Australian Survivor (season 1)

Australian Survivor
Presented by	Lincoln Howes
No. of episodes	13 (plus 2 specials)
No. of days	39
No. of castaways	16
Winner	Rob Dickson
Production
Location(s)	Whaler's Way, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
Filming dates	November – December 2001
Release
Original release	13 February – 15 May 2002 (Audition Special: 12 February 2002) (Surviving Survivor: 29 May 2002)
Chronology
Followed by	Australian Celebrity Survivor (on the Seven Network)

The first season of Australian Survivor is the inaugural Australian adaptation of the popular reality game show Survivor. The season was filmed in Whaler's Way, an Eyre Peninsula coastal nature reserve near Port Lincoln, South Australia in the Great Australian Bight, where numerous ships had sunk off the coast in the past, setting up the season's nautical theme. Hosted by 60 Minutes journalist Lincoln Howes, the program consisted of 16 Australian castaways competing for 39 days for a grand prize was A$500,000 and a Ford V6 Escape. The series was filmed in November and December 2001 and aired weekly between February and May 2002 on the Nine Network, culminating in a live finale on 15 May 2001, where former Victorian Football League player Robert "Rob" Dickson was crowned the "Sole Australian Survivor" over former test pilot Sciona Browne in a jury vote of 5–2.

The program was criticised by fans and critics for poor casting and lower production values than the popular American edition (which also aired on Nine) and was not renewed due to low ratings.^[1] However the series did return (albeit on a different network) in 2006 with a celebrity edition.

Production

Conception

In 2000, Nine began airing Survivor: Borneo (the first season of the American Survivor series). The agreement for Nine to air the American series included the condition that they must produce their own local Australian edition of Survivor. The local edition was announced publicly during the night of the local airing of the finale of Survivor: The Australian Outback in early May 2001. This announcement also began the casting call for Australians willing to compete on the show.

Filming & Development

The people included for consideration for host included Grant Kenny, Jamie Durie and Richard Hatch, the "Sole Survivor" of Survivor: Borneo. Eventually, Lincoln Holes, a journalist from Nine's 60 Minutes, was named as host.^[2]

The production scouted locations across Australia to be used for the series. Locations considered included Uluru/Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region in Western Australia. However production setteled on Whaler's Way, on the South Australian coastline, 30 km (19 mi) from the town of Port Lincoln, where the production crew was based. This location set up a nautical/shipwreck theme for the series. A majority of the challenges centred around the water (many of which were originally created by the show and not derived from the American series), Tribal Council was located on a shipwreck called "The Great Beyond", Tribal Immunity was in the form of a bell and Individual Immunity was in the form of a rope necklace with shark's teeth. The theme song incorporated an Irish jig in a nod to Australian history – First Fleet arriving. An extended version of the main theme was played during the closing credits of the live Finale and Reunion show.

Broadcast

The show was broadcast by the Nine Network in the Wednesday 8:30pm timeslot and was rated PG. In addition to 12 regular hour long episodes and the 3 hour long finale/reunion show, two specials for the series were produced. An auditions special aired the day before the main series aired, showing some of the highlights and lowlights from the 8,500 audition submissions sent in to the show before officially revealing the 16 people who would compete on the series. Additionally, the program included an interview with Ethan Zohn; the "Sole Survivor" of Survivor: Africa.^[3] The other special was a behind-the-scenes show that aired a few weeks after the series ended and was titled Surviving Survivor. Among other things, this special revealed that the final four wanted to quit the show due to the dramatic turn of events concerning Katie's behaviour (her mental breakdown right before the Tribal Council on Day 37). The producers threatened to give the prize money to the last eliminated contestant (Sophie) if the contestants continued to defy production.

The format of the Finale and Reunion shows of Nine's Australian Survivor was rather different to the American edition's finales at the time. The finale/reunion program featured reunion show host, Eddie Maguire introducing each segment of the show live from the finale venue as the night progressed. The finale/reunion shows on the American edition would begin to use this format from its 28th season (Survivor: Cagayan).

Promotion

The evicted contestant from each episode was featured for an interview on the Today show on the following day. These interviews were conducted by Richard Wilkins just before the 8:00 AM news. This paralleled the American edition, where evicted Survivor contestants were interviewed on CBS' The Early Show during its time on air.

The program had several sponsors who were involved in product placements spots on the show (most as rewards for reward challenges). Sponsors included Cadbury, IBM, Jetset travel agencies, Schweppes, Fa deodorant for men, Lays potato crisps, Telstra, Ford and Intel Pentium (which was also used in producing the show's graphics).

Contestants

The sixteen players were initially separated into two tribes, named Kadina and Tipara, both named after ships that traveled in the area. On Day 19, the ten remaining players merged into the Aurora tribe. The final nine players remaining made up the Final Two and the seven members of the Tribal Council Jury, who ultimately decided who would be the "Sole Australian Survivor".

