Stranded in Marquesas is the 24th season of Stranded and the second to feature the Refuge twist. This season saw 23 All-stars from seasons 17 (Costa Rica) through 23 (Nepal). With many of the returning players being two or three-time All-stars, the stage was set for an epic battle which would see legends made and all-stars fall. It would become one of the best and most suspenseful seasons in Stranded history. The game began with two Individual Immunity Idols hidden on the starting beach. The first two players to find them would become tribe leaders and earn the right to pick tribes. Debb found Nuku Hiva’s idol and Ted, Hiva Oa’s. When both tribes were selected, there was an odd woman out… Jane. It was then that the all-stars learned they were playing in a Refuge season.

When Jane found out she was a refugee, she went on a tirade calling out several players. However, this was not the only drama to occur during the pick as Lisa and Mia tricked Ashley into picking them to be on their tribe via their mutual friend Ted asking her to. With bad blood between all three of them, this did not bode well for the Hiva Oa tribe. Mia was able to leverage her vast connections to create a majority alliance landing with her good friends Ken and Jolanda. While most players on Hiva Oa wanted Ashley to go to Refuge, Mia had other plans… On Nuku Hiva, Cochran seemed to be at the center of alliances as his Namibia alliance (Cochran, Ralph and Papa Bear) reunited. Caryn and Chad from Costa Rica teamed up with Ralph and Cochran, while Debb and Carter from Nepal did as well. These six formed a majority with pairs of two from three different seasons. When Hiva Oa won Immunity, Jane chose Mia to join her on Refuge making Mia immune until a later part of the game. On Nuku Hiva, Papa Bear was voted out as his reckless antics were too much for even his close allies Cochran and Ralph to control.

On Hiva Oa, Vitinho was on the outs as all of his allies ended up on Nuku Hiva. Fortunately for Vytas, he was able to stay in the game when Stacey went insane and became the obvious next boot. In a shocking move, Mia decided to take Sarah with her into Refuge and leave her good friend, Sean, to the wolves as he became the 3rd person voted out at the next challenge. Sarah, having made a deal with Mia to be picked, decided to choose Jolanda to go into Refuge, who in turn picked Ken. Mia now had her closest two allies intact on Refuge with her. Gina was booted on Nuku Hiva. In the next round, when Nuku Hiva won Immunity again, Katie was chosen to go to Refuge and Vitinho once again slid by as the less active Ramona was given the boot.

With obvious boots out of the way, the game was about to get ugly. When Nuku Hiva lost again, the alliances of Debb-Carter and Caryn-Chad were fighting over Cochran-Ralph’s loyalty. Chad worked hard to convince Cochran to keep Caryn, but in the end, he went with Debb and Carter to boot Caryn. Chris was then voted off as Katie, Kristina and Chad were sent to Refuge. Hiva Oa and Nuku Hiva then merged to form a new tribe of 8 whilst the Refugee tribe re-entered the game to face off against them. When the challenge came around, Jeff Probst offered Individual Immunity to anyone in the game willing to send their tribe to council… of course, Vitinho took him up on the offer. The new Hiva Oa tribe was split but Vitinho joined up with his former allies on the old Nuku Hiva (Cochran, Debb, Carter, and Ralph) and voted out Ted to Ashley’s surprise. The next Tribal Council saw the Refuge tribe lose and for the first time, the players on Refuge went to council. Because they had been silent for weeks, total chaos ensued as the refugees came out of hiding. Mia, Jolanda, and Ken were a tight three, but Katie, Sarah, Chad and Jane wised up to this fact and came together. Katie had a Hidden Immunity Idol and wasn’t afraid to use it. Fortunately, no one needed to as they booted the outsider, Kristina.

The next night was a double Tribal Council. On Hiva Oa, a lot of the players were still reeling after Vitinho had decided to take the individual immunity and send his tribe to Tribal Council the round prior. It was then that Carter and Debb decided to separate themselves from their alliance and approached Ashley with a deal. Growing uncomfortable with the closeness of Cochran, Ralph, and Vitinho, they decided to blindside Vitinho. On Refuge, Chad explains the insanity that went on at the last Tribal Council to Jolanda. Essentially Katie caused a lot of paranoia when she was the go-between for Chad and Sarah. Jolanda is told that Katie was trying to keep Jane and caused a lot of drama to keep her around. For this reason, the tribe decided to vote out Jane.

