Survivor: Africa is the third season of the reality TV show Survivor. Ethan Zohn was crowned the winner defeating Kim Johnson by a vote of 5-2. To date, it has produced three returning players (Ethan Zohn, Lex van den Berghe, and Tom Buchanan) for subsequent seasons.
Production
The season was filmed in Kenya, where the contestants had to put up with extreme heat conditions and dangerous wildlife. Because there were man-killing animals in the area, the tribes lived in thorny enclosures as local tribal Kenyans do.
The series later returned to the African continent for its seventeenth season, which was filmed in Gabon.
Because of the September 11, 2001 attacks, this season's premiere was delayed. As a result, this became the first season to be aired over multiple calendar years.
Twists/Changes
- Game Length: The game returned to the standard 39-day format.
- Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
- Tribe Switch: Three members from both tribes were selected to join the other tribe.
- Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
- Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.
Castaways
| Contestant | Tribe Affiliation | Finish | Votes Against | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Tribe | Switched Tribe | Merged Tribe | ||||
|
Diane Ogden 42, Lincoln, NE Mail Carrier |
Boran | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
6 | ||
|
Jessie Camacho 26, Orlando, FL Sheriff |
Boran | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
5 | ||
|
Carl Bilancione 46, Winter Springs, FL Dentist |
Samburu | 3rd Voted Out Day 9 |
7 | ||
|
Linda Spencer 44, Boston, MA Career Counselor |
Samburu | 4th Voted Out Day 12 |
4 | ||
|
Silas Gaither 23, Los Angeles, CA Bartender |
Samburu | Boran | 5th Voted Out Day 15 |
8 | |
|
Lindsey Richter 26, Portland, OR Advertising Executive |
Samburu | Samburu | 6th Voted Out Day 18 |
12 | |
|
Clarence Black 24, Detroit, MI Basketball Coach |
Boran | Boran | Moto Maji | 7th Voted Out Day 21 |
12 |
|
Kelly Goldsmith 22, San Diego, CA Behavior Analyst |
Boran | Samburu | 8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24 |
5 | |
|
Brandon Quinton 25, Dallas, TX Bartender |
Samburu | Samburu | 9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
6 | |
|
Frank Garrison 42, Odessa, NY Telephone Technician |
Samburu | Boran | 10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30 |
9 | |
|
Kim Powers 29, Conshohocken, PA Freelance Marketer |
Samburu | Samburu | 11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33 |
4 | |
|
Teresa Cooper 42, Jackson, GA Flight Attendant |
Samburu | Boran | 12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36 |
4 | |
|
Tom Buchanan 45, Rich Valley, VA Goat Farmer |
Boran | Samburu | 13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37 |
9 | |
|
Lex van den Berghe 38, Santa Cruz, CA Marketing Manager |
Boran | Samburu | 14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 |
10 | |
|
Kim Johnson 56, Oyster Bay, NY Retired Teacher |
Boran | Boran | Runner-Up | 1 | |
|
Ethan Zohn 27, New York City, NY Professional Soccer Player |
Boran | Boran | Sole Survivor | 0 | |
Season Summary
The 16 new castaways were divided into two tribes named after two real-life Kenyan tribes: Samburu and Boran. During the first six days, Samburu dominated in challenges, but was divided into two alliances defined by age: One led by Silas and the other led by Frank. Boran on the other hand, despite losing Diane and Jessie, became a unified front and went on to win the next two Immunity Challenges. In Samburu's first Tribal Council the two competing alliance ended up in a 4-4 stalemate, causing a tiebreaker challenge between Carl and Lindsey. Carl lost, giving control to the younger alliance, eliminating Linda later. By Day 12, both tribes had 6 members each.
On Day 13, a vague clue tasked both tribes to elect 3 members to converge, only to learn they will be subjected to the first Survivor Tribe Switch. Silas, who volunteered to go for Samburu, was switched to Boran with Frank and Teresa, while Kelly, Lex and Tom were switched to Samburu much to their chagrin as their new camp was undermaintained. Vengeful of Silas for mistreating them back in old Samburu, Frank and Teresa plotted with the original Borans to throw the next Immunity Challenge, promptly voting out Silas. Teresa later secretly signaled to Kelly, implying Lindsey had past votes, which Kelly, Lex and Tom used to eliminate Lindsey. The tribes merged on Day 19 to form the Moto Maji tribe, with the original Boran outnumbering the original Samburu, 6-4.
