Survivor: Africa

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.

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

Sixteen new castaways were marooned on the outskirts of the Shaba National Reserve, Kenya, Africa. The group was divided into two tribes named after two real-life Kenyan tribes, Samburu and Boran. During the first six days, Samburu dominated in challenges, while the depleted Boran lost two members. Despite their early winning streak, Samburu was divided into two existing voting alliances defined by age: the younger members and the older members. The younger Samburus gained power after a tiebreaker during their first Tribal Council.

On Day 13, host Jeff Probst announced that they would be switching tribes. When the new Boran lost the Immunity Challenge, the older ex-Samburu members voted out Silas Gaither. The new Samburu tribe lost the final pre-merge Immunity Challenge, and sent Silas' ally Lindsey home.

On Day 19, the two tribes merged to form the Moto Maji tribe. The former Samburu members entered into the merge in a precarious position being down 4 members to Boran's 6. However, Teresa Cooper hatched a plan to turn the former Boran members against each other by voting against Lex van den Berghe at Tribal Council. Angered by this mystery vote, Lex swore to track down whoever had cast the vote against him and promptly vote them out. He mistakenly suspected Kelly Goldsmith of treachery and swayed his alliance of Ethan Zohn, Kim Johnson, and Tom Buchanan to vote against her. To save herself, Kelly sided with the former Samburu members and voted against Lex, but Lex managed to convince Brandon Quinton to also vote against Kelly, thus eliminating her. Brandon's actions made both his old and new allies, minus Lex, lose trust in him, and the six other people banded together to vote him out. However, this put the former Samburu members in jeopardy, as they were subsequently picked off one-by-one by the original Borans.

Kim J. shocked everyone by winning the final two Immunity Challenges, causing the men to have to turn on each other. Tom, who had been conspiring to have others vote out Lex earlier, was voted out unanimously. At the final three Tribal Council, Kim J. voted out Lex and brought Ethan with her to the Final Two.

At the Final Tribal Council, Kim J. was met with mixed criticism from the jury. She was praised by the jury for lasting all 39 days, despite her age. However, she was perceived as riding the coattails of Ethan, Lex, and Tom for the entirety of the game. The jury voted 5-2 for Ethan to win due to his more active strategy and congenial personality and he was named the third Sole Survivor.

