| Survivor: USA | |
|---|---|
| Filming Location | Virginia, USA |
| Survivors | 18 |
| Winner | Abraham Lincoln |
| Runner(s)-up | William Howard Taft |
| Returnees | Abraham Lincoln (8, 50, 100) James Madison (8) Ronald Reagan (8, 50) Rutherford B. Hayes (8) Ulysses S. Grant (8) George Washington (12, 20) Theodore Roosevelt (12) Thomas Jefferson (12, 20) |
| Series Chronology | |
| Previous Season | Elwood |
| Next Season | Sound Stage |
| DVD Cover | |
 | |
Survivor: USA is the third season of Silly Survivor written by Luke.
At the time of its airing, USA was considered a "bold move" by critics, due to its expanded length and cast. However, it featured a vast array of memorable players and moves, turning out to be a huge success with fans. Despite this, the expanded cast concept would not be returned to for five more seasons.
Twists[]
- Theme: United States of America Presidents
- Tribe Switch
- Double Tribal Council
- Purple Rock Tiebreaker
Castaways[]
| Castaway | Original Tribe |
Switched Tribe |
Merged Tribe |
Finish | Votes Against | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Calvin Coolidge | Liberal | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
3 | ||
|
Dwight D. Eisenhower | Liberal | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
6 | ||
|
Andrew Jackson | Conservative | 3rd Voted Out Day 7 |
6 | ||
|
John F. Kennedy | Liberal | 4th Voted Out Day 7 |
5 | ||
|
Bill Clinton | Conservative | Conservative | 5th Voted Out Day 9 |
4 | |
|
George Washington | Conservative | Liberal | 6th Voted Out Day 12 |
4 | |
|
Herbert Hoover | Liberal | Liberal | 7th Voted Out Day 15 |
12 | |
|
Richard Nixon | Liberal | Liberal | 8th Voted Out Day 18 |
4 | |
|
Theodore Roosevelt | Conservative | Liberal | Liberty | Eliminated Day 21 |
0 |
|
John Adams | Conservative | Conservative | 9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24 |
5 | |
|
Jimmy Carter | Conservative | Liberal | 10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
6 | |
|
Ronald Reagan | Liberal | Conservative | 11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30 |
9 | |
|
James Madison | Liberal | Liberal | 12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33 |
21 | |
|
Ulysses S. Grant | Liberal | Conservative | 13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36 |
7 | |
|
Thomas Jefferson | Conservative | Conservative | Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37 |
3 | |
|
Rutherford B. Hayes | Liberal | Conservative | 14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 |
1 | |
|
William Howard Taft | Conservative | Liberal | Runner-Up | 4 | |
|
Abraham Lincoln | Conservative | Conservative | Sole Survivor | 18 | |
Season Summary[]
On a beach in the United States of America, the largest season of Survivor yet started with eighteen former presidents arriving to compete for a million dollars and the third title of Sole Survivor. Reaching the beach, the players were asked to randomly draw buffs to determine their tribes. On the Conservative tribe was Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Bill Clinton, George Washington, Jimmy Carter, John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and William Howard Taft. On the Liberal tribe was Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, James Madison, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant. Heading to their respective camps, both tribes immediately started focusing on camp life and trying to survive. George took up the leader position on Conservative, while Ronald took it up on Liberal. After much work setting up camp, alliances slowly started to form. Ronald gathered JFK, Richard and Rutherford into an alliance to take out the opposition. On Conservative, John brought George and Thomas together for the "1776" alliance.
