Survivor: Borneo

Survivor: Borneo was the first season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was originally broadcast under the name Survivor but its official title has been changed to Survivor: Borneo to distinguish it from subsequent installments of the series. (Before the change to "Survivor: Borneo", the season was known universally as "Survivor: Pulau Tiga", it was then changed during "Survivor: All-Stars." The show was filmed during 2000 and aired later that year on CBS. It was set on the island of Pulau Tiga in the state of Sabah, off the coast of Borneo, Malaysia. The show was released on DVD on May 11, 2004.

Contestants were divided into two initial tribes—Pagong and Tagi. Later they merged into a tribe called Rattana. After the tribal merge, all of the Pagong contestants were picked off one by one by the Tagi tribe before the members of the Tagi alliance turned on their own. In Survivor fandom, the term "Pagonging" has been used to describe the same pattern.

At the end of the season, in the series' only non-live finale, Richard Hatch beat Kelly Wiglesworth to win the title of for Sole Survivor and $1,000,000.

Production
In 1998, CBS offered Mark Burnett the chance to present his idea of the show to producers. In October 1999, CBS held a casting call for a new reality show concept. The idea was Survivor, in which sixteen people would be stuck on an island 20 miles (32 km) away from the mainland of Borneo. Ten main cameras were set on the island that would film the castaways every day. Every three days, a Tribal Council would be held in which one castaway would be voted off the island. The last castaway to be on the island would win $1 million.

Over 6,000 people applied for the show; 800 were then interviewed in sixteen cities. 48 semifinalists were then chosen, and after background checks and psychological evaluations done by the producers, the final sixteen contestants and two alternates were picked.

As the survivors awaited the game's start, Survivor crews prepared the island for Reward and Immunity challenges, removing any harmful items, checking for any harmful animals in specific locations, and building a Tribal Council set. Camera and other crews were sent to the island three weeks in advance for testing. On the opposite side of the island from the tribes, headquarters were set up for the producers, and crew to live in on the island. This facility included many traditional trailers with running water, televisions, and one phone line. The Tribal Council set was built two hundred yards from the crew's facility. The Tribal Council set was 30 by 30 feet (9.1 by 9.1 m) with no walls and only a wooden platform. In the middle of the set was the central fire providing fire for the players' torches.

On March 7, 2000, the contestants were flown to Los Angeles, then to the city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. From there, they were taken by boat to their island. Contestants were not allowed to speak to one another until they got on the boat headed towards their beaches. The two tribes shared the island of Pulau Tiga, which was divided by over 20 miles (32 km) of forest.

Season Summary
The series premiere began with sixteen people split into two boats, divided into two tribes; Pagong and Tagi. After 18 days of competition, the tribes found themselves switching visits to Tribal Council (with Tagi going first in Day 3, then Pagong's turn at 6, and so on) until Day 20. Tagi sacrificed Sonja, Stacey, and Dirk due to age, weakness, and health respectively. On the other hand, Pagong lost BB, Ramona, and Joel for abrasiveness, sickness and, egotism respectively.

By Day 20, the ten remaining castaways were merged into one tribe, Rattana, and would now begin competing as individuals. When the merge came around, a voting alliance made by ex-Tagi members, Richard, Rudy, Kelly, and Sue, solidified. This gesture proved fatal for the other six survivors, who were eliminated one by one, starting with the five ex-Pagong members, then the only Tagi castaway who was not part of the alliance, Sean. The Tagi alliance of four then went on as the final four castaways, where they realized that they now had to turn on each other.

As the final three days on the island came, Kelly won individual immunity on Day 37 and at Tribal Council, Richard and Sue received two votes each, resulting in a re-vote. As Kelly and Rudy voted again, Kelly switched her vote from Richard to Sue, and Sue became the 6th member of the Jury. At the final immunity challenge on Day 38, Richard voluntarily stepped out of the challenge on the assumption that the whoever was to win between Kelly and Rudy would take him to the Final Tribal Council due to his duplicity. After Kelly yet again won another immunity, she chose to take Richard with her, thus proving Richard's theories correct, and Rudy became the 7th and final member of the Jury.

On Day 39, Kelly and Richard pleaded their cases to the Jury, and each Jury member cast a vote for one of the final two contestants. In the final vote, all three ex-Tagi members voted for Richard, while the ex-Pagong members (except for Greg, who also voted for Richard) voted for Kelly. With the final result of 4 votes to 3, Richard Hatch became the very first Sole Survivor.

Episode Guide
 Notes: 

Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge A tie between Richard and Susan forced a re-vote; with Kelly switching her vote from Richard to Susan, eliminating her.

Trivia

 * Survivor: Borneo has been referenced numerous times in the Disney show Lizzie McGuire. In one episode, the tribe names Pagong and Tagi are used as team names at an outdoor camp. In another episode, Lizzie's mother claims she knew Richard Hatch would win the series.
 * This is the first season that both tribes alternated winning immunity the entire time before the merge.
 * This was the only season in which the final jury votes were revealed immediately after being cast, rather than months later in front of a live audience.
 * Survivor: Borneo holds the record for having highest percentage of jury votes being shown as the jury members cast them with 6 out of 7 being shown (83%). Only Greg's vote was not shown.
 * In 2006, Richard was found guilty of tax evasion connected with his $1,000,000 prize and sentenced to 51 months in prison.
 * Because of this he was unable to participate in seasons such as Heroes vs. Villains and Redemption Island.
 * The Survivor: Borneo finale received the highest ratings of any Survivor episode to date.
 * Many people speculate that Kelly would have won the game had she guessed the correct number to juror Greg Buis' final question. However, Greg himself admitted that Richard had his vote 100% and he would have never voted for Kelly, and that he only asked the number-guessing question to mock the overly-dramatic nature of Tribal Council.