Episode		Air Date	Challenges		Eliminated (vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)[2]	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Question of Trust"	October 11, 2001	Samburu1 Challenge Title: Trail Blazer Each team is given a chariot which contained four lit torches and a fire cauldron at the center. They must pull or push the cart through difficult terrain while lighting a series of fire towers along the way. The first tribe to successfully light their towers, cross the finish line, and ignite the final bonfire wins. Reward: Matches and a cart for them to use to transport supplies to their camp.		Diane (6-2) Diane's weak state and failure to perform in the challenge caused her early demise over Clarence Black's mistake in judgment.	1st Voted Out Day 3	23.84	10.4/23
2	"Who's Zooming Whom?"	October 18, 2001	Samburu Challenge Title: Stairway to the Stars Each tribe has five logs. The goal is to transport the five logs from the start position through a series of obstacles to a tower, where they must build a staircase. The first tribe to successfully build the staircase and have one member race to the top of the tower wins. Reward: Blankets, an extra supply of canned food, lamps, water containers, and some items that they have left on the truck in Day 1.	Samburu Challenge Title: Safari Supper One at a time, members from both tribes must drink a shot of cow's blood. If at any time a person declines to drink or does not finish, that team is disqualified. If all members of both tribes complete the task, a tiebreaker is set. Each tribe must pick a member from the other tribe to chug a full glass of cow's blood. The first to finish the full glass wins.	Jessie (5-2) Despite there still being distrust toward Clarence, Jessie's weaker state was enough to eliminate her instead.	2nd Voted Out Day 6	19.59	7.9/20
3	"The Gods Are Angry"	October 25, 2001	Boran Challenge Title: Rock n' Roll Tribes race to roll an eight-foot boulder through a natural obstacle course. Tribe members must work together to navigate the boulder through obstacles across an already difficult terrain. The first tribe to roll their boulder into the winner's circle wins. Reward: A water tank filled with 100 gallons worth of potable water (to be received the next morning) and organic shampoo.	Boran Challenge Title: Distress Signal Tribes are told via Tree Mail that a plane will be flying over their camps. Utilizing anything around their camp, they must get the plane's attention. The tribe with the better signal (judging will be based on the creativity, yet still recognizable), according to the plane's pilot and drop master would win Immunity (with the plane returning to the winning team's camp, and will drop a wooden crate with the Immunity Idol encased in it).	Carl (4-4; 3-3; Tiebreaker)2 Carl was deemed unworthy of winning by the Younger Samburu Alliance, and after a deadlock between him and Lindsey Richter, Carl lost the tiebreaker.	3rd Voted Out Day 9	20.43	8.0/20
4	"The Young and Untrusted"	November 1, 2001	Samburu Challenge Title: Caught in the Web On a web of rope, hang twelve baskets, each containing a food item. One at a time, the Survivors must race up their tribe's ramp, across the netting and up the rope web. They then retrieve one basket and race back to the finish line. Once they cross the line, the next tribe member goes. The first tribe to get all their items back in their basket wins. Reward: 12 food items (from the baskets in the challenge) that will dramatically improve meals; things like olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, etc.	Boran Challenge Title: Movin' on Up In this challenge, each tribe has a camp with a hut, an animal pen, a flag pole and various camp supplies. The first tribe to relocate their camp up to their new home, 200 yards up a hill, and recreate it exactly as it was at first location wins immunity. 2 members from each tribe will act as the "architects". Their job is to remember exactly what the camp looks like at the first location and make sure it gets recreated exactly the same way at the new location; they will not help move the camp, they will be up at the new location and they can only help their tribe rebuild once their pieces have been placed inside their circle. The other members will be responsible for actually, physically relocating the camp. Last rule: the flag pole must be the last thing they put in.	Linda (4-3) Highly confrontational with the younger members of her tribe and weak in challenges, Linda was the next to go after the Younger Samburu Alliance gained majority of their tribe.	4th Voted Out Day 12	18.73	7.8/18
5	"The Twist"	November 8, 2001	Boran Challenge Title: Get Your Goat Forty goats are in a pen. Twenty are marked with the Samburu red and twenty with Boran yellow. The first tribe to get their twenty goats from the starting pen into their destination pens, one hundred yards away, wins. Reward: Three egg-laying chickens and a rooster.	Samburu Challenge Title: Puzzle of Shields Both tribes will have twenty giant puzzle pieces. First team to complete their puzzle wins.	Silas (5-1) Unbeknownst to Silas, Teresa Cooper plotted to forfeit the challenge as a means to vote him off.	5th Voted Out Day 15	20.55	8.3/20
6	"I'd Never Do It to You"	November 15, 2001	Samburu Challenge Title: Africa 102 Sitting on the top row of bleachers, each team will be asked a series of questions pertaining to Africa. Answer the question correctly and move down a row on the bleachers. The first team to be standing on the ground after answering the most questions correctly wins. Reward: A full food buffet including Mountain Dew, pasta salad with vegetables, a plate full of sandwiches, and cookies for dessert.	Boran Using a bow and arrow, each tribe has five targets ranging from thirty to seventy feet away. One member from each tribe will attempt to hit a target and set it on fire. The first tribe to light up all their targets in order, from closest to farthest, wins Immunity.	Lindsey (3-3; 2-2; Tiebreaker)3 Unfortunately for Lindsey, the former Borans were able to pinpoint which Samburu had previously received votes against them. Lindsey ultimately was eliminated after a deadlock.	6th Voted Out Day 18	19.71	8.1/21
7	"Will There Be a Feast Tonight?"	November 22, 2001	None	Teresa Challenge Title: When It Rains, It Pours Each castaway's wrists were attached to a rope connected to a bucket of water overhead. Their arms had to remain above their heads, very still, because the slightest movement would upset the bucket above and shower the person with water, thus eliminating that person from the game. Jeff Probst will then tempt the contestants with some food items in exchange for giving up. Last person left standing wins immunity.	Clarence (8-2) Deemed too threatening in the challenges, Clarence was voted off by his former Boran members.	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] Challenge Title: Stomp-ede Each castaway was given nine items and instructed to stomp on a plank of wood, catapulting one item at a time into a basket atop a tower. The first person to land all nine in the basket would be the winner. Reward: Offer two goats to an African village in exchange for whatever the winner wants.	Ethan Challenge Title: Box Your Mind The castaways had one minute to memorize the contents of compartments inside a barrel, and then, using their short-term memory, players would have to recreate the items in the various compartments. The first to complete the task would win immunity.	Kelly (5-4) After being falsely accused by Lex van den Berghe of voting against him, Kelly was blindsided by the latter.	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	19.28	7.9/21
10	"Dinner, Movie and a Betrayal"	December 13, 2001	Brandon, Frank Challenge Title: Obstacle Course The castaways will compete in an two-round, double-elimination obstacle course in four teams of two. The two leading teams will go to the final round. First pair to finish wins. Reward: A movie night-out, with an eat-all-you can feast.	Lex Challenge Title: Light It Up Castaways must create fire using a magnifying glass and some twigs. If the fire that grew high enough would burn a thin cord strung across each firepit. When the cord snapped, it would drop a weight, which hoisted a flag announcing the winner. There was only one rule: if anything other than the flame touched the cord, that person would be disqualified.	Brandon (6-2) Brandon's lack of loyalty was ultimately his demise.	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	20.41	8.1/21
11	"We Are Family"	December 20, 2001	Survivor Auction	Lex Challenge Title: African Folklore Jeff will give the tribe a detailed description of African social ritual. After his story, each tribe member had to run to one of seven stations arranged in a circle. Each station contained a choice between two statements, one true, one false, each with a corresponding ostrich egg. The tribe member had to decide which fact was true, then crack open the egg. A false answer would lead to an empty egg; the correct answer would reveal a strip of colored leather contained in the egg. The tribe member would then tie the colored strip to the corresponding band of color on a staff they had been provided. First person to get five strips tied to their staff and return to the center of the circle would win immunity.	Frank (6-1) Frank's political views irked the tribe, causing him to finally get voted out in a unanimous vote.	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	19.60	7.7/22
12	"The Big Adventure"	December 27, 2001	Lex [Tom] Challenge Title: Know Your Loved One Tribe members were to be asked a series of personal questions which their family had previously been asked on videotape. If each tribe member's answer matched the answer their family gave, they would score a point. Reward: An exclusive resort in the Masai Mara, go on safari to see the migrating wildebeest, sleep in a real bed, and a feast, all charged to Jeff's own Visa credit card.	Tom Challenge Title: Pot Shots Eighteen clay pots are hung on a line. Each Survivor's name was marked on three pots. Using an African weapon known as a Ringa, the group had to throw the wooden sticks at their opponents' pots, trying to break the ones that didn't bear their own name. The last person left with an unbroken pot would win Immunity.	Kim P. (4-2) The Boran Alliance chose to hold strong, and Kim P. was next to go in the pecking order.	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	18.92	7.5/20
13	"Truth Be Told"	January 3, 2002	Lex Challenge Title: Swahili Scramble Working from a list, Survivors had to find Swahili words hidden in letters on their boards. Each word intersected with another, sharing a letter. When all 9 words were circled, the Survivors had to unscramble the 9 intersecting letters and discover the answer to a given clue. First one to do so would be the winner. Reward: A brand new car, a Chevrolet Avalanche.	Lex Challenge Title: Second Chance The castaways must traverse an obstacle course built from elements from past challenges of the season. First person to traverse it would win.	Teresa (4-1) As the last former Samburu left, Teresa was voted out unanimously in spite of her last-ditch effort to save herself.	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. Cahllenge Title: Fallen Comrades The castaways will be quizzed on how much they knew about those voted out before them. Eight questions would be asked about the twelve fallen survivors with whom they had spent the past thirty-six days. The person who answered the most questions correctly would win Immunity.	Tom (3-1) After the initial target Kim Johnson won immunity, Tom was blindsided after being perceived as hiding his ulterior strategic moves.	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	27.26	11.3/25
				Kim J. Challenge Title: Hard Idol With the tribal Immunity Idol perched between them, the group had to hold their positions without moving their hands or feet. The last person standing would win.	Lex (1-0) Kim ultimately deemed Ethan Zohn more worthy of lasting to Day 39 than Lex, and Lex was thus voted out.	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Kim J. (5-2) Kim's gameplay was seen as lacking compared to that of Ethan, and she only received 2 votes to win.	Runner-Up
					Ethan (5-2) Ethan's strength, loyalty and likability was ultimately what won him the title of Sole Survivor.	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						30.94	13.1/30
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge ^2 With a deadlock tie between Carl and Lindsey and no previous votes to take into account, a quiz trivia was held, eliminating Carl. ^3 With a deadlock tie between Lindsey and Tom, Lindsey's past votes were taken into account, eliminating her.

