Australian Survivor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Australian Survivor
Filming Location	Whaler's Way, Port Lincoln, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
Winner	Robert Dickson (5-2)
Season run	2002-02-13 – 2002-05-15 (Special 2002-05-29)
Filming Dates	circa 2001-11-01 – 2001-12-24
Number of episodes	13
Number of days	39
Number of survivors	16
Tribes	Kadina (Lime Green), Tipara (Blue), Aurora (Grey)
Season chronology
Previous season	(aired on Nine Network) Survivor: Africa
Next season	(aired on Nine Network) Survivor: Thailand, (on the Seven Network) Celebrity Survivor

Australian Survivor was a television series based on the popular American reality show Survivor. The series was filmed in November and December 2001 and aired weekly from February 13 - May 15, 2002 on Australia's Nine Network. It was set at Whaler's Way, an Eyre Peninsula coastal nature reserve in Port Lincoln, South Australia in the Great Australian Bight, where numerous ships had sunk off the coast in the past. This set up the nautical theme of the series. The area is also a point along a whale migration path.

The show's host was Lincoln Howes, a current affairs producer with the Australian version of 60 Minutes. The grand prize of $500,000 Australian dollars was won by Robert Dickson in a 5-2 vote by the jury. The runner-up was Sciona Browne.

The two initial tribes were named after shipwrecks and they were: Kadina (lime green buffs) and Tipara (blue buffs) and merged to become Aurora (grey). The merge name was not decided by the contestants - which was a first for the series. The contestants also did not receive new buffs at the merge.

This was the first and the last ever season of Australian Survivor, however in 2006 it was announced that there will be an Australian Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu. The new series is a mix of the original Survivor franchise (in particular Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Vanuatu from the U.S.), the UK version of the show, and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Ian 'Dicko' Dickson will be the host and the show will be broadcast on the Seven Network (Nine still has the rights to screen Survivor, but Seven has obtained rights to film their own version).

[edit] Contestants

[edit] Survivors Voted Off Pre-Merge

Contestants included (in order of how they finished, starting from the first one eliminated and ending with the winner):

Australian Survivor contestants.

Episode 1 - Premiere Original airdate: February 13, 2002

• Lucinda Allen-Rhodes (or Allen-Rhoades or Allen) (Kadina)
• Age: 43
• Marital Status: married
• Hometown: Byron Bay, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: mother and interior/exterior designer
• Luxury item: mini photo album
• Profile: Lucinda, 43, lives on the New South Wales north coast with her husband and three children. In addition to being a mother and wife, she regularly works as a house designer, both interior and exterior. She is a member of World Vision and Greenpeace and is public liaison officer with a local youth project. Lucinda describes herself as tenacious, gregarious and human and says she is qualified in 43 years of living life as a daring adventurer. Her birthday is July 5.
• Notes: Lucinda trained hard for the show but failed her tribe at the make up Immunity Challenge. As one of the older members of Kadina, she assumed they were all voting for her so she decided to vote for herself so no one would have votes against their name later in the show. (If this occurred in other franchises of the show, she would have been breaking a rule and therefore disqualified). Lucinda was edited to be seen as wanting to quit. This episode is where Kadina begins their losing streak.
• Voted out on Day 3, lasted 3 days

Episode 2 Original airdate: February 20, 2002

• Tim Duggan (Kadina)
• Age: 51
• Marital Status: married
• Hometown: Central Coast, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: contract painter
• Luxury item: family photo
• Profile: Tim is married with five children and lives in New South Wales. He is a contract painter and runs his own business. Tim enjoys fishing, reading and being a family man. He has a deep love for the outdoors and nature. Tim, 51, describes himself as animated, debonair and mischievous. His birthday is October 20.
• Notes: Tim was voted out of Kadina for being one of the older tribe members, not unlike Lucinda. Kadina continues their losing streak. Katie approaches Rob to begin an alliance to make it to the end. Rob agrees and no one in Tipara suspects a thing...
• Voted out on Day 6, lasted 6 days

Episode 3 Original airdate: February 27, 2002

• David Haas (Kadina)
• Age: 34
• Marital Status: living with partner
• Hometown: Sydney, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: IT consultant for a system integration company
• Luxury item: wooden chess set
• Profile: David, 34, is a technical solutions architect who lives in NSW with his partner Kylie and his dog Sparky. Born in Paris, France in 1967, David moved to NSW at age four and attended six different high schools around the state. After finishing school he completed a TAFE certificate in Business Operation and is currently completing a Masters Degree in Business and Technology. David describes himself as confident, creative and quirky. He says he is over qualified in the bedroom and he previously worked as a nude bartender at a swingers club. His birthday is July 2.
• Notes: David suffered the same fate as Lucinda and Tim. He was seen as a smarter Kadina member, trying to instigate an alliance with younger members of the tribe but no one took his offers. Forgot to eat before leaving for Survivor and managed to scoff down some mixed nuts before the official departure for the location. His audition tape footage involved him doing a moonwalk (made famous by Michael Jackson) half-naked. David's tribe continues to lose challenges.
• Voted out on Day 9, lasted 9 days

