Episode 1: After the welcoming Ceremony was completed, Todd Herzog was placed on the Fei Long. Jean-Robert and Todd went exploring and discovered the tribe’s Tree Mail box. Jean-Robert voiced skepticism about Todd’s alleged job as a flight attendant, saying that although he liked him, he thought Todd “seemed like someone who’s a little devious.” Todd then admitted that he “really, really wanted to be there” and that he would do whatever it took to stay. He asked Jean-Robert to keep his suspicions to himself, and Jean-Robert agreed. Fei Long received their first Tree Mail: a dragon dance sculpture. Todd read the note to the tribe: The untested enemy you must face today. They may have the power to send one of you away. With your namesake held above you and honor in your heart, will you lead your tribe to victory or be the first one to depart. Anticipating the Immunity Challenge, Amanda suggested they read the copy of The Art of War and Aaron read aloud a passage to the tribe concerning the qualities of command. Todd interpreted the passage as a need to have a tribe leader, and noted that Aaron had already taken on such a role. He wanted to keep Aaron close to him and building a trust between them. Aaron, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to be the tribe’s leader, but established that the tribe would be a democracy. Fei Long won the first immunity challenge.

Episode 2: Amanda and Todd met up in the woods, agreeing that the strongest players should remain in the game until the merge. They then formed a two-strong alliance to work together until, at least, the merge. In discussing their similar strategies to blend in and do what they’re told, they recognised that Aaron responded well to hard workers. In order to have a strong player on their side, the two agreed to bring Aaron into the alliance as a third, hoping to use him as a mouthpiece to get their ideas going without having to take all the heat themselves. They pulled Aaron aside, with Todd pointing out that a strong alliance was needed in the game, and he swore on his life that he’d stick with the three. Aaron agreed and they shook on it, forming the first iteration of the Fei Long Alliance. In a series of 3-on-3 matches, each team has to push their large ball across a muddy field into their opponents’ goal, while preventing the opponents from doing the same. The first team to score two goals wins fishing gear and a fishing boat. Fei Long opted to kidnap Jamie as she was seen as a “spot of sunshine” and thought her being gone from Zhan Hu would be demoralizing. Jaime gave the sealed clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol at Fei Long to Leslie, seeing her as the weakest member of Fei Long. Leslie then shared the clue with Todd thinking that he would trust her and keep her around, but he saw this an opportunity to have the clue to himself if she were to be eliminated. Fei Long won their second immunity challenge in a row.

Episode 3: at Fei Long, James and Jean-Robert went swimming and mocked “Sister Christian” Leslie for her beliefs. As they began to talk strategy, Courtney and Todd (who were nearby collecting husks for fire) overheard them laughing and eavesdropped on the conversation. James stated that he, Jean-Robert and Denise needed to stick around, whilst Jean-Robert admitted he’d felt his bond with Todd weakening. Jean-Robert then said that Courtney should be the first to go, but James defended her, saying she was helpful around camp. The lewd comments shocked and disgusted the eavesdroppers, with Courtney whispering that she wasn’t going to sleep near either of them again. As James and Jean-Robert agreed to target Leslie at the next vote, Todd admitted in a confessional that he wanted to eliminate both of them. Courtney, Leslie, and Todd met up in the woods to discuss the prospect of getting rid of Jean-Robert in order to ameliorate the tension at camp and break up his bond with James. Todd then approached Amanda to discuss the two options of Jean-Robert versus Courtney. Amanda thought that Courtney would be a valuable asset later in the game, and the two agreed to vote for Jean-Robert. When they took the plan to Aaron, however, he resisted the idea, saying he wanted to keep Jean-Robert around for the challenges. He suggested targeting Leslie to prevent her flipping at the merge, but Todd cautioned that Jean-Robert could do the same, citing his profession as a poker player as evidence for his deceptive nature. Despite this, Aaron was adamant that Leslie was the bigger threat. Later, Jean-Robert corralled most of the tribe to reiterate his desire to get rid of the weaker girls in Courtney and Leslie, though the conversation died down as they approached. At Tribal Council, Todd joined the majority to vote off Leslie.

Episode 4: The reward challenge was won by Fei Long. Dave was kidnapped by Fei Long and chose to give the Hidden Immunity Idol clue to Todd after Todd agreed to return the favor should he be kidnapped. Fei Long won the immunity challenge as well.

