Real Survivor: Panama

Survivor: Panama — Exile Island, also known as Survivor: Exile Island and Survivor: Panama, is the twelfth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed in the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama from October 31, 2005 through December 8, 2005 and premiered on February 2, 2006. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of the usual 39 days of gameplay with 16 competitors, the first season with 16 competitors since Survivor: Pearl Islands five seasons prior.

The 16 players were initially split into four tribes by sex and age: young men (Viveros), older men (La Mina), young women (Bayoneta) and older women (Casaya). Each cycle, the winner of the Reward Challenge and the winner of the Immunity Challenge were immune from Tribal Council, sending both losing tribes to Tribal Council to vote out one person.

The season included a twist that originally came from Survivor: Palau called Exile Island. Each week at least one castaway is banished to an island away from all other contestants for the time period between the reward and immunity challenges. The castaway is given a single machete, a flint, a pot and a bucket of non-sanitized water. The island also contained a hidden immunity idol that could be used at tribal council after the votes have been cast.

The complete season, including the mid-season recap episode and live reunion show, was released on DVD on May 22, 2012.

The winner of this season was Austin Carty.

This season was preceded by Survivor: Guatemala and followed by Survivor: Cook Islands.