Episode 4 Original airdate: March 06, 2002

• Jeff Brown (Tipara)
• Age: 53
• Marital Status: married
• Hometown: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
• Occupation: federal police superintendent
• Luxury item: toilet paper
• Profile: Jeff, 53, has been a policeman for 33 years and is currently in charge of Police Communications for the Australian Federal Police. Father of four and grandfather of three, Jeff lives in the Australian Capital Territory where he enjoys spending time with his wife, reading, gardening and doing jigsaw puzzles. Jeff describes himself as extremely passionate, very enthusiastic and a big softie. His birthday is October 14.
• Notes: Up until Episode 4, Tipara were cocky and very successful in dominating Kadina at challenges. In this episode, Jeff arrogantly sledges Kadina at the Reward challenge. The joke was on him however, when the Kadina "Famous Five" fought back to win their first (and only) Immunity Challenge. Sylvan then goes on to win a Ford Escape 4WD (one of the only Survivor series to give away a car early in the season). Jeff suffered from sore blistered feet during his time out in the wild. In other versions of Survivor, contestants would not have been allowed any survival related Luxury items, but like many other things in Australian Survivor, this rule seems to have been relaxed. Jeff was another victim of the Survivor stereotype of being one of the older members of a tribe to be voted out early.
• Voted out on Day 12, lasted 12 days

Episode 5 Original airdate: March 13, 2002

• Deborah Peart (Kadina)
• Age:26,
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Sydney, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: television post-production supervisor
• Luxury item: mini photo album
• Profile: Deborah lives in NSW and is a television post production supervisor on the internationally acclaimed series, Farscape. Born and educated in Victoria, 26-year-old Deborah is an accomplished martial artist who studies and teaches Wing Chun Kung Fu. Deborah is single, describes herself as intuitive, determined and honourable. She loves sport and often spends her weekends in-line skating, cross training and playing tennis. Her birthday is June 25.
• Notes: Just when everyone thought Kadina would pick itself back up, Deb rolled her ankle ensuring her injury became a liability in the challenges and to her tribe. This is why she was voted off. Deb's audition video featured her working out and doing martial arts.
• Voted out on Day 15, lasted 15 days

Episode 6 Original airdate: March 20, 2002

• Sylvan Dorney (Kadina)
• Age: 25
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Manly, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: writer, brush hand, book sales... whichever is going
• Luxury item: pack of cards
• Profile: Twenty-five-year-old Sylvan is a writer who has recently finished the first in a series of books for children. Since finishing school, he has worked as a painter, factory hand and bookshop administrator and travelled overseas to Scotland, England, Europe and Canada. He is single and lives in New South Wales. Sylvan describes himself as mercurial, thoughtful and inquisitive and says his weaknesses are pizza and beer. His birthday is March 28.
• Notes: At this point in the game, Kadina were very weak and back into the mode of having Tipara dominate them in challenges (particularly Immunity as Kadina won some Rewards). Sylvan was perhaps the least fit of the four remaining Kadinas but was ultimately voted out by the other four who started an alliance against him. Sylvan, an author, had his most recent book (for older children) - The Enigma Libris: The Book of Symbols - published circa the broadcast of Australian Survivor and plugged it on the live Reunion show. Sylvan won the Ford Escape 4WD (which was blue) and had to sell it as he found going for his driver's license was too hard (he didn't drive beforehand).
• Voted out on Day 18, lasted 18 days

- Easter non-ratings period week-long break

[edit] Survivors Voted Off Pre-Jury

Episode 7 - Merger Original airdate: April 03, 2002

• Caren Shaw (Kadina, Aurora)
• Age: 29
• Marital Status: with partner
• Hometown: Darwin, Northern Territory (NT)
• Occupation: promotions manager/breakfast radio co-host
• Luxury item: locket with photo of her father
• Profile: Originally from Queensland, 29-year-old Caren currently resides in the Northern Territory where she is the breakfast co-host on a leading Darwin radio station. Caren lives with her partner and is trained in therapeutic massage. She loves sport and plays both indoor netball and volleyball. Caren describes herself as open minded, adventurous and affirmative. Her birthday is September 27.
• Notes: Caren was the last of the pre-jury cast members to be voted off. She was seen as an under-the-radar type player who rode on coattails to get to the merge and thus was voted out by the ex-Tipara alliance. Craig, a big fan of Survivor, knew that ex-Kadina were about to be "pagonged" and that he was the major threat to ex-Tipara. He set out to win all the Immunity Challenges to save himself and also to destroy the Tipara seven by spreading discord and enmity amongst them. Craig begins by winning the first individual Immunity Challenge. Katie and Rob's plan begins to take effect and former Tipara begin to pick off Kadina one by one. All three ex-Kadina tribe members have votes against their names and on Tipara, Jane has one from Jeff at the merge.
• Voted out on Day 21, lasted 21 days

