Survivor: Cook Islands
Filming location	Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Winner	Yul Kwon (5-4-0)
Original run	September 14, 2006 – December 17, 2006
Filming dates	June 26, 2006 – August 03, 2006
No. of episodes	14
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	20
Tribes	Aitutaki (Aitu) Rarotonga (Raro) Manihiki (Hiki) Puka Puka (Puka) Aitutonga
Fans vs. Favorites	Ozzy Lusth Jonathan Penner Parvati Shallow
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: Panama
Next	Survivor: Fiji

Survivor: Cook Islands is the thirteenth season of the reality series Survivor.

It was officially announced by Jeff Probst during the Survivor: Panama finale. Applications were due February 3, 2006. The location was discovered by the website Survivor Maps before it was revealed on the Survivor: Panama finale. The show premiered on September 14, 2006. The two-hour season finale aired on December 17, 2006, followed by the Reunion show live from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. ^[1]

During this season of Survivor, the contestants were divided into four tribes by race and one ethnicity; African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Caucasian-American. Besides random division or team-choosing by the contestants, tribes had previously been divided by gender and/or age. The respective tribes' names were Manihiki ("Hiki"), Puka Puka ("Puka"), Aitutaki ("Aitu") and Rarotonga ("Raro"). These four tribes were named after islands located in the Cook Islands. In the third episode, the four tribes evenly divided into two new mixed tribes, just Aitutaki and Rarotonga. After the merge, the tribe decided to name themselves Aitutonga.

A 'mutiny' offer was made to all remaining players during this season. In Survivor: Thailand, mutiny was offered but no one accepted the offer. In this season, two players from the same tribe accepted the mutiny offer, which turned out to be a critically important turning point in the game, as it caused the remaining tribemembers of that tribe to become underdogs through the rest of the competition.

During the Immunity challenge in Episode 9, the losing tribe was given a bottle with a note in it that was only to be revealed after that tribe voted off a member at the following Tribal Council. As it turned out, the note required the losing tribe to immediately vote a second person off, thus creating the first time one tribe has voted off two members during a single Tribal Council.

The concept of Exile Island returned, with a hidden immunity idol located somewhere on the island. While the idol itself was never used to prevent a player from being eliminated, it was used strategically as a lure to swing a vote at a key turning point in the game.

Instead of the usual Final Two players facing a jury of seven, there was a Final Three facing a jury of nine, which included players that were voted out before the merge. The final jury setup meant that a two or three-way tie to decide the winner of the game was possible, though the method to resolve this tie was unknown at the time. ^[2]

In an interview on the WJZ Evening News on September 20, 2007 prior to Survivor: China, Jeff Probst stated that he felt that the Cook Islands season was one of the best seasons of Survivor.^[3]

In the end, Yul Kwon defeated Ozzy Lusth and Becky Lee by a vote of 5-4-0 to become the Sole Survivor.

Ozzy Lusth, Jonathan Penner, and Parvati Shallow were selected to be the Favorites of Survivor: Micronesia.