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
Contestant    Finish Peter Harkey44, Millis, Massachusetts 5Patricia Jackson49, Lugoff, South Carolina5Hunter Ellis33, La Jolla, California4Sarah Jones24, Newport Beach, California11Gabriel Cade23, Celo, North Carolina7Gina Crews28, Gainesville, Florida3Rob Mariano25, Canton, Massachusettsalign="center" rowspan=10 8John Carroll36, Omaha, Nebraska8Zoe Zanidakis35, Monhegan Island, Maine8Tammy Leitner29, Tucson, Arizona5Robert "General" DeCanio38, Queens, New York6Sean Rector30, Harlem, New York7Paschal English56, Thomaston, Georgia047, Burlington, Vermont5Neleh Dennis21, Layton, Utah4Vecepia Towery36, Portland, Oregon2

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
Episode titleAir dateChallengesEliminated VoteFinishRewardImmunity"Back to the Beach"February 28, 2002None5−2−11st Voted OutDay 3"Nacho Momma"March 7, 20024−32nd Voted OutDay 6"No Pain, No Gain"March 13, 20024−23rd Voted OutDay 9"The Winds Twist"March 20, 2002None4−14th Voted OutDay 12"The End of Innocence"March 28, 20027−15th Voted OutDay 15"The Underdogs"April 4, 20023−16th Voted OutDay 18"True Lies"April 11, 2002None7−2−17th Voted OutDay 21"Jury's Out"April 18, 20026−38th Voted Out1st Jury MemberDay 24"Two Peas in a Pod"April 25, 20027−19th Voted Out2nd Jury MemberDay 27"The Princess"May 2, 20025−210th Voted Out3rd Jury MemberDay 30"Marquesan Vacation"May 9, 20025−111th Voted Out4th Jury MemberDay 33"A Tale of Two Cities"May 16, 20023−212th Voted Out5th Jury MemberDay 36"The Sole Survivor"May 19, 2002None2−2Eliminated6th Jury MemberDay 371−013th Voted Out7th Jury MemberDay 38"The Reunion"May 19, 2002 Jury Vote4−3Runner-UpSole Survivor
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.

Original TribesSwitched Tribes Merged TribeEpisode #:12345678910111213Eliminated:VoterVote align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left" 
 Jury vote Finalist:JurorVote align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left"  align="left" 

: 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

Category:2002 American television seasons
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