Survivor: The Australian Outback

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
Contestant		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Votes Against
	Debb Eaton 45, Milan, NH Corrections Officer	Kucha		1st Voted Out Day 3	7
	Kel Gleason 32, Fort Hood, TX Army Intelligence Officer	Ogakor		2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
	Maralyn Hershey 51, Wakefield, VA Retired Police Officer	Ogakor		3rd Voted Out Day 9	5
	Mitchell Olson 23, Union City, NJ Singer/Songwriter	Ogakor		4th Voted Out Day 12	6
	Kimmi Kappenberg 27, Ronkonkoma, NY Bartender	Kucha		5th Voted Out Day 15	6
	Michael Skupin 38, White Lake, MI Software Company President	Kucha		Evacuated Day 17	0
	Jeff Varner 34, Manhattan, NY Internet Projects Manager	Kucha	Barramundi	6th Voted Out Day 21	11
	Alicia Calaway 32, Manhattan, NY Personal Trainer	Kucha		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	5
	Jerri Manthey 30, Los Angeles, CA Aspiring Actress	Ogakor		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	12
	Nick Brown 23, Steilacoom, WA Harvard Law Student	Kucha		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	4
	Amber Brkich 22, Beaver, PA Administrative Assistant	Ogakor		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	6
	Rodger Bingham 53, Crittenden, KY Teacher/Farmer	Kucha		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	5
	Elisabeth Filarski 23, Newton, MA Footwear Designer	Kucha		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 39	5
	Keith Famie 40, West Bloomfield, MI Chef	Ogakor		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 41	10
	Colby Donaldson 26, Dallas, TX Auto Customizer	Ogakor		Runner-Up	9
	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]
Episode		Air Date	Reward	Immunity	Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)^[3]	Ratings/Share (18-49)^[3]
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
			Jury Vote		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		Debb	Kel	Maralyn	Tie	Deadlock	Mitchell	Kimmi	Michael	Tie	Deadlock	Jeff	Alicia	Jerri	Nick	Amber	Rodger	Elisabeth	Keith	Colby	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	Jury Vote
►	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
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 • Survivor 41 • Survivor 42 • Survivor 43 • Survivor 44 • Survivor 45 • Survivor 46 • Survivor 47

[1] ttp://web.archive.org/web/20020221074716/http://www.wndu.com/entertainment/052001/entertainment_7900.php

[2] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071225074444/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,104571~3~0~survivorheadapologizesfor,00.html

[ratings-3] 3.0 ^3.1 http://www.spottedratings.com/2011/12/spotvault-survivor-cbs-spring-2001.html

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