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Survivor: The Australian Outback, also known as Survivor: Australia in later seasons, is the second season of the reality show Survivor.

Fifteen weekly episodes were aired, with the premiere airing immediately after Super Bowl XXXV. Continuing from the success of its predecessor, the season emerged as the top-rated show of 2001, ranging at 30 million weekly viewers according to Nielsen Ratings. Notably, the season shifted to a new timeslot on Thursday nights, which would remain the series' timeslot for the next 18 seasons.

The season became a cultural behemoth that canonized some of the series' most iconic characters, including Colby Donaldson as a heroic figure and Jerri Manthey as the series' prototypical villain. The season also featured the series' first medical evacuation. The winner, Tina Wesson, was announced on May 3, 2001, when she defeated Colby Donaldson by a 4-3 vote. To date, the season has produced eight returning players (Alicia Calaway, Amber Brkich, Colby Donaldson, Jeff Varner, Jerri Manthey, Kimmi Kappenberg, Michael Skupin, and Tina Wesson) for subsequent seasons.

Production[]

Filming was known to have commenced during the Survivor: Borneo reunion show which was hosted by Bryant Gumbel. Gumbel had Jeff Probst via phone patch where Probst revealed that they started filming. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland between late October and early December 2000. The show moved to a new timeslot of Thursdays at 8 pm, where it would stay for the next eighteen seasons. It was premiered on January 28, 2001 following Super Bowl XXXV, and concluded on May 3, 2001, on CBS. The location used was within a three-hour drive off the coastal city of Cairns and located in a wet, tropical area.

In the middle of filming, Colby Donaldson, who won a trip to the Great Barrier Reef as part of a reward win, broke off coral which he intended to keep as a souvenir. During the same trip, a production helicopter flew over restricted sea rookeries. Both of these events led to the show being fined $100,000 Australian dollars. Executive Producer Mark Burnett apologized on behalf of Colby and the production staff after the episode aired.[2]

The season was released in DVD format on April 26, 2005.

Twists/Changes[]

  • Longer Game: The game lasted 42 days, three days longer than the previous season.
  • Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
  • Merge: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
  • Final Tribal Council: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.
  • Tiebreaker: In an event of a tie vote, a revote would take place. If a deadlock occurs, the votes cast against the players in question from previous Tribal Councils will be taken into account. The castaway that had more votes would be eliminated from the game.

Castaways[]

Contestant Tribe Affiliation Finish Votes
Against
Original Tribe Merged Tribe
S2 debb t Debb Eaton
45, Milan, NH
Corrections Officer
Kucha 1st Voted Out
Day 3
7
S2 kel t Kel Gleason
32, Fort Hood, TX
Army Intelligence Officer
Ogakor 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
7
S2 maralyn t Maralyn Hershey
51, Wakefield, VA
Retired Police Officer
Ogakor 3rd Voted Out
Day 9
5
S2 mitchell t Mitchell Olson
23, Union City, NJ
Singer/Songwriter
Ogakor 4th Voted Out
Day 12
6
S2 kimmi t Kimmi Kappenberg
27, Ronkonkoma, NY
Bartender
Kucha 5th Voted Out
Day 15
6
S2 michael t Michael Skupin
38, White Lake, MI
Software Company President
Kucha Evacuated
Day 17
0
S2 jeff t Jeff Varner
34, Manhattan, NY
Internet Projects Manager
Kucha Barramundi 6th Voted Out
Day 21
11
S2 alicia t Alicia Calaway
32, Manhattan, NY
Personal Trainer
Kucha 7th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
5
S2 jerri t Jerri Manthey
30, Los Angeles, CA
Aspiring Actress
Ogakor 8th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
12
S2 nick t Nick Brown
23, Steilacoom, WA
Harvard Law Student
Kucha 9th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
4
S2 amber t Amber Brkich
22, Beaver, PA
Administrative Assistant
Ogakor 10th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
6
S2 rodger t Rodger Bingham
53, Crittenden, KY
Teacher/Farmer
Kucha 11th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
5
S2 elisabeth t Elisabeth Filarski
23, Newton, MA
Footwear Designer
Kucha 12th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 39
5
S2 keith t Keith Famie
40, West Bloomfield, MI
Chef
Ogakor 13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 41
10
S2 colby t Colby Donaldson
26, Dallas, TX
Auto Customizer
Ogakor Runner-Up 9
S2 tina t Tina Wesson
39, Knoxville, TN
Personal Nurse
Ogakor Sole Survivor 0