[edit] Survivors Voted Off Onto Jury

Episode 8 Original airdate: April 10, 2002

• Naomi Knight (Kadina, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 22
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Lake Bolac, Victoria (VIC)
• Occupation: physical education teacher
• Luxury item: football
• Profile: Naomi grew up on a small farm in rural Victoria. This year, she will graduate with a double degree in Secondary Education and Applied Science, and start her teaching career. Aged 22, Naomi is single and loves sports. She likes both playing and watching football, netball, golf and tennis and enjoys running and swimming to keep fit. Naomi describes herself as loyal, independent, competitive and strong. Her birthday is April 24.
• Notes: Naomi won a new IBM laptop computer (which was black) in this episode where the reward was a night out at a cottage. She took Craig (obviously thinking that the ex-Tipara alliance could not be broken and therefore deciding to enjoy herself with a strategy-free night with fellow ex-Kadina member Craig) which fuelled rumours that they were an item, which they later denied. Craig continues his plan of winning all the Immunities. He succeeds a second time and therefore Naomi is voted out as the second-last ex-Kadina and becomes the first Jury member. Craig tells Joel, Jane and Lance (outsiders in the Tipara seven) that there is an alliance between Sciona, Sophie, Rob and Katie. The outsiders ask the four and are reassured there is nothing going on which was believed by the Innocents and the expulsion of the ex-Kadinas continued...
• Voted out on Day 24, lasted 24 days

Episode 9 Original airdate: April 17, 2002

• Craig Abbott (Kadina, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 27
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Victoria (VIC)
• Occupation: electrician
• Luxury item: Rubik's cube
• Profile: Twenty-seven-year-old Craig is an electrician from Victoria who sent himself in a box to Channel Nine and personally handed his audition tape to executive producer Stephen Peters. One of three children, Craig has spent the last few years travelling, teaching surfing in the Dominican Republic and working as a snow-maker and ski lift operator in Canada. He is a licensed electrician and currently lives with his dad. Craig is single and describes himself as sincere, loyal and compassionate. He enjoys surfing, running, going to the gym and waterskiing. His birthday is July 17.
• Notes: Much to the annoyance of Rob and Katie, Craig continues to spread suspicions amongst the three Tipara alliance outsiders (also known as the Tipara Innocents). He also charms Sciona into feeling sorry for him and thus they both vote against Lance at Tribal Council. The only people unmoved by Craig's shake up are Sophie, Katie and Rob. Despite all his hard efforts at trying to break the Tipara seven, he is voted out to cheers from the alliance. At the 'gross food' Immunity Challenge earlier in the day, Joel's status in the alliance grew as he was the one who defeated Craig by finishing his pilchard (known as the cold slimy fish) first. Obviously, Craig failed to continue his winning streak. Craig won a legion of female fans during the show which then saw him appear in a Cleo magazine centrefold later on.
• Voted out on Day 27, lasted 27 days

Episode 10 Original airdate: April 24, 2002

• Lance Brooks (Tipara, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 40
• Marital Status: married
• Hometown: Sydney, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: self employed marketing and promotions company
• Luxury item: prayer book
• Profile: Lance is a 40-year-old father of three, born and bred in New South Wales. A self-employed marketing and promotions consultant, Lance worked in his family wholesale business for 18 years before forming his own company. Lance describes himself as happy, honest and compassionate. He practices yoga everyday and also enjoys kayaking, canoeing and golf. His birthday is August 5
• Notes: The first of the Tipara Innocents to be voted off. Up until this point, Lance believed there was no alliance amongst his former Tipara tribemates. He was a very spiritual person, doing yoga each morning while he was out there for the duration of the show. After Australian Survivor concluded he became a public speaker and visited community schools to speak of his experiences.
• Voted out on Day 30, lasted 30 days

Episode 11 Original airdate: May 01, 2002

• Jane Dalton (Tipara, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 18
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Newcastle, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: student
• Luxury item: razor
• Profile: Eighteen-year-old Jane is the youngest Survivor and is a student in her home state of NSW. One of three girls, Jane lives with her family and their two pet birds Frank and George. She is currently studying a TAFE course in Business Office Administration and would like to become a flight attendant. Jane is single, describes herself as vivacious, loyal and optimistic and she enjoys sculpting, beading and cooking. Her birthday is December 21.
• Notes: Jane was edited to be "princessy" and a coattail rider in the show. Being the youngest of the group, she was seen as lazy at times and not a tribe contributor. She won the giant slingshot challenge and while she shared her reward of jam scones and tea with her tribemates, a school of whales greeted the group up on the cliff from the water. One of the last Tipara Innocents, there was an opportunity where she could have found out about the alliance but she missed it. Joel began to cotton on in this episode about the previously non-existent alliance of four...
• Voted out on Day 33, lasted 33 days

Episode 12 Original airdate: May 08, 2002

• Sophie Woods (Tipara, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 31
• Marital Status: single parent
• Hometown: Sydney, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: mother of two
• Luxury item: necklace with bead for each member of her family
• Profile: Sophie is a single mother of two young children aged three and five. She was born in New South Wales where she still resides. Sophie is a qualified masseuse and has diplomas in botanical medicine, homeopathy and naturopathy. She enjoys skiing, golf, painting and writing. Sophie describes herself as funny, courageous and easygoing. Her birthday is August 7.
• Notes: This was the episode where everything changed. Joel, finally realising about the alliance, took the opportunity when a tired Katie walked back to camp during a water run, got Robert and Sciona in on an alliance with him. Joel pledged unwavering loyalty and would be fine to get third place - thus ensuring Sciona and Rob a definite final two spot. Rob and Sciona accepted and to Katie's horror and surprise, Sophie was forced to exit the game at Tribal Council.
• Voted out on Day 36, lasted 36 days

