Survivor: One World is the 24th season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor, featuring 18 new castaways, divided by gender into two tribes of nine. The season was filmed from August 1st through September 8th, 2011, in the vicinity of Upolu, Samoa, which is the same filming location used for seasons 19, 20, and 23, at the time surpassed Panama as the location where the most Survivor seasons had filmed. The season aired weekly from February 15, 2012, until May 13, 2012, when Kim Spradlin was named the winner over Sabrina Thompson and Chelsea Meissner by a 7–2–0 vote. In addition, Spradlin won $100,000 as the "Sprint Player of the Season," earning the fans' vote over runners-up, Meissner, Greg "Tarzan" Smith, and "Troyzan" Robertson.
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
The cast is composed of 18 new players, initially divided into two tribes by gender: the nine men composed Manono (named after Manono Island) while the nine women composed Salani (named after a Samoan surfing resort). The merged tribe Tikiano is coined from a portmanteau of "Tiki" which means "God", and "Ano" derived from Spanish año for "year", which was first suggested by contestant Troy "Troyzan" Robertson.
Notable cast members include Leif Manson, the first little person to compete in the whole Survivor franchise; fashion photographer "Troyzan" Robertson; and Monica Culpepper, wife of former NFL football player Brad Culpepper (who would later compete against Monica on Blood vs. Water).
+List of Survivor: One World contestantsContestantAgeFrom Tribe Finish Original Switched Merged Placement Day 29 Austin,Texas rowspan="2" Medicallyevacuated Day 3 51 Clovis,California 1st voted out Day 5 33 San Francisco,California rowspan="2" 2nd voted out Day 8 28 Venice,California 3rd voted out Day 11 41 Tampa,Florida rowspan="3" 4th voted out Day 14 21 Monroeville,Alabama rowspan="6" Medicallyevacuated Day 16 37 Lehi,Utah rowspan=12 5th voted out1st jury member Day 20 30 Seattle,Washington rowspan="2" 6th voted out2nd jury member Day 22 25 Gaffney,South Carolina 7th voted out3rd jury member Day 25 27 San Diego,California 8th voted out4th jury member Day 27 50 Miami,Florida rowspan="2" 9th voted out5th jury member Day 30 22 Orlando,Florida 10th voted out6th jury member Day 33 64 Houston,Texas rowspan="3" 11th voted out7th jury member Day 36 25 Chicago,Illinois rowspan="5" 12th voted out8th jury member Day 37 29 Hollywood,California 13th voted out9th jury member Day 38 26 Charleston,South Carolina rowspan="3" 2nd Runner-upDay 39 33 Brooklyn,New York Runner-up 29 San Antonio,Texas Sole Survivor
Future appearances Kat Edorsson, Colton Cumbie, and Monica Culpepper returned for Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Edorsson returned with her boyfriend, Hayden Moss, the winner of Big Brother 12; Cumbie returned with his fiancé, Caleb Bankston; and Culpepper returned with her husband, Brad, a former NFL player. Troy "Troyzan" Robertson and Sabrina Thompson were both included in the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia, but neither of them were chosen to compete. Robertson would eventually return for Survivor: Game Changers. Culpepper also appeared on Survivor: Game Changers as part of the loved ones visit. Kim Spradlin, now using her married name of Spradlin-Wolfe, returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.
Outside of Survivor, Michael Jefferson appeared on the Discovery Channel show Naked and Afraid. Chelsea Meissner also went on to join the cast of the Bravo show Southern Charm as a guest appearance in seasons 3 and 4, before being promoted to the main cast for seasons 5 and 6. From 2022 to 2024, Kim Spradlin-Wolfe hosted the home renovation show Why the Heck Did I Buy This House? on HGTV. In 2026, Spradlin-Wolfe and Meissner competed on the HGTV show Rock the Block.
Season summary
The 18 castaways were divided into gender-based tribes and given maps to their camps, unaware they would lead to the same location. Despite living on the same beach, the tribes would remain split, building separate shelters and fending for their own tribe.
The men's tribe, Manono, dominated the first few challenges. The women's tribe, Salani, was run by a majority alliance formed by Alicia, Chelsea, Kat, Kim and Sabrina. Despite a strong start, the men found difficulty with the outspoken Colton who was initially an outsider, often interacting with Salani instead. After Sabrina accidentally found Manono's hidden immunity idol, she gave it to Colton, who used his newfound power to overthrow Manono's dominant alliance and gain control of the tribe. After the tribes were swapped, Colton found himself again in a position of power on the new Manono tribe; however, he was medically evacuated from the game after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis. Meanwhile, on the new Salani tribe, Kim and Chelsea formed a second alliance with Jay and Troyzan as a backup plan in case their original alliance failed.
