Applications were due by July 15, 2008, with in-person interviews being conducted in various cities sometime in August 2008, and semi-finalists traveling to Los Angeles, California sometime in September 2008.

was named "Sprint Player of the Season", earning the fans' vote over Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George and Sierra Reed.

The selected members, Sierra from Timbira and Sandy from Jalapao, assumed they had been eliminated, but it was then revealed that these two would be flown to their respective campsites while the rest had to trek for four hours while carrying supplies.

Brendan from Timbira and Taj from Jalapao formed a secret cross-tribe alliance for the merge, bringing in Sierra and Stephen, respectively.

Timbira was able to win the last three tribal Immunity Challenges, leaving Taj, J.T., Stephen, and Joe as the only Jalapao members remaining.

eliminated Erinn after he won his third consecutive immunity challenge, bringing Stephen to the Final Tribal Council.

Sandy and Sierra thought they were being voted out the game, but Jeff announced that they would only not be making the trek to camp and instead would be flown to their campsites by helicopter.

When Sandy and Sierra arrived at their respective campsites, they were given the option to start setting up camp or follow clues to a disposable Hidden Immunity Idol that can only be used during their tribe's first Tribal Council.

Timbira's trek did not end until dark, by which time Sierra had built a shelter big enough to house the entire tribe.

Back at Jalapao's camp, Carolina's bossy personality rubbed some people the wrong way, while Sandy's effort at the challenge earned high praise from her tribemates.

At Timbira, Sierra decided that she needed help following the clues to the special first-Tribal-Council-only Hidden Immunity Idol and she recruited Brendan in the search.

Jeff announced the twist was that Brendan could choose one person from the winning tribe to join him on Exile Island; he chose Taj.

When Brendan returned to Timbira's campsite, he lied to his tribemates telling them that Taj had the urn with the clue and that she went to look for the Hidden Immunity Idol on her own, but did not appear to have found it.

Just as both women were to move to carrying 120 pounds (54 kg), Debbie dropped her pole, giving Jalapao their fourth straight challenge victory.

The day after Tribal Council at Jalapao, Taj and Stephen found the Hidden Immunity Idol in the statue next to tree mail.

While the rest of Timbira was off fetching water from the river, Sierra told Brendan that she decided to join the Exile Island alliance.

losing half of a tooth and almost single-handedly winning the Immunity Challenge for his tribe by catching four balls, Tyson and Brendan helped score a victory for Timbira.

The day after Tribal Council, Sydney was worried that if Jalapao were to lose the next Immunity Challenge that either she or Taj would be voted off as the men would stick together.

about the Hidden Immunity Idol, but not the secret four-way Exile Island alliance in order to secure his vote at the next Tribal Council.

Timbira decided to send Joe to Exile Island and he chose Erinn to join him, thinking that she would be a good candidate to flip her tribal loyalties once the merge occurred.

The doctor diagnosed that infection was serious and could spread to Joe's bones or blood, which could lead to amputation of his leg or loss of his life.

Stephen was chosen to go to Exile Island for the second time in a row because the red team did not want to give Sierra the opportunity to find a supposed new Hidden Immunity Idol since Brendan took his with him when he was voted out.

Back at camp, Erinn pointed out to Stephen and Taj that there was an opportunity to vote out Tyson, the biggest perceived threat at the Immunity Challenges.

In an effort to show that she was not lying about her version of the potential reforming of the former Timbira alliance, Sierra confronted Coach and Debbie about what exactly happened between the three of them in front of the whole tribe.

Erinn and Taj were suspicious that Coach was playing up the sympathy card and that he did not want a medical exam because he knew that it would reveal that he was not hurt.

Back at camp after Tribal Council, Stephen was concerned that he would be perceived as the one who betrayed Coach and that he lost jury votes.

The men agreed that they would take each other to the Final Two no matter what but were undecided on if Erinn or Taj would be a greater threat at the next Immunity Challenge and with the jury.

Thomas and Stephen Fishbach, who formed a tight alliance early in the game and managed to make it to the end while remaining on great terms with the rest of the contestants.

Contestants Benjamin "Coach" Wade and Tyson Apostol were met with polarized receptions due to their villainous behavior.

Thomas, Fishbach, Wade, and Apostol would go on to compete in future seasons of the show and are seen as some of the most popular and influential players in Survivor history.