List of Australian Survivor 1 contestants

Contestant	Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish
Lucinda Allen-Rhodes 43, Byron Bay, NSW	Kadina		1st voted out Day 3
Tim Dugan 51, Green Point, NSW	Kadina		2nd voted out Day 6
David Haas 34, Sydney, NSW	Kadina		3rd voted out Day 9
Jeff Brown 52, Canberra, ACT	Tipara		4th voted out Day 12
Deborah Peart 26, Sydney, NSW	Kadina		5th voted out Day 15
Sylvan Dorney 25, Sydney, NSW	Kadina		6th voted out Day 18
Caren Shaw 28, Darwin, NT	Kadina	Aurora	7th voted out Day 21
Naomi Knight 22, Melbourne, VIC	Kadina		8th voted out 1st jury member Day 24
Craig Abbot 27, Point Lonsdale, VIC	Kadina		9th voted out 2nd jury member Day 27
Lance Brooks 39, Sydney, NSW	Tipara		10th voted out 3rd jury member Day 30
Jane Dalton 18, Newcastle, NSW	Tipara		11th voted out 4th jury member Day 33
Sophie Woods 30, Sydney, NSW	Tipara		12th voted out 5th jury member Day 35
Katie Gold 24, Melbourne, VIC	Tipara		13th voted out 6th jury member Day 37
Joel Betts 22, Sydney, NSW	Tipara		14th voted out 7th jury member Day 38
Sciona Browne 49, Perth, WA	Tipara		Runner-up Day 39
Robert "Rob" Dickson† 37, Traralgon, VIC	Tipara		Sole Australian Survivor Day 39

Season Summary

Challenge winners and eliminations by episode

Episode			Challenge winner(s)[4]		Eliminated	Finish
No.	Episode Title	Original air date	Reward	Immunity
1	"Journey To Whaler's Way"	13 February, 2002	None	Tipara	Lucinda	1st voted out Day 3
2	"Violent Weather and Violent People"	20 February, 2002	Kadina	Tipara	Tim	2nd voted out Day 6
3	"The Losing Streak"	27 February, 2002	Kadina	Tipara	David	3rd voted out Day 9
4	"The Struggle of Both Tribes"	6 March, 2002	Tipara	Kadina[lower-alpha 1]	Jeff	4th voted out Day 12
5	"It's Just Too Hard!"	13 March, 2002	Kadina	Tipara	Deborah	5th voted out Day 15
6	"This Game is Way Different Then it Looks"	20 March, 2002	Tipara[lower-alpha 2]	Joel[lower-alpha 3]	Sylvan	6th voted out Day 18
7	"It's Time to Merge"	3 April, 2002	None	Craig	Caren	7th voted out Day 21
8	"Pick Off"	10 April,2002	Naomi [Craig]	Craig	Naomi	8th voted out 1st jury member Day 24
9	"I Just Feel So Bad"	17 April, 2002	Lance [Jane, Joel, Katie, Rob, Sciona, Sophie]	Sophie	Craig	9th voted out 2nd jury member Day 27
10	"He's a Threat, She's A Threat, We're all Threats!"	24 April, 2002	Jane	Joel	Lance	10th voted out 3rd jury member Day 30
11	"Cockiness Comes to an End"	1 May, 2002	Joel	Sciona	Jane	11th voted out 4th jury member Day 33
12	"Who's the Odd Man Out?"	8 May, 2002	Katie [Joel, Rob, Sciona, Sophie]	Katie	Sophie	12th voted out 5th jury member Day 35
13	"Finale/Reunion"	15 May, 2002	Katie [Joel, Rob, Sciona]	Rob	Katie	13th voted out 6th jury member Day 37
			None	Rob	Joel	14th voted out 7th jury member Day 38
					Jury vote
					Sciona	Runner-up Day 39
					Rob	Sole Australian Survivor Day 39

Notes

1. In addition to winning Immunity, Kadina also won the right to participate in a reward draw for the car used in the challenge. Sylvian drew the right key and won the car.
2. Tipara felt Kadina lost due to bad luck, and shared their reward.
3. This challenge was a one-on-one dual, with Joel and Sylvan being chosen to particpate by their respective tribes. Joel won the challenge and won immunity for his entire tribe.