Season Summary[]

The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes, Kucha and Ogakor. While Ogakor began the game strong by winning the first Immunity and Reward Challenges, Kucha quickly rebounded and won the next Immunity Challenge, reducing Ogakor to five members. Ogakor broke their losing streak by winning the Day 15 Immunity Challenge, sending Kucha back to Tribal Council; after a medical evacuation, Kucha lost their third member, merging the two tribes with five members each. The ten remaining survivors called themselves the Barramundi tribe.

The 5-5 stalemate caused the tribes to be deadlocked the first time they went to Tribal Council, but Jeff from Kucha had past votes, bounding the former Kuchas to extinction. Three of the five former Ogakors, Colby, Keith and Tina, became the deciding factor in most of the votes, even eliminating two of their own when they could afford to before finishing off the remaining Kuchas to make themselves the final three castaways. Colby, who had dominated in the challenges and was known for his chivalry, chose the mother figure Tina over the unpopular Keith, sending the latter to the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury was torn between Colby's eight challenge wins and Tina's quiet control over the Ogakor Alliance. In the end, with four votes to three, Tina's strategy won her the title of Sole Survivor.

Episode Air Date Challenges Eliminated
(Vote)
Finish Viewers
(in millions)[3]
Ratings/Share
(18-49)[3]
Reward Immunity
1 "Stranded" January 28, 2001 Ogakor1 Debb
(7-1)
1st Voted Out
Day 3
45.37 21.8/48
2 "Suspicion" February 1, 2001 Ogakor Kucha Kel
(7-1)
2nd Voted Out
Day 6
29.04 11.9/28
3 "Trust No One" February 8, 2001 Ogakor Kucha Maralyn
(5-1-1)
3rd Voted Out
Day 9
29.04 12.2/28
4 "The Killing Fields" February 15, 2001 Kucha Kucha Mitchell
(3-3;
2-2;
tiebreaker)2,3
4th Voted Out
Day 12
28.23 11.7/29
5 "The Gloves Come Off" February 22, 2001 Kucha Ogakor Kimmi
(6-1)
5th Voted Out
Day 15
28.78 11.9/28
6 "Trial by Fire" March 1, 2001 Kucha None Michael
(no vote)
Evacuated
Day 17
31.32 13.7/34
7 "The Merge" March 8, 2001 None Keith Jeff
(5-5;
4-4;
tiebreaker)2,3
6th Voted Out
Day 21
28.72 12.1/31
8 "Friends?" March 14, 2001 Jerri
[Amber]
Keith Alicia
(5-4)
7th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
28.46 12.0/33
9 "The First 24 Days" March 21, 2001 Recap Episode N/A N/A
10 "Honeymoon or Not?" March 29, 2001 Colby,
Jerri
Nick Jerri
(6-2)
8th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
28.12 11.8/29
11 "Let's Make a Deal" April 5, 2001 Survivor
Auction
Colby Nick
(4-2-1)
9th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
27.71 11.7/32
12 "No Longer Just a Game" April 12, 2001 Colby Colby Amber
(4-2)
10th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
27.55 11.7/34
13 "Enough Is Enough" April 19, 2001 Tina Colby Rodger
(3-2)
11th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
28.41 11.7/32
14 "The Final Four" April 26, 2001 Colby Colby Elisabeth
(3-1)
12th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 39
26.89 11.2/32
15 "The Most Deserving" May 3, 2001 None Colby Keith
(1-0)
13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 41
36.35 15.9/39
Jury Vote Colby
(4-3)
Runner-Up
Tina
(4-3)
Sole Survivor
16 "Reunion" 41.26 18.5/41
Notes:
^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
^2 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence.
^3 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 Merged Tribe
Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15
Voted Out S2 debb t
Debb
S2 kel t
Kel
S2 maralyn t
Maralyn
Tie Deadlock S2 mitchell t
Mitchell
S2 kimmi t
Kimmi
S2 michael t
Michael
Tie Deadlock S2 jeff t
Jeff
S2 alicia t
Alicia
S2 jerri t
Jerri
S2 nick t
Nick
S2 amber t
Amber
S2 rodger t
Rodger
S2 elisabeth t
Elisabeth
S2 keith t
Keith
S2 colby t
Colby
S2 tina t
Tina
Vote 7-1 7-1 5-1-1 3-31 2-22 Past votes 6-1 No vote3 5-51 4-42 Past votes 5-4 6-2 4-2-1 4-2 3-2 3-1 1-04 4-3
Tina Kel Maralyn Mitchell Mitchell Jeff Jeff Alicia Jerri Nick Amber Rodger Elisabeth None Jury Vote
Colby Kel Maralyn Mitchell Mitchell Jeff None Alicia Jerri Nick Rodger Rodger Elisabeth Keith
Keith Kel Mitchell Mitchell None Jeff Jeff Alicia Jerri Nick Amber Rodger Elisabeth None Tina
Elisabeth Debb Kimmi Colby Colby Jerri Jerri Amber Amber Keith Keith Tina
Rodger Debb Kimmi Colby Colby Jerri Jerri Amber Amber Keith Colby
Amber Kel Maralyn Keith Keith Jeff Jeff Alicia Elisabeth Nick Rodger Colby
Nick Debb Kimmi Colby Colby Jerri Jerri Keith Colby
Jerri Kel Maralyn Keith Keith Jeff Jeff Alicia Elisabeth Tina
Alicia Debb Kimmi Colby Colby Jerri Tina
Jeff Debb Kimmi Colby None Voted Out
Michael Debb Kimmi Evacuated
Kimmi Debb Jeff
Mitchell Kel Maralyn Keith None Voted Out
Maralyn Kel Jerri
Kel Jerri
Debb Jeff
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 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.
^3 Michael was medically evacuated after falling into the camp fire and severely burning his hands. No vote occurred for his removal.
^4 Keith and Tina did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Colby voted.

