Survivor: China

Survivor: China
Season 15
Region 1 DVD cover
Presented by	Jeff Probst
No. of days	39
No. of castaways	16
Winner	Todd Herzog
Runner-up	Courtney Yates
Location	Mount Lu West Sea, Jiujiang, China
No. of episodes	14
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 20 (2007-09-20) – December 16, 2007 (2007-12-16)
Additional information
Filming dates	June 25 (2007-06-25) – August 2, 2007 (2007-08-02)
Season chronology
← Previous Fiji Next → Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites
List of episodes

Survivor: China is the fifteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 20, 2007. Host Jeff Probst claimed the show was the first full American TV series to be filmed entirely within China.^[1] The specific location is in Mount Lu West Sea, Jiujiang. It is also the northernmost Survivor season held to date, well outside of the tropical zone. Applications were due on January 30, 2007. Around March 2007, about 800 applicants were selected for an interview by CBS. Out of those 800, 48 semi-finalists were selected to go to Los Angeles in April–May 2007. From these semi-finalists, 16 were selected to participate in the show between June and August 2007. The final contestants and their original tribes, Fei Long (飛龍) and Zhan Hu (戰虎), meaning Flying Dragon and Fighting Tiger respectively, were officially announced on August 20, 2007.^[2][3] The merged tribe was Hae Da Fung (黑打風), which means Black Fighting Wind, a name proposed by Peih-Gee Law.^[4]

The "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" slogan used in previous seasons' logos was replaced by Chinese characters. The characters translate to "compete in intelligence" (比智慧, bĭ zhìhuì), "compete in skill" (比技巧, bĭ jìqiǎo), and "compete in endurance" (比耐力, bĭ nàilì).^[5] Among the many aspects of Chinese culture and history included this season were a Buddhist ceremony and a 100-foot (30 m) tall replica of a historic temple used for Tribal Council. Each tribe received a copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu. As stated by Probst: "Survivor is a war. The book deals with leadership and how you defeat the other tribe. It's interesting how much it plays into the game all the way through." The show had "unprecedented access" to several historical Chinese monuments, including the Shaolin Temple and the Great Wall of China.^[2]

Exile Island from the previous three seasons was not used for this season, but the Hidden Immunity Idol was still part of the game. In lieu of Exile Island, the tribes had the ability to kidnap a player from the opposing tribe as part of winning a Reward Challenge. The kidnapped player remained with that tribe until the next Immunity Challenge and received a clue to the location of an Immunity Idol at that camp. However, this clue had to be given, unread, to a member of the other tribe prior to the next Immunity Challenge. Ultimately, neither of the two Idols available to the castaways were used; James Clement was voted out with both in his possession. Three players went to the Final Tribal Council, continuing the pattern that began in Survivor: Cook Islands and again in Survivor: Fiji. Probst explained that having a final three "prohibits one person winning through to the end and then taking an extremely unlikable person with them."^[6] In the end, Todd Herzog won, defeating Courtney Yates and Amanda Kimmel by a vote of 4–2–1. During the reunion, James Clement was awarded a $100,000 prize as the most popular player in Survivor: China, beating fellow favorites Denise Martin and Peih-Gee Law.