Once again on the outs, Teresa hatched a plan to turn the former Boran members against each other by casting a mystery vote against Lex at Tribal Council when the tribe had unanimously decided to vote out Clarence due to him being unpopular and a physical threat. Angered by this mystery vote, Lex swore to track the mystery voter down but had mistakenly suspected Kelly. To save herself, Kelly sided with the Samburu minority, but after a last-minute strategy talk with Brandon, Kelly was voted out. Brandon's betrayal of Samburu deemed him untrustworthy by both sides and voted him out next. The writing was on the wall for the remaining Samburus Frank, Kim P. and Teresa, as they were systematically eliminated by the Boran Alliance of Ethan, Kim J., Lex and Tom.
Despite having a final three deal with each other, Ethan, Lex and Tom were forced to turn on each other after Kim J. won the remaining Immunity Challenges. Tom and Lex were voted out, leaving Ethan and Kim J. as the Final Two.
At the Final Tribal Council, Kim J. praised by the jury for making to the end despite her age, but was perceived as riding the coattails of Ethan, Lex, and Tom for the entirety of the game, in which she received the votes of Brandon and Kim P. It was Ethan's clean, yet strategic game and congenial personality won him the title of Sole Survivor, earning the votes of Kelly, Frank, Teresa, Tom and Lex.
| Episode | Air Date | Challenges | Eliminated (Vote) |
Finish | Viewers (in millions)[2] |
Rating/Share (18-49)[2] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | |||||||
| 1 | "Question of Trust" | October 11, 2001 | Samburu | Diane (6-2) |
1st Voted Out Day 3 |
23.84 | 10.4/23 | |
| 2 | "Who's Zooming Whom?" | October 18, 2001 | Samburu | Samburu | Jessie (5-2) |
2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
19.59 | 7.9/20 |
| 3 | "The Gods Are Angry" | October 25, 2001 | Boran | Boran | Carl (4-4; 3-3; Tiebreaker) |
3rd Voted Out Day 9 |
20.43 | 8.0/20 |
| 4 | "The Young and Untrusted" | November 1, 2001 | Samburu | Boran | Linda (4-3) |
4th Voted Out Day 12 |
18.73 | 7.8/18 |
| 5 | "The Twist" | November 8, 2001 | Boran | Samburu | Silas (5-1) |
5th Voted Out Day 15 |
20.55 | 8.3/20 |
| 6 | "I'd Never Do It to You" | November 15, 2001 | Samburu | Boran | Lindsey (3-3; 2-2; Tiebreaker) |
6th Voted Out Day 18 |
19.71 | 8.1/21 |
| 7 | "Will There Be a Feast Tonight?" | November 22, 2001 | None | Teresa | Clarence (8-2) |
7th Voted Out Day 21 |
17.70 | 6.6/18 |
| 8 | "The First 21 Days" | November 29, 2001 | Recap Episode | N/A | N/A | |||
| 9 | "Smoking Out the Snake" | December 6, 2001 | Ethan Lex |
Ethan | Kelly (5-4) |
8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24 |
19.28 | 7.9/21 |
| 10 | "Dinner, Movie and a Betrayal" | December 13, 2001 | Brandon, Frank |
Lex | Brandon (6-2) |
9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
20.41 | 8.1/21 |
| 11 | "We Are Family" | December 20, 2001 | Survivor Auction |
Lex | Frank (6-1) |
10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30 |
19.60 | 7.7/22 |
| 12 | "The Big Adventure" | December 27, 2001 | Lex [Tom] |
Tom | Kim P. (4-2) |
11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33 |
18.92 | 7.5/20 |
| 13 | "Truth Be Told" | January 3, 2002 | Lex | Lex | Teresa (4-1) |
12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36 |
21.31 | 8.7/20 |
| 14 | "The Final Four: No Regrets" | January 10, 2002 | None | Kim J. | Tom (3-1) |
13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37 |
27.26 | 11.3/25 |
| Kim J. | Lex (1-0) |
14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 | ||||||
| Jury Vote | Kim J. | Runner-Up | ||||||
| Ethan | Sole Survivor | |||||||
| 15 | "Reunion" | 30.94 | 13.1/30 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge
^2 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^3A deadlock tie occurred, but because it was the tribe's first Tribal Council, no previous votes could be taken into account. With this, a nature quiz challenge was held between the tied players to determine the elimination. ^4 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie, past votes were taken into account. The player with more past votes would be eliminated. | ||||||||