Episode 5: Instead of a Reward Challenge, local fishermen dropped off messages instructing each tribe to select the two strongest members from the other tribe to be added to their own; Fei Long selected “Frosti” and Sherea while Zhan Hu selected Aaron and James. Todd expressed excitement that the switch would give them new opportunities for alliances. The new Fei Long tribe won the immunity challlenge, while Todd ally, Aaron, was voted out from Zhan Hu.

Episode 6: Todd teamed up with Amanda to find the Hidden Immunity Idol, sharing his knowledge of the clues with her. During the Reward Challenge, Peih-Gee tried to relay a message to Sherea about the strategy she and Jaime had devised, but when Sherea and “Frosti” were non-communicative, Peih-Gee, Jaime, and Erik began to doubt their plans. Fei Long won the reward challenge and kidnapped their former tribemate James. Todd convinced James to give him the Hidden Immunity Idol clue with a promise to save James in return. Back at camp, Peih-Gee, Jaime and Erik grew concern about their old tribemates and agreed that they needed to win the next Immunity Challenge. With the clue, Amanda and Todd discovered the location of the Hidden Immunity Idol attached to the paifang at the camp’s entrance. They attempted to retrieve it discreetly by pretending their main objective was dismantling the paifang, but were forced to reveal the idol to “Frosti” after he innocently came over to help them. Todd then gave the idol to James and told him how to find the idol at the Zhan Hu camp. Todd also told Denise and Courtney about the Hidden Immunity Idol and his plan for Fei Long to win the next Immunity Challenge. James would then reveal the Hidden Immunity Idol at Tribal Council, thus negating all votes against him, and eliminate Jaime. Despite the best efforts by the Fei Long tribe to win and James to help throw the food eating Immunity Challenge, Zhan Hu won immunity forcing Fei Long to vote someone out. The alliance of Todd, Amanda, Denise, and Courtney agreed that they could trust “Frosti” and would vote out Sherea. After thinking more about it, Courtney tried to convince them to vote out Jean-Robert due to her dislike of him. Todd and Amanda were torn on whom to trust, but they stuck to their original plan after a tense Tribal Council, and Sherea was voted out.

Episode 7: James retrieved the Hidden Immunity Idol from the Zhan Hu paifang after Peih-Gee left to join Jaime and Erik at the river. The other members of Zhan Hu noticed that the paifang was different, prompting them to pick up a false plaque James removed from the other side of the paifang. Later, Jaime searched James’ bag and discovered he had two plaques hidden in his pants. She did not actually see the plaques, and thus did not realize the plaque she had was a false Idol. Courtney continued her push to get Jean-Robert voted out, irritating Todd who felt the need to keep Jean-Robert to maintain Fei Long’s majority. On day 20, the tribes were merged, after which they enjoyed a feast of food and alcohol, while being entertained by Chinese acrobats. The merged castaways named their new tribe Hae Da Fung (Black Fighting Wind). The Immunity Challenge was won by “Frosti.” Jean-Robert and Todd discussed the plan to take out Jaime, Peih-Gee, and then Erik over the next several votes. However, Jean-Robert didn’t like the idea, arguing that everybody was suspicious of Jaime, but that Peih-Gee was “only beginning to work her magic” and he didn’t want to end up being “okay with her” in a few days. He talked over Todd to try to get the alliance to vote out Peih-Gee, and finished by threatening Todd that he would be held accountable if he was double-crossed. Jean-Robert announced that he knew Todd and Amanda were in the lead, but that Todd had more power, and that if he was screwed over, he would lobby hard to convince the jury not to give Todd a million dollars. Jaime then approached Todd to plead her case. She revealed that she had knowledge about the Hidden Immunity Idol, and who had them, and that if she was kept around to the next vote, she would share that information with Todd. He asked how she knew, and she said she would explain it the next day. However, Todd saw straight through the plan given that he already knew James had the Idols. After the votes were cast at Tribal Council, Jaime tried to play her false Hidden Immunity Idol, but Jeff tossed the plaque into the fire after announcing that it was not a Hidden Immunity Idol. The votes cast against Jaime counted and she was voted out.

