The reunion show for Survivor: Caramoan was rather a controversial one, as the contestants eliminated pre-jury were seated alongside the audience rather than onstage, mostly to conceal the absence of Brandon Hantz, who was banned from attending the show following his altercation with Phillip Sheppard in "Persona Non Grata". Only the finalists and the jury, except for Brenda Lowe, who at the time was in the last stages of her pregnancy, were seated onstage.

Host Jeff Probst explained that the reason why the pre-jury eliminees were not given a seat onstage was because the new set could not accommodate them all,[2] but in a Facebook post, The Australian Outback and Philippines contestant Michael Skupin stated that the studio for the finale was the same set used in Philippines, and it was able to accommodate all 18 contestants from that season, the same number of contestants present at the Caramoan reunion show.

The Reunion was universally panned by fans and contestants alike, with many fans showing their distaste at the pre-jury contestants being left out and Jeff Probst addressing only six of the ten contestants allowed on stage. Erik Reichenbach, who was present but not acknowledged at the show, called the reunion "a farce",[3] criticizing how the show left many questions on the season unanswered and how the pre-jury contestants were left out in favor of former contestants Rob Mariano and Rudy Boesch during the show. Allie Pohevitz and Corinne Kaplan posted rants on Facebook and Twitter respectively, expressing their disappointments about their being informed of their exclusion in such short notice, and wasting their families' time since the pre-jurors would not be able to sit onstage, much less speak (in said post, Allie revealed that each contestant was entitled to bring six family members at the live show).[4]

Malcolm Freberg won the Fan Favorite Award over Brenda.