Voting History

Survivor: Africa 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	Tiebreaker3	4-3	5-1	3-31	2-24	Past votes5	8-2	5-4	6-2	6-1	4-2	4-1	3-1	1-06	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 the rules, a second vote 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. ^2 A deadlock tie occurred, but because it was the tribe's first Tribal Council, no previous votes may taken into account. With this, a nature quiz challenge was held between the tied players to determine the elimination. ^3 Carl lost the tiebreaker to Lindsey, eliminating him from the game. ^4 Per the rules at the time, in case of a deadlock tie, past votes were taken into account. The player with more past votes got eliminated. ^5 Lindsey had more past votes than Tom, eliminating her from the game. ^6 Ethan and Lex did not vote as they could only vote for were each other. By virtue of winning the final Immunity Challenge, only Kim J. voted.

Trivia

• This is the first season to feature multiple castaways with the same first name. There were two contestants named Kim: Kim Johnson and Kim Powers.
• This is the first season in which the first two eliminated contestants are of the same gender.
• This is the first season to be set in the African continent.
• This is the only season to use the trivia quiz tiebreaker.
• This season marks the first tribe switch. 
• 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.
• This is the first season in which the winner was not decided by one vote.
• 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.
• This is the only season with a Loved Ones Challenge where the loved ones were not on location.

References

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120514150640/http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/jan02/jan14/3_wed/news1wednesday.html
2. ↑ http://www.spottedratings.com/2011/12/spotvault-survivor-cbs-fall-2001.html

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