Barramundi

Barramundi was a tribe on Survivor: The Australian Outback.

Barramundi (named for a type of fish native to the Herbert River, near which the castaways stayed) was the name of the merged tribe comprise of the five members of Kucha, and the five members of Ogakor. The tribes merged in episode episode 207. The tribe is best remembered for being forced to trade its shelter for rice in episode episode 211, and suffering a camp-destroying flood in episode 212. Barramundi's tribe color was orange.

Members of Barramundi

 * Rodger Bingham
 * Amber Brkich
 * Nick Brown
 * Alicia Calaway
 * Colby Donaldson
 * Keith Famie
 * Elisabeth Filarski
 * Jerri Manthey
 * Jeff Varner
 * Tina Wesson

Tribe History
On day nineteen, the two tribes received notice of an impending merge. Kucha received a Tree Mail labelled "Girls' Night Out," instructing Alicia Calaway and Elisabeth Filarski to spend the night at the Ogakor camp. The ladies were thus under the impression that they'd be joining the men of Ogakor for the evening, while Kucha's men entertained the women. Ogakor, however, received the opposite Tree Mail, instructing Colby Donaldson and Keith Famie to make the trek to the Kucha camp. The men and women spent the remainder of the day separated from one another, with the men at Kucha and the women at Ogakor.

On day twenty, the tribes were instructed to meet at a new beach. This would be the site of the new merged tribe's camp. The group celebrated with a feast, then quickly set to work building a camp. Rodger Bingham advocated building their new shelter in the highlands, but Jerri Manthey suggested that the dry riverbed at the base of a steep hill would make for a more comfortable sleep, due to the soft sand. The tribe set up camp in the riverbed, and chose the name Barramundi. It was apparent that despite the show of unity, this was still two tribes living on one beach. This paranoia manifested itself in the first individual immunity challenge, wherein the castaways had to stand on a perch for as long as they could. The fortitude of the various tribe members differed: Nick Brown quit only ninety minutes into the challenge, while Alicia, Keith and Tina Wesson all lasted over ten hours. The challenge eventually ended when Tina stepped down to grant her ally Keith immunity, knowing he had received past votes and thus was in danger at the upcoming Tribal Council.

At that night's vote, the former Kucha members all cast their votes for Ogakor's Colby. Ogakor, meanwhile, knew that Jeff Varner had received a vote from Debb Eaton on night three; Tina had extracted the information from Kimmi Kappenberg prior to a reward challenge. When a double tiebreaker failed to resolve the situation, Jeff Probst turned to past votes. Jeff had received more than Colby, and was thus eliminated from the game. This would spell the beginning of Kucha's subsequent downfall.

At this time, Elisabeth began to search for cracks in the dominant alliance, and noticed tension between Jerri and the other members of the tribe -- particularly Tina, who had become fed up with Jerri's negative attitude. This feeling was magnified when Jerri won the first individual reward challenge and selected Amber Brkich to join her for dinner. Back at camp, the tribe enjoyed the pair's absence. In spite of the hard feelings toward Jerri, however, Ogakor continued to dominate with Keith winning his second consecutive immunity challenge. On day twenty-four, challenge threat Alicia was voted out in a 5-4 decision.

On day twenty-five, the tribe received directions to split up into pairs for a reward challenge. Jerri immediately latched onto Colby, suggesting that her choice should be honoured because "the game isn't fair." The rest of the group balked at the suggestion and instead chose to draw names from a hat. Through sheer coincidence, Colby and Jerri ended up together anyway, and went on to win the challenge. The pair were reward with a romantic excursion to the Great Barrier Reef, from which Colby (illegally) brought back a piece of coral for each member of the tribe.

The next castaway slated to be chopped was Nick, the most physically fit of the three former Kucha members. Plans changed, however, when Nick won the next individual immunity challenge. Tina took advantage of the opportunity to lobby for Jerri's exit and, in spite of misgivings from Colby, the plan fell through. Jerri, who had been antagonizing the group throughout the game, was finally eliminated on night twenty-seven. Jerri attributed her boot to her remark that the game wasn't fair, which she felt had rubbed many people the wrong way.

