Survivor: Africa

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Survivor: Africa
Filming location	Shaba National Reserve, Kenya, Africa
Winner	Ethan Zohn (5-2)
Original run	October 11, 2001 – January 10, 2002
Filming dates	July 01, 2001 – August 10, 2001 (approximately)
No. of episodes	13
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	16
Tribes	Boran Samburu Moto Maji
All-Stars	Ethan Zohn, Lex van den Berghe, Tom Buchanan
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: The Australian Outback
Next	Survivor: Marquesas

Survivor: Africa was the third installment of the popular United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed during 2001 and aired from October 11, 2001 - January 10, 2002 on CBS. It was set in Kenya's Shaba National Reserve on the African continent.

The two initial tribes were Boran and Samburu (named for the real-life Borana and Samburu tribes). In the fifth episode, after 12 days, three members from each team were switched to the other team, in what became known as the first "twist" in the Survivor series. This emphasized that the players must be ready for the most sudden changes; future seasons would have similar twists. Eventually the two tribes merged into the Moto Maji (fire/water) tribe.

This season was also the first to have a tiebreaker challenge: in the previous season, the person with the most previous votes was voted out in such a situation, but in their first tribal council Carl Bilancione and Lindsey Richter both received four votes. The pair competed in a nature quiz tiebreaker, the loser of which was eliminated.

During the finale, the audience was tricked into believing that the votes were being read at the site of the Final Tribal Council. Jeff Probst went to get the voting urn and, when he returned, it appeared he had returned directly to the Tribal Council site to read the votes. However, he was actually on a CBS sound stage in Hollywood (with a live audience) that was made up to look like the site. This was revealed after he read the votes and announced Ethan Zohn as the winner. CBS had the telecast switch immediately from the taped Final Tribal Council to the live set, rather than Jeff announcing he would take the votes and hold them until the live portion of the finale. The contestants were told to try to make themselves appear as they had looked during the last Tribal Council and the audience was told to hold any cheering or applause until after the winner was announced. This process would be used in several later seasons.

Thirteen episodes were aired, plus a mid-season recap, a live reunion/interview with Bryant Gumbel after the finale, and a "where are they now" show. The winner, Ethan Zohn, was revealed on January 10, 2002, where he defeated Kim Johnson by a vote of 5-2.

[edit] Contestants

The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway has received during Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

[edit] The game

[edit] Voting history

Note 1: Lindsey and Carl competed in a nature quiz tiebreaker, and Carl lost.
Note 2: Lindsey was eliminated because she had four previous votes against her.

[edit] Elimination notes

• Diane - The tribe turned against her when Clarence fed her with a can of beans without the consensus of the tribe and being seriously dehydrated especially during the Immunity Challenge. Despite deemed untrustworthy for smuggling the beans, Clarence was saved for his strength and Diane was voted off 6-2.
• Jessie - Although she was well-liked, she's also a weak link in challenges and was next to go 5-2.
• Carl - The Samburu tribe divided 4-4 with the older Carl, Linda, Teresa and Frank deadlocked with younger Lindsey, Brandon, Kim P and Silas at Tribal Council. It was established in Season 2 that previous votes broke the tie, however this was the first tribal council for Samburu. Lindsey and Carl competed in a nature quiz tiebreaker, and Carl lost.
• Linda - She was voted off for being seen as a weak link. The fact that she was part of the old Samburu alliance played as another contribution to her departure, making her an easy target for the young Samburu alliance. The vote was 4-3.
• Silas - The first ever Tribe Shuffle sent Silas, Frank and Teresa to a new team. Being deprived from his alliance (he was the leader of the younger Samburu alliance), his cocky attitude, plus isolating Frank and Teresa (the only remaining older members of the old Samburu) spelled his doom with an unanimous decision 5-1.
• Lindsey - Samburu had three original Boran and three original Samburu. Their votes deadlocked and Lindsey was eliminated because she had four previous votes against her. Lex, Kelly, and Tom voted for Lindsey because Kim J. had sent them a signal at a challenge that Lindsey had votes against her.
• Clarence - After the beans fiasco in Day 3, Boran deemed him untrustwothy; and in the newly merged Moto Maji Tribe, he was a physical threat. He was next to go 8-2.
• Kelly - In the previous Tribal Council, Lex received two mystery votes against him. He suspected Kelly had cast one of the votes and targeted her as a threat. Kelly made a pact with Kim P, Frank and Teresa, but Lex convinced Brandon to side with him and Kelly was voted off 5-4.
• Brandon - Brandon alienated his tribemates following his decision to side against Kelly and his former original Samburu tribemates in the previous tribal council. Even the people that he sided with disapproved, and began to think he was untrustworthy (with the exception of Lex). He was voted off in a 6-2 vote.
• Frank - He was an original member of the Samburu tribe, and also he wanted to go. He was voted off in a 6-1 vote.
• Kim - She was an original member of the Samburu tribe. She was voted off in a 4-2 vote.
• Teresa - She was the last remaining member of the original Samburu tribe. She was voted off in a 4-1 vote, but not before revealing that she was the one who casted the mystery vote against Lex.
• Tom - He was considered too untrustworthy. He was voted off in a 3-1 vote.
• Lex - Kim J knew she would be unable to beat either Ethan or Lex. She took Ethan because he was more deserving to win and voted out Lex.
• Kim - She was underrated the whole time, despite winning the last two Immunity Challenges. Gained the votes of Brandon and Kim P.
• Ethan - Ethan had played the game without upsetting anyone, and also always did well in challenges. The jury also felt he was more deserving of the win. He won 5-2, with the votes of Frank, Teresa, Tom, Kelly and Lex.

[edit] Controversy

There was some controversy surrounding an immunity challenge in the finale episode. In a "Fallen Comrades" challenge, in which the contestants were quizzed on trivia regarding other players in the game who had been voted out, the final question was "Which female contestant has no piercings?" The official answer was Kelly Goldsmith, which eventual runner-up Kim Johnson answered and received the win for. Unbeknownst to the producers, however, contestant Lindsey Richter fit the question as well, which eventual third-place finisher Lex van den Berghe answered and was incorrectly marked wrong for. After this producer mistake had been found out, both van den Berghe and fourth place finisher Tom Buchanan were awarded with the $100,000 runner-up prize instead of the traditional third and fourth place earnings.

[edit] External links

• Official CBS Survivor Africa Website