Episodes

No. in series	Episode No.	Title	Timeline	Original air date
1	1	"Journey To Whaler's Way"	Days 1-3	13 February 2002
The 16 castaways arrived and were divided into two tribes. The youngest contestant Jane was asked to select heads or tails for a coin toss on behalf of Tipara tribe, she lost and Kadina were therefore given the choice of whether they wanted the camp closest to the ocean and the food source, or another camp closest to a windmill, the water source for the duration of the competition. They chose the camp closest to the water source. Opinions were immediately voiced about how to build the shelters with the correct angle away from the sun and cold. Lucinda was notably vocal about using their tarp on the ground and sleeping with themselves inside it, much to everyone else's annoyance. Both teams struggled to set up their camps and light a fire, however, Tipara was able to find some fish and start a fire before Kadina. Immunity challenge: Both tribes got two logs out of the pond bring them up the hill and use them as a ladder to get to the top of a platform. At the top of the platform was a torch, one person lit it and then lit some torches. That person then threw the torches until they lit a fuse above their bonfire. Tipara was first to strike their bonfire shortly followed by Kadina. As teams started to wait, however, the wind was too severe and the fire would not light, causing the challenge to be cancelled after 40 minutes. The next day there was a tie breaker quiz about the history of Whaler's Way and with Lucinda and Jane being the people to answer the 4th question alone, Lucinda was incorrect giving the first immunity win to Tipara. Back at the Kadina camp, Lucinda admitted that she was struggling in such a harsh environment and told the tribe that she would be okay with being voted out and was expecting it. She was voted out at the first tribal council that night with a vote of 8-0, giving her the distinction of being the first person in any edition of Survivor to vote for herself.
2	2	"Violent Weather and Violent People"	Days 4-6	20 February 2002
At the Kadina camp, everyone was having a tough time with the dirty environment, and cooked fished in their water pot causing everything to taste and smell of fish. Negotiations were still being made in both tribes about how to better their shelter, hoping to be warmer in the cold harsh nights. The snoring of Jeff was also causing people to have little sleep throughout the night. Reward challenge: Both tribes had to dig for a chest under a flag and pull it up a hill on three logs of wood and tracks. The logs had to be rotated to move the chest further each time. Kadina won their chest and everything inside it: 24 ice cold cans of Solo and camp accessories. Sophie sat out for Tipara. Immunity challenge: Both tribes stood on a circle divided into 14 wedges, then one person from the opposite tribe pulled out a wedge each time the colour of the wedge that was removed was called. Each time a wedge was taken away the person who was on the wedge had to move to another one. The first person who fell off the wedge lost immunity for their tribe. Tipara won when David touched the ground. Jeff sat out for Tipara. After the immunity challenge, it was unclear who would be voted out. Kadina was unsure of how to approach this tribal council after a unanimous and simple first tribal council. The vote was not discussed. Caren, Deborah, Naomi, and Sylvan felt Tim was the weakest link and he was the next to go. Craig voted for David, David voted for Caren, Tim voted for Deborah, with a vote of 4-1-1-1.
3	3	" The Losing Streak"	Days 7-9	27 February 2002
At the Kadina camp after tribal council, David criticised his tribe for voting out a strong tribe member and not putting the tribe before personal agendas. He was also visibly upset at receiving a vote from Craig, however, he was not aware who cast the vote. Craig later approached David and informed him about his vote; David was understanding but stated in his confessional that he would "Do something about it". Reward challenge: Each tribe united several ropes inside a circle, but nobody could be inside the circle. When all the ropes were untied the tribes tied them together to make one large rope and used it to pull their boat out in the water and around a buoy and then come back and get their boat in the circle. Kadina won reward: a hammock, two lanterns, a frying pan, and a large cooking pan. Sophie and Rob sat out for Tipara. At the Tipara camp, Katie and Sciona went out hunting for fish with Katie stating in her confessional that she was in a Final 2 alliance with Sciona. Sciona suggested they bring Joel and Rob into their alliance to have a better chance with numbers, much to the pleasure of Katie. Sciona rubbed the other tribe members the wrong way with her opinion about leaving fish in the sun, she later went for a walk alone and spoke emotionally of her late father. At the Kadina camp, David stated in his confessional how he felt Craig, Sylvan and Naomi were tightly aligned but felt that Deborah and Caren were more approachable because they were often left out by others regarding the voting. Immunity challenge: Both tribes cut through logs using an axe. Each person could only hit the log once and the tribe took turns hitting it. When they broke the log they brought a crow's nest down and in the crows nest was a ringer. They then used the ringer to ring a triangle to win immunity. Tipara won their third immunity in a row, with Jane and Jeff sitting out. At the Tipara camp, everyone celebrated and went for a swim in the ocean. The next day, Katie and Rob talked strategy, with Katie saying she wanted to set up a strong core alliance, considering Sophie an ally also. At Kadina, everyone expressed their frustration and anger at losing the challenge yet again and Jeff's poor attitude at the challenge. With Kadina continuing to win reward challenges and lose immunity challenges, the tribe had low morale. Sylvan had redeemed himself at the challenges. David asked Deborah if she would vote for him as he believed they were the next to be voted out. Deborah did not want to make herself more vulnerable and told the rest of the tribe. At Tribal Council, everyone voted against David believing that it was not acceptable to attempt to make alliances for a later part of the game. David voted for Craig resulting in a 5-1 vote.
