Tyson Apostol

Survivor: Blood vs. Water is the 27th season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

This season also marks the second occurrence of the rock-picking tiebreaker, 23 seasons after it first occurred in Survivor: Marquesas in 2002.

This is also the first time in 13 seasons, since Survivor: Fiji, to not feature a fan favorite vote that would award one player with US$100,000.

Roberta "R.C."

Saint-Amour from Philippines and her father, Craig, were originally cast and traveled to Palaui Island with the other castaways, but were pulled from the game the day before filming began due to Craig having high blood pressure.

They were replaced by Candice Woodcock Cody from Cook Islands and Heroes vs. Villains, and her husband John.

"Troyzan" Robertson from One World was initially cast with his brother Todd, however they were cut a week before filming.

Robertson would later return for Survivor: Game Changers.

Jim Rice from South Pacific was asked to compete with his wife, but neither of them were able to participate.

According to interviews on Rob has a Podcast, as part of their Talking with T-Bird program, Kelly Goldsmith (Africa) and her fiancé were contacted to be part of the season.

Judd Sergeant of Guatemala and his wife were also contacted to be part of this season, but his wife was not able to.

Sean Rector of Marquesas was contacted as well.

Marty Piombo of Nicaragua was contacted to play with either his wife or son, but was cut.

Earl Cole from Fiji was also considered.

Lex van den Berghe of Africa was approached to play with his son, however, he declined as he did not want to play against a family member.

It was also revealed on Talking with T-Bird that Jerri Manthey of The Australian Outback, All-Stars, and Heroes vs. Villains and her sister were contacted to be part of the season.

Roger Bingham (The Australian Outback) and his daughter were considered as contestants for this season.

Cristina Coria of Cook Islands was asked to return to compete alongside an actor she was dating at the time, but she couldn't participate after just having surgery on her neck and back.

Ozzy Lusth of Cook Islands, Micronesia, and South Pacific was also contacted to return, and had submitted his sister to be his loved one pair.

Lusth was ultimately not cast, but later returned on Game Changers.

The cast consists of 10 pairs of loved ones, each composed of one new player and one returning player with varying relationships, including mother-daughter, spouses, fiancees, dating, brothers, and uncle-niece.

The tribe names were Galang and Tadhana, which means "respect" and "destiny", respectively, in Tagalog.

The merged tribe was Kasama, which means "to accompany" in Tagalog.

Notable cast includes former NFL player Brad Culpepper, competing alongside his wife, Survivor: One World castaway Monica, and Big Brother 12 winner Hayden Moss, playing alongside his girlfriend Kat Edorsson, also from One World.

Moss is the first former Big Brother contestant to appear on Survivor.

The cast also contained two former Survivor winners, Tina Wesson and Aras Baskauskas.

Ciera Eastin, Vytas Baskauskas, and Brad Culpepper were included on the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia.

Eastin and Baskauskas were chosen to compete; while Culpepper was not.

Culpepper eventually returned, along with Eastin, for Survivor: Game Changers.

Monica Culpepper also appeared on Survivor: Game Changers as a loved one.

Tyson Apostol later returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.

Rachel Foulger also appeared on Survivor: Winners at War as part of the loved ones visit.

The season filmed in May–June 2013 and premiered on Wednesday, September 18, 2013, featuring returning castaways and their loved ones competing against each other.

It was the third consecutive season, and the ninth season overall, to feature returning contestants.

As with the previous two seasons, the season was filmed in the Philippines and this was the third season filmed in the country, but this time at Palaui Island, Cagayan.

Tyson Apostol was named the Sole Survivor in the season finale on December 15, 2013, defeating runners-up Monica Culpepper and Gervase Peterson in a 7–1–0 vote.

Redemption Island, a twist formerly seen in Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: South Pacific, was utilized after a three-season hiatus.

In conjunction with the "Blood vs. Water" twist, remaining contestants were given the option to switch places with their loved one if their loved one was on Redemption Island.

The game began with a twist called Day Zero, in which each of the ten pairs was marooned in a separate location, spending the night together before congregating as a full cast the following morning and dividing into two tribes.

Due to this twist, this season is one of three to last longer than 39 days, after Survivor: The Australian Outback which lasted 42 days, and being followed by Survivor: San Juan del Sur, the second "Blood vs. Water" season, which also began with Day Zero.