Upon losing the first challenge, Liberal began to scramble, having focused more on camp life than strategizing. Ronald's alliance's plan seemed simple, to take out the weakest link Calvin. However, Dwight and James began to strategize on their own, going after Herbert. Convincing Herbert to vote Calvin, Ronald told him about Dwight and James' plans. Conflict filled the entire camp before everyone headed for Tribal Council. A frightened Herbert voted James for targeting him while JFK flipped to vote Ronald for being too abrasive, Dwight and James stuck to the plan of voting Herbert, while an out of the loop Calvin and Ulysses voted Dwight. Ultimately, Ronald, Richard and Rutherford stuck together and sent Calvin out of the game. Conservative went on to win both reward and Immunity. The Liberal tribe declined with JFK now being a target of Ronald's alliance. After a debate, Ronald's alliance decided to target Dwight, one of their main enemies. Stories began to mix and everyone went into Tribal confused. Dwight voted Herbert, JFK voted Ronald, James voted JFK, and Ulysses voted James. Herbert sided with Ronald's alliance and Dwight was voted out.
A surprising new twist, the double Tribal, hit the castaways. Two players would win individual Immunity, then both tribes would attend Tribal and vote someone out. Bill and Ronald won individual Immunity. Andrew began to play hard, trying to hook alliances with everyone to vote the social threat Abraham. Abraham meshed himself into 1776 as their target fell on Andrew. Ronald's alliance, now with Herbert, turned their focus on taking out the "traitor" JFK. Knowing their situation, JFK and James began to panic and targeted Herbert once again. At Conservative's Tribal, William threw a vote for Jimmy to confuse the tribe, while Bill sided with Andrew to take out Abraham. Jimmy and Theodore sided with 1776 and voted out Andrew. At Liberal's Tribal, Rutherford threw his vote for Ulysses, who hadn't yet received a vote, while Ulysses sided with 1776 and JFK was eliminated. James was left alone on the bottom.
The game suddenly took a turn when a new twist was announced. The contestants drew new buffs and their tribes were switched. Abraham, Bill, John, Ronald, Rutherford, Thomas and Ulysses made up the new Conservative tribe. George, Herbert, James, Jimmy, Richard, Theodore and William made up the new Liberal tribe. James viewed the twist as a new beginning for him, but there was one issue. The former Conservatives had the majority on both tribes. George, Jimmy, Theodore and William agreed to stick together, but James told George and William that he'd be willing to flip. On Conservative, both sides were divided by former tribe with Ronald, Rutherford and Ulysses in the minority. After Liberal won Immunity, the former Liberals on Conservative were in trouble. Feeling out of place with his former tribe, Bill approached the former Liberals with the idea of voting out Abraham, the major social threat and camp workhorse, looking at the game in the long run. Sneakily, Ulysses leaked the plan to Abraham. Abraham, angered, suggested to John and Thomas that they target Bill instead of Ronald. The plan seemed risky and they were all hesitant to go through with it. Going into Tribal, no one was certain of what would happen. Ronald and Rutherford voted with Bill, viewing it as the only way to save themselves. However, Ulysses flipped to vote Bill with Abraham, John and Thomas. Bill was then voted out of the game, leaving Ronald and Rutherford shocked and confused.
Despite the setback, Conservative won the next reward and Immunity. The plan seemed to be to vote Herbert, whom James had wanted out from the start. However, Richard and Herbert decided to target George, who was seen as the leader of the opposition. With some convincing from Richard, Jimmy and Theodore didn't know who to vote. William once again threw his vote for Jimmy, but Jimmy and Theodore feared Richard to the point of voting George with him and Herbert, while George and James were left in the dust voting Herbert. George was eliminated and James was once again left out of the loop and fearing for his life in the game. Conservative continued to win reward and Immunity while James tried to convince Richard that Herbert was useless. Herbert and Richard seemed set in stone to vote James, but Richard could see James' point. Herbert was weak, didn't work around camp, and would probably just bring the tribe down. At Tribal Council, Richard took a stab in the dark and Herbert was voted out in the first unanimous vote of the season. Unknowingly, this mistake put Richard on the bottom. Conservative continued to dominate challenges, and despite Richard's efforts to vote out James, Richard was now on the bottom and was voted out unanimously at the following Tribal Council.
