Survivor: Marquesas

Survivor: Marquesas is the fourth installment of the reality television show . It premiered on February 28, 2002, and ended May 19, 2002.
This season was notable for being the Survivor debut of Rob Mariano, who quickly became a fan favorite and would eventually appear as a contestant in four subsequent seasons (as well as a mentor in another), more than any other returning player. It also saw the first ever dismantling of a dominant alliance in the Rotu Four, and featured the first ever instance of a contestant being "rocked out" due to a deadlocked vote, which would set a precedent to avoid a tie vote at all costs for many seasons to come. 
In the end, Vecepia Towery beat Neleh Dennis in a 4-3 vote to become the winner of this season, and received the $1,000,000 prize. To date, this season has produced two returning players (Rob Mariano and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien) for subsequent seasons. 
==Production==
Originally, was supposed to be the location of the fourth season. Mark Burnett wrote in his autobiography "Jump In" that the Survivor team was in pre-production of Survivor: Arabia — the outline for the opening involved the castaways boarding a train, then riding on camels to their campsites. Eventually, as a result of the and the political situation in the , CBS was forced to use another place for the show within eight weeks from the cancellation of the production in Jordan. The Marquesas Islands were chosen as the backup location.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTZUzcIIYZg Because there was no island large enough to house the production team, cruise ships had to be used.
The season was filmed from November 12 to December 20, 2001, on the island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.
==Twists/Changes==
* Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
* Meager Supplies: The castaways were not given any food rations. The tribes' supply crates were drastically reduced to only a magnifying glass, three pans, a fillet knife, and two water containers.
* Camps with Pros and Cons: The Maraamu camp was a white sand beach with relatively more fruit-bearing trees than Rotu, but only had a small stream for a water source. The Rotu camp on the other hand had a rocky beach with very little food sources, but had a waterfall as a water source.
* Tribe Switch: On Day 10, the final thirteen castaways were shuffled into two tribes, with the number of members on each tribe remaining unchanged.
* Summit: On Day 19, both tribes were tasked with selecting an ambassador to attend a summit. The ambassadors would have to choose which camp the merged tribe would live at, along with giving it a name.
* Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
* Transferable Immunity Necklace: Beginning from this season, the winner of the Immunity Challenge reserved the right to transfer the Immunity Necklace to another player, keeping the recipient safe instead and leaving the original wearer vulnerable.
* Purple Rock Tiebreaker: In case of a deadlocked tie and there is no consensus as to how the vote will go, everyone, including people who did not receive votes except the owner of the Immunity Necklace, will pick a rock from a bag. Inside the bag, there is one purple rock, and the contestant who gets it will be automatically eliminated from the game.
* Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.
==Castaways==
Contestant	Contestant 	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Finish	VotesAgainst
Contestant	Contestant 	Original Tribe 	Switched Tribe 	Merged Tribe 	Finish	VotesAgainst
 	Peter Harkey45, Millis, MABowling Alley Owner 	 	 	 	 	5
 	Patricia Jackson49, Lugoff, SCTruck Assembler 	 	 	 	 	5
 	Hunter Ellis33, La Jolla, CAEx-Navy Fighter Pilot 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Sarah Jones24, Newport Beach, CAAccount Manager 	 	 	 	 	11
 	Gabriel Cade23, Hollywood, CABartender 	 	 	 	 	7
 	Gina Crews28, Gainesville, FLNature Guide 	 	 	 	 	3
 	Rob Mariano25, Canton, MAConstruction Worker 	 	 	rowspan="10" 	 	8
 	John Carroll36, Omaha, NENurse 	 	 	 	8 	
 	Zoe Zanidakis35, Monhegan Island, MEFishing Boat Captain	 	 	 	8 	
 	Tammy Leitner29, Mesa, AZCrime Reporter 	 	 	 	5 	
 	Robert DeCanio38, College Point, NYLimousine Driver 	 	 	 	6 	
 	Sean Rector30, Los Angeles, CATeacher 	 	 	 	7 	
 	Paschal English56, Thomaston, GAJudge 	 	 	 	0 	
 	Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien46, Burlington, VTReal Estate Agent	 	 	 	5 	
 	Neleh Dennis21, Layton, UTStudent 	 	 	Runner-Up 	4 	
 	Vecepia Towery35, Hayward, CAOffice Manager 	 	 	Sole Survivor 	2 	
==Season Summary==
The 16 castaways were divided into two tribes: Maraamu and Rotu. Rotu, a unified front, dominated in challenges, despite initial friction between Kathy and several tribe members. Meanwhile, Maraamu was a happy-go-lucky tribe but was marred by politics, being ran by a majority alliance consisting of Rob, Sarah, Sean and Vecepia. This led to Maraamu's 5-challenge losing streak. 
