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.
Vecepia Towery beat Neleh Dennis in a 4-3 vote to become the winner of this season, and received the $1,000,000 prize.
Contents
Production
Originally, Jordan was supposed to be the location of the fourth season. Mark Burnett wrote in his autobiography "Jump In" that the Survivor team was in pre-production of Survivor: Arabia - the outline for the opening involved the castaways boarding a train, then riding on camels to their campsites. Eventually, as a result of the September 11 attacks and the political situation in the Middle East, CBS was forced to use another place for the show. The Marquesas Islands were chosen as the backup location.[2]
Twists/Changes
- Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
- Meager Supplies: The castaways were not given any food rations. The tribes' supply crates were drastically reduced to only a magnifying glass, three pans, a fillet knife, and two water containers.
- Camps with Pros and Cons: The Maraamu camp was a white sand beach with relatively more fruit-bearing trees than Rotu, but only had a small stream for a water source. The Rotu camp on the other hand had a rocky beach with very little food sources, but had a waterfall as a water source.
- Tribe Switch: A luck of a draw sent three members from both tribes to join the rival tribe.
- Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
- Transferable Immunity Necklace: Beginning from this season, the winner of the Immunity Challenge reserved the right to transfer the Immunity Necklace to another player, keeping the recipient safe instead and leaving the original wearer vulnerable.
- Purple Rock Tiebreaker: In case of a deadlocked tie and there is no consensus as to how the vote will go, everyone, including people who did not receive votes except the owner of the Immunity Necklace, will pick a rock from a bag. Inside the bag, there is one purple rock, and the contestant who gets it will be automatically eliminated from the game.
- 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 | ||||
![]() |
Peter Harkey 45, Millis, MA Bowling Alley Owner |
Maraamu | 1st Voted Out Day 3 |
5 | ||
![]() |
Patricia Jackson 49, Lugoff, SC Truck Assembler |
Maraamu | 2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
5 | ||
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Hunter Ellis 33, La Jolla, CA Ex-Navy Fighter Pilot |
Maraamu | 3rd Voted Out Day 9 |
4 | ||
![]() |
Sarah Jones 24, Newport Beach, CA Account Manager |
Maraamu | Maraamu | 4th Voted Out Day 12 |
11 | |
![]() |
Gabriel Cade 23, Hollywood, CA Bartender |
Rotu | Rotu | 5th Voted Out Day 15 |
7 | |
![]() |
Gina Crews 28, Gainesville, FL Nature Guide |
Maraamu | Maraamu | 6th Voted Out Day 18 |
3 | |
![]() |
Rob Mariano 25, Canton, MA Construction Worker |
Maraamu | Rotu | Soliantu | 7th Voted Out Day 21 |
8 |
![]() |
John Carroll 36, Omaha, NE Nurse |
Rotu | Rotu | 8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24 |
8 | |
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Zoe Zanidakis 35, Monhegan Island, ME Fishing Boat Captain |
Rotu | Rotu | 9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
8 | |
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Tammy Leitner 29, Mesa, AZ Crime Reporter |
Rotu | Rotu | 10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30 |
5 | |
![]() |
Robert DeCanio 38, College Point, NY Limousine Driver |
Rotu | Rotu | 11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33 |
6 | |
![]() |
Sean Rector 30, Los Angeles, CA Teacher |
Maraamu | Rotu | 12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36 |
7 | |
![]() |
Paschal English 56, Thomaston, GA Judge |
Rotu | Maraamu | Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37 |
0 | |
![]() |
Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien 46, Burlington, VT Real Estate Agent |
Rotu | Maraamu | 13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 |
5 | |
![]() |
Neleh Dennis 21, Layton, UT Student |
Rotu | Maraamu | Runner-Up | 4 | |
![]() |
Vecepia Towery 35, Hayward, CA Office Manager |
Maraamu | Rotu | Sole Survivor | 2 |
Season Summary
The two tribes, Maraamu and Rotu, as in previous seasons, were assembled before the game. From the beginning, Rotu prospered as a unified, hard-working tribe, while the Maraamu tribe quickly became divided between the leaders and the workers. These differences heavily reflected in the first few Immunity Challenges, as Maraamu lost five challenges in a row. These losses sent Maraamu to Tribal Council on three consecutive occasions. There, the alliance made between Rob Mariano, Sarah Jones, Sean Rector, and Vecepia Towery soon took action eliminating their rivals.
