Survivor: Thailand

Survivor: Thailand
Season Information
Season No.	5
Filming Dates	June 10, 2002 - July 18, 2002
Season Run	September 19, 2002 - December 19, 2002
Winner	Brian Heidik
Viewership (in Millions)	21.21

Survivor: Thailand was the fifth season of Survivor. It was won by Brian Heidik, who defeated Clay Jordan by a 4-3 vote.

In 2011, the season was released on DVD exclusively through Amazon.com.

Production

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Twists/Changes

• Tribes chosen by oldest contestants: Unlike the previous four editions where the producers pre-selected the contestants' tribe affiliations, this season had the contestants choose their own tribemates. The fact that elders are given utmost respect in Thailand was incorporated into the game by allowing the eldest male contestant, Jake Billingsley, and the eldest female contestant, Jan Gentry, to divide the rest of the group into two tribes.
• Camp with advantages and disadvantages: Similar to the previous season, the tribes had camps with pros and cons. Camp Chuay Gahn is virtually a cave, thus making shelter a non-issue, though its water source was on the other side of the island. Sook Jai's camp has a nearby water hole, though they have to make their own shelter.
• Mutiny: On Day 14 the castaways were invited to change tribe affiliations at will.
• Pre-Merge Survivor Auction: For the first (and so far only) time in the history of the series the Survivor Auction was held during the game's tribal phase. The auction itself was a bidding competition between the two tribes and not between individuals.
• Fake Merge and Delayed Merge: On Day 19, the Sook Jai tribe was instructed to move to Chuay Gahn's old camp. This created a situation where the two tribes lived at the same camp without being merged (as they were soon to find out). The actual merger took place six days later, on Day 25.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
File:S5 john t.jpg	John Raymond 40, Slidell, LA	Chuay Gahn		1st Voted Out Day 3	6
File:S5 tanya t.jpg	Tanya Vance 27, Kingsport, TN	Chuay Gahn		2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
File:S5 jed t.jpg	Jed Hildebrand 25, Dallas, TX	Sook Jai		3rd Voted Out Day 9	5
File:S5 ghandia t.jpg	Ghandia Johnson 33, Denver, CO	Chuay Gahn		4th Voted Out Day 12	5
File:S5 stephanie t.jpg	Stephanie Dill 29, Fayetteville, AR	Sook Jai		5th Voted Out Day 15	5
File:S5 robb t.jpg	Robb Zbacnik 23, Scottsdale, AZ	Sook Jai		6th Voted Out Day 18	5
File:S5 shiiann t.jpg	Shii Ann Huang 28, New York City, NY	Sook Jai		7th Voted Out Day 21	10
File:S5 erin t.jpg	Erin Collins 26, Austin, TX	Sook Jai		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	3
File:S5 ken t.jpg	Ken Stafford 30, Brooklyn, NY	Sook Jai	Chuay Jai	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	6
File:S5 penny t.jpg	Penny Ramsey 27, Plano, TX	Sook Jai		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	5
File:S5 jake t.jpg	Jake Billingsley 60, McKinney, TX	Sook Jai		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	7
File:S5 ted t.jpg	Ted Rogers, Jr. 37, Durham, NC	Chuay Gahn		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	7
File:S5 helen t.jpg	Helen Glover 47, Middletown, RI	Chuay Gahn		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	5
File:S5 jan t.jpg	Jan Gentry 53, Tampa, FL	Chuay Gahn		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
File:S5 clay t.jpg	Clay Jordan 46, Monroe, LA	Chuay Gahn		Runner-Up	3
File:S5 brian t.jpg	Brian Heidik 34, Quartz Hill, CA	Chuay Gahn		Sole Survivor	0

Season Summary

The game began with the contestants being brought to the island in two boats, one for each gender. This led the contestants to assume that the tribes would be divided by gender. However, this theory was proved wrong when Jake Billingsley and Jan Gentry, the eldest male and female contestants, were given the opportunity to select their own tribemates (as Thai culture stated that elders received utmost respect) - a first in the series. Ultimately, Jan's picks were mostly older, weaker contestants (much to the ire of her teammates), and this left Jake to pick the younger, more athletic players. Jake and Jan were then asked to choose one of two campsites for their tribe dwellings, with contrasting advantages and disadvantages. Jan's pick was a campsite with a cave (eliminating the need of creating a shelter) but a difficult to find water source, while Jake chose the other camp, a beach that has a nearby water source, but no shelter.

