Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains · Season 20

Episode Guide

How Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains unfolded, week by week.

1“Slay Everyone, Trust No One”Feb 11, 2010Twenty of the biggest names the show has ever assembled walk onto the beach and get sorted into Heroes and Villains. The Villains are a genuinely stacked, dangerous group, and Russell wastes zero time, prowling for idols and sizing up who he can use, while Boston Rob slides naturally into the leader's role. The Heroes are the looser, friendlier camp, which works just fine right up until they drop the first immunity challenge. At Tribal nobody wants to cut someone useful, so they take the easy way out and send home Sugar, who never really found her footing here, in 20th.
2“It's Getting the Best of Me”Feb 18, 2010The Heroes lose again, and the cracks are already starting to show. On one side you've got the old-school strongman types, Tom and Colby and James and Rupert; on the other, the more strategic crew of Cirie, Amanda, and Candice. When it's time to vote, it comes down to Stephenie or Cirie. James fights hard to keep Stephenie, the person he's bonded with most, but the rest of the tribe sees that exact bond as the thing to break up, and Stephenie's torch gets snuffed in 19th.
3“That Girl is Like a Virus”Feb 25, 2010The Villains hit Tribal for the first time, and honestly it's not much of a mystery. Randy has managed to rub just about everyone the wrong way and isn't doing himself any favors around camp, while Russell quietly keeps tightening things up with Parvati, Danielle, and Tyson. So the Villains take the obvious, easy route and send Randy home in 18th, nobody having to make a hard call yet.
4“Tonight, We Make Our Move”Mar 4, 2010The Heroes are convinced Tom is holding an idol, so they put together a plan to split their votes between Tom and Colby and flush it out of his hands. Smart idea on paper. Trouble is, Tom is way ahead of them; he plays the idol, and every vote against him gets tossed out. With the math suddenly scrambled, the votes land on Cirie, one of the sharpest players in the whole game, who gets blindsided in 17th by a plan her own tribe drew up. Rough one to watch.
5“Knights of the Round Table”Mar 11, 2010Two beaches, two big swings. On the Heroes, the old-school alliance turns on its own leader and votes out Tom, the firefighter who'd been holding the tribe together, in 16th. Over on the Villains, Russell goes looking for an idol with no clue at all and just finds one, digging it out of the dirt on pure instinct. Then, in full theater-kid mode, he 'knights' an overjoyed Coach into his alliance, which is exactly where the episode gets its name.
6“Banana Etiquette”Mar 24, 2010Double-elimination night, and the Villains' Tribal is an all-timer. The plan is a simple split vote, but Russell talks Tyson into moving his vote onto Parvati to play it safe, then secretly hands Parvati his idol. She plays it, all the votes against her get wiped out, and because Tyson switched his own vote, he ends up voting himself out in 15th. It's the kind of self-inflicted exit you have to see to believe. On the Heroes' side, James is hobbling on a badly hurt knee, and they reluctantly let him go in 14th.
7“I'm Not a Good Villain”Apr 1, 2010The standoff between Russell and Boston Rob finally comes to a head, and only one of them is leaving with the tribe behind him. Rob is sure he's got the numbers to get Russell out for good, and he strolls into Tribal looking confident. But Russell has quietly peeled off Coach, Jerri, and Danielle, and it's Rob who gets blindsided instead, sent home in 13th. With Rob gone, this is Russell's tribe top to bottom.
8“Expectations”Apr 8, 2010Russell keeps playing it his own way, and this time it costs Coach, his loyal 'dragon slayer,' who gets voted out in 12th and becomes the season's first juror. Russell would rather keep his alliance nervous than comfortable, and for now it's working. Over on the Heroes, J.T. quietly digs up his tribe's hidden idol and keeps it to himself, feeling good about having an ace in his pocket heading into the merge.
9“Survivor History”Apr 15, 2010With the merge bearing down, the Villains take a clean, straightforward vote and send Courtney out in 11th. The more interesting stuff is brewing back at the Heroes' camp, where they've talked themselves into a theory that the Villains are secretly run by a women's alliance, with Russell stranded and desperate at the bottom. They feel very, very clever about having the other tribe all figured out.
10“Going Down in Flames”Apr 22, 2010The merge arrives, and what follows is one of the wildest Tribal Councils ever filmed. Sure the Villains are about to be run by that women's alliance, J.T. makes an incredible leap of faith: he sends his hidden idol across to the Villains' beach, tucked inside a handwritten letter begging Russell to play it and join up with the Heroes. Russell reads it, can't believe his luck, and hands the idol to Parvati. Then at Tribal, Parvati calmly pulls out two idols and drapes one over Sandra and one over Jerri, wiping every Hero vote off the board. J.T. is sent home in 10th, taken out by the very idol he gave away. It's the kind of moment you tell people about for years.
11“Jumping Ship”Apr 29, 2010Now that the Villains have the numbers, they start working through the Heroes, and Amanda is next out in 9th. The big move this week is Candice reading the room and jumping over to the Villains' side to save herself, which is where the episode gets its name. Through all of it, Sandra just keeps doing her quiet thing: friendly with everyone, working every side, making sure the target never once swings around to her.
12“A Sinking Ship”May 6, 2010Turns out jumping ship didn't buy Candice much time, because she's the first one out tonight in 8th. Then the Villains turn on each other. Russell, sitting on immunity, finds out that Parvati and Danielle have a final-three deal that cuts him out, and he is not about to let that slide. He pulls Jerri over and blindsides Danielle, his closest ally in the game, in 7th. The man really will turn on anybody, and the jury is watching every second of it.
13“Loose Lips Sink Ships”May 13, 2010With six left, Sandra and Russell finally stop pretending to tolerate each other. She's completely done with him, dumping his hat and his canteen into the fire and telling anyone who'll listen exactly what he's up to. Russell's furious, the camp is on edge, and the two of them feud right out in the open all week. None of it changes the vote, though. Rupert, the last Hero left and about as beloved as anyone who ever played, says his goodbyes and has his torch snuffed in 6th.
14“Anything Could Happen”FinaleMay 16, 2010Finale night. Colby goes out in 5th and Jerri in 4th, leaving Sandra, Parvati, and Russell as the final three. At Final Tribal, Russell makes the same case he always makes, listing his idols and his moves and insisting he ran the entire game, certain the jury will reward him for it. They don't, again. After losing 7-2 in Samoa, this time he doesn't get a single vote. The jury gives it to Sandra, 6-3-0, making her the first two-time winner the show has ever had. The Queen stays Queen.