With twelve players remaining in the game, Jeff Probst asks players to drop their buffs… it’s the merge. Immediately everyone begins scheming as usual. Katie being one of the worst offenders. She’s instantly trying to work with her former Nuku Hiva players and also brings in her Refuge alliance members. Mia is already skeptical of Cochran and would like to take him out, but as the majority looks towards Lisa as the target, she quickly drops the idea. Lisa clings on to the Cochran idea which sets Cochran on a paranoid fit. With Cochran now knowing about the plan to get him out, Mia decides to cut Lisa loose. With it being a unanimous decision and Tribal Council going a little too smoothly, Sarah got spooked and changed her vote to Katie. When Lisa pulled out a Hidden Immunity Idol that Ashley found and gave to her before Council, all of the votes were canceled out except her vote for Cochran and Sarah’s vote for Katie. On the revote, Katie ended up being voted out of the game and becoming the first juror.

In the second round of the merge, alliances were split. In one camp was Chad, Cochran, Ralph, Debb and Carter and in the other camp was Mia, Jolanda, Ken, Lisa and Ashley with Sarah in between.

Mia pushes hard for a Chad boot, but Chad has earned the praise of many players in the game and Jolanda feels like it’s too early to make a big move and rock the boat. The alliance settles on the obvious boot of Lisa. Cochran, on the other hand, is willing to make a big move and take control of the game by targeting Mia. The vote comes back 5 votes for Lisa, 5 votes for Mia with Lisa voting for Ralph. In the revote, Lisa received the majority of votes after Debb switched her vote to prevent going to rocks. The next round, with Lisa gone and lines drawn, the alliance of Fan Favorites + Ken (Mia, Jolanda, Sarah, Ashley, Ken) confirms their plans to vote together against the others. They attempt to swing Debb and Carter over to their side. The rivalry between Cochran and Mia is at an all-time high as both alliances head to Council at odds. For the third time in a row, the vote goes to a tie. This time, the revote deadlocks with neither alliance willing to back down as they fight for control of the season. In the event of a deadlock in the merge, the two players who received the votes (Ralph and Mia) become Immune. Everyone else draws rocks. Unfortunately for Sarah, she chose the wrong rock becoming the third member of the jury.

With alliances out in the open, it didn’t take long for everyone to agree on the vote. The fan favorites pushed hard to convince Debb and Carter to flip on Chad, Ralph, and Cochran. In the end, the alliances stuck together and Ashley was voted out. Mia and Cochran had a heated exchange at Tribal Council, both openly coming after one another. Mia is fed up with Carter and Debb teasing her alliance by saying they will vote with them. Cochran begins to worry that he will be seen as the leader and the most obvious threat if Mia goes home. The alliance starts to fracture as Cochran notices Chad’s connections with both sides and sees his alliance with Chad and Ralph as too big of a threat. He contemplates getting rid of Chad to diminish his target. Ralph goes rogue and tries to make Mia believe he will vote with them against Carter. In the end, Jolanda ends up going home, even after Jolanda, Ken and Mia tried everything to stay.

In the final seven, five people have told Cochran that they want to be in the final three with him. He is most worried about getting Mia out and knows that Chad might be able to beat him in the finals. When Mia wins Individual Immunity, Cochran decides it’s time to blindside one of his biggest allies, Chad. After a dramatic Council with Mia and Chad fighting, Chad becomes the sixth member of the jury.

The final six is comprised of three pairs: Mia and Ken, Cochran and Ralph, and Debb and Carter. The obvious target is Mia. When she wins her second Immunity in a row, it looks like Ken will be the boot. Mia makes a last ditch effort and reaches out to her biggest Rival, Cochran. She tells him everything about Debb and Carter wanting to vote with her alliance. Fortunately for Mia, Cochran was planning on keeping her even if she hadn’t won Immunity. In a move to get out a jury threat and keep Carter closer to him, Cochran decides to vote out Debb. The final five is made up of Cochran, Mia, Carter, Ken and Ralph. With her back against the wall, Mia finally lost Individual Immunity. Being the obvious underdog and threat to win, Mia was voted out. In the final 4, Cochran was now the biggest threat left in the game. He knew he had to win the Final Immunity Challenge or he would be going home. He won. The alliance of Cochran, Ralph and Carter voted out Ken, rounding out the jury. It was a brutal Tribal Council, as to be expected in a season full of Stranded’s craziest characters. In the end, the jury awarded Cochran the win with six out of the eight votes.