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Survivor South Africa is a South African reality game show based on the popular international Survivor format.
| Survivor South Africa | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Created by | Charlie Parsons |
| Based on | Expedition Robinson/Survivor by Charlie Parsons |
| Presented by | Mark Bayly (Season 1-2) Nico Panagio (Season 3-present) |
| Starring | List of Survivor South Africa contestants |
| Country of origin | South Africa |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 147 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) (2006-2011, 2018) 70 minutes (inc. adverts) (2019) 90 minutes (inc. adverts) (2014) |
| Production companies | Strix (2006-2007), Endemol South Africa (2006-14), Afrokaans Film & Television (2018-22) |
| Original release | |
| Network | M-Net |
| Release | 3 September 2006 – 25 August 2022 |
| Related | |
| International versions | |
As in all versions of the show, it features group of strangers who are marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide food, water, fire and shelter for themselves. The contestants will compete in challenges to earn either a reward, or an immunity from elimination. The contestants will be progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted-off by their fellow contestants until only one remains and is given the title "Ultimate Survivor" and be awarded the grand prize of R1 million. The 9th season, titled Return of the Outcasts, concluded on 25 August 2022. As of 25 July 2023, M-Net stated that there are no plans for additional seasons at the time.[1]
The first five seasons of the show were produced by Endemol and broadcast on M-Net. Since Season 6, the show has been produced by Afrokaans Film & Television.
The first two seasons were hosted by Mark Bayly,[2] and from the third season Nico Panagio took over the hosting duties.[3]
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The show follows the same general format as the other editions of Survivor. To begin, the players are split into two or three tribes, are taken to a remote isolated location and are forced to live off the land with meagre supplies for a period of several weeks. Frequent physical and mental challenges are used to pit the tribes against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for immunity, forcing the other tribe to attend Tribal Council, where they must vote one of their tribemates out of the game by secret ballot.
About halfway through the game, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and challenges are on an individual basis; winning immunity prevents that player from being voted out. Most players that are voted out during this stage become members of the Tribal Council Jury. When only two or three players remain, the Final Tribal Council is held. The finalists plead their case to the Jury as to why they should win the game. The jurors then have the opportunity to interrogate the finalists before casting their vote for which finalist should be awarded the title of "Ultimate Survivor" and wins the grand prize of R1 Million.
Like other editions of the show, the South Africa edition has introduced numerous adaptations, or twists, on the core rules to prevent players from over-relying on strategies that succeeded in prior seasons or other editions of the show. The titular Island of Secrets and the Immunity Island as well as The Outpost on Return of the Outcasts exile players for a predetermined amount of time while offering dilemmas and decisions that may help or hinder their game. Other twists include the non-playing Captains in Champions, kidnappings, tribe expansions and shuffles. There may also be twists that affect the game format for a particular round (such as the Tied Destinies twist included on Immunity Island) Voting advantages and disadvantages, and in the first season, Panama included Deadman's Island where contestants voted out after the merge was isolated from the game until an opportunity to return arose.
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| No. | Season | Season premiere | Season finale | Location | Days | Castaways | Initial Tribes | Winner | Runner(s) up | Final vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Survivor South Africa: Panama | 3 September 2006 | 26 November 2006 | Pearl Islands, Panama | 29 | 14 | Two predetermined tribes of seven | Vanessa Marawa | Jacinda Louw | 3-2 | |
2 |
Survivor South Africa: Malaysia | 22 August 2007 | 14 November 2007 | Johor, Malaysia | 27 | 16 | Two tribes of eight, based on random draw in the marooning challenge. | Lorette Mostert | Grant Clarke | 3-2 | |
3 |
Survivor South Africa: Santa Carolina |
20 January 2010 | 21 April 2010 | Santa Carolina, Mozambique | 18 | Two tribes of nine Celebrities, determined by a schoolyard pick by two Exiled players. | Perle "GiGi" van Schalkwyk | Ashley Hayden | 6-3 | ||
4 |
Survivor South Africa: Maldives | 24 February 2011 | 26 May 2011 | Addu Atoll, Maldives | 19 | Two tribes of nine, determined by two separate random draws between the 'Celebs' and 'Plebs'. A 10th "Pleb" was initially voted out before the 'Celebs' and 'Plebs' met. |
Hykie Berg | Letshego Moshoeu | 8-3 | ||
5 |
Survivor South Africa: Champions | 19 January 2014 | 18 May 2014 | Johor, Malaysia[4] | 20 | Two tribes of ten, selected in a schoolyard pick by two sporting champions acting as non-playing tribe captain. | Graham Jenneker | Buhle Madlala | Sivu Xabanisa | 5-3-2 | |
6 |
Survivor South Africa: Philippines | 3 May 2018 | 16 August 2018 | El Nido, Palawan, Philippines[5] | 39 | 18 | Two predetermined tribes of nine | Tom Swartz | Jeanne Michel | 6-1 | |
7 |
Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets |
16 May 2019 | 12 September 2019 | Samoa | 21 | Three predetermined tribes of seven | Robert "Rob" Bentele | Nicole Capper | Durão Mariano | 6-4-0 | |
8 |
Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island |
3 June 2021 | 16 September 2021 | Wild Coast, Eastern Cape, South Africa | 20 | Two tribes of ten, based on random draw | Nicole Wilmans | Anela Majozi | 8-1 | ||
9 |
Survivor South Africa: Return of the Outcasts |
18 July 2022 | 25 August 2022 | Sunshine Coast, Eastern Cape, South Africa | Two tribes of ten returning players divided by past placements: Pre-Merge vs. Merge | Dino Paulo | Shane Hattingh | 7-2 | |||
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Locations
| Continent | Locations | Season number(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa |  Eastern Cape |
Wild Coast | 8 |
| Sunshine Coast | 9 | ||
 Mozambique |
Santa Carolina | 3 | |
| Asia |  Malaysia |
Johor | 2, 5 |
 Maldives |
Addu Atoll | 4 | |
 Philippines |
El Nido, Palawan | 6 | |
| Central America |  Panama |
Pearl Islands | 1 |
| Oceania |  Samoa |
Upolu | 7 |
The series airs on the following channels outside of Africa.
- In Australia, seasons 6 & 7 were made available to stream on 10 Play in September 2020.[6] Seasons 8 & 9 were available to stream on 10 Play on the day after each episode had aired on M-Net.[7][8]
- In the United Kingdom, seasons 6, 7, and 8 are available on Amazon Prime Video.[9]
- In the United States, the sixth, seventh and eighth seasons aired on Paramount+ but are not currently available as of 14 February 2022 due to the service losing streaming rights.[10]
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