Episode 13-1 - Series Finale and Reunion Original airdate: May 15, 2002

• Katie Gold (Tipara, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 24
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Melbourne, Victoria (VIC)
• Occupation: professional athlete
• Luxury item: French language manual
• Profile: Twenty four year old Katie is a professional athlete who holds the title as the number one ranking female athlete in Victoria for 1999/2000. After finishing high school, Katie earned a netball scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. In 1998, she returned to Victoria and began competing in triathlons and attended the World Triathlon Titles in Perth. Katie describes herself as warm spirited, extroverted and mad as a cut snake. Her birthday June 2.
• Notes: Katie was seen as a bit of a tomboy. She felt she was secure and comfortable in her alliance with Rob and the secondary alliances of Sciona and Sophie, but due to the work of Craig to disrupt the group and Katie's free chance for Joel to change the game, she was now on the outside, vulnerable and the next to go. With thirty-six days of mental degradation, low energy, no food and harsh conditions, Katie was now on the verge of a mental breakdown. The editors took advantage of this and her explosive argument with the other members of the final four did not do her any favours. She was portrayed as the villain of the season. As promised to Joel, Rob and Sciona banded with him to voted out a teary, angry and confused Katie who joined the jury as the second last member and she also has her own website (see below).
• Voted out on Day 37, lasted 37 days

Episode 13-2

• Joel Betts (Tipara, Aurora, Jury)
• Age: 22
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Sydney, New South Wales (NSW)
• Occupation: university graduate, personal trainer
• Luxury item: photo of family and girlfriend
• Profile: Joel, from NSW, is 22 and works as a personal trainer. Recently graduated from university with a Bachelors Degree in Commerce, Joel worked many different jobs during uni including pizza delivery, landscaping, bar work and mobile phone sales. Joel describes himself as confident, outgoing, tenacious and energetic. He is a keen footballer and has been playing since he was 10 years old. His birthday is May 1.
• Notes: As promised to Rob and Sciona in exchange for an alliance, Joel was verbally voted out at the Immunity Challenge in which Rob won. During Australian Survivor, Joel was seen as young, naive and a bit digusting particularly with his table manners. Being one of the last contestants remaining, the reunion show made fun of his lack of facial hair growth compared to the beards Rob, Lance and Craig grew. In an earlier Reward Challenge, Joel won the chance to speak to his girlfriend via webcam. He later on divulged that he had to stop himself from proposing to her as he thought that he was ready but the time nor place was right for the occasion. Joel was the last jury member. Joel has his own website (see below).
• Voted out on Day 38, lasted 38 days

[edit] Survivors Subject To Jury

Episode 13-3

• Sciona Browne (Tipara, Aurora)
• Age: 49
• Marital Status: single
• Hometown: Perth, Western Australia (WA)
• Occupation: managing director
• Luxury item: meditation beads
• Profile: Sciona is 49 and a former commercial and test pilot who lives in Western Australia. She is currently employed as a managing and executive director and says she is a "business dude-ess". Sciona has lived in every Australian state except Tasmania and has travelled all over the world including Asia, New Zealand, America and the United Kingdom. Sciona is single. She describes herself as dynamic, daring and determined and she hates cucumber. Her birthday is April 13.
• Notes: Sciona was seen as a bit tomboy. During the show, her sexuality was questioned. In her audition tape shown at the Reunion show, she was dressed as a test pilot and ended up eating a piece of plastic dog poo in reference to the show's gross food challenges. Sciona is very fond of Cadbury ' Cherry Ripe ' chocolate bars (which Tipara won in an early Reward Challenge). She doesn't see herself as a girly-girl and liked to be on her own a lot. Sciona received only two votes to win from the jury - Katie and Sophie out of spite towards Rob. Sciona was the runner-up of Australian Survivor.
• Voted out on Day 39, lasted 39 days

Episode 13-4

• Robert (Rob) Dickson (Tipara, Aurora)
• Age: 37
• Marital Status: married
• Hometown: Melbourne, VIctoria (VIC)
• Occupation: ex AFL footballer, film and video production
• Luxury item: journal and pen
• Profile: Robert is a former Australian rules football player who lives in Victoria with his wife and one-year-old son. After his football career concluded, Robert fulfilled a dream and became an ambulance rescue helicopter pilot. He currently runs his own video and film production company. Robert describes himself as persistent, gregarious, ambitious and positive. His birthday is November 14.
• Notes: Seen as the alpha-male of Tipara tribe. Noted as saying "people weren't meant to get hurt like that" in reference to the breakdown of his alliances where people (e.g. Katie in the confines and environment of the game) took it too seriously. He brokedown at the airport on arrival home, dropped everything and went straight to a psychiatrist, who was quoted as saying he had been in a "war zone without any bullets". The eventual Sole Survivor and winner of the first and only Australian Survivor, Rob used the money to help Dusty - his wife - to have her mother (his mother-in-law) brought over from Zimbabwe to be safe in Australia with them and away from the conflict in Africa. Rob missed his son's first steps while out filming Survivor and is now a public speaker in addition to his film producing job. He received five votes to win from the jury - Naomi, Craig, Lance, Jane, Joel. His prize included $500,000 Australian dollars and a brand new yellow Ford Explorer 4WD. He and Katie have since made up their differences. They live in the same area of Melbourne in Victoria (see separate article on Robert Dickson).
• Was not voted out, lasted 39 days

- Surviving Survivor special broadcast a fortnight later.

