50 Fun Facts About Survivor: Samoa

Russell Hantz told his Survivor: Samoa tribe a made-up story about living through which real disaster?

Hurricane Katrina never touched Hantz: he posed as a firefighter who had survived it, reasoning that if he controlled how tribemates felt he could control how they thought.

On night one of Survivor: Samoa, Russell Hantz secretly burned which of Jaison Robinson's belongings?

His socks went into the fire the same night Hantz poured out the tribe's drinking water, a plan to wear tribemates down so they would be easier to steer.

Which pharmaceutical sales rep beat Russell Hantz in the Survivor: Samoa jury vote, 7–2–0?

Natalie White won the jury easily, yet critics said the edit's fixation on Hantz gave her so little screen time that she became an unmemorable champion.

At the Survivor: Samoa reunion, Russell Hantz offered the woman who beat him $100,000 for what?

The winner's title was not for sale: she turned down $10,000 and then $100,000, and Hantz left with the fan-voted prize instead.

Which Galu leader collapsed mid-challenge in Survivor: Samoa and was medically evacuated on day 15?

Russell Swan blacked out twice from dangerously low blood pressure, and the challenge was abandoned with no result, the first time Survivor had stopped one midway.

Which animal did the eventual champion of Survivor: Samoa kill and cook for her tribe after the merge?

A rat she smashed one morning became breakfast for the whole tribe, and a tribemate said how proud he was of how much she had grown in the game.

Which reward animal did Shambo Waters accidentally let escape at Galu's camp in Survivor: Samoa?

A chicken got away on her watch, and Galu's leader later named the lost bird as his reason for singling her out for a duty that infuriated her.

Russell Hantz began filming which all-returnee season just twenty days after Survivor: Samoa wrapped?

Heroes vs. Villains was shot before Samoa aired, so none of his new rivals had seen him play; producers told them only that he was a notorious villain.

Fans count confessionals to measure the Survivor: Samoa edit; what is a confessional on the show?

A player's private commentary lets the audience hear what tribemates cannot, and Hantz's constant stream of it is why Samoa's edit is so debated.

Which business did Survivor: Samoa villain Russell Hantz co-own with relatives in Dayton, Texas?

An oil company, Hantz Tankering Service, had already made him wealthy, and rumors about his salary opened cracks in his alliance late in the game.

Survivor: Samoa was filmed on which island, home to the Samoan capital of Apia?

Upolu is the most populous of the Samoan islands, and the crew stayed on to shoot the following season there.

The dominant early tribe of Survivor: Samoa was called Galu, the Samoan word for what?

Wave is the meaning of Galu, while rival tribe Foa Foa was named for the trumpet shell.

The merged tribe of Survivor: Samoa was named Aiga, a Samoan word with which meaning?

Family is the meaning of Aiga, the name the twelve players left chose after a feast; no Survivor merge had ever kept that many in the game.

John Fincher flipped on Galu during a 5–5 tie in Survivor: Samoa because he feared which tiebreaker?

Drawing rocks would have left his fate to chance, so Fincher switched on the revote and handed the Foa Foa alliance the majority.

Which Survivor: Samoa finalist, a doctor elected Foa Foa's leader on day one, received no jury votes?

Mick Trimming, an anesthesiology resident, was largely ignored by jurors, who faulted his lack of leadership while Foa Foa lost almost every early challenge.

Which Survivor: Samoa castaway was voted out at the merge with an unplayed idol in his pocket?

Erik Cardona took ten votes, then a record for one Tribal Council, in an episode where Hantz gave 13 confessionals and the other eleven players 23 between them.

Russell Hantz's second idol in Survivor: Samoa voided seven votes and sent which hairstylist home?

Kelly Sharbaugh left on just the four Foa Foa votes; the edit had given her only five confessionals before the merge, so viewers hardly knew her.

Which Galu alliance leader won two straight Survivor: Samoa immunities, then went home on a tie revote?

Laura Morett later returned in Blood vs. Water, playing alongside her daughter Ciera Eastin.

Jeff Probst threw which Foa Foa bar manager out of a Survivor: Samoa challenge for kicking an opponent?

Ben Browning was the first player Probst ever ejected on his own judgment; he was voted out an episode later, in an hour where Hantz gave ten of the 30 confessionals.

Which three-time immunity winner in Survivor: Samoa has the fewest confessionals of any day-38 exit?

Brett Clouser came one challenge from the final, yet the edit showed him so rarely that he became known as the invisible man of the season.

Shambo Waters of Survivor: Samoa had been a sergeant in which branch of the U.S. military?

The Marines had her for five years, and CBS billed her as the first female Marine sergeant to play the game.

Jaison Robinson of Survivor: Samoa, a Stanford graduate, had made the U.S. national team in which sport?

Water polo took Robinson onto the national team; he was also an Eagle Scout who had climbed to the top of Venezuela's Angel Falls.

John Fincher, whose flipped vote swung Survivor: Samoa, was billed by CBS as which profession?

Rocket scientist was Fincher's listed job, and he later married Parvati Shallow, the champion of Survivor: Micronesia.

Which phone carrier sponsored the fan-voted award that Russell Hantz won for Survivor: Samoa?

Sprint backed the Player of the Season prize of $100,000, which Hantz took ahead of Shambo Waters on the same night he lost the jury vote.

Mike Borassi, the oldest Survivor: Samoa castaway, was originally cast for which earlier season?

