'Survivor' - greatest theme-based seasons as of now

9. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22 - 2011)

Speaking of not taking much to knock a season out of the ranking, this brings us to number nine, Survivor: Redemption Island. Many fans might despise that this season made the top ten list at all, but there is some validity to its ranking, although it's not much.

Survivor has one basic rule, once you're voted out, your shot at the million dollars is over. Redemption Island changed all of that. When your torch is snuffed, you head to another island where you live alone with the barest of essentials. When the next person arrives, the two castaways will enter Redemption Island Arena and square off in a duel, which was often times a mini-version of a typical reward or immunity challenge. The winner of the duel stays on Redemption Island, the loser is out of the game for good. At a pre-determined point, the player on Redemption Island will have the opportunity to re-enter the game and continue on their quest for the title of Sole Survivor.

Sure, it ruined the core foundation of the game of Survivor, but at least the season was executed as promised. Every episode, someone was sent to Redemption Island and it was constantly being featured and mentioned, unlike Ghost Island. It also allowed for a new level of strategy to take place among the castaways without having to rely on a million different advantages floating around.

Redemption Island may have been overly hyped by Jeff Probst, wasn't well-received by many fans, and was a drawn-out version of the Outcasts twist from Survivor: Pearl Islands. However, it was a theme that actually delivered what it advertised, which is hard to come by in Survivor nowadays.