On Day 10, a random Tribe Switch occurred. With her entire alliance sent to Rotu, Sarah was on the outs and voted out after Maraamu's fourth immunity loss. After Sarah's elimination, the new Maraamu tribe, now a paltry tribe of four, went on to win three consecutive challenges. Maraamu came together. On Rotu, an alliance of four led by John Carroll formed.
Before the two tribes merged on Day 19, Rob and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien were sent to a summit in which they had to decide on a name, flag, and location for their new tribe. They came up with Soliantu - a word they coined to mean "Sacred Allegiance to the Sun". During the meeting, 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 alliance became arrogant and careless. They ganged up against the other five castaways in the next Immunity Challenge, showing them the exact order in which they would be sent home. With their fates seemingly obvious, the remaining five decided to act while they still had the numbers advantage, and at the evening's Tribal Council, John was blindsided. Outnumbered by the new Outsiders 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: Neleh Dennis and Paschal English against Sean and Vecepia, with each pair vying for Kathy's vote. After a heated discussion at Tribal Council, Kathy sided with Neleh and Paschal and voted out Sean.
Vecepia, the odd person out in the tribe, went on to win the next Immunity Challenge; and at Tribal Council, Kathy publicly approached Vecepia to form a voting bloc to take them both to the Final Two as she knew that Neleh and Paschal would never 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 deadlocked, a draw of rocks would decide who will go next. Oddly, Paschal, the only other person than Vecepia who did not receive votes, drew the purple rock and was eliminated. When Kathy dropped out at the Final Immunity Challenge, Vecepia went back on her word and offered Neleh to step down if she took her to the final. 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 for initially accepting that she would have been contented by reaching the jury phase only to turn on her word, while Vecepia was chastised 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, becoming the first African-American victor.
Episode | Air date | Challenges | Eliminated (Vote) |
Finish | Viewers (in millions)[3] |
Ratings/Share (18-49)[3] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reward | Immunity | |||||||
1 | "Back to the Beach" | February 28, 2002 | None | Rotu
|
Peter
(5-2-1) |
1st Voted Out Day 3 |
23.19 | 9.1/22 |
2 | "Nacho Momma" | March 7, 2002 | Rotu
|
Rotu
|
Patricia
(4-3) |
2nd Voted Out Day 6 |
23.40 | 9.4/23 |
3 | "No Pain, No Gain" | March 13, 2002 | Rotu
|
Rotu
|
Hunter
(4-2) |
3rd Voted Out Day 9 |
20.10 | 8.9/24 |
4 | "The Winds Twist" | March 20, 2002 | None | Rotu
|
Sarah
(4-1) |
4th Voted Out Day 12 |
N/A | N/A |
5 | "The End of Innocence" | March 28, 2002 | Maraamu
|
Maraamu
|
Gabriel
(7-1) |
5th Voted Out Day 15 |
N/A | 8.2/22 |
6 | "The Underdogs" | April 4, 2002 | Maraamu
|
Rotu
|
Gina
(3-1) |
6th Voted Out Day 18 |
N/A | N/A |
7 | "True Lies" | April 11, 2002 | None | Kathy
|
Rob
(7-2-1) |
7th Voted Out Day 21 |
N/A | 7.7/N/A |
8 | "Jury's Out" | April 18, 2002 | Kathy
|
Tammy
|
John
(6-3) |
8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24 |
19.88 | 8.0/23 |
9 | "Look Closer: The First 24 Days" | April 24, 2002 | Recap Episode | N/A | N/A | |||
10 | "Two Peas in a Pod" | April 25, 2002 | Paschal,
Sean |
Tammy
|
Zoe
(7-1) |
9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
19.42 | 7.8/20 |
11 | "The Princess" | May 2, 2002 | Paschal
[Neleh] |
Robert
|
Tammy
(5-2) |
10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30 |
19.60 | 7.8/21 |
12 | "Marquesan Vacation" | May 9, 2002 | Kathy
|
Vecepia
|
Robert
(5-1) |
11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33 |
20.83 | 8.1/22 |
13 | "A Tale of Two Cities" | May 16, 2002 | Sean
|
Kathy
|
Sean
(3-2) |
12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36 |
19.15 | 7.5/20 |