4	4	"The Struggle of Both Tribes"	Days 10-12	6 March 2002
The remaining five Kadina members expressed their desperation to win an immunity challenge, in fear of being picked off one by one by the Tipara tribe at the merge. Reward challenge: Each tribe swam out to a pontoon and pulled up a treasure chest with a rope. The first tribe to take their chest back to shore and find one of five keys to unlock their treasure chest won reward. Tipara won the challenge and received snorkelling gear, chocolate and other assorted sweets. The Tipara tribe went out fishing for food and came across a beehive. Sciona and Joel broke the beehive and the tribe was able to acquire honey. Deborah and Naomi talked about the coincidence of the remaining five Kadina members being in their twenties and Deborah expressed her fears of losing another immunity challenge and having to vote someone out yet again after the "Famous Five" had become so close. Immunity challenge: Both tribes drove a car through several gates, with a person from the opposite tribe driving the car blindfolded while the rest of the tribe told that person were to drive to get through the gate. Kadina chooses Jane to drive their car, Tipara chooses Caren to drive. If the tribe didn't make it through the gate they had to put a flag on the windshield wipers before trying again. The first tribe to go through all the gates won immunity. Kadina won and also one person from their tribe won a car. Sylvan drew the correct key to the car and won. Kadina expressed their happiness at finally winning an immunity challenge, while back at Tipara, talk about who to vote out immediately arose with Jane being the most obvious choice because she was the driver in the challenge. Jeff's name also arose due to him being the physically weakest and oldest person in the game, and ultimately with a vote of 5-3, the majority of the group decided to send Jeff home.
5	5	"It's Just Too Hard!"	Days 13-15	13 March 2002
The day after their first tribal council, Joel was emotionally upset after voting out Jeff from the Tipara tribe and was regretting his decision to not vote out Jane. The Kadina tribe went to their fishing spot and were all exhausted just from trekking there. Sylvan was suffering the most, stating that he was too tired to even think and couldn't fish for more than twenty minutes without becoming fatigued. Sylvan expressed his desire for different food in his belly other than fish and hoped they would win the next reward challenge. Reward challenge: Beginning in a boat, tribes had to row to a buoy then swim to their tribe flag closer to shore and retrieve a bag of spices and seasoning before following a marked path to their second item, a cooking pot somewhere in knee deep water, and a third item, a hidden lobster trap with a live lobster inside. The first tribe to get all three items back to their platform on the shore and their live lobster in the pot with the lid on won reward. Kadina won and got to keep the lobster, the cooking pan and the lobster trap for more food opportunities back at camp. They also received lemon and baguettes. Deborah and Craig instantly set out trekking to their fishing spot to set up their newly acquired lobster trap. The next morning Deborah was in pain due to rolling her ankle on the way to the fishing spot the night before. Immunity challenge: Tribes had to run an obstacle course which involved running, jumping, climbing and crawling. At the end of the course, the tribes had to unfold a sail to win immunity. Tipara won by no more than ten seconds, with Kadina right behind them. Jane and Joel sat out for the Tipara tribe. Over at Tipara, Katie mapped out a plan for the rest of the game and showed it only to Rob, with the plan being to vote out Kadina one by one in the merge, then vote for Jane, Lance and Joel being the minority Tipara, putting Katie, Sciona, Rob and Sophie in the final 4. Deborah was immediately targeted by Craig for being the slowest and having sustained an injury, while Caren was in disagreement and thought that she ran the obstacle course well even with an injury. Deborah thought that Caren was the weakest physically and they discussed at the campfire that they would both like to be told if they were the one being voted out. After a trek to their fishing spot, due to strong currents the tribe could no longer see the buoy for their lobster trap. Later that night Deborah was voted out in a 3-2 vote due to not only being the physically weakest member of the tribe but also sustaining an injury.
6	6	"This Game is Way Different Then it Looks"	Days 16-18	20 March 2002
Sylvan approached Caren and informed her that he did vote for her and to apologise. Caren told him that she knew he voted for her, which caused Sylvan to suspect that there was an alliance consisting of Caren, Naomi and Craig. While both tribes were struggling at this point of the game, Kadina was becoming emotional and missing home while Tipara were struggling with rationing their food, and were only consuming around one fish per two days each, causing some tribe members to begin snapping at each other. Reward challenge: Both tribes rolled a barrel down a hill and put a flag in it, then they filled the barrel with sand. Using nails and hammer the tribes then put the lid on the barrel and rolled it back up the hill to win. Tipara won and the reward was phone calls from home. Katie, Lance and Sciona sat out for Tipira. At the end of the challenge, Tipara volunteered to have shorter calls with their loved ones to give time to Kadina, because if Kadina had not lost one of their nails in the sand in the challenge, they would have won. Immunity challenge: One person from each tribe was tied to a rope, Sylvan for Kadina and Joel for Tipara. Each person had to stretch to reach poles in the sand and get them out of the ground. The person to get all their tribes poles out of the ground won immunity. Joel won immunity for Tipara. The day after the challenge, Tipara had their first decent meal in five days, feasting on fish: they consumed two each. While over at Kadina the vibe was again grim, with tribal council looming the Kadina four were leaning towards voting for Sylvan, with the loss of the immunity challenge resting on his shoulders. Sylvan was not in any alliance, but tried to convince Caren and Naomi that Craig would be a huge threat in the merge, and they should vote him out. The women decided to stick with getting Sylvan out, while Sylvan changed his vote to Naomi resulting in a vote of 3-1.
