Survivor: The Australian Outback

Survivor: The Australian Outback (also called Survivor: Australia in later seasons) is the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland between late October and early December 2000, and aired from January 28 to May 3, 2001 on CBS. The location used was within a three hour drive of the coastal city of Cairns and located in a wet, tropical area. It was the top-rated show of 2001, according to Nielsen Ratings, ranging at 30 million viewers watching weekly.

Fourteen weekly episodes were aired, the premiere airing immediately after. The winner, Tina Wesson, was announced on May 3, 2001, when she defeated Colby Donaldson by a 4-3 vote.

Development
Filming was known to have commenced during the reunion show which was hosted by. Gumbel had Jeff Probst via phone patch where Probst revealed that they started filming.

In the middle of filming, Colby Donaldson, who won a trip to the Great Barrier Reef as part of a reward win, was fined with A$100,000 for breaking off coral which he intended to keep as souvenirs and flying over sea rookeries. Executive Producer Mark Burnett apologized in behalf of Colby and the production staff after the episode aired.

The season was released in DVD format on April 26, 2005.

Twist/Changes

 * Longer Game: The game lasted 42 days, three days longer than the previous season. After this season, the game reverted back to the standard 39 day format.
 * Tiebreaker: In an event of a tie vote, a revote would take place. If a stalemate occurs, the votes cast against the players in question from previous Tribal Councils will be taken into account. The castaway that had more votes would be eliminated from the game.

Season Summary
The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes, Kucha ("kangaroo") and Ogakor ("crocodile"). While Ogakor began the game strong, Kucha quickly decimated them to five members. Ogakor broke their losing streak by winning the Day 15 Immunity Challenge, sending Kucha back to Tribal Council; and after a medical evacuation, Kucha lost their third member, forcing the tribes to merge both with five members each. The tribe named themselves Barramundi.

The 5-5 stalemate caused the tribes to be deadlocked the first time they went to Tribal Council, but Jeff Varner from Kucha had past votes, bounding the former Kuchas to extinction. Three of the five ex-Ogakors, Colby Donaldson, Keith Famie, and Tina Wesson, however, stayed a strong group and voted off the remaining Kuchas, while also removing two of their own, Jerri Manthey and Amber Brkich. As the game progressed further, the Barramundi tribe suffered harsh weather conditions, and with a depleted food supply, they were forced to barter their creature comforts for a tin of rice. The alliance of Colby, Keith and Tina stood strong and went on as the final three. Colby won the Final Immunity Challenge and took Tina to the end, with Keith completing the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury was torn between Colby's challenge prowess and Tina's quiet control over the Ogakor alliance. In the end, with four votes to three, Tina's strategy won her the title of Sole Survivor.

Trivia

 * The Tribal Council set was located on the majestic rock cliffs beside the.
 * This is the first season to feature a live finale, as opposed to the previous season, which had the winner revealed on set.
 * This season is the longest season in terms of filming, which lasted 42 days instead of the standard 39.
 * This season saw the first time a contestant was medically evacuated when Michael Skupin fell into a fire and burned his hands.
 * This is the only season to have an episode where there were only three people left.
 * This season produced the most returning players, with 8. This season also had the highest percentage of returning players with 50% of its cast (8 of 16) returning for any future season.