Episode 8: Todd, along with Amanda, James and Jean-Robert won the Reward Challenge. As part of winning the reward challenge, Amanda, James, Jean-Robert and Todd received a scroll containing all the clues and an additional clue to the whereabouts of the Hidden Immunity Idol at camp. With his new knowledge about the Hidden Immunity Idol, Jean-Robert searched the remaining wooden plaques at the campsite for the Idol, not knowing that both Idols had already been found. Todd, feeling slighted by James having both Hidden Immunity Idols and not giving one to him, approached Amanda and “Frosti” about blindsiding James at Tribal Council. Thinking that he had the Hidden Immunity Idol, Jean-Robert told Erik that he had the Idol, but Erik told him that he thought James had both of them. Jean-Robert confronted James about the Idols hoping to get an alliance with him, but James denied that he had it. Jean-Robert then approached Todd about blindsiding James, which caused Todd to alter his plan to do the same. However, he changed his mind and formed an alliance with James, Amanda, Courtney, and “Frosti.” They decided not to tell Denise due to her wavering friendship. Fearing that Jean-Robert might overthrow him as the strategy guy of the game, Todd turned the majority Fei Long alliance to Jean-Robert who was voted out.

Episode 9: Todd, James, and Denise were concerned that Courtney would not vote for “Frosti” due to her close friendship with him. Seen as a greater threat to win challenges than Erik and as a possible threat to turn Courtney to his side, “Frosti” was unanimously voted out.

Episode 10: A recap of the first 27 days including previously unaired bonus footage.

Episode 11: Amanda convinced Todd and Denise to go along with her plot to blindside James. Thinking that she was next to go and trying to go out fighting, Peih-Gee talked to Amanda about James possibly having a Hidden Immunity Idol and Amanda told Peih-Gee to “just not do anything.” Peih-Gee shared the possible plot with Erik, who had to decide if it was in his best interest to vote with Peih-Gee and vote for Todd or join the possible plot by voting out James. James was blindsided at Tribal Council without playing either Hidden Immunity Idol, and was voted out.

Episode 12: At the Reward Challenge, the castaways were surprised by the appearance of their loved ones with whom they teamed up in the challenge. The team of Denise and her husband won, and selected Amanda and Todd, along with their sisters, to join them on the trip. Peih-Gee and Erik tried to get Denise to switch to their side to force a tie at Tribal Council by voting for Todd, but the Fei Long alliance held and Erik, as the only remaining member of the former Zhan Hu who wasn’t immune, was voted out.

Episode 13: Denise won the reward challenge. She then chose to take Courtney and she chose Todd for strategic reasons. Back at camp, Amanda and Peih-Gee started to talk, resolved their conflicts with each other and became somewhat close. Amanda flirted with the idea of blindsiding Todd. Later, when the others returned to camp, Peih-Gee attempted to get Denise to vote along with her and Amanda, telling Denise that she would be voted out once Peih-Gee was eliminated. At the Tribal Council, Amanda and Denise decided to keep their allegiance with Todd; and Peih-Gee, the last original Zhan Hu member, was voted out.

Episode 14: At the final Reward Challenge, Amanda won a food reward challenge. Given the choices of having the reward herself, sharing it with one person or sharing it with two people, she chose to split it with only Todd. While eating their reward, Amanda questioned Todd’s loyalty to their alliance and he reassured her that he was true to their alliance with Courtney. The Immunity Challenge was preceded by a torch remembrance of the voted out castaways that ended at a statue of Guan Yin. Amanda continued her winning streak by winning the final Immunity Challenge. During the challenge, Denise tried to convince Amanda to drop out and hand Denise immunity in exchange for a promise Denise wouldn’t vote her out. Amanda told Denise to forget it and won Immunity for herself. After the challenge, Denise continued her lobbying to not be voted out and finally decided to move against Todd, but her efforts were unsuccessful and she was voted out.

Final Tribal Council

At the Final Tribal Council, all the three were confronted by the jury for their actions during the course of 39 days. Amanda was lambasted for apologizing too much and not giving reasons to the jury as to why she chose to vote them out, nor even admitting to ever lying to them. Courtney was seen as the most honest of the three, but was criticized for her personality and her differences with some members of the jury, as well as being too dependent on Todd and Amanda. Todd was seen as the most manipulative and deceitful of the three, but was more honest about his lying (unlike Amanda) and was seen as playing the game since Day One (unlike Courtney). When all was said and done, Todd was voted the Sole Survivor with a vote of 4–2–1.

Statistics

Tribes: Fei Long, and Hae Da Fung

Alliance: Fei Long Alliance

Challenge wins: 8

Votes against: 5

Votes from the jury: 4 out of 7