[4] The season featured the 15 new castaways competing with three returning castaways who were removed from their previous seasons due to illness or injury: Michael Skupin (passed out into a fire and suffered severe burns to his face and hands) of The Australian Outback, Jonathan Penner (removed due to a serious infection to his knee) originally from Cook Islands and later evacuated in Micronesia, and Russell Swan (removed after blacking out twice due to low blood pressure resulting from dehydration) of Samoa.

Stapley is the oldest female winner in the show's history, and the only person to have attended and survived every Tribal Council in a single season.

Lisa accidentally discovered Malcolm's hidden immunity idol, and promised to keep it a secret if he agreed to take her and Denise to the end of the game.

After Jeff Kent and Carter allied with Pete's alliance to vote out the returning players, Jonathan used his idol to save himself.

All three finalists were berated by the jury at the Final Tribal Council; Lisa for claiming that she could not handle the pressures of the game, Michael for being strategically and socially inept, and Denise for being condescending at times.

Zane, Malcolm, and Denise considered if Russell had the hidden immunity idol already and swapping votes to flush it out.

Over at Kalabaw, the tribe discovered the missing emblem on the rice container, correctly guessing it had been the Hidden Immunity Idol and that Jonathan had found it.

At Tandang, Pete stirred up trouble in the tribe by planting the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol in RC's bag where it fell out in front of everybody.

Russell continued to look for the Hidden Immunity Idol at Matsing's camp, causing Denise and Malcolm to become suspicious that he might already have it and considered voting him out at the next Tribal Council to blindside him.

At the Immunity Challenge, Tandang narrowly beat out Kalabaw, who lost time due to Katie's weak performance on the first obstacle; she would apologize for this later at camp.

Denise told Jeff Kent that she would join the men's alliance; the four discussed voting out Katie or Dawson.

The six fought to a standstill for over an hour when Jonathan proposed a deal: Kalabaw would give up all of their remaining rice in exchange winning the reward.

At the Immunity Challenge, Tandang came back from a 4–2 deficit to defeat Kalabaw, again largely due to Malcolm's contributions.

When Kalabaw returned to camp, Jeff Kent and Carter discussed if now was the time to make the big move against Jonathan or to vote out Katie for being the weakest in the tribe.

Malcolm then took Lisa aside to do damage control, and she told him she would keep her knowledge of the idol a secret after he promised to take her to the Final Three along with Denise.

At Tribal Council, Abi-Maria laid out her perceived betrayal by RC; alliances and the complexities and ramifications of flipping allegiances were then discussed.

After the vote was taken, Jonathan pulled out his Hidden Immunity Idol, successfully foiling Jeff Kent's plan to take him out.

Jonathan tried to get Lisa to flip to the Kalabaw side by appealing to her past history and how she would appear to the television audience watching the game.

At the Reward Challenge, the teams were divided by school yard pick with Artis, Lisa, Michael, and Pete going up against Carter, Denise, Jonathan, and Malcolm with Abi-Maria sitting out.

At the Reward Challenge, the team of Abi-Maria, Carter, Malcolm, and Pete beat Denise, Jonathan, Lisa, and Michael.

Carter opted to exchange his baked potato for the bags of rice and beans to feed the entire tribe.

At the second stage, Denise got her question wrong again, making her extra weight 10%, while Carter and Michael added 5%.

Jonathan told Carter and Abi-Maria that they were going to vote for Denise, so as to circumvent the possibility of Malcolm playing his Idol, and then went to work on lobbying Michael.

At Tribal Council, Jonathan continued to lobby Lisa and Michael to vote out Denise, but his pleas failed and he became the fifth member of the jury.

With the plan spoiled, Lisa and Michael were forced to remain loyal to Malcolm and the alliance of four had to decide between Carter and Abi-Maria.

On the morning of day 36, Denise woke up with severe pain on the left side of her neck which she surmised was from a bite.

At Tribal Council, Abi-Maria continued to pitch to Lisa and Michael that she was their best hope to take to the final three as she couldn't win.

Day 38's tree mail announced the traditional journey honoring the castaways voted out before heading to the final Immunity Challenge.

Jonathan spent his time attacking the final three and revealing Lisa's past as a television star to the jury.

It delivers a near-perfect balance of strong gameplay, vibrant characters, and some of Survivor's best storytelling in its 20 years on the air.