Survivor: Marquesas

Survivor: Marquesas was the fourth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it was shown on TV from February 28 - May 19, 2002 on CBS. There were thirteen episodes, plus a mid-season recap and live interview with Rosie O'Donnell after the finale (last episode). The winner, Vecepia Towery, was revealed on May 19, 2002, where she won against Neleh Dennis by a vote of 4-3.

In the beginning, the players were divided into two tribes: Maraamu and Rotu (Marquesan for 'Southern Wind' and 'Rain'). They later merged (combined) into one tribe. Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien and Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano named the new tribe "Soliantu", a name they made up that means "Sacred Allegiance to the Sun".

The Marquesas Islands were actually chosen as a backup location for Survivor. This season was going to take place in Jordan, but they switched location due to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political situation in the Middle East.

This was the first season where the players were not given any supplies at the beginning, such as food, water, or matches. Also, the rules of the Individual Immunity Idol were changed so that a player who won the idol in a challenge was able to give it to another player. Finally, earlier votes against a player were not counted in future Tribal Councils. As this used to be the way of deciding if a contestant was eliminated in case of a tie, a new tiebreaker was made. The controversial Purple Rock tiebreaker was used in this season alone, and resulted in the elimination of Paschal English, then with no votes against him. A small rise in the average number of viewers was seen for the season compared to the last season, Survivor: Africa.

Vavrick-O'Brien and Mariano were chosen from this season to return in Survivor: All-Stars, where they placed 8th and 2nd. Mariano returned once again in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, placing 13th.

Players

The Total Votes is the number of votes a player got during Tribal Councils where the player is able to be voted out of the game. It does not count the votes they got during the final Tribal Council.

Note 1: Paschal was not voted out. The purple rock determined who would be eliminated. He drew the purple rock and he became the 6th jury member.

The game

If more than one tribe or player wins reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically if it was teamwork, or where one player won and invited others, the players that were invited are in brackets.

 No reward challenge took place due to tribal switch.

 There was no reward challenge due to tribal merge.

 Each of the six remaining contestants were visited by a friend or family member, who then proceeded to compete in a reward challenge on behalf of their loved one. Kathy's son Pat won the right to spend 24 hours at the Soliantu camp.

 Kathy and Neleh were tied 2-2 and due to no unanimous decision as to which of the two would be next to go, the two of them along with Paschal drew colored rocks (two yellow, one purple). Because Paschal drew the purple rock, he was eliminated and became the sixth jury member.

: Paschal was not voted out. The purple rock determined who would be eliminated. He drew the purple rock and he became the sixth jury member.

Purple Rock controversy
Paschal's elimination marked a big controversy in the game of Survivor. In the Episode Thirteen Tribal Council, Neleh and Kathy each got two votes while Vecepia had immunity. In earlier tie situations, where a re-vote did not decide who would be voted off, votes from past tribal councils were used, and the player with the most earlier votes was eliminated. In Marquesas, the earlier votes rule was no longer used; instead players who did not have immunity would pull rocks colored yellow and purple from a bag. The player with the purple rock would be eliminated. In this situation, Kathy and Neleh drew yellow rocks, and Paschal pulled the purple rock. Although he never got any votes in the entire game, he was eliminated due to chance. Probst later said that using the purple rock tie-breaker was a mistake at this point in the game, because the formula behind it was impossible to apply fairly with only four survivors left.

No tie happened on the show until six seasons later on Palau. It was during that season that the tie-breaker was revealed to be a fire-making challenge. However, Survivors who took part in the show between the Marquesas and Palau seasons thought that the Purple Rock challenge would still be used. As a result, many players would change alliances so they're wouldn't be another tie and another chance of drawing the Purple Rock.

Since Palau, there have been four tie situations that were solved with fire-making challenges, all of which were at the Final Four stage of the game. In Survivor: Micronesia, it was suggested by Cirie Fields that the purple rock tiebreaker is the tiebreaker for all ties except in the Final Four, when a challenge is used instead.

References

Other websites
Official CBS Survivor Marquesas Website

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