• Information taken from the now defunct (since 2003) ninemsn.com.au/survivor site

Australian Survivor contestants (back row - standing, left to right) David Haas, Jeff Brown, Sylvan Dorney, Jane Dalton, Sophie Woods, Naomi Knight, Lucinda Allen-Rhodes, Joel Betts, Lance Brooks, Deborah Peart, Rob Dickson, Tim Duggan (front row - crouching, left to right) Katie Gold, Caren Shaw, Sciona Brown, Craig Abbott in front of the bus that brought them to Whaler's Way.

[edit] Show Notes

• The show was broadcast by Channel Nine in the Wednesday 8:30 PM timeslot and was rated PG (Parental Guidance recommended). Australian Survivor was also screened in New Zealand, however, Survivor: Marquesas was also broadcast at the same time much to the annoyance of New Zealand Survivor fans. On the other hand, Survivor Marquesas was not shown in Australia, which irked the Australian fans who preferred the quality of the American productions to the local version.

• The theme of the show was shipwrecks and the theme song incorporated an Irish jig (in a nod to Australian history - First Fleet arriving etc.). The theme song and show's overall theme music were similar and the extended version of the main theme (the official theme song) was played during the closing credits of the live Finale and Reunion show.

• In the opening credits, the contestants are not shown by tribe (as the U.S. versions are widely know for) - they are in a random order integrated with shots including the words '16 Castaways', '39 Days' and '1 Winner' (this contrasts to the American version where it is instead,'1 Survivor'). Rob is always shown last in the sequence before the official logo. (Sophie was first.)

• Host Lincoln Howes, kept the tradition of wearing the same outfit in every episode alive, which was started by the U.S. version's host Jeff Probst in the earlier editions of the American Survivor.

• The tribes (before the merge) alternated on which days they could go search for food. On one day Tipara could go to the coast and fish while Kadina could only go to the windmill and pump water and on the next day, the tribes swapped. It was at the windmill, that Rob was approached by Katie to begin an alliance and where Joel felt betrayed when he was asked to vote off Jeff against the wishes of his fellow Tipara Innocents.

• Tribe flags resembled a sail of a yacht or ship and swung around in the breeze. The entrance to each tribe's camp had a large wooden structure resembling a doorway and was decorated in rusty bits off ships and items in references to Australia's colonial past. Survivors at Tipara carved a calendar and the booted contestants' names into the wood.

• Kadina tribe camp was more grassy and had more trees as cover. Tipara basically lived in the dirt and this showed as their faces became very dirty after only a few days into the game.

• Tree Mail was just a boulder of rock with the Mail hidden in and around it.

• It could be said Kadina's downfall began in the first ever challenge. David had been feeling sick (due to forgetting to eat before leaving for Port Lincoln and Whaler's Way) so the tribe asked the host, Lincoln Howes, if they could sit him out. Tipara obviously obliged as this would give them an advantage of an extra person. Following on from this, the Survivors, cold, wet and exhausted waited hours for the completion of the challenge that never came. They had each carried out all the tasks they needed to do and were waiting for the kindling they threw spears at to catch alight, thus igniting a fuse and pyrotechnics to determine which tribe would have deemed to be the first ever to win a challenge. This never came as the wind became too strong and the challenge was aborted, only to have a make up trivia quiz as the substitute the next day. Lucinda lost the challenge for Kadina (see Episode 1, above).

• Tribal Council was held aboard a purposely-built shipwreck.

• Tribe torches for Tribal Council were a simple metal design. The art department purposely did this so that the contestants could decorate their torches themselves. This never happened.

• The contestants fed themselves on fish caught from the sea, food rewards, bush tucker, shellfish and other marine creatures during their thirty-nine day stay out in the wild.

• Sciona had a fondness for skinny dipping away from the other contestants. Another instance of nudity occurred at the merge where all contestants were given a shower with their modesty preserved by walls around the communal showers. Rob dared Katie to streak outside and that he would pay her back once the series was over. She completed the dare.

• The merge camp included an upturned boat for the Survivors to shelter in. Which was criticised by fans because it seemed that the producers gave the castaways too many resources (see below). The tribes, upon merging, were given only ten minutes to pack up and move off to the new camp.

• Kadina were not a successful tribe with Tipara "pagonging" the former after the merge. The tribe can be compared with the Maraamu tribe from Survivor: Marquesas in the U.S. and (to an extent) Ulong from Survivor: Palau.

• In Craig's attempts to break up the ex-Tipara alliance in Aurora, he voted for Rob at each Tribal Council in a different style of writing to put him off the scent and tried to lead him believe that one of his own was against him. Craig was successful in doing this for a short time.