7	7	"It's Time to Merge"	Days 19-21	3 April 2002
The morning after voting out Sylvan, Naomi and Caren were praying for a merge, and suspecting it would happen on this day. After receiving tree mail, both tribes were told to gather everything they wanted and leave in five minutes. The Tipara and Kadina tribes were no longer, and Aurora was formed. The new tribe hiked to their new camp, picking up belongings on the way, like fruits, nuts and arriving at their new camp with fresh water and a hot shower. Sciona, Katie and Craig went out fishing and caught enough fish for the consumption of two per people, much to everyone's happiness. Katie expressed how Craig was the first Kadina who would be voted off in the merge and that she was beginning to double think the pecking order. Immunity challenge: The individual immunity challenge had 4 stages. In stage 1, all ten survivors solved a puzzle to make a perfect square and then get a rope. The last three to finish were out. Caren, Namoi and Sciona were last and eliminated. In stage 2, the survivors used ropes to hook a shovel and pull it out of the ground. Lance and Jane couldn't get a shovel in time and were eliminated. In stage 3, the survivors used the shovel to dig for a wooden box, Katie and Joel were the last to finish and were eliminated leaving Craig, Rob and Sophie. In stage 4, the last three opened their wooden box, inside was a compass giving them directions to the location of a flare which they used to light a torch to win. Craig lit the torch first and won immunity. After the immunity challenge, Katie immediately approached the three remaining Kadina (Naomi, Caren and Craig), and proposed to them that they vote out Lance first, ensuring their safety for another round. All three were suspicious of Katie's motives and questioned her as to why. She stated that Lance was a threat physically, mentally and socially. However later at tribal council, the Tipara seven stuck together and with Craig having immunity and not being able to be voted for, Caren was voted out with a vote of 7-2-1.
8	8	"Pick Off"	Days 22-24	10 April 2002
At camp Aurora, Rob was paranoid about the one vote cast against him at the previous tribal council. Questioning who it was, he assumed that it was a member of the old Kadina tribe, but remained wary that it could well be one of the Tipara seven. Sciona expressed her frustration at people taking too long to wake up in the morning and get ready to go fishing, mainly Jane, while Katie also stated that Jane was useless and was just there looking pretty. Reward challenge: The survivors had to make up a story and the rest of tribe then guess if it was true or false. The person who had the most people who believe their story won reward. Naomi won the challenge, with 7 people believing her false story, beating Joel and Sciona who had 5. The reward was a night in a traditional 1840s cottage with food, wine and access to the internet through a provided computer. Naomi also won a computer from Intel Pentium for herself when she returns home. She was allowed to select one person to take with her on the reward and she selected fellow ex-Kadina tribemate Craig. While Naomi and Craig enjoyed their reward, the rest of the Aurora tribe sat in their shelter through a large thunderstorm. The next day, Joel told Rob that Craig had approached him before the last tribal council and told him of Katie's attempt to vote out Lance. Katie then told Sciona and Lance that Craig was the one to approach her and inform her of an alliance between Lance and Joel. Immunity challenge: Each survivor had to hold a rod over a fire for as long as possible. If the rod lit on fire or they moved the rod away from the fire they were out. Craig won immunity for the second straight time, beating Rob after one hour and three minutes. Naomi was immediately targeted as being the only vulnerable Kadina member left in the game. Yet again certain members of the Tipara seven were questioning if they wanted to vote off Naomi and instead target Jane, being the weakest left in the game and viewing it as a good strategic move. Despite their conflicts, Naomi was voted out next with the original Tipara again sticking together, and she became the first jury member with a vote of 7-1-1.
9	9	"I Just Feel So Bad"	Days 25-27	17 April 2002
Both Craig and Jane caused controversy and ruffled feathers at Aurora. Katie was specifically vocal about her distaste of Jane being on the show, stating that she didn't think she represented a good image for the show and that she was always complaining and lazy. Katie was also vocal about Craig being in the game and called him a "weasel" and an "asshole" and said that she wouldn't be able to contain her excitement when he was voted off. Sciona discussed with Rob that she had become very fond of Craig and she wasn't ready to vote him out, suggesting that they bring him into their alliance with Katie and Sophie and vote out one of the other Tipara. Rob agreed with Sciona but later told the cameras that he was wary of Craig and pointed out that he was a smart guy and knew what he was doing. Reward challenge: Castaways started in a 9x9 life-size grid. They had to place elimination discs in one of the squares and once a disc was placed in a square, that square was out of bounds. They then moved to another grid, up, down, or diagonally placing an additional elimination disc in the square that they had just left. Once a castaway was surrounded by discs and no longer able to make a