With ten people remaining, the contestants were surprised when the Liberals were sent to the Conservative beach for the biggest merge in Survivor history. Abraham, James, Jimmy, John, Ronald, Rutherford, Theodore, Thomas, Ulysses and William merged into what Ronald named the "Liberty" tribe. At the first individual Immunity challenge, John won Immunity and could not be voted out. Ronald and Rutherford agreed to stick together, bringing Ulysses back in. John, Abraham and Thomas reunited to resurrect 1776. 1776 decided it best to take out James, a major underdog who had been hanging on just barely the whole season. Ronald and Rutherford joined forces with the crew to vote James, while James gathered Jimmy, Theodore and William to vote other likability threat Abraham. Ulysses found himself in between alliances, not knowing who would be the better one to vote. After much thinking, Ulysses sided with James' alliance and voted Abraham. No one else flipped and everyone was surprised to see the first tie of the season between Abraham and James. They were warned that the tiebreaker was going to be different from previous seasons. If they could not come to a unanimous decision to eliminate Abraham or James, both of them would become immune and everyone else except John would draw a rock. The colored rock would determine the elimination purely by chance. Not a single person changed their mind, so the Tribal went down to rocks. Having zero votes against him all season, Theodore drew the purple rock and was kicked from the game.
A rivalry ensued between Abraham and James, everyone now questioning their position and constantly running to both sides. After winning a food reward, Ronald's name started coming up, him being the biggest threat to win. People began to agree on voting him instead of either Abraham or James, but then Ronald won Immunity. James had managed to flip John into voting Abraham, to which John spoke to Thomas about in private. Thomas then informed Abraham, Ronald and Rutherford, who started to fear John and contemplated whether to vote him or James. At Tribal, James and John voted Abraham along with Jimmy and William. Ulysses, the swing vote once again, sided with Abraham, Ronald, Rutherford and Thomas and sent John out of the game. John became the first member of the largest Jury yet. Going back to camp, Abraham, James and Ronald once again appeared to be public enemies number 1, 2 and 3. William surprisingly pulled off a reward and Immunity win in a row and alliances were put to the test of who to target. James and Jimmy went for Ronald, viewing it as their last chance to take him out, while Ronald and Rutherford targeted James for the same reason. Abraham, however, decided to try a sneaky plan to shake the game. By keeping James in, he could keep the target on himself down, but weaken James by voting out his closest ally. Abraham brought Thomas, Ulysses and William into a new foursome called "The Unknown Four," an alliance no one would see coming. At Tribal, the Ronald and James voters stayed the same, but the Unknown Four came after Jimmy and voted him out of the game.
With no one being able to predict the game anymore, everyone was scared. Rutherford won a reward, followed by Abraham winning Immunity. The plan appeared to be to target either James or Ronald. The Unknown Four, now in control of the game, became split and unsure who to vote. At Tribal, the alliance decided to target the biggest threat to win the game. Ronald and Rutherford voted James, but James sided with the Unknown Four and powerhouse Ronald was voted out of the game, changing everything up completely. Now alone, Rutherford went mad at camp and dumped half the rice supply. James felt on top of the world, feeling that now only Abraham stood in his way of winning. After William surprisingly pulled off another reward and Immunity win, the game was on with the two big targets vulnerable. James, feeling left out of recent conversations, went to Abraham for a potential secret alliance. James suggested Ulysses for the vote, which Abraham accepted, feeling he could get James to target someone else. James went to a vengeful Rutherford with the plan, to which Rutherford agreed. Ideas for voting floated around camp, but ultimately, James and Rutherford's votes for Abraham weren't enough. The Unknown Four took over the vote and eliminated the underdog James. Rutherford was now the new underdog.