• Survivors in the series often were shown going off by themselves or in small groups after the merge. Rob often went off to carve on a piece of wood (one time making a whale for his son's first birthday, which he missed during the game) or writing in his journal. Katie and Jane were often shown sunbaking, while Sciona went off skinny dipping away from the rest of Aurora. The groups usually went off to the beach, to the windmill where bush tucker was near by, into the boat shelter, or into the bushes in and around camp.

• The most notable event of the season was Katie's explosive exit and mental breakdown in the finale.

• Challenges on Australian Survivor included woodchopping down a ship's mast, trying to stay balanced on a wobbly pontoon on a lake, retrieving a chest of chocolates from the sea, carrying heavy items either through the sea (such as a log) or on land, an obstacle course, trying to hold a pole over a fire with one hand, brain teasers, trivia quizzes, a human chess game, lighting fires and races along the beach. Some challenges were divided into parts (such as digging through sand and finding flares) where a contestant was eliminated in each round. Fire making, rolling a large and heavy barrel through a chicane and a giant slingshot constituted as other challenges.

• Eating raw fish and cold slimy seafood was the token 'gross food' challenge of the season and one of the challenges for the final five involved a quiz where wrong answers had the contestant walk a plank and the dive into the sea off a luxury yacht.

• Original Survivor challenge ideas of Australian Survivor included testing Survivors' memory and estimation of measurements after days out in the wild; a horizontal bungee; building a ladder to the top of a mini lighthouse, and involving the use of cars in a challenge (rather than just have a car as a reward). Another original idea included all tribe members, bar one, to each stand on a block of wood. Each block was a wedge that formed a circle. When the host, Lincoln Howes, spun a wheel it would stop on a colour. The remaining tribe member (not on a wedge) would proceed to remove the wedge that corresponded to the colour and the point of it all was for the tribe to remain balancing and still standing no matter how many blocks were removed from under their feet. Kadina lost.

• Rewards included Tribal Immunity in the form of a bell, Individual Immunity in the form of a rope necklace with shark's teeth, icecream and lollies, a Ford Escape 4WD, crab pots, pizza and fishing gear.

• The behind the scenes show aired a few weeks after the series ended and was titled ' Surviving Survivor '. In this special, details were revealed such as the final four wanting to quit the show due to the sudden and dramatic turn of events in the nature of the game concerning Katie's behaviour (her mental breakdown right before the F4 Tribal Council). The producers threatened to hand the prize money to the last eliminated contestant (Sophie) if the F4 decided to continue to defy them.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

Memorable quotes of the season included Rob mentioning from the merge's shower segment that Joel "is a much bigger man than I thought". He also made a passing jibe from this incident at Craig about if the group should run out of food and that they become cannibals, he would be the first to sink his teeth in Craig's "big chunky thighs".

Lucinda, through editing, seemed to want to quit with the first (and her final) episode having her state that "it's just too hard". Meanwhile, later on at Kadina, when all the older members (Lucinda, Tim and David) had been eliminated, the "Famous Five" (as they called themselves, based on Enid Blyton's books) were described by Sylvan. He said that it was a great situation in that Craig was "snuggling up to two blondes on each side" (Naomi and Caren), and that he, Sylvan, was "snuggling up" to Deb and the one of the other girls at night. He and Deb mentioned that the "Famous Five" might "accidentally" become incestuous.

In an episode before Jeff was voted out, the woodchopping challenge showed him sledging Kadina over their loss to Tipara during the challenge. While Kadina defiantly continued until they finished the task, even though Tipara had already defeated them, Jeff menacingly called over to Kadina that "there's no hurry", while Jane laughed.

During the car challenge, where tribes picked a member of the opposing team to drive blindfolded through an obstacle course guided by their tribe, Rob said "good girl" to Jane, who was driving, even though they were about to lose. Craig remained consistently calm issuing instructions to Caren which won them their first Immunity Challenge.

Upon losing the Cadbury chocolate Reward challenge, Craig elaborated on his chocolate obsession and his many different ways that he devised of eating each type. He mentioned that he put the Black Forest block of chocolate in the microwave, heated it up, ate all the fruit and nuts out of it and then proceeded to eat the chocolate that was left over.

After the free showers they received at they merge, Caren explained her observations in her Confessional to the camera. It seemed to the ex-Kadina three that, "everybody hates Jane" and that she (Jane) seemed to have had a free ride to the merger. This was also the episode where Craig said that he "needed to win every immunity or go home". In reality, he managed only two.

Sciona also mentioned how she didn't fit in with her younger tribemates after the merge. "I'm not like them", she explained to the camera. She told of how she grew up on the country with a strong relationship with her mother and not really having time to be a "girly girl" and that dresses and make-up were not of interest to her. Being one of the older members of Aurora, she also laughed at how Katie tried to ration the rice using a pen, a board and algebra, when it could have been done simply by scooping out the right amount for each person when cooking. (This became an issue when Joel ate too much.)

