Survivor: The Australian Outback

Survivor: The Australian Outback
Presented by
No. of episodes	15
No. of days	42
No. of castaways	16
Winner	Tina Wesson
Production
Production locations	Herbert River at Goshen Station (South-west of Cairns, Queensland, Australia)
Filming dates	October 23 – December 3, 2000
Original release
Release	January 28 (2001-01-28) – May 3, 2001 (2001-05-03)

Survivor: The Australian Outback was the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed at Goshen Station in northern Queensland during 2000 and was shown on TV from January 28, 2001 to May 3, 2001 on CBS. The location used was within a three hour drive from the city of Cairns and was in a wet, sub-tropical area. Nielsen Ratings says it was the highest rated show of 2001.

Fourteen episode were shown, one every week. The winner, Tina Wesson, was announced on May 3, 2001 where she won against Colby Donaldson by a vote of 4-3.

The entire season was made available on DVD on April 26, 2005.

Well-known events

Although the first episode was shown right after Super Bowl XXXV, the late hour made CBS want to show the first episode again later that week.

The elimination of player Michael Skupin during the sixth episode is well known for being the first case where a Survivor player has had to be removed because of an injury. While trying to start a fire, Skupin breathed in smoke and fainted, falling into the fire getting really bad burns to his hands. After being cared for by medical personnel, a helicopter was brought in and Skupin was removed from the game. Because of his removal, there was no Immunity Challenge, so there was no Tribal Council. Because of this, the Ogakor and Kucha tribes merged (combined) with the same number of tribe members, instead of the possible six to four (which would have happened if Ogakor lost the Immunity Challenge and gone to Tribal Council). At the first merged Tribal Council, Jeff Varner was voted off after a tie vote between the two old tribes.

During a reward trip, player and future runner-up Colby Donaldson broke an Australian law by breaking off coral from the Great Barrier Reef which could have gave him a fine of AU$110,000. The helicopter pilot in the reward trip also broke an Australian law as he flew over sea bird rookeries. Survivor's producer Mark Burnett said sorry on behalf of Colby and the production team after the season had been shown.

The game lasted 42 days, instead of 39 days. This seson also started the Survivor tradition of showing who won live, so that none of the players would know who won until the finale (last episode).

During a reward on Day 34 where the five players left were allowed to talk with their family members, old Ogakor member Keith Famie asked his girlfriend to marry him, and she said yes.

After filming

After the show, fourth-place finisher Elisabeth Filarski went on to co-host talk show The View. She, Tina Wesson, Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Alicia Calaway and Amber Brkich were asked to return in Survivor: All-Stars. Filarski was the only one who didn't return in the All-Stars season. She wanted to focus on hosting The View, while Wesson, Donaldson, Manthey, Calaway, and Brkich placed 18th, 12th, 10th, 7th, and 1st. Brkich won against fellow player and future husband Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano who had played before in the series' fourth season, Survivor: Marquesas in a 4-3 vote. Donaldson and Manthey would return again in the Heroes vs. Villains season where they placed 5th, and 4th. Michael Skupin returned in the Philippines season, where he tied for 2nd. Wesson would return in the Blood vs. Water season, where she played with her daughter, Katie Collins, and placed 4th. Jeff Varner and Kimmi Kappenberg were voted into the Cambodia season, where they finished 16th, and 6th. Varner later played in the Game Changers season.

Players

Player	Starting tribe	Merged tribe	Finish	Total votes
Debb Eaton 45, Milan, NH	Kucha		1st Voted Out Day 3	7
Kel Gleason 32, Fort Hood, TX	Ogakor		2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
Maralyn Hershey 51, Wakefield, VA	Ogakor		3rd Voted Out Day 9	5
Mitchell Olson 23, Union City, NJ	Ogakor		4th Voted Out Day 12	4
Kimmi Kappenberg 27, Ronkonkoma, NY	Kucha		5th Voted Out Day 15	6
Michael Skupin 38, White Lake, MI	Kucha		Removed Due to Injury Day 17	0
Jeff Varner 34, New York, NY	Kucha	Barramundi	6th Voted Out Day 21	7
Alicia Calaway 32, New York, NY	Kucha		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	5
Jerri Manthey 30, Los Angeles, CA	Ogakor		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	12
Nick Brown 23, Steilacoom, WA	Kucha		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	4
Amber Brkich 22, Beaver, PA	Ogakor		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	6
Rodger Bingham 53, Crittenden, KY	Kucha		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	5
Elisabeth Filarski 23, Boston, MA	Kucha		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 39	5
Keith Famie 40, West Bloomfield, MI	Ogakor		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 41	8
Colby Donaldson 26, Dallas, TX	Ogakor		Runner-up	5
Tina Wesson 39, Knoxville, TN	Ogakor		Sole Survivor	0

