Survivor: Pearl Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Survivor: Pearl Islands
Filming location	Pearl Islands, Panama
Winner	Sandra Diaz-Twine (6-1)
Original run	September 18, 2003 – December 14, 2003
Filming dates	June 25, 2003 – August 02, 2003
No. of episodes	14
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	16
Tribes	Drake Morgan The Outcasts Balboa
All-Stars	Rupert Boneham
Fans vs. Favorites	Jon "Jonny Fairplay" Dalton
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: The Amazon
Next	Survivor: All-Stars

Survivor: Pearl Islands (also broadcast as Survivor: Pearl Islands — Panama) is the seventh installment of the popular television reality show Survivor. It was filmed in 2003 and debuted in the United States on CBS on September 18, 2003.

The show takes place on the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama, and had a pirate culture theme. The two original tribes were Drake (named for Francis Drake) and Morgan (named for Henry Morgan). Eventually the two were merged into the Balboa tribe (named for Vasco Núñez de Balboa).

This season was the most watched since the second installment of Survivor, Survivor: The Australian Outback, in part to unique twists, including the controversial Outcast twist, and colorful, memorable contestants such as Rupert Boneham and Jon Dalton.

On the very first day, the castaways, who earlier were to dress up for a promotional event for the show on board a ship, were shocked to learn that they were going to be marooned with only the clothes they were wearing. They were then given 100 Panamanian balboas (exactly US$100) which they could exchange, along with any personal items such as earrings, gold chains, and sneakers for supplies at a nearby fishing village on the first day. While in the village, Rupert sat down with his tribe's supply raft. The Morgan tribe stopped beside him and left their raft unguarded, thus giving him an idea he considered common in pirate culture: stealing the supplies. Meanwhile, the bi-lingual Sandra Diaz-Twine communicated well with the locals (one of whom seemed enamored with Drake member Trish Dunn's eyes and seemed to want to barter for them) in Spanish for a wealth of extra supplies for Drake, whereas the Morgans were nowhere near as adept or successful. Some of the items bought were lighters, chickens, aluminum foil, waterproof matches, pots, and knives.

Young and muscular African-American, Osten Taylor ended up bartering all his clothing except his boxer shorts and sneakers for goods for his tribe. On Day 3, while participating in the tribes' first Immunity Challenge, Taylor decided to take off his boxer shorts, which had become extremely loose due to rapid weight loss in the preceding days, and complete the challenge in the nude to eliminate the trouble of having to keep his shorts up. His two alliance partners, Andrew Savage and Ryan Opray, decided to honour that alliance and so stripped down as well. Ultimately, however, their efforts went unrewarded when their tribe, Morgan, lost the challenge.

Osten Taylor was not voted out on the show. He became the first contestant in Survivor history to quit the game, saying that his health was more important to him than the million dollar prize. While other players had quit in essence by asking their teammates to vote them off, Taylor's elimination was the first in which voting was foregone completely and host Jeff Probst simply accepted his resignation at Tribal Council. Taylor did agree to let his tribe cast votes for his elimination, but Probst said this was not necessary. In a Survivor first, his torch was laid down after being extinguished, and his final words were not broadcast, nor was he honored in the traditional Day 38 ritual of burning the eliminated castaways' torches.

Contestant Jon Dalton gained notoriety on the show when, in a challenge where the contestants' loved ones competed, he had his friend say that his grandmother had died. The lie convinced the others to let him win the challenge; he continued to milk the lie for all its worth by frequently swearing loyalty on his grandmother's grave. According to producer Mark Burnett, when he called Dalton's family to offer his condolences, he was shocked to hear her pick up the phone. In the reunion show that aired after the season finale, Probst conducted a brief interview with Jon's grandmother, who was not only alive and well, but much younger than many expected. Jon eventually won a fan poll for the title of 'Greatest Survivor Villain Ever.'