When the group ventured off to find bush tucker near the windmill, Sophie was quoted as saying "pigface good?" Lance replied "pigface very good". (Pigface is a little pink shrub of which you can eat the fruit.) This was also the same episode where Katie and Sophie tried to get a feel of where the ex-Kadinas were going with their votes and looked at the idea of creating an alliance with them.

Around the time of Craig's departure from the game, Lance, in his ignorance, flatly denied any involvement of an ex-Tipara alliance and said, "there wouldn't be an alliance". Sciona then voted for him saying, "while I admire your integrity, the fact is that it's not going to get you to the end of the game".

When Rob was annoyed at Craig's charming of Sciona (in which she ended up voting for Lance as documented above) he stated that "the younger warrior has charmed the older warrior", with an obvious distaste in his voice. Katie said something similar along the lines of this, mentioning that "Craig is a little snake... he is ruining all our plans". They later argued about this at the Reunion show with Craig telling Katie to stop by saying "is the pot calling the kettle black?" Katie's edit as the series' villain caused the audience to wildly applaud Craig's comeback.

A reason why Craig thought Kadina was so easily dominated by Tipara was that "they wanted it more". He (explaining at the Reunion show) felt that Tipara had the attitude and mantra of winning that gave them the edge over his tribe, while Deb indicated in addition to Craig's opinion that the fact Tipara had alliances in their tribe gave them a sense of security and an extra motivation to win.

Another of Rob's quotes was when to ensure their vote at an upcoming Tribal Council, he asked Sophie and Katie, "loyal as black dogs?" They went on to continue their alliance (for a few episodes at least) when the two reiterated.

When Rob and Sciona had Joel's allegiance in the second last episode, Joel was noted as saying, "you have my word on that". Later on, while Joel had happily agreed to have come third in exchange for an alliance with Sciona and Rob, he still thought he could win saying, "I could win this!".

At the Reunion show, after David's audition video was shown, David and final show host, Eddie McGuire, made a joke about how he "found the (rest of the) mixed nuts", referring to his semi-naked moonwalk (see Episode 3, above) and the fact he forgot to eat before leaving for Australian Survivor and only managed to scoff down a few nuts before the official departure for Port Lincoln.

It was felt during the series and after the conclusion, that the host of Australian Survivor, Lincoln Howes, was in part responsible for the criticism from Survivor fans that the flavour, idiosyncrasies and traditions made famous in the U.S. version of Survivor did not appear in the local version or were not carried out to the standard made famous by Jeff Probst (host of Survivor US). An example of this is after the votes had been cast at Tribal Council, Howes said "I'll go read the votes" in contrast to Probst's famous "I'll go tally the votes". The strongest example however was when the host extinguished the player's torch while saying to the ousted contestant, "the tribe has spoken". Howes was seen as saying this quite casually and not up to the "standard" of Probst.

[edit] Production Notes

The official handbook of Australian Survivor - companion to the Surviving Survivor special aired at the end of the season.

• The casting call for Australian survivors began when the advertising campaign was initiated on the night of the broadcast of the season finale of Survivor: The Australian Outback (U.S.) (circa May 3, 2001 to May 10, 2001).

• A British company own the rights to Survivor (via Charlie Parsons - the creator of the show) and the Nine Network's contract involving the rights to broadcast Survivor stated that Nine must produce their own local version, thus giving birth to Australian Survivor.

• Other locations scouted for Australian Survivor included Uluru (formerly Ayer's Rock) in the Northern Territory and Broome in Western Australia.

• Castaway Television were behind Australian Survivor.

• Sponsors included Cadbury chocolates, IBM computers, Jetset travel agencies, Schweppes softdrink (as well as Solo, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sunkist and 7UP), Fa deoderant for men, Lays potato crisps (including all other brands under the name such as Smith's, CC's, Twisties, Doritos and Burger Rings etc), Telstra, Ford Motor Company and Intel Pentium which were used in producing the show's graphics and were part of the computer prize package which Naomi won (see above). These products and businesses were involved in a large campaign involving various product placements in the show.

• The show was produced by Stephen Peters.

• Two large trucks housed the power system (i.e. electricity source) for the production area during the show due to the remoteness of the location of Whaler's Way.

• The catering was carried out by a small number of people for the whole of the eliminated cast and crew.

• A hidden bird hide and camouflaged shelters a short distance away from the 'shipwreck' were used to film Tribal Council.

• The special Surviving Survivor showed that while the contestants injured themselves regularly, (e.g. Deborah rolling her ankle, Sophie and Katie nearly developing hypothermia during the pontoon challenge), the crew also hurt themselves by falling over (especially backwards) while filming in front of the Survivors who were walking towards them.

• The booted contestants featured on the Today show (an early morning breakfast news show) on the Nine Network on the Thursday immediately after the Wednesday night episode where they were featured being voted off Survivor. These interviews were conducted by Richard Wilkins just before the 8:00 AM news. (This parallels the U.S. where evicted Survivor contestants are interviewed on CBS' The Early Show.)

• The three-hour Finale and Reunion show (as opposed to the hour long weekly episodes) was hosted by Eddie McGuire. Both were held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne in front of a live audience. This event had the Tribal Council shipwreck moved to the auditorium to be used as the set on stage.