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

The game

Episode title	Air date	Challenges		Eliminated	Vote	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
"Stranded"	January 28, 2001	Ogakor1		Debb	7-1	1st Voted Out Day 3
"Suspicion"	February 1, 2001	Ogakor	Kucha	Kel	7-1	2nd Voted Out Day 6
"Trust No One"	February 8, 2001	Ogakor	Kucha	Maralyn	5-1-1	3rd Voted Out Day 9
"The Killing Fields"	February 15, 2001	Kucha	Kucha	Mitchell	3-3	4th Voted Out Day 12
"The Gloves Come Off"	February 22, 2001	Kucha	Ogakor	Kimmi	6-1	5th Voted Out Day 15
"Trial By Fire"	March 1, 2001	Kucha	None2	Michael	No Vote	Removed Due to Injury Day 17
"The Merge"	March 8, 2001	None3	Keith	Jeff	5-5	6th Voted Out Day 21
"Friends?"	March 15, 2001	Jerri [Amber]	Keith	Alicia	5-4	7th Voted Out Day 24
"The First 24 Days"	March 22, 2001	Recap Episode
"Honeymoon Or Not?"	March 29, 2001	Colby, Jerri	Nick	Jerri	6-2	8th Voted Out Day 27
"Let's Make A Deal"	April 5, 2001	Survivor Auction	Colby	Nick	4-2-1	9th Voted Out Day 30
"No Longer Just A Game"	April 12, 2001	Colby	Colby	Amber	4-2	10th Voted Out Day 33
"Enough Is Enough"	April 19, 2001	Tina	Colby	Rodger	3-2	11th Voted Out Day 36
"The Final Four"	April 26, 2001	Colby	Colby	Elisabeth	3-1	12th Voted Out Day 39
"The Most Deserving"	May 3, 2001	None	Colby	Keith	1-0	13th Voted Out Day 41
"The Reunion"	May 3, 2001	Jury Vote		Colby	4-3	Runner-Up
				Tina		Sole 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 if one player won and invited others, the players they invited are in brackets.

Note 1: Combined Reward and Immunity challenge.
Note 2: No immunity was given in Ep. 6 because of Michael's injury.
Note 3: There was no Reward Challenge due to tribal merge.

Voting history

	Starting tribes						Merged tribe
Episode #:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Reunion
Eliminated:	Debb 7/8 votes	Kel 7/8 votes	Maralyn 5/7 votes	Mitchell 3/6 votes2	Kimmi 6/7 votes	Michael No vote3	Jeff 5/10 votes4	Alicia 5/9 votes	Jerri 6/8 votes	Nick 4/7 votes	Amber 4/6 votes	Rodger 3/5 votes	Elisabeth 3/4 votes	Keith 1 vote	Colby 3/7 votes	Tina 4/7 votes
Voter	Vote
Tina		Kel	Maralyn	Mitchell			Jeff	Alicia	Jerri	Nick	Amber	Rodger	Elisabeth		Jury Vote
Colby		Kel	Maralyn	Mitchell			Jeff	Alicia	Jerri	Nick	Rodger	Rodger	Elisabeth	Keith
Keith		Kel	Mitchell	Mitchell			Jeff	Alicia	Jerri	Nick	Amber	Rodger	Elisabeth			Tina
Elisabeth	Debb				Kimmi		Colby	Jerri	Jerri	Amber	Amber	Keith	Keith			Tina
Rodger	Debb				Kimmi		Colby	Jerri	Jerri	Amber	Amber	Keith			Colby
Amber		Kel	Maralyn	Keith			Jeff	Alicia	Elisabeth	Nick	Rodger				Colby
Nick	Debb				Kimmi		Colby	Jerri	Jerri	Keith					Colby
Jerri		Kel	Maralyn	Keith			Jeff	Alicia	Elisabeth							Tina
Alicia	Debb				Kimmi		Colby	Jerri								Tina
Jeff	Debb				Kimmi		Colby
Michael	Debb				Kimmi
Kimmi	Debb				Jeff
Mitchell		Kel	Maralyn	Keith
Maralyn		Kel	Jerri
Kel		Jerri
Debb	Jeff

Note 2: Keith and Mitchell were tied 3-3 at Tribal Council. In earlier Tribal Councils, Keith had no votes, but Mitchell had one; so he was eliminated.
Note 3: On Day 17 Michael fell into a fire and had to be removed due to injuries, as a result he was the sixth person to leave the game meaning no Tribal Council was held.
Note 4: Colby and Jeff were tied 5-5 at Tribal Council and in earlier Tribal Councils, Jeff had two votes, therefore, Jeff was eliminated

Other websites

• Official CBS Survivor The Australian Outback Website