After six days of competition, the younger (albeit turmoil-stricken) Sook Jai tribe dominated the elderly Chuay Gahn tribe in challenges, with Chuay Gahn's members immediately decimated to six, with the loss of John Raymond and Tanya Vance. Chuay Gahn's fortunes turned around after the first losses, and they went on to win the next Reward Challenge and then the Immunity Challenge, thus temporarily sending Sook Jai to Tribal Council. The lack of shelter at Sook Jai proved to be a source of tension in the tribe, as the tribe members quickly became divided between those who worked on building the shelter and those who gathered water and food. Jed Hildebrand, Robb Zbacnik, and Stephanie Dill ignored the shelter work, separated themselves from the rest of the tribe, and chose to sleep on the beach rather than in the shelter. This situation helped to create two alliances within the tribe.

Despite their newly-found vigor, Chuay Gahn also had their share of mishaps, when Ghandia Johnson accused Ted Rogers, Jr. of having sexual advances with her, which the latter denied. This argument threatened the unity within the tribe, and as a result they lost another Immunity Challenge. Ghandia tried to make an all-female voting alliance with Jan and Helen Glover, but Helen sided with the men to get rid of Ghandia. After Ghandia's elimination, Chuay Gahn finally pulled it together. They managed to win the next two Immunity Challenges. Meanwhile on Sook Jai, the core alliance of Jake, Penny Ramsey, Shii Ann Huang, and Ken Stafford eliminated the alliance outsiders Stephanie and Robb, thus evening up the tribes with five members apiece.

On Day 19, a twist in the game sent Sook Jai to live together with the Chuay Gahns at their camp, making everybody believe that a merge had occurred. With this, Sook Jai member Shii Ann, who deemed herself as the lowest-ranking person in her alliance, made a voting bloc alliance with the Chuay Gahn members to ensure her safety. However, in a shocking announcement at the seventh Immunity Challenge, Jeff Probst revealed that the tribes weren't merging yet, they were just living together on one beach. With Sook Jai suffering two Immunity losses in a row, Shii Ann and Erin Collins paid the price, dwindling the once strong Sook Jai tribe to a paltry three members against Chuay Gahn's five.

On Day 25, the two tribes finally merged into the Chuay Jai tribe, but the deficit Sook Jai faced entering the merge overwhelmed them, and they were systematically eliminated. With only Chuay Gahn members left, the remaining survivors were faced with the reality of having to vote one of their own out. Helen and Ted quickly targeted Clay Jordan for his lack of work ethic. However, Brian Heidik, who had made separate alliances with three of the four other people, used his influence to manipulate the vote to his liking. At the next three Tribal Councils, Brian swerved the vote in the direction of Ted, whom he perceived as the biggest physical threat, then Helen, for catching her playing both sides and, finally, Jan, for being well-liked.

At the Final Tribal Council, Brian was castigated for breaking friendships to further his interests, while Clay was admonished for his racist remarks and poor work ethic. Eventually, Brian's athleticism and superb strategy awarded him the Jury votes he needed to win the title of Sole Survivor.

