of The Challenge: USA. Stephenie LaGrossa and Cirie Fields competed on the USA Network competition series Snake in the Grass. In 2023, LaGrossa and Fields also competed on the first season of Peacock reality TV series The Traitors. Later in 2023, Fields competed on Big Brother 25. In 2024, Shallow and Diaz-Twine competed on the second season of The Traitors. Mariano competed on Deal or No Deal Island. In 2025, Shallow competed on the second season of Deal or No Deal Island. In 2025, Mariano competed on the third season of the Peacock reality TV series The Traitors. Diaz-Twine also competed on 99 to Beat and the second season of Extracted. In 2026, Apostol competed on the third season of House of Villains.
Season summary
The twenty returning castaways were divided into two tribes of ten based on their previous style of gameplay. The Villains dominated the earlier challenges due to Rob's leadership, only going to Tribal Council once in the first 14 days, and the Heroes were quickly whittled down to six members. The Villains tribe was divided into two factions: Rob's alliance of six, and the minority alliance of Russell, Parvati, and Danielle. At their second Tribal Council, Rob's alliance decided to split the vote between Russell and Parvati out of fear of Russell's hidden immunity idol. Rob's right-hand man Tyson, knowing that the minority alliance was voting for him, became uneasy and, following a confrontation with Russell, deviated from the plan, voting for Parvati instead of Russell. This error proved fatal, as Russell played his idol on Parvati, negating the four votes against her, and Tyson was voted out. The Villains lost the next Immunity Challenge and, due to Jerri aligning with Russell and Coach's inability to pick a side, Rob was voted out.
During the challenges after Rob's elimination, the Heroes were led to believe that the women of the tribe were methodically eliminating the men. J.T. found the Heroes' hidden idol, and the Heroes collectively agreed to sneak it to Russell, the last male Villain remaining, during a challenge in hopes that Russell would use it to eliminate Parvati and align with the Heroes at the merge. Instead, Russell shared the idol with Danielle, Jerri, and Parvati, unaware that Parvati and Danielle had also found the Villains' idol. Without Rob, the Villains lost the next two Immunity Challenges, leaving Sandra as the last remaining Villain outside of Russell's alliance of four.
With five Heroes and five Villains remaining, the tribes merged into Yin Yang. Russell crafted a story to explain the fate of the immunity idols, suggesting Parvati had played one against his. The Heroes took Russell's word, though Sandra, through Rupert, tried to warn them of Russell's duplicity. With Danielle winning the first individual immunity, Russell gave Parvati his idol prior to Tribal Council, believing the Heroes would target her. The Heroes became concerned about Russell's story, however, and changed their vote to target Jerri, believing her unlikely to possess an idol. At the vote, Parvati played her two idols for Jerri and Sandra, negating the Heroes' votes and eliminating J.T. Despite attempts to align with the Villains' majority, Heroes were consistently eliminated. However, after Russell realized that Parvati and Danielle's true loyalty was to each other, he betrayed Danielle and worked with remaining Heroes Colby and Rupert to vote her out. After that the final Heroes were eliminated, leaving Sandra, Russell, Parvati, and Jerri as the final four.
Russell, having won final immunity, felt he would have a better chance in the final tribal council against Sandra, who he believed did little in the game, than Jerri, who was the final player voted out. At the Final Tribal Council, Russell was lambasted for his poor social game, jury management, and open backstabbing. Parvati and Sandra both tried to sway the jury in their favor, with Parvati highlighting her social and physical game as well as her idol play that changed the course of the season. However, Parvati was also lambasted for being extremely close with Russell throughout the entire game. Sandra argued the opposite, saying even though she was weak in challenges, she always interacted with both sides and still was involved in strategy. She also highlighted her loyalty to allies Courtney, Tyson, and Rob, and had campaigned for Russell's removal since day one. Parvati received jury votes from all the villains except Courtney, but Sandra received all the Heroes' votes plus Courtney's, making Sandra the first two-time winner in Survivor history.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeChallenge winner(s)EliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateRewardImmunityTribePlayer1"Slay Everyone, Trust No One"February 11, 2010Sugar2"It's Getting the Best of Me"February 18, 2010colspan="2" Stephenie3"That Girl is Like a Virus"February 25, 2010colspan="2" Randy4"Tonight, We Make Our Move"March 4, 2010Cirie5"Knights of the Round Table"March 11, 2010Tom6"Banana Etiquette"March 24, 2010rowspan="2" TysonJames7"I'm Not a Good Villain"April 1, 2010Rob8"Expectations"April 8, 2010Coach9"Survivor History"April 15, 2010Courtney10"Going Down in Flames"April 22, 2010Danielle rowspan="7" J.T.11"Jumping Ship"April 29, 2010Amanda,Colby, DanielleJerriAmanda12"A Sinking Ship"May 6, 2010rowspan="2" ParvatiCandiceRussellDanielle13"Loose Lips Sink Ships"May 13, 2010Jerri[Parvati, Sandra]ParvatiRupert14"Anything Could Happen"May 16, 2010rowspan="2" ParvatiColbyRussellJerri15"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.
Episodes
Voting history