[2][4] Tyson Apostol was named the Sole Survivor in the season finale on December 15, 2013, defeating runners-up Monica Culpepper and Gervase Peterson in a 7–1–0 vote.

The game began with a twist called Day Zero, in which each of the ten pairs was marooned in a separate location, spending the night together before congregating as a full cast the following morning and dividing into two tribes.

[16] It was also revealed on Talking with T-Bird that Jerri Manthey of The Australian Outback, All-Stars, and Heroes vs. Villains and her sister were contacted to be part of the season.

[18] Cristina Coria of Cook Islands was asked to return to compete alongside an actor she was dating at the time, but she couldn't participate after just having surgery on her neck and back.

[19] Ozzy Lusth of Cook Islands, Micronesia, and South Pacific was also contacted to return, and had submitted his sister to be his loved one pair.

Ciera Eastin, Vytas Baskauskas, and Brad Culpepper were included on the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia.

The tribes merged with 11 players remaining, including three pairs of loved ones: Aras and Vytas, Tina and Katie, and Laura M. and Ciera.

However, with six players left, she changed allegiances, forcing a tie which was resolved through random draw, resulting in Katie's elimination.

This allowed the returning players alliance of Tyson, Monica, and Gervase to take control, voting out the others and making it to the end of the game.

At the Final Tribal Council, Gervase was berated by the jury for his perceived rudeness and hiding behind more dominant players, while Monica was castigated for threatening to flip to the other alliance but ultimately never following through.

Gervase's excessive celebration at the win did not go over well with Tadhana and that put a target on his niece, Marissa, despite her comments against her uncle's actions.

The boys’ alliance knew from day one that they wanted to vote out one of the women and was trying to decide between Katie, who was seen as ineffective at the puzzle stage of the challenge, and Marissa, who was guilty by association for Gervase's excessive celebration.

At Galang, Colton was unhappy that the tribe didn't want to talk strategy and seemingly not playing the game, so he tried to stir up trouble by telling various castaways that others were targeting them.

Back at camp, Vytas suggested to his alliance that they vote out Rachel in order to tempt Tyson into taking her place and weakening Galang in the process.

When the tribes got to Redemption Island, Tyson saw through Tadhana's idea of weakening Galang by voting out Rachel so he could switch places with her.

Back at the Tadhana camp, Brad started to feel the heat from his tribe members about continually voting out their loved ones, so he decided that Caleb should be the next to go since Colton had already quit the game.

After Laura M. and John left the Redemption Island Arena, Jeff announced that there would be a tribal switch and that they would draw buffs for new tribes.

The new Galang became Kat, Katie, Laura B., Monica, Tina, and Vytas while the new Tadhana became Aras, Caleb, Ciera, Gervase, Hayden, and Tyson.

At Tribal Council, Kat pleaded for the tribe to keep her in the game and continued to deny that she suggested Monica be voted out.

Back at camp, Ciera told her mother about the individuals alliance she struck with the castaways who had their loved ones leave the game.

Aras and Vytas talked and thought their alliance with Tina, Katie, Monica, Gervase, and Tyson was strong and that they should vote out Laura M. or Ciera next.

Meanwhile, Monica talked to Tyson and he told her about the individuals alliance's plan to take out Aras and Vytas due to their threat level and strong ties with Tina and Katie.

Tina had a huge lead after collecting all three bags in four throws of the grappling hook, but her ball fell into a hole near the end of the labyrinth maze, allowing Vytas to take the win.

Laura M. was not happy about the idea of being voted out from an individual player's point of view, but she was proud that Ciera was growing and showing her strength of character.

Jeff gave the castaways the option of sitting out the challenge and eating a feast of steak, chicken, sausage, bread and drinks.

Jeff told Ciera, Gervase, Katie, and Tyson that they must unanimously agree to vote out Hayden or Monica or they would draw rocks.

After the tribe returned from Tribal Council, Tyson tried to secure Monica's allegiance by offering her the Hidden Immunity Idol, but she told him to keep it.

Hayden asked Tyson if he had the Hidden Immunity Idol when he drew rocks and Monica about what the jury's perception of her was as he felt that nobody really knew her.

The season received generally positive reception, primarily for the theme of returning players competing against their loved ones (which allowed for some less memorable returning players to introduce more memorable loved ones to the game), the gameplay of winner Tyson Apostol, and the alterations to the Redemption Island twist that made it somewhat more enjoyable than in previous seasons.

Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly ranked it #12 in the series, saying that "the returning contestants playing with/against their loved ones twist added new dimensions and forced players – and us – to think about the strategic elements of the game in an entirely new way."