move, they were out of the challenge. The last person standing would win a large pizza for themselves and a can of Pepsi. Lance won the reward and decided to give a slice of pizza each to everyone else. Immunity challenge: Castaways were told to pick partners. These partners would actually be their opponents in the first of three rounds. In round 1, all four pairs are a whole pilchard, swallow everything and show Lincoln their mouth, the winning member from each pair moving on to the second round, leaving four, where they had to consume three baby squid. The two winners from the two remaining pairs moved on to the final round where they sixteen fish eyes. Sophie beat Katie in the final round and was awarded immunity. After the challenge, Craig continued to campaign against Katie. Joel approached him and asked again if Katie really was in an alliance, with Craig giving his word that she, in fact, was in a secret alliance. Down at the fishing spot, Sophie approached Rob and offered to go to the final two with him, telling him that she knew Sciona and Katie had already approached him with the same offer. Rob accepted the offer but was wary and later told the cameras that he believed Sophie was playing the game the hardest. Whilst on a walk, Craig and Sciona discussed a possible alliance with two Tipara members on the outs, Joel and Lance. Craig later approached Rob and informed him that he would indeed be voting for him at tribal council and he would receive a total of three votes. Katie was visibly uneasy at this after Rob approached her and second guessed her loyalty. After attempting to crack the Tipara alliance, Craig still couldn't survive, and was voted out in a 7-1 vote, leaving seven original Tipara still in the game.
10	10	"He's a Threat, She's A Threat, We're all Threats!"	Days 28-30	28 April 2002
Sophie expressed her disdain for Katie, calling her sneaky and untrustworthy. Katie did some damage control the day after tribal with Rob and tried to make sure they were still in a tight bond. Rob forgave Katie but remained doubtful. Reward challenge: Tribe members attempted to throw painted cricket balls through a giant slingshot into the ocean, aiming for a large ring in the water. The most balls in the target won. The winner of the challenge received a traditional afternoon tea. Jane won reward and was the only person to score in the challenge. Joel started to rub the rest of his tribemates the wrong way. While they were becoming increasingly fatigued and famished, he started to become more loud and boisterous much to their annoyance. Immunity challenge: Estimating measurements. In each round, furthest away was out. Tribe mates had to find random objects from the land around them. First: Something weighing one kilogramme. Second: Something one metre long. Third: One minute (using stopwatches borrowed from a local school). Fourth: Two litres of water from a barrel. Fifth: The current temperature. Sixth: The current weight of the other person remaining in the challenge. Despite the ‘cold’ appearance of the season, it was over thirty degrees Celsius during the challenge. Despite having no former Kadina members left to vote out, the remaining original Tipara were somewhat laid back considering they would have to vote one of their original members out for the first time since Day 12 in the game. Not much strategy was talked about but almost every member was concerned it could be their name written down. In the end, Lance was voted out.
11	11	"Cockiness Comes to an End"	Days 31-33	1 May 2002
Reward challenge: Survivors had to move five life rings along a rope cluttered with driftwood and other debris. The winner got to webcam their loved ones for fifteen minutes, while the losers got to text their loved ones instead. Sophie was emotionally distraught after not being able to see her young children on webcam, who could not yet read. Joel wrongfully suspected that Rob, Jane, Sophie and Katie were in an alliance of four. Sciona expressed her concern for Joel and his mental health, suffering from mood swings, and Rob also mentioned that Katie was visibly becoming more exhausted. After Jane asked Sciona how to cook rice on the campfire, and Joel struggled to rebuild the fire the next morning, Sciona was frustrated at living with a younger generation. Immunity challenge: Players had to stand on individual floating pontoons with only their feet touching the platform. Temptations were offered via remote-control boat, but players did not have to quit the challenge to receive them if they could reach them. Sciona lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes and won her first immunity. At camp, Joel pleaded for his life to Rob and Sciona. They later informed him of their alliance of four, consisting of themselves and Sophie and Katie, and emphasised that they were the most loyal to each other in their alliance. Sciona and Rob then made a final three alliance with Joel, on the grounds that he throws the final immunity challenge which would then put Rob and Sciona in the final two. Joel happily agreed. Going into the vote, Jane was confident that she would remain to play another day, however, due to Rob and Sciona securing a new alliance and voting with Joel, he and Jane each received three votes, causing a tie. In the case of a tie, everyone except for Jane and Joel re-voted. The votes were again tied and a Tribal Council countback was called. Jane was eliminated after having received four previous votes in her time in the game to Joel's zero.
12	12	"Who's the Odd Man Out?"	Days 34-35	8 May 2002
