Each week Inside Survivor contributor Rob Brodeur will be collecting various Survivor related statistics and information based off the latest episode of Survivor: Winners At War.

Merge/Jury

Koru is the 15th black tribe in Survivor. It is the 14th black merged tribe.

The merged tribe name “Koru” is a Maori word meaning “loop” or “coil,” and it’s based on the spiral shape prominently featured in Maori art.

The merged tribe is on the former Sele beach.

4 out of 5 of the women on the merged tribe are wearing a black merge buff for the second time. Sophie is the only one to never wear a black merge buff.

This is the first 12 person merged tribe on a 20 player season since Caramoan, 14 seasons prior.

Every season to have a black tribe was represented in Winners at War except Panama, China, and Worlds Apart. Pearl Islands – Balboa – Sandra. Cook Islands – Aitutonga – Parvati & Yul. Tocantins – Timbira – Tyson. Heroes vs. Villains – Yin Yang – Sandra, Parvati, Rob, & Tyson. Redemption Island – Murlonio – Rob. One World – Tikiano – Kim. Philippines – Dangrayne – Denise. Cagayan – Solarrion – Tony & Sarah. Kaoh Rong – Dara – Michele. Millennials vs. Gen X – Vinaka – Adam. Ghost Island – Lavita – Wendell. 12/20 winners this season have previously worn a black buff. Amber, Ethan, Danni, Natalie, Jeremy, Nick, Ben, and Sophie have never worn one previous to Winners at War. Jeremy, Nick, Ben, and Sophie are the only players on the merged tribe who haven’t previously been on a back tribe.

This is the first merged tribe that Parvati hasn’t been on in all four seasons that she participated in.

This is the longest gap between black buffs since Pearl Islands – Panama. There have been three seasons since there has been a black buff, with the most recent one being on Ghost Island.

Jeremy, Sarah, and Tyson are the 9th, 10th, and 11th players to be a member of a merged tribe at least three times in their Survivor career. Amanda – China, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains. Andrea – Redemption Island, Caramoan, Game Changers. Cirie – Panama, Micronesia, Game Changers. Jeremy – San Juan del Sur, Cambodia, Winners at War. Joe – Worlds Apart, Cambodia, Edge of Extinction. Ozzy – Cook Islands, Micronesia, South Pacific, Game Changers. Parvati – Cook Islands, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains. Rob – Marquesas, All-Stars, Redemption Island. Rupert – Pearl Islands, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains. Sarah – Cagayan, Game Changers, Winners at War. Tyson – Tocantins, Blood vs. Water, Winners at War. Amanda, Andrea, Jeremy, Joe, Ozzy, and Sarah are the only six players who have played 3+ times and have made it to the merge every time.

This is the first time in five seasons that Rob is a jury member. Marquesas – Voted out pre-jury. All-Stars – Runner-up. Heroes vs. Villains – Voted out pre-jury. Redemption Island – Winner.

This is also the first time in three seasons that Ethan is a jury member. Africa – Winner. All-Stars – Voted out pre-jury.



Tribal Council

Wendell was voted out 9-3. This is the second 9-3 vote in Survivor history. The first was in episode 8 of Cambodia. This episode, however, is the first 9-3 vote in which all votes were counted, as Kelley negated 9 votes against her in Cambodia. Jeremy was one of the 9 votes in both Cambodia and Winners at War.

Wendell received votes in the past three episodes.

He received more votes in this episode (9) than he did during the entire season of Ghost Island (5).

Wendell has been both the lowest-ranking member of a merged tribe and highest-ranking member of a merged tribe. He was the highest-ranking member of Lavita in Ghost Island and the lowest ranking member of Koru in Winners at War. Aras, JT, Rob, and Sarah hold this distinction as well. Aras was the highest-ranking member of Gitanos in Panama and the lowest-ranking member of Kasama in Blood vs. Water. JT was the highest-ranking member of Forza in Tocantins and the lowest-ranking member of Yin Yang in Heroes vs. Villains. Rob was the lowest-ranking member of Soliantu in Marquesas and the highest-ranking member of Murlonio in Redemption Island. Sarah was the lowest-ranking member of Solarrion in Cagayan and the highest-ranking member of Maku Maku in Game Changers.

Adam received votes at the first merged tribal council in both seasons he played. Both times, the person who went home was voted out with 9 votes, and Adam received the remaining votes.

Wendell is the 23rd male who was the merge boot in Survivor.

Wendell is the first new school player voted out since Natalie in episode 1.

The three remaining new Sele members are the only players that voted for Adam in this episode.

