Survivor: Marquesas

Survivor Marquesas is the fourth installment of the reality television show Survivor. It premiered on February 28, 2002 and ended May 19, 2002. The season was filmed from November 12 to December 20, 2001 on the island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.

The two tribes, Maraamu and Rotu (Marquesan for 'Southern Wind' and 'Rain' respectively) switched some members, then later merged into the Soliantu tribe (a word created by Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien and Rob Mariano, which they intended to mean "Sacred Allegiance to the Sun.")

In the end, Vecepia Towery beat out the competition and won the title of Sole Survivor and the $1,000,000 grand prize.

Production
The Marquesas Islands were initially selected as a backup location for Survivor. The original location, Jordan, was discounted as a result of the September 11 attacks and the political situation in the Middle East.

Survivor: Arabia
Mark Burnett wrote in his autobiography Jump In that the Survivor Team were in pre-production - the outline for the opening involved the Survivors boarding a train, then riding on camels to their camp sites.

This was the first season where the contestants were not given any initial supplies, such as food, water, or matches. Also, the rules of the Individual Immunity Necklace were changed so that a contestant who won the necklace in a challenge was able to give it to another contestant. Previous votes against a contestant were discounted in subsequent Tribal Councils. As this was the former method of determining if a contestant was eliminated in case of a tie, a new tiebreaker format was developed. The controversial Purple Rock tiebreaker was used in this season alone, and resulted in the ousting of Paschal English, then with no votes against him.

Twist/Changes

 * No Provided Food: For the first time, the castaways were not given any food rations (such as limited supply of rice or canned goods). Both tribes' supply crates were drastically reduced to only a pair of machetes, three pans, a fillet knife, two water containers, and a magnifying glass, but no food items thumb|300px|right|Survivor: Marquesas Opening Creditswhatsoever.
 * Tribe Switch: Similar to the previous season, three people from both tribes will be transferred to the rival tribe.
 * Passable Immunity Necklace:  Starting this season, the current holder of the Immunity Necklace will have the privelege to transfer his/her immunity to another player, keeping that player safe, while leaving the original wearer vulnerable. This option can still apply as of the latest season.
 * Purple Rock Tiebreaker:  Previous votes against a contestant were discounted in subsequent Tribal Councils. As this was the former method of determining if a contestant was eliminated in case of a deadlock tie, a new tiebreaker format was developed. Everyone (including people who did not have votes - except the wearer of the Immunity Necklace) will pick a rock from a bag, and the unfortunate person who gets the purple rock will be automatically eliminated from the game. The Purple Rock tiebreaker was used in this season alone, for it generated controversy from fans. As of the latest season, handling deadlock ties became ambiguous, though the Purple Rock controversy became a driving force to scare castaways from enforcing a tie vote. The only known deadlock tiebreaker started in Survivor: Palau, where the involved parties must compete in a fire-starting challenge (though in all occasions, this has happened when there are only four contestants remaining). It is currently unknown of what will happen if tie votes occurred before the final four.

Castaways
Notes:
 * The Votes Against is the number of votes a castaway has received during all Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out from the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.
 * Paschal was not voted out. The purple rock tiebeaker determined who would be eliminated. He drew the purple rock and he was sent home.

Season Summary
The two tribes, Rotu and Maraamu, were established and headed on different paths. From the beginning, Rotu prospered as a unified, hard-working tribe, while the Maraamu tribe quickly became divided between the leaders (headed by Hunter), and the workers (led by Rob). These differences heavily reflected in the intial Immunity Challenge where Maraamu lost the first of five consecutive challenges. These losses sent Maraamu to Tribal Council on three occasions where the alliance made between Rob, Sarah, Sean, and Vecepia soon took action eliminating Peter, Patricia, and Hunter respectively.

On Day 10, a random tribe shuffle sent Rob, Sean, and Vecepia to Rotu, while Paschal, Neleh, and Kathy joined Maraamu. With her entire alliance taken away to Rotu, Sarah was left alone with Gina (a former ally of Hunter) and was voted out after Maraamu's fourth immunity loss. After Sarah's elimination, the Maraamu tribe experienced a rebirth, and went on to win three consecutive challenges. As Maraamu came together, Rotu began to fall apart, as John accused Gabriel of untrustworthiness. Gabriel's gestures led to a four-way voting alliance of John, Zoe, Robert, and Tammy, the "Rotu Four", whilst the three former Maraamu members remained strong. In Rotu's first Tribal Council, Gabriel was unanimously sent home. After their Tribal Council, John declared that the members of the new Maraamu Tribe would be targetted first in the event of a Merge. Rob and John shook on the deal, though neither one intended on keeping their promises. In the next challenge Rob led Rotu into a comeback victory, sending Maraamu back to Tribal Council, where Gina was outnumbered by her new tribemates and eliminated from the game.