The morning after Jane was voted off, Katie and Sophie discussed how they were going to further themselves in the game, and were shocked and surprised at Sciona and Rob flipping on their alliance. Sciona later lied to Sophie's face and told her that their alliance of four still stood strong and Joel would be the next to go. Reward challenge: Survivors had to use a shark hook to retrieve a net with a crate inside, smash the crate open with a rock to get a pile of letter tiles, and arrange some of them (but not all) to correctly form a mystery word (Aurora). Katie won a reward, in the form of a camp bed, teddy bear, and roast chicken delivered to camp. Sophie and Katie met in secret to discuss their new strategy. They made a plan to confess everything to Joel about their alliance of four and to have him flip to their side, therefore leaving Rob and Sciona the next two to be voted out. Rob found Katie and Sophie in the bushes talking and immediately confronted them. Immunity challenge: The immunity challenge was a series of obstacles set over six rounds. In the first round, each tribe member was blindfolded and had to escape a maze, with the last person eliminated. In the second round, castaways had to arrange six poles to form four triangles, with the first to finish getting to choose who stood inside each of four traps. Whoever got the working trap would be out. The third round was a three-level Tower Of Hanoi puzzle with life rings hooked around poles, with the first to finish choosing which of three ‘tiger traps’ each player crawled into. Again whoever got the working trap was out. The final round was throwing juggling balls into a hollowed-out torch. The first to get a ball to choose which of two planks over a gully each person would cross. Whoever got the falling plank was out, leaving the other person as the winner. On the day of the tribal council, Sciona was nervous after hearing her name brought up to be voted out. Rob solidified his unity with Sciona and promised her that he would not be voting with Katie and Sophie and that Joel would be voting with them. While Joel was strongly considering both sides, he was still unsure heading into tribal. In the end, Joel decided to stick with Rob and Sciona and voted out Sophie in a vote of 3-2.
13	13	"Finale/Reunion"	Days 36-39	15 May 2002
After returning to camp after Sophie being voted out, Katie who was visibly overwhelmed, immediately attacked Rob verbally, calling him a "gutless wonder", "dishonest" and "dumb as dog shit". The next day, Katie apologised to Sciona, Rob and Joel for her comments from the previous night, only to get into another verbal disagreement with Rob. Reward challenge: Castaways had to use a plank to cross a grid of stumps around a lighthouse, each with a pole attached to it. They then had to find their four coloured pegs and a coloured flag, get to the lighthouse, put the pegs in, climb it, and stick their flag in the top. The first person to do so won ice cream and an advantage in the upcoming immunity challenge. Immunity challenge: Tribe members participated in a multiple-choice quiz about the season’s challenges. For each wrong answer, they had to move backwards one space on their plank, eventually falling in the water. The last person left standing would win immunity. Due to winning the previous reward challenge, Katie had an advantage of passing on any one question she didn't wish to answer. After the immunity challenge, Katie approached Joel and asked him to vote for Sciona, while Sciona and Rob would vote for either of them, then in the case of a tie, a countback of votes would happen and Sciona would be eliminated. Katie also approached Sciona and asked why she was being ousted and Joel had replaced her, asking her to vote for Joel. Sciona then informed her that she, Rob and Joel had a final three deal and insisted that she would not tell Katie any further information. Katie immediately walked up the beach where Joel and Rob were sitting and confronted Rob, asking him if he also thought that she didn't deserve the money. Rob called out Katie and asked her why she had just approached Joel with a deal to vote Sciona, which outraged Sciona. While Joel sat quietly, Rob, Sciona and Katie were involved in a huge verbal blow-up causing Katie to walk back to camp alone, refusing to play, sleep, or eat with them and having an emotional breakdown. None of Katie's plans was taken seriously, and she was voted out in a unanimous vote. Final Immunity challenge: Hidden from their fellow players via steel walls, tribunates had to build a fire to light a lantern, then hang the lantern up as close to 38 minutes after the challenge began as possible. Rob won immunity, and there was an immediate Tribal Council directly after the challenge. He chose to take Sciona to the final two, eliminating Joel. Following the challenge, Rob and Sciona participated in the traditional Rites of Passage, paying their respects to each of the eliminated castaways. On day thirty-nine, Rob and Sciona faced the Tribal Council Jury and stated their reasons as to why they should win the title of Sole Survivor. Naomi asked both finalists why, coming from Kadina where loyalty was respected more, she should vote for them. Both replied with a similar outlook, saying they had treated the game like a board game (Rob), or a game of chess (Sciona). Craig asked Rob and Sciona to describe each other's gameplay up until Day 39. Katie asked if both finalists thought that greed, dishonour and cowardice were correct words to describe how they had played to get to where they were. Lance asked what was the single most positive thing they had learnt about themselves in their time in the competition. Jane asked what both would do with their prize money. Sophie asked both Rob and Sciona why their opponents thought they should win the game. Joel asked if they had any regrets about their time in the game. The jury voted and the votes were sealed, to be read live at Melbourne's Crown Casino. When the votes were read, it was revealed that the jury voted for Rob as the first ever Sole Australian Survivor in a 5-2 vote. Sciona wasn't viewed as favourably as she couldn't correctly specify why she had voted off fellow tribe members, such as Jane and Lance, and while she had proved to be social and respectful, she was viewed to have ridden Rob's coattails to the end and apologised far too much. Rob earned the respect and votes of the jury as he was honest and prepared with his answers to the jury and although he broke a few alliances, he could specify why he did (unlike Sciona). Following the reveal of the results, the 16 castaways were joined by Eddie McGuire, to talk about their time at Whaler's Way.