Though the genders entered the merge with equal numbers, Kim organized the women into a single alliance while Colton's removal left the men without a leader, leading Jay and Troyzan to align with the women and vote out two of the men. With a clear majority, the women decided to sever ties with Jay and Troyzan, voting them out despite Troyzan's pleas to Kat and Christina, who were at the bottom of the women's alliance. Tarzan was the last man remaining, however Kat's unpredictability and youthful naivety was enough to convince Kim to betray her first. With only six players remaining, Kim found herself caught between her initial alliance of Chelsea and Sabrina, and the alliance of Alicia, Christina and Tarzan. Although Alicia wanted to vote Chelsea out, Kim convinced Alicia that Tarzan was planning to betray her, leading to Tarzan's elimination. Alicia and Christina were subsequently voted out by Kim, Chelsea, and Sabrina.
At the Final Tribal Council, Chelsea was lambasted by the jurors for her evident lack of social connections, riding on coattails, and was largely seen as Kim's pawn. Sabrina was praised for her excellent social game, and being loyal to her allies. However, she was criticized by many jurors due to her poor work ethic and challenge performances. Kim was praised for her challenge wins, her connections with men and women, and always thinking ahead strategically. However, she was blamed for all their blindsides and eliminations. Kim decided to own every decision she made throughout the entire game, and won in a vote of 7-2-0, only losing Troyzan's and Leif's votes. +Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeChallenge winner(s)EliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateRewardImmunityTribePlayer1"Two Tribes, One Camp, No Rules"February 15, 2012colspan=2 Kourtney2"Total Dysfunction"February 22, 2012Nina3"One World is Out the Window"February 29, 2012Matt4"Bum-Puzzled"March 7, 2012rowspan=2 rowspan="2" Bill5"A Bunch of Idiots"March 14, 2012Monica6"Thanks for the Souvenir"March 21, 2012Colton7"The Beauty in a Merge"March 28, 2012Alicia, Chelsea,Christina, Jay,Sabrina, TroyzanTroyzan rowspan="9" Jonas8"Just Annihilate Them"April 4, 2012Christina,Kim, Leif,Michael, SabrinaJayMichael9"Go Out With a Bang"April 11, 2012Alicia,Jay, Kat,Tarzan, TroyzanChelseaJay10"I'm No Dummy"April 18, 2012TroyzanLeif11"Never Say Die"April 25, 2012Kim[Alicia, Chelsea]KimTroyzan12"It's Gonna Be Chaos"May 2, 2012Kat[Alicia, Kim]KimKat13"It's Human Nature"May 9, 2012Chelsea[Kim, Sabrina]AliciaTarzan14"Perception is Not Always Reality"May 13, 2012rowspan="2" KimAliciaKimChristina15"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
Original tribesMerged tribeEpisode1234567891011121314Day358111416202225273033363738TribeEliminatedKourtneyNinaMattBillMonicaColtonJonasMichaelJayLeifTroyzanKatTarzanAliciaChristinaVotesEvacuated6–1–17–1–17–15–2Evacuated10–27–2–24–3–24–3–16–15–13–23–1VoterVoteKimNinaJonasMichaelJayTarzanTroyzanKatTarzanAliciaChristinaSabrinaNinaJonasMichaelJayLeifChristinaKatTarzanAliciaChristinaChelseaNinaJonasMichaelTroyzanLeifTroyzanKatTarzanAliciaChristinaChristinaNinaTarzanJonasTarzanJayTarzanChelseaKatTarzanChelseaSabrinaAliciaNinaMonicaJonasTarzanJayTarzanTroyzanKatTarzanChelseaTarzanMattBillMonicaJonasChristinaJayLeifChristinaKatChelseaKatNinaJonasMichaelTroyzanLeifTroyzanSabrinaTroyzanMattBillJonasMichaelKimKimChristinaLeifMattBillMonicaMichaelMichaelAliciaKimJayMattBillJonasMichaelAliciaMichaelBillBillJonasChristinaJonasMattBillMonicaMichaelColtonMattBillMonicaEvacuatedMonicaChristinaTarzanBillMattLeifMattColtonNinaKatKourtneyEvacuated Jury voteEpisode15Day39FinalistKimSabrinaChelseaVotes7–2–0JurorVoteChristinaAliciaTarzanKatTroyzanLeifJayMichaelJonas
Production Filming This is the fourth season that initially divided the tribes by gender, following Survivor: The Amazon, Survivor: Vanuatu and Survivor: Panama. The season's title is in reference to the two tribes initially sharing a campsite; while this had been done in Survivor: Thailand and Survivor: Palau, this is the first time the concept was both employed at the beginning of the game and continued beyond the first tribal challenge. As a result of the shared campsite, hidden immunity idols were designated for specific tribes; if a castaway found the idol designated for the opposing tribe, he or she was required to give it to a member of the other tribe before the next Tribal Council. All of these twists ended when the tribes were reorganized on Day 12. Reception