Amber felt lonely and despondent at the loss of her closest friend in the game, but the tribe was distracted by more pressing concerns: the group was rapidly running out rice. Despite an auction reward challenge on day twenty-eight (during which insult was added to Amber's injury when the administrative assistant paid $200 AUS for a glass of Herbert River water), the group was starving, lethargic, and barely able to complete the day twenty-nine immunity challenge. Colby ended up taking the victory, as he would with every other immunity challenge from that point on.

Observing the lethargy, Jeff Probst arrived at the Barramundi camp and offered the group a deal: their shelter in exchange for a new supply of rice. Eager to eat, the group accepted and began to rebuild the camp. They also attended Tribal Council, where Nick was voted out of the game 4-2-1.

Tough times continued at Barramundi when a freak storm hit after the next day's reward challenge, sending a torrent of water cascading down the slope near their camp. Their shelter, which had been carelessly constructed in a riverbed, was washed away, along with their newly-attained rice and the lion's share of their personal possessions. The group was devastated, and struggled to rebuild yet again. A small respite from the bad luck that dogged the tribe occurred when Keith and Tina were able to spot the rice tin in the rushing river, and rescue it from the rapids.

In the chaos that followed the flood, Amber was voted out of the tribe 4-2. The former members of Ogakor feared that she would form a counter-alliance with the remaining members of Kucha.

Barramundi spent their dwindling days in the outback creating a new camp in the highlands, safe from any potential flood activity. With only five members left on the tribe, personalities began to wear thin. Colby, in particular, became annoyed with Keith due to the chef's perceived arrogance. It was around this time that Tina and Colby began to feel that Elisabeth and Rodger were more deserving of their spots in the final five than their Ogakor ally. The tribe also began to yearn for a taste of home, which they got in the form of the Internet Cafe reward challenge, which allowed the castaways to converse with loved ones from home. Tina won an internet shopping spree for her family, and Keith took the opportunity to make a televised proposal to his longtime girlfriend Katrin. She accepted.

Despite the friction with Keith, the Ogakor alliance continued along its path of domination. Sensing that his time was up, Rodger sacrificed himself and asked Tina to vote him out in order to keep his ally and close friend Elisabeth in the game. Ogakor honored Rodger's request, and the Kentucky farmer was voted out 3-2.

On day thirty-seven, the final four competed in a reward challenge that combined elements of past challenges. Colby won, and in the process gained a Pontiac Aztek. On his reward trip, he was surprised by a visit from his mother, Gay. The ensuing footage was seen by many as unintentionally humorous, and earned Colby the nickname of "Oedipus Tex" among fans. Colby brought his mother back to camp, where she lavished the group with stories from home and care packages from their loved ones. This brought the group some much needed familiarity for their final days. Colby won the final four immunity challenge, and Elisabeth became the final Kucha member eliminated in a 3-1 vote.

The final three castaways were then tasked with making idols to reflect on their time in the outback. After passing the torches of the thirteen castaways voted out of the game, they competed in their final immunity challenge. Colby won and voted out Keith. It was a controversial move, as Keith was largely seen as an easily beaten final two opponent. This strategy polarized viewers: some admired Colby's loyalty to his ally Tina, while others felt it was a foolish move made to spite Keith.

After an emotional departure from their camp, Tina and Colby faced the final jury and pleaded their cases. Tina ended up earning the majority of the votes, winning over Keith, Elisabeth, Jerri and Alicia with her arguments. In a 4-3 voted, Tina was named the Sole Survivor of Survivor: The Australian Outback.

Trivia

 * Barramundi, unlike most other merged tribes, did not have a flag designed by the new members of the tribe. Instead, Barramundi used a traditional orange Survivor flag. A smaller, stylistic Barramundi banner was seen in one of the episodes (and can be seen in the body of this article), but its origins were never detailed.
 * Colby Donaldson and Tina Wesson agreed on day forty-two that the winner of the game would keep the Barramundi flag. At the live finale in Los Angeles, Jeff Probst gave Tina the flag.
 * When Jeff Probst asked Jeff Varner at Tribal Council how many past votes he had received, Varner answered that he had received only one. In reality, he had received two: Probst never revealed Kimmi Kappenberg's vote for Jeff at the episode 205 Tribal Council.
 * Nick Brown's win in the episode 210 immunity challenge would mark the only victory by a former Kucha member in an individual challenge.
 * Barramundi ended up building three shelters during its Survivor tenure: the original shelter, the second after Jeff Probst dismantled the first in exchange for rice, and the third in the highlands after the flood washed the second away.