Voting History
| Original Tribes | Switched Tribes | Merged Tribe | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ||||||||
| Voted Out |  Diane |
 Jessie |
Tie | Deadlock |  Carl |
 Linda |
 Silas |
Tie | Deadlock |  Lindsey |
 Clarence |
 Kelly |
 Brandon |
 Frank |
 Kim P. |
 Teresa |
 Tom |
 Lex |
 Kim J. |
 Ethan | |
| Vote | 6-2 | 5-2 | 4-41 | 3-32 | Tiebreaker | 4-3 | 5-1 | 3-31 | 2-23 | Past votes | 8-2 | 5-4 | 6-2 | 6-1 | 4-2 | 4-1 | 3-1 | 1-04 | 5-2 | ||
| ►► | Ethan | Diane | Jessie | — | — | Silas | — | Clarence | Kelly | Brandon | Frank | Kim P. | Teresa | Tom | None | Jury Vote | |||||
| ►► | Kim J. | Diane | Jessie | — | — | Silas | — | Clarence | Kelly | Brandon | Frank | Kim P. | Teresa | Tom | Lex | ||||||
| ►► | Lex | Diane | Jessie | — | — | — | Lindsey | Lindsey | — | Clarence | Kelly | Frank | Frank | Kim P. | Teresa | Tom | None | Ethan | |||
| ►► | Tom | Clarence | Clarence | — | — | — | Lindsey | None | — | Clarence | Kelly | Brandon | Frank | Kim P. | Teresa | Lex | Ethan | ||||
| ►► | Teresa | — | — | Lindsey | Lindsey | — | Silas | Silas | — | Lex | Lex | Brandon | Frank | Lex | Tom | Ethan | |||||
| ►► | Kim P. | — | — | Carl | Carl | — | Linda | — | Tom | Tom | — | Clarence | Lex | Brandon | Frank | Lex | Kim J. | ||||
| ►► | Frank | — | — | Lindsey | Lindsey | — | Silas | Silas | — | Clarence | Lex | Brandon | Kim J. | Ethan | |||||||
| ►► | Brandon | — | — | Carl | Carl | — | Linda | — | Tom | Tom | — | Clarence | Kelly | Frank | Kim J. | ||||||
| ►► | Kelly | Diane | Jessie | — | — | — | Lindsey | Lindsey | — | Clarence | Lex | Ethan | |||||||||
| ►► | Clarence | Diane | Jessie | — | — | Silas | — | Lex | |||||||||||||
| ► | Lindsey | — | — | Carl | None | — | Linda | — | Tom | None | Voted out | ||||||||||
| ► | Silas | — | — | Carl | Carl | — | Linda | Frank | |||||||||||||
| Linda | — | — | Lindsey | Lindsey | — | Silas | |||||||||||||||
| Carl | — | — | Lindsey | None | Voted out | ||||||||||||||||
| Jessie | Diane | Clarence | |||||||||||||||||||
| Diane | Clarence | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Notes:
^1 Tribal Council resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Trivia
- Africa is the first season to feature two castaways with the same first name: Kim Johnson and Kim Powers.
- Africa is the first season in which the first two eliminated contestants are of the same gender.
- Africa is the first season to be set on the African continent.
- The area that the contestants were living in was so dangerous (due to the constant threat of lions and other wild animals) that armed soldiers regularly patrolled the area around the campsites as a precaution.
- Africa is the only season to use the trivia quiz tiebreaker.
- Africa marks the first tribe switch.
- Africa is the only season with a Loved Ones Challenge where the loved ones were not on location.
- During the finale, after host Jeff Probst collected the final votes, the producers made it appear as if he returned to the original Tribal Council site to read them. After he read them and announced Ethan Zohn as the winner, it was revealed that the votes were actually read live on the CBS sound stage made to look like the site. This would be repeated two seasons later in Thailand.
- Africa is the first season in which the winner was not decided by one vote.
- Africa is the only season to air across two calendar years.
References
| Survivor (US) Seasons |
|---|
| Borneo • The Australian Outback • Africa • Marquesas • Thailand • The Amazon • Pearl Islands • All-Stars • Vanuatu • Palau • Guatemala • Panama • Cook Islands • Fiji • China • Micronesia • Gabon • Tocantins • Samoa • Heroes vs. Villains • Nicaragua • Redemption Island • South Pacific • One World • Philippines • Caramoan • Blood vs. Water • Cagayan • San Juan del Sur • Worlds Apart • Cambodia • Kaôh Rōng • Millennials vs. Gen X • Game Changers • Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers • Ghost Island • David vs. Goliath • Edge of Extinction • Island of the Idols • Winners at War • Survivor 41 • Survivor 42 • Survivor 43 |
