Survivor Thailand: Most memorable moments from season five

Picking tribes

When the 16 castaways arrived in Thailand and began their journey, they were separated by men and women. That led everyone to believe that they’d be competing as genders, as the show hadn’t done a battle of the sexes concept to this point in the show’s history and fans were all waiting for it to happen.

When the tribes arrived at the beach, Jeff Probst informed them that the two eldest contestants would be picking their tribes, to honor the Thai tradition of honoring the elders. The two oldest castaways were Jake and Jan; Jake’s tribe would be called Sook Jai while Jan’s tribe would be known as Chuay Gahn.

Jake went the expected route for most people picking a tribe, which was selecting younger, more athletic people. Jan, however, chose a lot of older people for her team.

While Survivor still has the schoolyard pick for tribes, Survivor: Thailand introduced it and despite the Sook Jai tribe looking like the team to beat, Chuay Gahn made up the final five contestants. Looks can be deceiving indeed.