Survivor: Samoa
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50 free Survivor: Samoa trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Survivor: Samoa is the season that split the fan base. One player found idols nobody had told him about, lied to nearly everyone and filled the screen with his confessionals, then lost the jury vote to an ally many viewers felt they had hardly met. Fans have counted confessionals and argued about the edit ever since. This quiz covers the whole season: the two starting tribes and what their names mean, the medical evacuations, the idol plays that turned an eight-to-four deficit around, the jury's verdict, and where the cast turned up afterwards. A handful of questions look at the confessional count itself, including who dominated the screen time and who was left nearly invisible. It is written for people who watched the season and want to test their memory, and for newer fans working back through the show's most argued-about years.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Russell Hantz told his Survivor: Samoa tribe a made-up story about living through which real disaster?
Hurricane Katrina
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.
Q 02On night one of Survivor: Samoa, Russell Hantz secretly burned which of Jaison Robinson's belongings?
His socks
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.
Q 03Which pharmaceutical sales rep beat Russell Hantz in the Survivor: Samoa jury vote, 7–2–0?
Natalie White
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.
Q 04At the Survivor: Samoa reunion, Russell Hantz offered the woman who beat him $100,000 for what?
The winner's title
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.
Q 05Which Galu leader collapsed mid-challenge in Survivor: Samoa and was medically evacuated on day 15?
Russell Swan
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.
Q 06Which animal did the eventual champion of Survivor: Samoa kill and cook for her tribe after the merge?
A rat
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.
Q 07Which reward animal did Shambo Waters accidentally let escape at Galu's camp in Survivor: Samoa?
A chicken
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.
Q 08Russell Hantz began filming which all-returnee season just twenty days after Survivor: Samoa wrapped?
Heroes vs. Villains
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.
Q 09Fans count confessionals to measure the Survivor: Samoa edit; what is a confessional on the show?
A player's private commentary
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.
Q 10Which business did Survivor: Samoa villain Russell Hantz co-own with relatives in Dayton, Texas?
An oil company
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.
Q 11Survivor: Samoa was filmed on which island, home to the Samoan capital of Apia?
Upolu
Upolu is the most populous of the Samoan islands, and the crew stayed on to shoot the following season there.
Q 12The dominant early tribe of Survivor: Samoa was called Galu, the Samoan word for what?
Wave
Wave is the meaning of Galu, while rival tribe Foa Foa was named for the trumpet shell.
Q 13The merged tribe of Survivor: Samoa was named Aiga, a Samoan word with which meaning?
Family
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.
Q 21Shambo Waters of Survivor: Samoa had been a sergeant in which branch of the U.S. military?
The Marines
The Marines had her for five years, and CBS billed her as the first female Marine sergeant to play the game.
Q 22Jaison Robinson of Survivor: Samoa, a Stanford graduate, had made the U.S. national team in which sport?
Water polo
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.
Q 23John Fincher, whose flipped vote swung Survivor: Samoa, was billed by CBS as which profession?
Rocket scientist
Rocket scientist was Fincher's listed job, and he later married Parvati Shallow, the champion of Survivor: Micronesia.
Q 14John Fincher flipped on Galu during a 5–5 tie in Survivor: Samoa because he feared which tiebreaker?
Drawing rocks
Drawing rocks would have left his fate to chance, so Fincher switched on the revote and handed the Foa Foa alliance the majority.
Q 15Which Survivor: Samoa finalist, a doctor elected Foa Foa's leader on day one, received no jury votes?
Mick Trimming
Mick Trimming, an anesthesiology resident, was largely ignored by jurors, who faulted his lack of leadership while Foa Foa lost almost every early challenge.
Q 16Which Survivor: Samoa castaway was voted out at the merge with an unplayed idol in his pocket?
Erik Cardona
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.
Q 17Russell Hantz's second idol in Survivor: Samoa voided seven votes and sent which hairstylist home?
Kelly Sharbaugh
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.
Q 18Which Galu alliance leader won two straight Survivor: Samoa immunities, then went home on a tie revote?
Laura Morett
Laura Morett later returned in Blood vs. Water, playing alongside her daughter Ciera Eastin.
Q 19Jeff Probst threw which Foa Foa bar manager out of a Survivor: Samoa challenge for kicking an opponent?
Ben Browning
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.
Q 20Which three-time immunity winner in Survivor: Samoa has the fewest confessionals of any day-38 exit?
Brett Clouser
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.
Q 24Which phone carrier sponsored the fan-voted award that Russell Hantz won for Survivor: Samoa?
Sprint
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.
Q 25Mike Borassi, the oldest Survivor: Samoa castaway, was originally cast for which earlier season?
Tocantins
Tocantins lost Borassi to high blood pressure before filming, and in Samoa medics pulled him from the game after only five days.
Q 26Monica Padilla of Survivor: Samoa returned for which later season, whose cast was chosen by public vote?
Cambodia
Cambodia, subtitled Second Chance, drew its twenty returning players from a ballot of 32 candidates put to an online vote.
Q 27The Survivor: Samoa villain Russell Hantz saw his own tribe throw a challenge in which later season?
Redemption Island
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.
Q 28Survivor: Samoa runner-up Russell Hantz played a fourth time in which country's edition of the show?
Australia
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.
Q 29After Survivor: Samoa, Russell Hantz reached the next season's final but lost the jury vote to whom?
Sandra Diaz-Twine
Sandra Diaz-Twine won 6–3–0 and Hantz received no votes at all, giving her a second Survivor crown.
Q 30Foa Foa, the Survivor: Samoa tribe that lost six members before the merge, wore which color?
Yellow
Yellow buffs marked the losing tribe, yet all three finalists came from it after its last four members overturned an eight-to-four deficit.