Preceded by Survivor: Borneo Winner Tina Wesson Number of episodes 15 | Followed by Survivor: Africa Air date January 28, 2001 Presented by Jeff Probst | |
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Location(s) Herbert River at Goshen Station (South-west of Cairns, Queensland, Australia) Original release January 28 (2001-01-28) – May 3, 2001 (2001-05-03) Winner Tina Wesson | ||
Survivor the australian outback as told by your summer camp counselor
Survivor: The Australian Outback (also referred to as Survivor: Australia in later seasons) is the second season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland from October 23, 2000, through December 3, 2000, eventually premiering on January 28, 2001. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of 42 days of gameplay with 16 competitors. The location used was within a three-hour drive of the coastal city of Cairns and located in a wet, tropical area.
Contents
- Survivor the australian outback as told by your summer camp counselor
- Future appearances
- Season summary
- Ratings
- Critical reception
- Controversy
- References
The sixteen contestants were initially separated into two tribes, named Kucha and Ogakor. When ten players remained, they merged into one tribe, named Barramundi. Tina Wesson won the season and was named the Sole Survivor, defeating Colby Donaldson by a jury vote of 4–3.
It was the top-rated show of 2001, according to Nielsen Ratings with an average of 30 million viewers tuning each week. The entire season was released in DVD format on April 26, 2005.
Future appearances
Elisabeth Filarski, now Hasselbeck, went on to host on the ABC talk show The View. Tina Wesson, Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Alicia Calaway, and Amber Brkich returned to compete in Survivor: All-Stars. Wesson, Donaldson, Manthey, and Calaway placed 18th, 12th, 10th, and 7th, respectively, and Brkich won the season. Brkich also competed on The Amazing Race 7 with her fiancé and fellow Survivor alumnus Rob Mariano, placing 2nd; the couple, now married, returned for The Amazing Race 11, where they placed 8th.
Donaldson and Manthey would again return for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, finishing in 5th and 4th place, respectively. Michael Skupin returned for Survivor: Philippines where he tied for runner-up. Wesson would again return for Survivor: Blood vs. Water along with her daughter, Katie Collins (who appeared in The Australian Outback as a loved one), where Wesson placed 4th. Jeff Varner and Kimmi Kappenberg returned for Survivor: Cambodia, placing 17th and 6th, respectively. Varner returned for the third time in Survivor: Game Changers.
Season summary
The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight: Ogakor and Kucha, named after the words for "crocodile" and "kangaroo" in an Australian Aboriginal language respectively. Though Ogakor fared worse in challenges, the tribes were merged with five members apiece after Kucha member Michael fell into the campfire and suffered third-degree burns, requiring his evacuation. As a result, the vote at the first Tribal Council after the merge ended in a tie along tribal lines. Per the rules, ties were resolved based on which player had received the most votes in all previous Tribal Councils; former Kucha Jeff was eliminated, putting the remnants of Ogakor in power.
Ogakor's majority alliance of Colby, Keith and Tina alternated between eliminating the former Kucha and betraying former tribe-mates Jerri and Amber when they threatened to usurp their power. The three stayed together until the end, and Colby took Tina with him into the final Tribal Council. Tina's strategic plan was valued over Colby's prowess in challenges, and she was awarded the title of Sole Survivor by a jury vote of 4–3.
In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.Ratings
Survivor: The Australian Outback is still, to this day, the highest-ranked season of the series, as it was the top-rated show for the 2000–2001 TV season. It is still the most-watched season with an overall average of 30 million viewers per episode and a 13.3/33 share in adults 18-49. It also had the highest amount of premiere viewers (45 million), and the second-highest amount of finale viewers (36 million) and reunion viewers (28 million), behind Borneo.
Critical reception
The Australian Outback is still very well-received among the Survivor fanbase. Host Jeff Probst ranked it as the 8th-best season, citing such memorable contestants as "Colby, the prototype for a Survivor 'hero'; Jerri, the original 'black widow'; and Elisabeth 'The View' Fillarski," as well as Michael Skupin's infamous injury. In 2013, both Andrea Reiher of Zap2it and Joe Reid of The Wire ranked The Australian Outback as the 3rd greatest season of the series. Since 2012, Survivor fan site "Survivor Oz" has consistently ranked The Australian Outback highly in its annual polls ranking every season of the series; it was 3rd in 2012, 4th in 2013 and 2015, and 6th in 2014. In the official issue of CBS Watch, commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor in 2015, The Australian Outback was voted by viewers as the 4th greatest season in the series. In another poll for the same magazine, Skupin's injury in the fire was voted as the #9 most memorable moment in the series.
Controversy
During a reward trip, contestant Colby Donaldson broke an Australian law by breaking off coral from the Great Barrier Reef which could have resulted in a fine of A$110,000. The helicopter pilot involved in the reward trip also broke an Australian law as he flew over sea bird rookeries. Survivor's producer Mark Burnett apologized on behalf of Donaldson and the production team after the season had aired.