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This article is about the third season of the American version of Survivor. For the African version of the series, see 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. 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
S3 diane t Diane Ogden
42, Lincoln, NE
Mail Carrier
Boran 1st Voted Out
Day 3
6
S3 jessie t Jessie Camacho
26, Orlando, FL
Sheriff
Boran 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
5
S3 carl t Carl Bilancione
46, Winter Springs, FL
Dentist
Samburu Eliminated
Day 9
7
S3 linda t Linda Spencer
44, Boston, MA
Career Counselor
Samburu 3rd Voted Out
Day 12
4
S3 silas t Silas Gaither
23, Los Angeles, CA
Bartender
Samburu Boran 4th Voted Out
Day 15
8
S3 lindsey t Lindsey Richter
26, Portland, OR
Advertising Executive
Samburu Samburu 5th Voted Out
Day 18
12
S3 clarence t Clarence Black
24, Detroit, MI
Basketball Coach
Boran Boran Moto Maji 6th Voted Out
Day 21
12
S3 kelly t Kelly Goldsmith
22, San Diego, CA
Behavior Analyst
Boran Samburu 7th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
5
S3 brandon t Brandon Quinton
25, Dallas, TX
Bartender
Samburu Samburu 8th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
6
S3 frank t Frank Garrison
42, Odessa, NY
Telephone Technician
Samburu Boran 9th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
9
S3 kimp t Kim Powers
29, Conshohocken, PA
Freelance Marketer
Samburu Samburu 10th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
4
S3 teresa t Teresa Cooper
42, Jackson, GA
Flight Attendant
Samburu Boran 11th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
4
S3 tom t Tom Buchanan
45, Rich Valley, VA
Goat Farmer
Boran Samburu 12th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 37
9
S3 lex t Lex van den Berghe
38, Santa Cruz, CA
Marketing Manager
Boran Samburu 13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 38
10
S3 kimj t Kim Johnson
56, Oyster Bay, NY
Retired Teacher
Boran Boran Runner-Up 1
S3 ethan t 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 the first two Immunity Challenges, became a unified front and went on to win the next two. At Samburu's first Tribal Council the two competing alliances ended up in a 4-4 stalemate, causing a tiebreaker challenge between Carl and Lindsey. Carl lost, giving control of the tribe to the younger alliance. By Day 12, both tribes had six members each.

On Day 13, a vague Tree Mail tasked both tribes to elect three members to converge, only to learn they will be subjected to the first 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 poorly maintained. Vengeful of Silas for mistreating them back in the original Samburu, Frank and Teresa plotted with the original Borans to throw the next Immunity Challenge, promptly voting out Silas. The next day, 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 the unpopular and physical threat Clarence. Angered by this mystery vote, Lex went on a witch hunt 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. Outnumbered, the remaining Samburu members 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. was 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 Samburu1 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)2,3
Eliminated
Day 9
20.43 8.0/20
4 "The Young and Untrusted" November 1, 2001 Samburu Boran Linda
(4-3)
3rd Voted Out
Day 12
18.73 7.8/18
5 "The Twist" November 8, 2001 Boran Samburu Silas
(5-1)
4th 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)2,4
5th Voted Out
Day 18
19.71 8.1/21
7 "Will There Be a Feast Tonight?" November 22, 2001 None Teresa Clarence
(8-2)
6th 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)
7th 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)
8th 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)
9th 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)
10th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
18.92 7.5/20
13 "Truth Be Told" January 3, 2002 Lex Lex Teresa
(4-1)
11th 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)
12th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 37
27.26 11.3/25
Kim J. Lex
(1-0)
13th 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.
^3 A deadlock tie occurred, but because it was the tribe's first Tribal Council, no previous votes could be taken into account. Per Survivor rules, a tiebreaker challenge was held between the tied castaways.
^4 Per Survivor rules, in the event of a deadlock tie, past votes were taken into account. The castaway 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 S3 diane t
Diane
S3 jessie t
Jessie
Tie Deadlock S3 carl t
Carl
S3 linda t
Linda
S3 silas t
Silas
Tie Deadlock S3 lindsey t
Lindsey
S3 clarence t
Clarence
S3 kelly t
Kelly
S3 brandon t
Brandon
S3 frank t
Frank
S3 kimp t
Kim P.
S3 teresa t
Teresa
S3 tom t
Tom
S3 lex t
Lex
S3 kimj t
Kim J.
S3 ethan t
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 Eliminated
Jessie Diane Clarence
Diane Clarence
Notes:
^1 The vote 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.
^2 A deadlock tie occurred, but because it was the tribe's first Tribal Council, no previous votes could be taken into account. Per Survivor rules, a tiebreaker challenge was held between the tied castaways.
^3 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie, past votes were taken into account. The castaway with more past votes would be eliminated.
^4 Ethan and Lex did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Kim J. voted.

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 (U.S.) Seasons
BorneoThe Australian OutbackAfricaMarquesasThailandThe AmazonPearl IslandsAll-StarsVanuatuPalauGuatemalaPanamaCook IslandsFijiChinaMicronesiaGabonTocantinsSamoaHeroes vs. VillainsNicaraguaRedemption IslandSouth PacificOne WorldPhilippinesCaramoanBlood vs. WaterCagayanSan Juan del SurWorlds ApartCambodiaKaôh RōngMillennials vs. Gen XGame ChangersHeroes vs. Healers vs. HustlersGhost IslandDavid vs. GoliathEdge of ExtinctionIsland of the IdolsWinners at WarSurvivor 41Survivor 42Survivor 43Survivor 44Survivor 45Survivor 46
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