listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.Episodes Voting history ReceptionSurvivor: Cook Islands received mixed reviews when it was first broadcast, but has become more popular over time. Although the racial cast divide was seen as polarizing, Kwon, Lusth and Penner were praised. Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly ranked the season 18th out of 40, calling it "listless" until the mutiny. In 2014, Joe Reid of The Wire ranked the season fifth out of 27. A Rob Has a Podcast poll the following year ranked the season 14th out of 30, with Rob Cesternino ranking it 24th. Cesternino's 2021 Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings podcast ranked the season 19th out of 40. The Purple Rock Podcast ranked this season seventh out of 40 in 2020, saying that it "features one of the more compelling narratives the show has ever had, and gives you the rare opportunity to see in-depth strategy talk between players." Later that year, Inside Survivor ranked the season 18th out of 40 and praised it for "having one of the best underdog stories of all time." In 2021, Kristen Kranz of Collider ranked Cook Islands as the 7th best season of the series and praised the diversity of the contestants, the "phenomenal" gameplay, as well as the introduction of "another group of influential players that would go on to shape the game in ways we couldn’t imagine." Kwon's gameplay had a positive reception. In the 2015 issue of CBS Watch commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor, he was ranked the ninth-greatest contestant in series history by viewers. That year, shortly before the premiere of Survivor: Worlds Apart, host Jeff Probst called Kwon one of his top ten winners and one of his top six male winners. A 2007 online readers' poll by Entertainment Weekly chose Kwon its favorite Survivor winner. In 2017, the magazine had fans rank the 34 winners of Survivor; Kwon was ranked ninth. The decision to divide the teams by race and ethnicity was controversial before the season aired, with members of the New York City Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus asking CBS not to broadcast the show. Those who worked on the show said that as divisions by age, gender, or gender and age combined had been accepted, race should not have been treated much