Episode Guide

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated	Vote	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"The Importance of Being Eldest"	September 19, 2002	None	Sook Jai	John	6-1-1	1st Voted Out Day 3	23.05	9.6/28
2	"The Great Divide"	September 26, 2002	Sook Jai	Sook Jai	Tanya	5-2	2nd Voted Out Day 6	21.72	8.6/21
3	"Family Values"	October 3, 2002	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Jed	5-3	3rd Voted Out Day 9	20.60	8.5/N/A
4	"Gender Bender"	October 10, 2002	Sook Jai	Sook Jai	Ghandia	4-2	4th Voted Out Day 12	21.16	8.6/22
5	"The Ocean's Surprise"	October 17, 2002	Survivor Auction	Chuay Gahn	Stephanie	5-2	5th Voted Out Day 15	N/A	8.3/23
6	"The Power of One"	October 24, 2002	Sook Jai	Chuay Gahn	Robb	5-1	6th Voted Out Day 18	20.80	8.4/N/A
7	"Assumptions"	October 31, 2002	None	Chuay Gahn	Shii Ann	4-1	7th Voted Out Day 21	N/A	7.5/N/A
8	"Sleeping with the Enemy"	November 7, 2002	None	Chuay Gahn	Erin	3-1	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	N/A	N/A
9	"Desperate Measures"	November 14, 2002	Brian	Clay	Ken	5-3	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	21.62	8.6/22
10	"While the Cats Are Away"	November 21, 2002	Brian [Clay]	Helen	Penny	4-2-1	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	N/A	N/A
11	"The First 30 Days"	November 28, 2002	Recap Episode					N/A	N/A
12	"A Big Surprise... and Another"	December 5, 2002	Helen	Ted	Jake	5-1	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	21.50	8.6/N/A
13	"The Tides Are Turning"	December 12, 2002	Ted [Helen]	Brian	Ted	4-1	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	19.00	7.4/N/A
14	"Slip Through Your Fingers"	December 19, 2002	None	Brian	Helen	3-1	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	24.08	9.9/26
				Brian	Jan	1-0	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
Reunion Show			Jury Vote		Clay	4-3	Runner-Up	20.42	9.2/24
					Brian		Sole Survivor

Voting History

		Original Tribes								Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	12	13	14
Voted Out		John	Tanya	Jed	Ghandia	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Helen	Jan	Clay	Brian
Vote		6-1-1	5-2	5-3	4-2	5-2	5-1	4-1	3-1	5-3	4-2-1	5-1	4-1	3-1	1-01	4-3
►	Brian	John	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Helen	Jan	Jury Vote
►	Clay	John	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Jake	Jake	Ted	Helen	None
►	Jan	John	Tanya	—	Clay	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Helen	None		Brian
►	Helen	Clay	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Jan			Brian
►	Ted	John	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Jan				Brian
►	Jake	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ted	Jan	Jan					Brian
►	Penny	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ted	Jake					Clay
►	Ken	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ted						Clay
	Erin	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Ken							Clay
	Shii Ann	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Penny
	Robb	—	—	Shii Ann	—	Shii Ann	Shii Ann
	Stephanie	—	—	Shii Ann	—	Shii Ann
	Ghandia	John	Helen	—	Clay
	Jed	—	—	Shii Ann
	Tanya	John	Helen
	John	Ghandia
Notes: ^1 Clay and Jan did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Brian voted.

Reception

The season was infamous for its lack of likeable cast members, most of them remembered as mean-spirited and hostile, while others didn't live up to expectations. The host Jeff Probst himself declared this season as his least favorite, even calling its top four contestants the "least likeable" ever.

Trivia

• This season marks the first time that Jeff Probst could not determine against whom a vote was cast. In the episode "Gender Bender", Clay cast a vote for Ghandia that read "Bye Bye Denver Diva". Probst actually had to ask whoever cast the vote to explain what it meant.
• This was the first time that the Jury phase began before the merge.
• This is also the first time that the winner won the Final Immunity Challenge.
• This season is tied with Survivor: Fiji for having the least number of players to return in a future season, prior to Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, with only 1.
• This season marks the first time two tribes lived on one beach without being merged as part of the Fake Merge twist. This concept would later be used as the central twist in Survivor: One World.
• This season is the first to have an all-male final two.
• Thus far, it is the only season to feature the Survivor Auction before the merge, with tribes competing.
• Thus far, it is the season to have the fewest castaways comprise the merged tribe with eight.
• This season marks the first time that the castaway's loved ones were able to compete alongside them in an Immunity Challenge.
• This was the first season in which Jeff Probst hosted Reunion Show.
• This is the first season to feature an Asian American contestant.
• This is the first season not to include any LGBT contestants.
• This is the first season to not feature a tie vote or tiebreaker challenge.
• The season's jury phase mirrors to that of Survivor: Borneo, where one tribe got systematically voted out, leaving the five representatives of the other tribe by Day 34. Then, at the Final Tribal Council, three of the four members of the obliterated tribe voted for the eventual runner-up, then the fourth member, plus the jurors from the other tribe voted for the winner.
• This was the first season not to feature a Survivor Smorgasbord for the second Immunity Challenge. Instead, it was incorporated as part of the Loved Ones Challenge, with the loved ones having to eat the disgusting food in order to spend time with their respective castaway.
• This is currently the only season where all the tribe names are composed of two words.

References

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