When the tribes merged on Day 19, Rob and Kathy each represented their respective tribes to decide on a name, flag and location. During this time alone, Rob convinced Kathy that the Rotu tribe intended to vote her out first and she decided her only option was to prevail in the first Individual Immunity Challenge. With this, Kathy persevered and won, resulting in her receiving the Individual Immunity necklace. The newly-merged tribe then eliminated Rob due to him being a great threat and causing a great deal of stress in the camp. After Rob's elimination, the "Rotu Four" congratulated themselves and in the next Immunity Challenge, became arrogant and careless and teamed up against the other 5 un-unified castaways, Kathy, Sean, Vecepia, Neleh, and Paschal. With their fates seemingly obvious, the remaining 5 took advantage of their numbers advantage, and due to Kathy's persuasion, joined forces to eliminate John, leader of the "Rotu Four". Kathy's plan worked, and with five votes to four, John was blindsided. Outnumbered by Kathy's new alliance, the remaining members of the "Rotu Four" were subsequently eliminated. With the "Rotu Four" gone and in the jury, the final five resumed their previous factions, Paschal and Neleh against Sean and Vecepia, each pair vying for Kathy's vote. After heated discussion in Tribal Council, Kathy sided with Paschal and Neleh and outnumbered Sean, making him the 5th member of the Jury.

With only four players left, Vecepia needed to win immunity as she knew she would be voted off next. Having spent time with every contestant came back to work in her favor as a trivia contest about the contestants gave her the Immunity win and placed a target squarely on Kathy. During Tribal Council, Kathy publicly approached Vecepia to form a voting bloc to take them both to the Final 2 as she knew Paschal and Neleh were not going to turn on each other. Vecepia agreed to the deal, and they both voted for Neleh, resulting in a tie between her and Kathy. With the vote being tied and deadlocked for the first time, the new rules for breaking a tie-breaker came into effect: everyone would reach into a bag and pull out a colored rock. Whoever drew the purple rock would be sent home; only Vecepia was exempt from participating as she had won Individual Immunity. Paschal lost and was eliminated, despite having received no votes throughout the entire game. In the Final Individual Immunity Challenge, all three remaining castaways would hold on to an Immunity Idol for as long as possible. After Kathy dropped out, Vecepia went back on her word with Kathy and offered to step down and offer Neleh immunity if she was to vote for Kathy. Neleh agreed and Kathy became the final member of the jury.

At the final Tribal Council, Neleh and Vecepia were met with a bitter jury as they were grilled for hiding behind religion to use a form of guilt-free deception. Neleh was castigated by the former "Rotu Four" alliance by riding on Paschal's coattails and starting to think strategically too late into the game. Vecepia was condemned for constantly shifting from alliance to alliance and was met with heavy disdain for betraying Kathy after publicly aligning with her. Ultimately, it was Vecepia who was crowned Sole Survivor after a close 4-3 vote and she became the first African-American victor.

Episode Guide
 Notes: 
 * In the case of multiple castaways who win reward or immunity, they are 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.
 * Paschal was eliminated because of the Purple Rock tiebreaker, despite not having any votes against him.

Voting History
Notes:
 * All votes with an asterisk (*) resemble votes that are cast during a revote (if tied).
 * On Day 37, Paschal drew the Purple Rock, sending him home (despite not having any votes against him).

Trivia

 * This is the first known time to have tribe camps with its own advantages and disadvantages. Maraamu camp was situated in a white-sand beach, with an abundance of fruit-bearing trees and a rock pool filled with shrimp, though its water source was a small creek. On the other hand, Rotu had a rocky shore, with very few food sources, though its had a brackish waterfall as their source of water.
 * The location for this season was originally going to be the Middle Eastern country of Jordan, but it was moved following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
 * This was the first season where the Final 2 was comprised of two female players rather than a man and a woman.
 * This would last until Survivor: Pearl Islands, where the Final 2 consisted of two female players as well.
 * Jeff Probst has said that Survivor will never use the Marquesas as a location again, solely because of painful bites from native no-no sandflies.
 * This is the only season he participated in where Rob Mariano did not win any individual Immunity Challenges.
 * This first season that had a Tribe Switch and all the contestants voted out before the merge never switched tribes.
 * This marks the first season to have the loved ones of castaways physically on the island during the Loved Ones reward (Survivor: Borneo used videotapes, Survivor: The Australian Outback used a live video chat, and Survivor: Africa also used videotapes).