On Day 10, a random tribe switch occurred, keeping the tribes' numbers the same. Rob, Sean and Vecepia were sent to Rotu in the minority and Kathy, Paschal and Neleh to Maraamu, outnumbering Gina and Sarah. After the new Maraamu's loss at the fourth Immunity Challenge, Sarah was on the outs and voted out. Now a paltry tribe of four, Maraamu surprisingly went on to win the next three challenges. On Rotu, an alliance of four comprising John, Robert, Tammy and Zoe formed, and despite Rotu's numbers advantage, both alliances came together to vote out Gabriel due to his non-commitment to any strategy. 
Before the two tribes merged on Day 19, Rob and Kathy were sent to a summit in which they had to decide on a name, flag, and location for their new tribe. During the summit, Rob convinced Kathy that the Rotu tribe intended to vote her out first, and she decided her only option was to win the first individual Immunity Challenge, which she accomplished. The newly merged Soliantu tribe came together to vote out Rob for being a threat. 
Following Rob's elimination, the original Rotu now held a 7-2 majority over Maraamu. An overconfident Rotu Four, however, accidentally gave away their intended pecking order during the next Immunity Challenge, leaving Kathy, Paschal and Neleh to question their allegiance. They joined Sean and Vecepia to form an Outsiders Alliance, systematically picking off John, Zoe, Tammy and Robert in the process. 
With the Rotu Four gone and on the jury, the final five were divided into two sides: Paschal and Neleh on one side, and Sean and Vecepia on the other, with Kathy in the middle. After a heated discussion at Tribal Council, Kathy sided with Neleh and Paschal and voted out Sean.
As the last original Maraamu remaining, Vecepia was on the outs, but went on to win the next Immunity Challenge; and at Tribal Council, Kathy and Vecepia agreed to pair up as Neleh and Paschal would never turn on each other, thus causing a tie between Kathy and Neleh. With the vote being deadlocked, a draw of rocks between Kathy, Paschal and Neleh decided who will go next. In a twist of fate, Paschal, the only person besides Vecepia who did not receive votes, drew the purple rock and was eliminated. When Kathy dropped out at the Final Immunity Challenge, Vecepia reneged on her deal with Kathy by telling Neleh she would step down if she took her to the Final Two. Neleh agreed, and Kathy became the final member of the jury.
At Final Tribal Council, Neleh and Vecepia were met with an averse jury. Both women were grilled for hiding behind religion to use a form of guilt-free deception. Neleh was castigated by the former Rotu Four alliance for initially accepting that she would have been contented by reaching the jury phase only to turn on her word, while Vecepia was chastised for constantly shifting from alliance to alliance and was met with heavy disdain for betraying Kathy after publicly aligning with her. Ultimately, it was Vecepia who was crowned Sole Survivor after a close 4-3 vote, becoming series' first African-American winner.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
* Marquesas is the first season to have a castaway that was born in the 1980s: Neleh Dennis.
* Marquesas was the first season where Tribal Council had a roof.
* Marquesas is the first season where a man was the first person voted out.
* Marquesas is the first season where at no point during the season did the male castaways outnumber the female castaways. This would next happen in and later in .
* Marquesas is the first season to feature two male castaways with the same first name: Robert DeCanio and Rob Mariano.
* Marquesas the first time, the loved ones of castaways were on location during the loved ones Reward Challenge (in and , only the winner's loved one visited the castaways).
*Marquesas is the first season where three contestants are tied for most individual Immunity Challenge wins: Kathy, Tammy, and Vecepia each won 2 challenges. This distinction would be matched in , , and .
* For the first time, two different contestants won the penultimate and final Immunity Challenges.
* Marquesas is the first season to utilize the rock drawing tiebreaker.
* Marquesas is the first time that both original tribes were represented in the Final Tribal Council.
* Marquesas is the first season in which both finalists had votes against them during the game.
* Marquesas is the first season in which the finalists were of the same gender, as both finalists were women.
* Marquesas was the final season to feature the Reebok logo on the tribe's buffs.
* Marquesas is the only season to not have aired in Australia.
* Host Jeff Probst has stated that will never use the Marquesas as a location again, solely because of the painful bites from the native no-no sandflies.
==References==
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Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: Marquesas