This series of Survivor had a surprise feature where the first six contestants voted off were given an opportunity to win their way back on to the show. They returned in an "Outcast" tribe on Day 19, and competed in a Reward Challenge against the other two tribes. The Outcasts won, and Lillian Morris (the third person voted off) and Burton Roberts (the fourth) rejoined the contest in this manner, and were each given individual immunity at their first Tribal Council to allow them time to "integrate" back into their tribe. The other two tribes were then instructed to each vote out one member. Known among Survivor fans as the Outcast twist, this feature was the cause of huge controversy among Survivor fans and was also viewed as unfair by many of the contestants still in the game, notably Andrew Savage (this partly resulted in him being voted out of the game immediately after Morris and Roberts rejoined their tribes). Roberts became the first — and thus far, the only — contestant in Survivor history to be eliminated twice in the same season, while Morris got as far as the Final Two, losing to Sandra Diaz-Twine by a vote of 6-1.

Survivor: Pearl Islands was released on DVD on February 7, 2006.

This season is the only season thus far which has had two of its original contestants competing in two other seasons. Rupert Boneham returned in Survivor: All-Stars and Jon Dalton played again in Survivor: Micronesia. While neither won either of these seasons, Boneham did win $1,000,000.

[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

1. Lillian Morris and Burton Roberts were brought back into the game on Day 20, so they are both listed as having placed in two different points in the game. The tribes they were briefly in upon their return were the same tribes they were originally in.
2. This was not actually a reward challenge, but what the Outcasts won was a chance to get voted back into the game.
3. Burton won immunity, but gave it to Rupert during tribal council; it was no use to Burton since he and Lillian already had immunity.
4. Rupert won reward, but gave it to Burton.
5. Burton and Lillian won reward. Burton gave Jon his reward, while Lillian kept hers.
6. Burton originally won immunity, but he lost it when Jeff Probst realized he'd missed a misspelled word ("liaison"). Because of this, a runoff between those not already eliminated was conducted; Darrah eventually won immunity.
7. The immunity challenge was a trivia competition, and the five members of the Jury were allowed to compete as a team against the four remaining players. The Jury won immunity, meaning that none of the four remaining players had immunity for that vote.

[edit] Voting history

Note 1: Osten chose to quit the game, claiming that his body was breaking down and his health was more important to him than a million dollars.
Note 2: Both tribes lost a challenge to the Outcast Tribe composed of the first 6 departed players; as a result, both tribes had to vote out a player.
Note 3: Rupert abstained from the vote, as he was captured by Morgan.

