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. The specific location is in Mountain 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 () and Zhan Hu (), meaning Flying Dragon and Fighting Tiger respectively, were officially announced on August 20, 2007. The merged tribe was Hae Da Fung (), which means Black Fighting Wind, a name proposed by Peih-Gee Law.
The "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" slogan used in previous seasons' logos has been replaced by Chinese characters. The characters translate to "compete in intelligence" (, bĭ zhìhuì), "compete in skill" (, bĭ jìqiǎo), and "compete in endurance" (, bĭ nàilì). Among the many aspects of Chinese culture and history included this season were a Buddhist ceremony and a 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.
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." 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.
Contestants
Season 15 features 16 new castaways, split into two tribes. The translation for Fei Long () and Zhan Hu () mean Flying Dragon and Fighting Tiger respectively. The name of the merge tribe created by Peih-Gee Law, Hae Da Fung (), translates to Black Fighting Wind. Among the 16 contestants who competed in this season were poker player Jean-Robert Bellande, the 2005 WWE Raw Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro.
Future appearances
James Clement and Amanda Kimmel both returned to compete in the following season, Survivor: Micronesia. The pair returned again in 2010 for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains along with Courtney Yates. Peih-Gee Law returned for Survivor: Cambodia.
Season summary
The two tribes, Fei Long and Zhan Hu, were predetermined prior to the start of the game. As an added bonus for winning reward challenges, the winning tribe was given the opportunity to kidnap a member from the losing tribe, where they would live at the winning tribe's camp (in cases where the reward is a trip away from camp, participate in the reward trip with the winning tribe as well) until the next Immunity Challenge. This person would receive a container with a clue to the hidden immunity idol that they had to give to one of the winning tribe members.