Survivor: The Australian Outback

Survivor: The Australian Outback, also known as Survivor: Australia in later seasons, is the second season of the reality show .
Fifteen weekly episodes were aired, with the premiere airing immediately after . 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.
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 reunion show which was hosted by . Gumbel had Jeff Probst via phone patch where Probst revealed that they started filming. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern between late October and early December 2000, and aired from January 28 to May 3, 2001, on CBS. The location used was within a three-hour drive off the coastal city of and located in a wet, tropical area.
In the middle of filming, Colby Donaldson, who won a trip to the 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.https://web.archive.org/web/20071225074444/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,104571~3~0~survivorheadapologizesfor,00.html
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	Contestant 	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Finish	VotesAgainst
Contestant	Contestant 	 	 	Finish	VotesAgainst
 	Debb Eaton45, Milan, NHCorrections Officer 	 	 	 	7
 	Kel Gleason32, Fort Hood, TXArmy Intelligence Officer 	 	 	 	7
 	Maralyn Hershey51, Wakefield, VARetired Police Officer 	 	 	 	5
 	Mitchell Olson23, Union City, NJSinger/Songwriter 	 	 	 	6
 	27, Ronkonkoma, NYBartender 	 	 	 	6
 	Michael Skupin38, White Lake, MISoftware Company President	 	 	 	0
 	Jeff Varner34, Manhattan, NYInternet Projects Manager 	 	rowspan=10 	 	11
 	Alicia Calaway32, Manhattan, NYPersonal Trainer 	 	 	5 	
 	Jerri Manthey30, Los Angeles, CAAspiring Actress 	 	 	12 	
 	Nick Brown23, Steilacoom, WAHarvard Law Student 	 	 	4 	
 	Amber Brkich22, Beaver, PAAdministrative Assistant 	 	 	6 	
 	Rodger Bingham53, Crittenden, KYTeacher/Farmer 	 	 	5 	
 	Elisabeth Filarski23, Newton, MAFootwear Designer 	 	 	5 	
 	Keith FamieChef 	 	 	10 	
 	Colby Donaldson26, Dallas, TXAuto Customizer 	 	Runner-Up 	9 	
 	Tina Wesson39, Knoxville, TNPersonal Nurse 	 	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.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
* The Tribal Council set was located on the rock cliffs beside the . 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 for Tribal Council eliminations. However, the original Tribal Council music was solely used during the reading of the Final Tribal Council votes until .
*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 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 .
*The Australian Outback season is tied with 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 and for being represented in the most seasons with returning players, with 7.
==References==
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Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: The Australian Outback