14 | "The Sole Survivor" | May 19, 2002 | None | Vecepia
|
Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37 |
25.87 | 10.4/23 | |
Neleh
|
Kathy
(1-0) |
13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38 | ||||||
Jury Vote | Neleh
(4-3) |
Runner-Up | ||||||
Vecepia
(4-3) |
Sole Survivor | |||||||
15 | "Reunion" | 18.30 | 8.3/N/A | |||||
Notes:
^1 Per Survivor rules, if there is a deadlock tie, all non-immune players will have to draw rocks, with the player who draws the odd-colored rock being eliminated. |
Voting History
Survivor: Marquesas Voting History | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Original Tribes | Switched Tribes | Merged Tribe | ||||||||||||||||
Episode #: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||||
Voted out: | ![]() Peter |
![]() Patricia |
![]() Hunter |
![]() Sarah |
![]() Gabriel |
![]() Gina |
![]() Rob |
![]() John |
![]() Zoe |
![]() Tammy |
![]() Robert |
![]() Sean |
Tie | ![]() Paschal |
![]() Kathy |
![]() Neleh |
![]() Vecepia | |
Vote: | 5-2-1 | 4-3 | 4-2 | 4-1 | 7-1 | 3-1 | 7-2-1 | 6-3 | 7-1 | 5-2 | 5-1 | 3-2 | 2-21 | Lottery | 1-02 | 4-3 | ||
►► | Vecepia | Sarah | Patricia | Hunter | — | Gabriel | — | Rob | John | Zoe | Tammy | Robert | Neleh | Neleh | — | None | Jury Vote | |
►► | Neleh | — | — | — | Sarah | — | Gina | Rob | John | Zoe | Tammy | Robert | Sean | Kathy | — | Kathy | ||
►► | Kathy | — | — | — | Sarah | — | Gina | Zoe | John | Zoe | Tammy | Robert | Sean | Neleh | — | None | Neleh | |
►► | Paschal | — | — | — | Sarah | — | Gina | Rob | John | Zoe | Tammy | Robert | Sean | Kathy | Eliminated | Neleh | ||
►► | Sean | Sarah | Patricia | Hunter | — | Gabriel | — | John | John | Zoe | Tammy | Robert | Neleh | Vecepia | ||||
►► | Robert | — | — | — | — | Gabriel | — | Rob | Sean | Zoe | Vecepia | Sean | Vecepia | |||||
►► | Tammy | — | — | — | — | Gabriel | — | Rob | Sean | Zoe | Vecepia | Vecepia | ||||||
►► | Zoe | — | — | — | — | Gabriel | — | Rob | John | Robert | Neleh | |||||||
►► | John | — | — | — | — | Gabriel | — | Rob | Sean | Vecepia | ||||||||
►► | Rob | Peter | Patricia | Hunter | — | Gabriel | — | John | ||||||||||
► | Gina | Peter | Sarah | Sarah | Sarah | — | Kathy | |||||||||||
► | Gabriel | — | — | — | — | Rob | ||||||||||||
► | Sarah | Peter | Patricia | Hunter | Kathy | |||||||||||||
Hunter | Peter | Sarah | Sarah | |||||||||||||||
Patricia | Peter | Sarah | ||||||||||||||||
Peter | Patricia | |||||||||||||||||
Notes:
^1 Per Survivor rules, if there is a deadlock tie, all non-immune players will have to draw rocks, with the player who draws the odd-colored rock being eliminated. |
Trivia
- This is the first season in which the finalists were of the same gender, as both finalists were women.
- Host Jeff Probst has stated that Survivor will never use the Marquesas as a location again, solely because of the painful bites from the native no-no sandflies.
- For the first time, the loved ones of castaways were on location during the loved ones Reward Challenge (in Survivor: Borneo and Survivor: The Australian Outback only the winner's loved one visited the castaways).
- This is the only season to not have aired in Australia.
- For the first time, two different contestants won the penultimate and final Immunity Challenges.
- This is the first season to utilize the rock drawing tiebreaker.
- This is the first time that both original tribes were represented in the Final Tribal Council.
- This is the first season in which both finalists had votes against them during the game.
- This is the first season to have a man as the first person voted out.
- This was the first season where Tribal Council had a roof.
- This is the first season to have a castaway that was born in the 1980s: Neleh Dennis.
- This is the first season where at no point during the season did the male castaways outnumber the female castaways. This would next happen in Survivor: Vanuatu and later in Survivor: Micronesia.
- This was the final season to feature the Reebok logo on the tribe's buffs.
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 |