The Sole Survivor

The Sole Survivor
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	Marquesas
Episode Number	14/15 (059)
Original Release	May 19, 2002
Viewership (in Millions)	25.87
Ratings/Share (18-49)	10.4/23
Episode Chronology
Previous	"A Tale of Two Cities"
Next	"Reunion"
Subpages

The Sole Survivor is the season finale of Survivor: Marquesas.

Challenges

• Immunity (Day 37)
• Immunity (Day 38)

Challenge: Fallen Comrades
Host Jeff Probst would ask the contestants questions about the eliminated contestants and about events in the first 37 days. The first contestant to get ten questions right wins.
Winner: Vecepia Towery

Challenge: Hard Idol
Each tribe member held on to the Immunity Idol while standing on a small pedestal. The person who lasts the longest without taking their hand off the idol or falling off the pedestal wins.
Winner: Neleh Dennis

Tribal Council

Day 37

• Vote
• Rock Draw

Tribal Council 13: Soliantu
Voted Against	Voter
Kathy (2 votes)	Neleh, Paschal
Neleh (2 votes)	Kathy, Vecepia
TIE: Kathy, Neleh (2 votes each)

Rock Draw Tiebreaker (Vecepia exempt from draw)
Participant	Result
Kathy	Safe
Neleh	Safe
Paschal	Out
ELIMINATED: Paschal English

Voting Confessionals

	Paschal	“	(voting against Kathy) Simply an amazing woman.	”

	Neleh	“	(voting against Kathy) Kathy, my note- my vote tonight is for you. Um, I said I would never ever vote against Paschal. It looks like it's going to be a tiebreaker and I'm definitely not ready to leave.	”

Final Words

	Paschal	“	It's been an amazing experience. Uh, I've met some wonderful people and made some lifelong friends. And to the competitors that remain, I wish each of them luck. They're all worthy. And to the other jury members, I look forward to being part of you.	”

Day 38

Tribal Council 14: Soliantu
Voted Against	Voter
Kathy (1 vote)	Neleh
VOTED OUT: Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien

Voting Confessionals

Unavailable

Final Words

	Kathy	“	Sixteen total American strangers hit this island. First thing off the bat, we are working as a team. It was done with positive attitudes, integrity, honesty-- that might have been a little shaky at times. It's the relationships and how you can improve upon them that I'm taking away, but I loved it.	”

Final Tribal Council

Tribal Council 15: Jury Vote
Voted for Winner	Voter
Vecepia (4 votes)	John, Robert, Sean, Tammy
Neleh (3 votes)	Kathy, Paschal, Zoe
RUNNER-UP: Neleh Dennis
SOLE SURVIVOR: Vecepia Towery

Voting Confessionals

John “ (voting for Vecepia) (sigh) This was an unbelievably hard decision. I hoped Neleh would really come forward and tell me, "Sorry, I betrayed you. I lied to you." That didn't happen. Vee, you came in the backdoor. You flew under the radar. It's not my style, but you played the game, and I appreciate you answering, uh, answering your questions honestly. And, uh, you go, girl! ” Paschal “ (voting for Neleh) More honest, less deceitful, and always completed the race whether she was first or last. Very deserving. ” Sean “ (voting for Vecepia) Yo, we did it, baby. Even though it was a tough road, better you than me, sweetie. You deserve this. I know you're gonna represent. It ain't even about a million dollars, but if you do happen to win (chuckles and imitates Dr. Evil from Austin Powers movies) one million dollars... (laughs) hook a brother up, you know? Help me pay my rent, you know? Hook it up so that we can do this right. But all the love to you, sister. After it's all said and done, we definitely gonna do some chicken and waffles and we'll hook it up, but... God is good, remember that. Whatever the outcome is, you know, put Christ first and it's all gonna fall into place. So, I love you, sister. Keep your head up and good luck. ” Zoe “ (voting for Neleh) Going to make this short and sweet. "V" is not for victory tonight. Neleh is the survivor here. ”

Final Results

Peter 16th	Patricia 15th	Hunter 14th	Sarah 13th	Gabriel 12th	Gina 11th	Rob 10th	John 9th
Zoe 8th	Tammy 7th	Robert 6th	Sean 5th	Paschal 4th	Kathy 3rd	Neleh 2nd	Vecepia Winner

Trivia

• This is the first episode in which the rock-drawing tiebreaker has been used. It would later be used in "Rustle Feathers" and "Million Dollar Gamble".
  • Under the normal rules of the rock drawing tiebreaker, the tied castaways would not draw rocks. However, this provision does not apply at the final four, because only one person would draw a rock in that scenario. As such, Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien and Neleh Dennis both drew rocks. Host Jeff Probst has since acknowledged the mistake.
• This episode marks the first time that a jury member is absent at Tribal Council when Paschal was revealed to have passed out immediately after his elimination and was hospitalized, missing the Day 38 Tribal Council. Paschal was able to return and serve as a jury member at the Final Tribal Council.
  • While explaining Paschal's situation to the remaining castaways, Jeff Probst turned to John Carroll, a registered nurse, to allow him to give a short explanation of Paschal's condition, marking the first time that a juror has been allowed to speak to contestants still in the game outside of the Final Tribal Council.
• This is the first finale episode in which members of both original tribes are still in the game.
• This episode marks the first time that the Final Two castaways are of the same gender, in this case both female.
• During the original broadcast of the episode, previous castaways Susan Hawk, Richard Hatch, Ethan Zohn, and Tina Wesson together would appear live respectively going into commercial breaks chatting with Rosie O'Donnell.