[edit] Controversy & Criticisms

The Australian Survivor Tribal Council site by day.

• The 'Survivor' title design in the official logo was taken from the UK version. The Middle East series also have used the UK Survivor title design, as well as Celebrity Survivor.

• Other foreign networks own the phrases 'Outwit Outplay Outlast' (U.S.) and 'Trust No One' (UK) therefore Australian Survivor was decided to have no slogan, which sparked criticism over the lack of originality (see above) and flavour to the show (see below).

• The contestants believed the prize money would be equal to that of the American version - $1,000,000 (one million dollars). However some were disappointed by the halving of the money for the Australian edition when it was announced at the beginning of the show.

• Producers were also criticised for giving the contestants too many supplies (see above) and the lack of diversity in the casting of the players.

• Producers came under fire in failing to ensure the first ever challenge would work. A sudden death trivia quiz was the replacement challenge the next day when strong winds blew out the fires that the tribes made to light a fuse that would determine the winner.

• Lucinda became the first person ever in the history of the show to vote for herself. (There is a rule enforced in all other versions of the show around the world that you cannot vote for yourself, which did not exist, or was relaxed, in Australia).

• Nine advertised pre-Australian Survivor that Survivor: Marquesas (U.S. Version) would air after the Australian franchise. Australian fans disappointed in the quality of the local version were outraged when Nine decided not to broadcast Marquesas. Survivor: Thailand was shown instead.

• In the week of the Easter non-ratings period, the show took a break in its schedule, which in turn prompted rumours that Australian Survivor had been axed.

• Although the show started off with satisfying ratings, it eventually declined to dismal ratings. This showed especially when Nine decided to air the special, Surviving Survivor, in a late-night timeslot a fortnight after the conclusion of the series.

• Compared to the American version, Australian Survivor was lacking in its production values, editing, location, casting and alterations to the Survivor format (i.e. the producers decided to "play it safe" and didn't think of too many original ways of how to deviate from the original Survivor format) . Because of this, the show was not renewed for a second season (Nine resumed showing the American versions of Survivor after a lengthy break from the show in its schedule, but skipped season four - Marquesas).

• With the lack of success at Nine in making a local version of Survivor, the Seven Network decided to give the production of a local franchise another shot in 2006, announcing plans for Celebrity Survivor which has been panned for having "C-grade and D-grade celebrities".

[edit] Trivia

• Craig quit his job and put himself in a box and sent himself to the producers at Nine headquarters. In doing this, he handed his audition tape to them personally (but was also the only person to do so).

• Jane is the youngest Survivor in series history.

• While over eighty different seasons of Survivor have been played in over thirty countries, the Australian version was one of only three that was played within the borders of its native country. The other two were the Chinese version of the show, which was played in China's Yunnan Province, and the fifth season of the French show, which was played in the French territory of New Caledonia.

• While out filming on location, the Australian Survivor team had to keep the show a secret. They told Port Lincoln locals that they were filming a documentary called 'The Great Beyond' (which is coincidentally the name of the 'shipwreck' that Tribal Council was held on). However, this was all discussed on the local radio station and the possibility of Survivor being in Port Lincoln was brought up - exciting interest in the locals. Australian Survivor officials had to pretend they didn't know that Port Lincoln knew what the Survivor group knew and vice versa, so on and so forth.

• Australian Survivor had just three people employed in the art department while Survivor: Africa (U.S.) (the most recent U.S. season at the time) had 40+ people involved.

• A few Survivors forgot to eat before departing on their adventure (which was via a bus that brought them to the location).

• Caren's past was uncovered during the show. She was formerly a topless model and The Picture magazine republished the shoot with the headline "We Vote Caren's Clothes Off!"

• The final episode polls on the official website at ninemsn.com (defunct since 2003) only received three votes in total from visitors to the site. ninemsn is the Nine Network's official site integrated with Microsoft's Hotmail and MSN Messenger.

• Australian Survivor is one of the only franchises in the world to show behind the scenes footage of the game.

• Sciona Browne is the aunt of Nathan 'Marty' Martin - a housemate in Australia's second season of Big Brother, which coincidentally aired the same year (and roughly the same time) that Australian Survivor did, but on a rival network (Channel Ten).

[edit] See also

• Survivor U.S.
• Survivor U.K.
• Celebrity Survivor
• Survivor: The Australian Outback
• Treasure Island

[edit] External links

Australian Survivor archived website news articles

• B&T media magazine
• B&T media magazine
• Nine Network Australia

Australian Survivor archived news articles

• Australian Telvision Information Archive
• Inside Film magazine
• Internet Movie Database
• Reality Blurred
• Reality News Online
• Sydney Morning Herald newspaper
• The Age newspaper
• The Age newspaper

Australian Survivor archived contestant articles

• Contestant Joel Betts' official site
• Contestant Lance Brooks' news
• Contestant Robert Dickson's contacts
• Contestant Robert Dickson's news
• Contestant Sylvan Dorney's book
• (Note: Contestant Katie Gold's official site now defunct)

Australian Survivor forum archives

• Aussie Phorums
• Aussie Survivor Sucks

Other

• Australian Survivor contestant quiz