Ben and Denise are the only players who have voted for the player that was eliminated at every tribal they attended.

Ben, Jeremy, Michele, Sophie, and Tony are the only players without any votes against them this season.

Rob was the only player voted out while on the Yara tribe pre-merge this season. Everyone else was voted out of either Dakal or Sele.

Yara is the 10th tribe to have only one player eliminated/voted out (Rob) while on the tribe. The others are as follows: Rotu in Marquesas (Gabriel). Manihiki in Cook Islands (Sekou). Aparri in Cagayan (Alexis). Hunahpu in San Juan del Sur (Drew). Masaya in Worlds Apart (So). Bayon in Cambodia (Monica). Chanloh in Kaoh Rong (Liz). Ikabula in Millennials vs. Gen X (Michaela). Lesu in Edge of Extinction (Rick). There was a five season streak of one-player tribe eliminations from season 28 (Cagayan) to season 33 (Millennials vs. Gen X).

Sarah is the only player left this season who was previously the first player voted out at the merge. She was voted out during the merge episode of Cagayan, with Tony being one of the votes against her. Rob was also the first merge boot in Marquesas, but he’s currently on the Edge of Extinction.

An even number of original Dakal and Sele members have been voted out so far this season. Dakal – Amber, Tyson, Sandra, Yul, Wendell. Sele – Natalie, Danni, Ethan, Rob, Parvati.

With Wendell being voted out, everyone that attended the pre-season EW panel has been voted out except for Sophie. Amber, Ethan, Parvati, Rob, Sandra, and Wendell have been voted out.



Re-Entry Challenge – “Back in the Saddle”

Tyson won the re-entry challenge Only men have won the re-entry challenges for the Edge of Extinction. Chris and Rick won in Edge of Extinction.

This challenge was previously used as the re-entry challenge in Edge of Extinction. Both players that won it were voted out in episode 4. Rick was voted out in episode 4 of Edge of Extinction. Tyson was voted out in episode 4 of Winners at War.

Tyson is the first returning player from the Edge of Extinction to not be automatically given a hidden immunity idol.

Tyson is the 11th person to be voted out and return to the game through a twist. Burton & Lil in Pearl Islands. Matt & Andrea in Redemption Island. Ozzy (twice) in South Pacific. Laura B, Laura M, and Tina in Blood vs. Water. Rick & Chris in Edge of Extinction.



Immunity Challenge – “Get a Grip”

Jeremy joins Boston Rob and Andrea as the third player to win individual immunity in three different seasons. Jeremy is the only one of the three who wasn’t on Redemption Island.

Jeremy and Denise won individual immunity in this episode. They also won individual immunity which made them safe at the first merge tribal council they attended in both of their first seasons.

The first time Denise won the first individual immunity challenge, she was the last woman standing and won alongside a male.

This challenge has previously been used in Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains, South Pacific, Blood vs. Water, Worlds Apart, and Game Changers. Tyson has won this challenge before. This challenge has appeared in every season Tyson was on. He was eliminated before this challenge in Heroes vs. Villains, and it was used as a Redemption Island challenge on Blood vs. Water. Tyson and Sarah have competed in this challenge before.



Edge of Extinction/Fire Tokens

Amber gave Rob one fire token.

Rob and Natalie bought an advantage for the re-entry challenge and an idol, spending 4 tokens each.

Danni, Ethan, and Tyson bought an advantage for the re-entry challenge, spending one token each.

Jeremy and Denise earned one fire token each for winning the immunity challenge.

Wendell gave one fire token to Michele and one token to Nick after being voted out. Michele and Nick are the second and third players to receive fire tokens from more than one person that was voted out. Parvati was the first, earning fire tokens from Ethan and Rob.

None of the players left on the Edge of Extinction have any remaining fire tokens. The only other player currently without any fire tokens is Tyson, who was previously on the Edge of Extinction.

Michele has the most fire tokens with 4.

Confessionals

Adam, Ben, Jeremy, and Tony had the most confessionals this episode with 3 each.

Michele had the least confessionals this episode with 0. Amber, Ethan, Yul, and Parvati also had 0 confessionals. Michele is the only player left in the game who didn’t have a confessional this episode.

Adam has the most confessionals this season with 28. There hasn’t been an episode where he’s had less than 2 confessionals.



Ratings

The eighth episode received 8.2 million viewers and 1.6 in the Adults 18-49 demo.

Episode Title

The episode title “This Is Where the Battle Begins” is a take on a line that was said by Ben during a confessional. He said “This is where the battle starts” when talking about the merge.

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