Lawsuits and Legal Action

   Over the years, there have been many controversies and some legal action against Survivor. Turmoil between players is commonplace for any reality series, but Survivor has had several instances that went beyond mere intertribal squabbles:


 * In February 2001, Borneo castaway Stacey Stillman filed a lawsuit claiming producers interfered in the process of the game by persuading two members of her tribe (Sean Kenniff and Dirk Been) to vote her off instead of Rudy Boesch.
 * During a reward trip in Survior Australia, Colby Donaldson removed corals from the Great Barrier Reef. In the same trip, a helicopter involved in the production flew around protected sea bird rookeries. Both actions violated Australian law and resulted in an apology from Mark Burnett.
 * At the trivia immunity challenge for Africa's final four players, Jeff Probst asked which female player in their season had no piercings. Kim Johnson answered Kelly Goldsmith, while Lex van den Berghe answered Lindsey Richter. Kim got the point, and went on to win the challenge, which put her in the final three and ultimately (after another immunity win) second place. Lex did not receive a point, despite his answer also being correct. Tom Buchanan was eliminated. Months later, the cast and producers (who were preparing for the live finale and reunion) watched the episode backstage. During the rebroadcast of the challenge, Lindsey shouted to the TV that she had no piercings. CBS later paid van den Berghe and Buchanan a small settlement.
 * In order to win a Reward Challenge in which the castaways competed to win a visit from their friends or loved ones, Pearl Islands castaway Jon Dalton conspired beforehand with friend Dan Fields in what has been described by Probst as the greatest lie on Survivor to date. Fields told Dalton that his grandmother, Jean Cooke, had died, in order to win sympathy from his tribemates and subsequently the reward. In reality, Cooke had not died, a fact that only emerged to his tribemates once the episode had aired. When show staff heard the report of Cooke's death, they called Dalton's family to offer condolences, only to have Cooke herself answer the phone. Dalton admitted in a confessional that his grandmother was alive and "probably watching Jerry Springer right now." On the reunion show, Jeff Probst had a short interview with Cooke, who was indeed alive and well.
 * In the fifth episode of the All-Stars season, a naked Richard Hatch may or may not have come into contact with Susan Hawk after she blocked his path during an immunity challenge. Hatch was voted out that day for other reasons; Hawk quit the game a few days later (episode six). Hawk considered filing a lawsuit against the parties involved, but appeared with Hatch on The Early Show the morning after the sixth episode aired, stating she opted out of legal action because CBS had helped her "deal with the situation."
 * Rupert Boneham, originally on Survivor: Pearl Islands and then Survivor: All-Stars, was an extremely popular player with television audiences, but finished eighth and fourth, respectively, in his appearances on the show. As part of Survivor: All-Stars, a special Survivor: America's Tribal Council contest for the 18 players was created, where the winner would be selected by the viewing audience and would receive US$1 million; Rupert won this prize, with more than 80% of the votes cast by the audience. Many fans saw this as a way of diluting the overall concept of the show: instead of outwitting, outplaying and outlasting your fellow tribe members to win the game, a player could now play specifically to gain popularity with the show's audience, regardless of how well they played, and would still be rewarded with a large prize.
 * Richard Hatch, the winner of Survivor: Borneo, was charged and found guilty in January 2006 of failing to report his winnings to the IRS to avoid taxes. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison.
 * The 13th season of Survivor, known as, began with tribes grouped according to race. Host Jeff Probst claims the choice "came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough." Several long-term sponsors dropped their support of the show shortly after this announcement, leading to speculation that the decisions were in response to the controversy. Each of the companies has either denied the link or declined to comment.
 * The program angered its fan base when Jeff Probst revealed that  ignored thousands of viewer applicants and instead used their own recruited players. Gary Stritesky was the only actual applicant chosen, while the rest used on the show were recruits. Although Probst defended the process by claiming they wanted to find more diverse players, 10 of the recruits were from California, while 13 players from Cook Islands also resided in California. Fans argued that these players were not apt for Survivor, and many were just young unemployed actors found in places like bars and MySpace.
 * At the  reunion show, Denise Martin told producers and the audience her unfortunate story of being demoted to a janitor from a lunch lady because of the distraction she posed to students. Because of her claimed misfortune, Mark Burnett awarded Martin US$50,000. Martin ultimately recanted the story after the school district publicly stated that she had taken the custodial position before appearing on the show. She also decided to donate the $50,000 to charity.
 * A brief uncensored shot of Marcus Lehman's genitals during the premiere episode of  has led to the show and network being asked to apologize for the incident.
 * A very brief uncensored shot of Brenda Lowe's nipple can be seen in the episode There's Gonna Be Hell To Pay. It was later clipped out of the airing by CBS.