Yul Kwon defeated Ozzy Lusth and Becky Lee by a jury vote of 5–4–0 and was named the Sole Survivor, winning $1,000,000.

[1] The series follows a number of participants isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter.

Exile Island is a small sand cay south of Tapuaetai, and the bow of the wooden ship was brought in for the show.

West of Tapuaetai is another sand cay, called "Nude Island" by locals because of its lack of vegetation.

Notable people on this cast include professional volleyball player J. P. Calderon, and actor, producer, and screenwriter, Jonathan Penner.

While the Aitu Four merged, Yul cemented his Aitutaki alliance by showing them the idol and convinced Jonathan to vote with them.

[19] The Purple Rock Podcast ranked this season seventh out of 40 in 2020, saying that it "features one of the more compelling narratives the show has ever had, and gives you the rare opportunity to see in-depth strategy talk between players.

"[21] In 2021, Kristen Kranz of Collider ranked Cook Islands as the 7th best season of the series and praised the diversity of the contestants, the "phenomenal" gameplay, as well as the introduction of "another group of influential players that would go on to shape the game in ways we couldn't imagine.

[23] In the 2015 issue of CBS Watch commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor, three of the top ten contestants voted by viewers as the greatest were in this season (Shallow, Lusth, and Kwon).

In the 2015 issue of CBS Watch commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor, he was ranked the ninth-greatest contestant in series history by viewers.

[25] A 2007 online readers' poll by Entertainment Weekly chose Kwon as its favorite Survivor winner.

[27] The decision to divide the teams by race and ethnicity was controversial before the season aired, with members of the New York City Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus asking CBS not to broadcast the show.

[30] Previous seasons have been criticized for their relative lack of diversity, with Probst saying that over 80 percent of Survivor's applicants were white.

[31] According to a New York Times report, the decision by several advertisers (also including the Home Depot, United Parcel Service, and Campbell Soup) not to sponsor the season was made three months before its start and was unrelated to its racial format.