It was officially announced by Jeff Probst during the Survivor: Panama finale. Applications were due February 3, 2006. In March 2006 about 800 applicants were selected for an interview by CBS. Out of those 800, about 48 semi-finalists were selected to go to Los Angeles during late April and early May. Out of those semi-finalists, 20 were selected to participate in the show between late June and August 2006 on the atoll of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands.[1] The location was discovered by the website Survivor Maps before it was revealed on the Survivor: Panama finale. The show premiered on September 14, 2006. The two-hour season finale aired on December 17, 2006, followed by the Reunion show live from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. [2]

There were several new twists and first time events that occurred during this season:

For the first time in Survivor, the contestants were divided into four tribes by race and one ethnicity; African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Caucasian-American. Previously, tribes have been divided by gender and age. The respective tribes' names were Manihiki ("Hiki"), Puka Puka ("Puka"), Aitutaki ("Aitu") and Rarotonga ("Raro"). In episode 3, the four tribes evenly divided into two new mixed tribes, just Aitutaki and Rarotonga. After the merge, the tribe decided to name themselves Aitutonga.

A 'mutiny' offer was made to all remaining players during this season. In Survivor: Thailand, mutiny was offered but no one accepted the offer. In this season, two players from the same tribe accepted the mutiny offer, which turned out to be a critically important turning point in the game, as it caused the remaining tribemembers of that tribe to become underdogs through the rest of the competition.

During one Immunity challenge, the losing tribe was given a bottle with a note in it that was only to be revealed after that tribe voted off a member at the following Tribal Council. As it turned out, the note required the losing tribe to immediately vote a second person off, thus creating the first time a tribe has voted off two members during a single Tribal Council.

The concept of Exile Island returned with a picture of a sunken ship rather than a skull for decor and/or shelter, with a hidden immunity idol located somewhere on the island. While the idol itself was never used to prevent a player from being eliminated, it was used strategically as a lure to swing a vote at a key turning point in the game.

Instead of the usual Final Two players facing a jury of seven, there was a Final Three facing a jury of nine, which included players that were voted out before the merge. The final jury setup meant that a two or three-way tie to decide the winner of the game was possible, though the method to resolve this tie was unknown at the time. [3] However, based on the finale shown on December 17, 2006, the method used to tally the votes suggests that if a tie were to occur, resolution would have been made at that point during the finale as opposed to during the final Tribal Council.

• Official CBS Survivor Cook Islands Website
• Survivor Fever
• Survivor Maps for Cook Islands

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