Voting history

Original tribes Merged tribe Episode # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Day # 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 35 37 38 Eliminated Lucinda Tim David Jeff Deborah Sylvan Caren Naomi Craig Lance Tie[lower-alpha 1] Jane[lower-alpha 2] Sophie Katie Joel Votes 8–0 4–1–1–1 5–1 5–3 3–2 3–1 7–2–1 7–1–1 7–1 5–1–1 3–3 2–2 3–2 3–1 1–0 Voter Vote Rob Jeff Caren Naomi Craig Lance Jane Jane Sophie Katie Joel Sciona Jane Caren Naomi Craig Lance Jane Jane Sophie Katie None[lower-alpha 3] Joel Jeff Caren Naomi Craig Jane Jane None[lower-alpha 4] Sophie Katie None[lower-alpha 3] Katie Jane Caren Naomi Craig Lance Joel Joel Rob Joel Sophie Jeff Caren Naomi Craig Lance Joel Joel Rob Jane Jeff Caren Naomi Craig Lance Joel None[lower-alpha 4] Lance Jeff Caren Naomi Craig Sciona Craig Lucinda David David Deborah Sylvan Rob Rob Rob Naomi Lucinda Tim David Deborah Sylvan Lance Lance Caren Lucinda Tim David Deborah Sylvan Lance Sylvan Lucinda Tim David Caren Naomi Deborah Lucinda Tim David Caren Jeff Jane David Lucinda Caren Craig Tim Lucinda Deborah Lucinda Lucinda

Final Vote Episode # 13 Day # 39 Finalist Sciona Rob Votes 5–2 Juror Vote Joel Rob Katie Sciona Sophie Rob Jane Rob Lance Rob Craig Sciona Naomi Rob

Notes

1. The first Tribal Council vote resulted in a tie. Per the rules, a second vote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those who tied.
2. As the revote could not resolve the tied vote, a Tribal Council countback was called. Joel received no votes from earlier Tribal Councils while Jane received four, eliminating her from the game.
3. Joel and Sciona were not eligible to vote as the only eligible players they could vote for were each other, canceling both votes out.
4. Joel and Jane were not eligible to vote in the second Tribal Council vote.

Controversy and criticisms

The program received a large amount of criticism from fans of the American series, mainly centred on how this series was of lesser quality when compared to the US series.^[5]

The casting process was criticised as the cast lacked diversity, being almost completely composed of 16 white middle class Australian people with very few of the 16 being there to "play the game". This lack of drive was especially evident in contestant Lucinda Allen-Rhodes, who not only asked to be voted off, but also was one of the very few people to cast a vote against herself at Tribal Council. In most other editions of Survivor, contestants must vote against someone other than themselves. This rule did not apply (or in this specific case, was relaxed) for the Australian series. By comparison, the first instance of someone eliminating themselves from the game in the American series occurred in the 7th season (Survivor: Pearl Islands) when contestant Osten Taylor quit the game on Day 19.

The nature of the camp life of the castaways was also criticised. The tribes were limited on which days they could go search for food. Tipara could go to the coast and fish while Kadina could only go to the windmill and pump water and on the next day, the tribes swapped. Additionally, the producers were also criticised for giving the contestants too many supplies.

The show also resulted in criticism in how the network aired the American series. Nine advertised that Survivor: Marquesas would air after the Australian series. Australian fans were upset when Nine decided not to broadcast Marquesas. It was skipped and instead, the network aired Survivor: Thailand. As of 2015, Nine still had not aired Survivor: Marquesas. In New Zealand, both Australian Survivor and Survivor: Marquesas aired concurrently, much to the annoyance of New Zealand Survivor fans.

Ratings

Although the show started off with satisfying ratings, it eventually declined to dismal ratings (possibly due to the popularity of another reality TV show, The Mole, which aired on Channel Seven an hour earlier at 7:30pm for all but four weeks of the Australian Survivor run). This showed especially when Nine decided to air the special, Surviving Survivor, in a late-night timeslot a fortnight after the conclusion of the series.

References

1. Knox, David (7 August 2015). "Could Survivor Australia's torch be lit once more?". TV Tonight. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
2. Survivor Oz (1987 Articles) (12 August 2012). "Lincoln Howes Interview". Survivor Oz. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
3. Innuyasha20 (2012-06-27), Australian Survivor E00 [Auditions], retrieved 2016-06-22
4. Bindley, David (20 March 2010). "Survivor: The Complete Challenge Guide (1st ed.)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 December 2010.
5. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/09/1020906531553.html

External links

• Australian Survivor at the Internet Movie Database