[edit] Elimination notes

• Nicole - It appeared that Ryan S. or Lillian would get the boot for being the weakest link. However, due to Nicole's excessive plotting and scheming, especially to oust Tijuana, she was eliminated in a unanimous vote. (7-1)
• Ryan S. - Eliminated as a result of his lackluster performance in the challenges as well as being on the outside of Morgan alliance. (5-2)
• Lillian - Between Darrah and Lillian who were on the outside of the Morgan alliance, Lillian was seen as weaker in the physical challenges. Additionally, she lost a fishing hook while attempting to find food, which angered the men in her tribe and contributed to her elimination. (5-1)
• Burton - He convinced the Drake tribe to throw the challenge to get rid of their dead weight, which he believed was Christa. However, his move made the women and Rupert believe he was a hard-core gamer. Even though Rupert was captured by Morgan and safe from the vote, Jon convinced Shawn to break away from Burton and Michelle, and Burton was eliminated in a 5-2 vote.
• Michelle - The departure of the strong Burton sent Drake into a challenge tailspin. Since Michelle was the only one who sided with Burton, she was an outcast. Michelle also failed to go along with Drake's plan to win the immunity challenge by having her, their best gross-food eater, pretend to be their worst so that the other tribe would pick her in a tie breaker. Even though she tried to rally against Shawn, she got ousted in a 6-1 vote.
• Trish - Trish and Jon decided to oust Rupert because they felt he was too powerful and feared that he could use both tribes to his advantage. Rupert was tipped off by ally Sandra, and convinced Shawn along with Christa to turn against Trish. After that tribal council, Rupert lost his temper and cursed at Jon, threatened him, and even put his hands around Jon's neck.
• Shawn - Both tribes lost a challenge to the Outcast Tribe composed of the first 6 departed players; as a result, both tribes had to vote out a player. Drake voted out Shawn due to his friendship with Burton, who they accurately believed would be voted back into the game. (4-1)
• Osten - Osten chose to quit the game, claiming that his body was breaking down and his health was more important to him than a million dollars. Instead of voting, all 4 other Morgan members agreed to let Osten quit (through a verbal vote, rather than the traditional written vote). His quitting visibly annoyed Jeff Probst, who extinguished Osten's torch (and laid it down on the ground as a symbol of his quitting) and dismissed him with a curt, "Per your wishes, go home."
• Both Lillian and Burton re-entered the game after being voted back in by their fellow outcasts.
• Andrew - Lillian's return sparked Andrew's demise as she was bitter about his choice to eliminate her. Since he never attempted to form a better relationship with her, as the Drakes tried to, she felt inclined to side with the Drakes. Upon the merge, Drake saw Andrew as a physical threat and the leader of the enemy tribe, and Andrew was voted out of the game with a vote of 6-4.
• Ryan O. - He was the next person on the chopping block due to his strength over the remaining Morgan members. He was eliminated with a unanimous 8-1 vote and became the first member of the jury.
• Rupert - Jonny Fairplay and his ally Burton banded together with Lillian and the final Morgan members Darrah and Tijuana. On a reward challenge, Jon managed to convince Lillian that Rupert was too big of a threat to keep in the game. He was betrayed by his fellow alliance members and became the second member of the jury after the vote of 5-2-1.
• Tijuana - When Sandra took Tijuana out in the middle of the night to spy on Burton and Jon as they schemed, Tijuana realized she was being played. Tijuana and Sandra devised a plan to get Burton out with Christa and Darrah. When Jon found out, he turned the tables on her by using his now infamous "dead grandmother" lie to secure the votes of Christa and Sandra. As a shock to the Morgan women, she was voted out of the game with a 5-2 decision and became the third member of the jury.
• Christa - Because Christa was seen as the biggest physical threat to the men, Burton worked on Lillian while Jon worked on Darrah to secure their votes against her. The tribe also (mistakenly) blamed her for throwing away a bucket of fish (Sandra threw the fish). She became the fourth jury member. (4-2)
• Burton - In another blindside vote, Burton attempted to oust Darrah because of her strength at the challenges. However, when the boys went on a reward trip, Sandra and Darrah convinced Lillian to turn on Burton. They promised not to say something to tip off Burton or Jon when they came back. To Burton's surprise, he was eliminated for the second time in the game with a 3-2 vote and became the fifth member of the jury.
• Darrah - Jon, knowing he would be out next, devised a plan to have Lillian and Darrah turn on each other. He spread the rumor that Darrah thought Lillian was too well-liked to risk taking to the finals, and she fell for it. The jury won immunity making everyone eligible for the vote, which provided the perfect opportunity for Sandra, Jon and Lillian to vote for Darrah and make her the sixth jury member. (3-1)
• Jon - Lillian won the final immunity, and decided to take Sandra because she saw her as a fellow wife and mother. She also disliked Jon's lifestyle. He became the seventh and final member of the jury (1-0).
• Lillian - Lillian was roasted at the final tribal council for hypocrisy, hiding behind her Scout image, and being an Outcast. Lillian won only Tijuana's vote.
• Sandra - Even though some people thought that she rode coattails, she convinced the jury that she eliminated people with votes out of the game simply to stay alive. Perhaps because of her "tell-it-like-it-is" responses to the jury's questions - a stark contrast to Lillian's defensive responses - and because she was the only person of the final two to last the entire 39 days, Sandra won the votes of Jon, Ryan O., Rupert, Christa, Darrah and Burton, becoming the first Latino ever to win the game.

[edit] External links

• Official CBS Survivor Pearl Islands Website