Everyone kicked back, knowing Rutherford was going to be next. Rutherford tried to scramble, but it was useless. However, no one expected Rutherford to pull out both a reward and Immunity win, which he did. It was the Unknown Four's turn to scramble. Fearing William, Ulysses cast a vote for him. Knowing Ulysses was very strategic and could potentially win the game, everyone unanimously voted Ulysses out. The final four going into the season finale were Abraham, Rutherford, Thomas and William. The plan continued to be to vote out Rutherford, and Abraham won Immunity. However, everyone feared that the title of being in a secret alliance would work for the winner, so the Unknown Three targeted each other. Abraham sided with William in voting Thomas, the biggest threat in their eyes, but Thomas went to Rutherford to target William. At Tribal, the votes were tied between the two. Abraham and Rutherford re-voted, neither switching their votes, landing both Thomas and William in a fire-making tiebreaker challenge. The tiebreaker was very close, both competitors only seconds apart, but William succeeded in making a high enough fire first. Thomas was eliminated from the game.
As the final three, Abraham, Rutherford and William paid tribute to their fallen comrades as they walked into their Final Immunity Challenge. The challenge was to keep a hand on a pole for the longest time. An hour into it, William dropped out. After four hours and twenty-one minutes, Rutherford slipped and Abraham won the final Immunity and the decision on who went with him to the final two. He decided that he had to stay loyal to his alliance and that Rutherford would be a tough beat for him. Abraham eliminated Rutherford and took William to the final two.
Returning to camp, Abraham and William celebrated being the only ones left. They had a big breakfast the following morning, then burned the camp down before going into Final Tribal Council. Facing the Jury, Abraham was commended for his leadership, social game and strong physical prowess. William was praised for his unlikelihood of doing well and surprising everyone. Months later in front of a live audience, the Jury votes were read. In a close 4-3 vote, Abraham Lincoln was declared the Sole Survivor of Survivor: USA.
The Game[]
| Episode | Title | Challenges | Eliminated | Vote | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | |||||
| 1 | "Win for My Country!" | None | Conservative | Calvin | 3-2-2-1-1 | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
| 2 | "A Landslide" | Conservative | Conservative | Dwight | 4-1-1-1-1 | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
| 3 | "I Could Kill A Man" | None | Bill Ronald |
Andrew JFK |
6-2-1 4-2-1 |
3rd Voted Out Day 7 4th Voted Out Day 7 |
| 4 | "Goodbye to Recency" | None | Liberal | Bill | 4-3 | 5th Voted Out Day 9 |
| 5 | "Down With the Leader!" | Conservative | Conservative | George | 4-2-1 | 6th Voted Out Day 12 |
| 6 | "Losing Constantly" | Conservative | Conservative | Herbert | 5-1 | 7th Voted Out Day 15 |
| 7 | "The Scandal" | Conservative | Conservative | Richard | 4-1 | 8th Voted Out Day 18 |
| 8 | "Coming Down to Rocks" | None | John | Theodore | 5-5; 4-4; Tiebreaker |
Eliminated Day 21 |
| 9 | "Was a Close One" | Ronald | Ronald | John | 5-4 | 9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24 |
| 10 | "Keep the Cast Strong" | William | William | Jimmy | 4-2-2 | 10th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
| 11 | "Take Out the Threats" | Rutherford | Abraham | Ronald | 5-2 | 11th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30 |
| 12 | "Stuck In the Tub" | William | William | James | 4-2 | 12th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33 |
| 13 | "Quite a Change of Power" | Rutherford | Rutherford | Ulysses | 4-1 | 13th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36 |
| 14 | "God Bless America" | None | Abraham | Thomas | 2-2; 1-1; Tiebreaker |
Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37 |
| None | Abraham | Rutherford | 1-0 | 14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 | ||
| Jury Vote | William | 4-3 | Runner-Up | |||
| Abraham | 4-3 | Sole Survivor | ||||
Trivia[]
- This season had the largest cast at the time, with 18 castaways. Although seen as an ambitious move, larger cast sizes became prominent in later seasons.