Tocantins lost Borassi to high blood pressure before filming, and in Samoa medics pulled him from the game after only five days.

Monica Padilla of Survivor: Samoa returned for which later season, whose cast was chosen by public vote?

Cambodia, subtitled Second Chance, drew its twenty returning players from a ballot of 32 candidates put to an online vote.

The Survivor: Samoa villain Russell Hantz saw his own tribe throw a challenge in which later season?

Redemption Island saw his Zapatera tribe lose on purpose to get rid of him, and he was out for good after losing a duel to Matt Elrod.

Survivor: Samoa runner-up Russell Hantz played a fourth time in which country's edition of the show?

Australia cast him on its Champions tribe, where he found an idol, declined to play it and was voted out on a revote, finishing 23rd.

After Survivor: Samoa, Russell Hantz reached the next season's final but lost the jury vote to whom?

Sandra Diaz-Twine won 6–3–0 and Hantz received no votes at all, giving her a second Survivor crown.

Foa Foa, the Survivor: Samoa tribe that lost six members before the merge, wore which color?

Yellow buffs marked the losing tribe, yet all three finalists came from it after its last four members overturned an eight-to-four deficit.

Foa Foa won the opening reward challenge of Survivor: Samoa and with it which fire-starting tool?

Flint was nearly the last thing the tribe won: it took just one more challenge before the merge.

Soon after Survivor wrapped its back-to-back shoots in Samoa in 2009, which disaster struck the islands?

A tsunami set off by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake hit Samoa that September; CBS said no crew members were harmed.

After finding his first Survivor: Samoa idol without a clue, Russell Hantz carried it off hidden where?

In his underwear went the idol he had pulled from the roots of a large tree, before he showed it to an ally to build trust.

Under a Survivor: Samoa twist, the leader of a reward-winning tribe chose one member to do what?

To observe the rival camp, the chosen player spent a night there and carried a clue to the idol hidden nearby, which is how Shambo Waters bonded with Foa Foa.

At Survivor: Samoa's final Tribal Council, Shambo Waters used which word a finalist did not know?

Feckless, meaning weak and ineffective, was her verdict on the Foa Foa leader's game, and the word turned out to be new to him.

At the Survivor: Samoa auction, Jaison Robinson bid high on a sealed container that held what?

A challenge advantage let Robinson move two knots up the rope in the endurance contest that followed, and he won immunity with it.

One Survivor: Samoa reward challenge ran with no host present and resembled which lawn game?

Bocce decided the reward after six players found only a chest of instructions waiting for them, and Dave Ball won it for Galu with a last ricochet shot.

The first episode of Survivor: Samoa took which title, reflecting how Russell Hantz saw his role?

The Puppet Master opened with Hantz striking secret deals with nearly every tribemate and getting his first target voted out on day three.

Jaison Robinson won a second straight Survivor: Samoa immunity in a knockout tournament of which sport?

Bowling in head-to-head rounds kept Robinson safe again, so the Foa Foa bloc voted out Dave Ball that night.

Which Foa Foa urban planner had 10 confessionals in Survivor: Samoa's first seven episodes to Russell Hantz's 44?

Liz Kim was the last player voted out before the merge; she had confronted Hantz about holding an idol, and he branded her untrustworthy.

One Survivor: Samoa reward challenge hid survival items under covers in a variation of which game?

Concentration with thirteen pairs came with a twist: leaders could give up a point to keep the items, and Galu took a fire-starting kit that way.

Survivor: Samoa's eventual champion first applied, with her boyfriend, for which other reality show?

The Amazing Race passed on the couple, and casting later contacted her about playing Survivor alone.

A phone handed out on a Survivor: Samoa reward trip held a video clue to an idol; which phone was it?

Palm Pre footage lasting eight seconds showed the idol under a stone near camp, and Hantz still got to it before anyone else on the trip.

Betsy Bolan, an early Survivor: Samoa exit who never trusted Russell Hantz, worked in which profession?

Police officer was a job Bolan had landed only at 47 after dreaming of it all her life; she distrusted Hantz from day one and was the second player voted out.

Ashley Trainer cost Foa Foa a Survivor: Samoa reward by quitting which kind of challenge?

Drinking blended food chosen by a spun wheel proved too much for Trainer amid taunts from the Galu bench, and she was voted out at the next Tribal Council.

Survivor: Samoa added two late alternates by spending the budget for which traditional segment?

The loved ones visit was dropped so two recruits, among them Ashley Trainer, could lift the cast from eighteen to twenty.

In one Survivor: Samoa immunity challenge, players broke tiles to earn spears fired from which weapon?

A crossbow shot nearest the center of the target gave Foa Foa's leader his first immunity, just ahead of the season's tied vote.

Russell Hantz won his only individual immunity of Survivor: Samoa at the last four by doing what?

Balancing a statue on a pole that grew a foot at a time, Hantz outlasted his last rival at seven feet, then voted out the player most likely to beat him.

Which relative of Survivor: Samoa's Russell Hantz later played twice, starting with South Pacific?

His nephew Brandon Hantz played South Pacific and Caramoan, while younger brother Willie turned up on Big Brother instead.

The Survivor: Samoa challenge abandoned after a medical collapse had offered which food as its reward?

Pizza was never handed out: the host called the challenge off, and the planned double vote was cancelled too, so nobody went home that night.