Trivia[]

  • The Tribal Council set was located on the rock cliffs beside the Herbert River Falls. The area where the set was located is submerged for part of the year.
  • The layout of of the Tribal Council set was mirrored from the way it usually configured. In most seasons, the Survivors sit on the left side fire, and Jeff sits on the right side. However, in this season, the Survivors sat on the right side of the fire and Jeff on the left side.
  • This season introduced Australian Didgeridoos to the Tribal Council soundtrack;. They remained part of the soundtrack for future seasons until the original Tribal Council music was retired after Philippines for Tribal Council eliminations. However, the original Tribal Council music was solely used during the reading of the Final Tribal Council votes until Winners at War.
  • The Australian Outback is the longest season in terms of filming, lasting 42 days instead of the standard 39.
  • The Australian Outback saw the first time a contestant was medically evacuated, when Michael Skupin fell into a fire and burned his hands.
  • The Australian Outback is tied with Africa for the most deadlocked votes, with two.
  • The Australian Outback is the only season to have only three castaways left at the beginning of the finale episode.
  • The Australian Outback is the first season to feature a live finale, as opposed to the previous season, which had the winner revealed on set. This format lasted until Survivor 41.
  • The Australian Outback season is tied with Heroes vs. Villains for the highest percentage of returning players, with 50% of its cast (8 of 16) returning for future seasons. It still holds the record for most first-time returning players, and has also produced the most three-time returning players, with five.
  • The Australian Outback is tied with Pearl Islands and Cook Islands for being represented in the most seasons with returning players, with 7.
  • The Australian Outback, David vs. Goliath, Survivor 44, and Survivor 46 are all tied for the fewest pre-merge Tribal Councils with 5.

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 46Survivor 47
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