Australian Survivor - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Australian Survivor was a television series based on the popular reality show Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...

. The series was filmed in November and December 2001 and aired weekly from 13 February - 15 May 2002 on Australia's Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

. It was set at Whaler's Way, an Eyre Peninsula

Eyre Peninsula

Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...

coastal nature reserve in Port Lincoln, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

in the Great Australian Bight

Great Australian Bight

The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...

, where numerous ships had sunk off the coast in the past. This set up the nautical theme of the series.

Contestants

Contestant	Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total Votes
Lucinda Allen-Rhodes	Kadina		1st Voted Out Day 3	8
Tim Dugan	Kadina		2nd Voted Out Day 6	4
David Haas	Kadina		3rd Voted Out Day 9	6
Jeff Brown	Tipara		4th Voted Out Day 12	5
Deborah Peart	Kadina		5th Voted Out Day 15	4
Sylvan Dorney	Kadina		6th Voted Out Day 18	3
Caren Shaw	Kadina	Aurora	7th Voted Out Day 21	10
Naomi Knight	Kadina		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	8
Craig Abbot	Kadina		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	8
Lance Brooks	Tipara		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	8
Jane Dalton	Tipara		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	7
Sophie Woods	Tipara		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 35	3
Katie Gold	Tipara		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	3
Joel Betts	Tipara		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
Sciona Browne	Tipara		Runner Up Day 39	1
Robert "Rob" Dickson Rob Dickson Robert Dickson was an Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL, a film director, and the winner of reality show Australian Survivor. He attended St Pauls College, Traralgon, in Victoria, Australia....	Tipara		Sole Survivor Day 39	5

The game

Episode title	Challenges		Eliminated	Vote	Finish
Episode title	Reward	Immunity	Eliminated	Vote	Finish
”Whaler's Way”	Kadina	Tipara	Lucinda	8-0	1st Voted Out Day 3
”Violent Weather and Violent People”	Kadina	Tipara	Tim	4-1-1-1	2nd Voted Out Day 6
”The Losing Streak”	Kadina	Tipara	David	5-1	3rd Voted Out Day 9
”The Struggle of Both Tribes”	Tipara	Kadina	Jeff	5-3	4th Voted Out Day 12
”It's Just Too Hard!”	Kadina	Tipara	Deborah	3-2	5th Voted Out Day 15
”This Game is Way Different Then it Looks”	Tipara	Tipara	Sylvan	3-1	6th Voted Out Day 18
”It's Time to Merge”	None	Craig	Caren	7-2-1	7th Voted Out Day 21
”Pick Off”	Naomi [Craig]	Craig	Naomi	7-1-1	8th Voted Out Day 24
”I Just Feel So Bad “	Lance [Everyone]	Sophie	Craig	6-2	9th Voted Out Day 27
”He's a Threat, She's A Threat, We're all Threats!”	Jane	Joel	Lance	5-1-1	10th Voted Out Day 30
”Cockiness Comes to an End”	Joel	Sciona	Jane	3-3	11th Voted Out Day 33
”Who's the Odd Man Out?”	Katie [Everyone]	Katie	Sophie	3-2	12th Voted Out Day 35
“Finale/Reunion Special”	Katie [Everyone]	Robert	Katie	3-1	13th Voted Out Day 37
	None	Robert	Joel	1-0	14th Voted Out Day 38
	Jury Vote		Sciona	5-2	Runner-Up
	Jury Vote		Robert	5-2	Sole Survivor

Tipara felt Kadina lost due to bad luck, and shared their reward.

	Original Tribes						Merged Tribe
Episode #:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Finale
Eliminated:	Lucinda	Tim	David	Jeff	Deborah	Sylvan	Caren	Naomi	Craig	Lance	Jane	Sophie	Katie	Joel	Sciona	Robert
Voter	Robert																Jeff	Caren	Naomi	Craig	Lance	Jane	Sophie	Katie	Joel	Jury Vote
Sciona				Jane			Caren	Naomi	Craig	Lance	Jane	Sophie	Katie													Jury Vote
Joel				Jeff			Caren	Naomi	Craig	Jane	Jane	Sophie	Katie			Robert
Katie				Jane			Caren	Naomi	Craig	Lance	Joel	Robert	Joel		Sciona
Sophie				Jeff			Caren	Naomi	Craig	Lance	Joel	Robert				Robert
Jane				Jeff			Caren	Naomi	Craig	Lance	Joel					Robert
Lance				Jeff			Caren	Naomi	Craig	Sciona						Robert
Craig	Lucinda	David	David		Deborah	Sylvan	Robert	Robert	Robert						Sciona
Naomi	Lucinda	Tim	David		Deborah	Sylvan	Lance	Lance								Robert
Caren	Lucinda	Tim	David		Deborah	Sylvan	Lance
Sylvan	Lucinda	Tim	David		Caren	Naomi
Deborah	Lucinda	Tim	David		Caren
Jeff				Jane
David	Lucinda	Caren	Craig
Tim	Lucinda	Deborah
Lucinda	Lucinda

Elimination Notes

Lucinda - Lucinda struggled and gave up saying the game was too hard for her. She made Survivor history by being asked to be voted out (although it was only the first three days) and becoming the first person ever to vote for herself (which, it has been noted, is against the rules of the American series). (8-0)

Tim - Kadina were unsure of how to approach this tribal council after a unanimous and simple first tribal council. The vote was not discussed. Caren, Deborah, Naomi, and Sylvan felt Tim was the weakest link and he was the next to go. Craig voted for David, David voted for Caren, Tim voted for Deborah,(4-1-1-1) After tribal council, David criticised his tribe for voting out a strong tribe member and not putting the tribe before personal agendas.

David - Kadina continued to win at reward challenges and lose at immunity
Immunity (reality television)
Immunity in reality television is a concept that is widely used in weekly elimination-type reality television shows by which a contestant participating in such a show may not be "kicked off" or eliminated from competition in a particular time period...

challenges. This sent the camp into a low morale. Sylvan had redeemed himself at the challenges. David asked Deborah if she would vote with him as he believed they were the next to be voted out. Deborah did not want to make herself more vulnerable and told the rest of the tribe. At Tribal Council, everyone voted against David. David voted for Craig. (5-1)

Jeff - Tipara won their first reward challenge, but lost their first immunity challenge. The tribe immediately began listing their weakest members. Jane and Jeff came out on top. Katie formed and alliance with Robert, and she told him and Joel about the idea of sending elderly Jeff home. Joel felt betrayed, but still voted against Jeff at Tribal, thus sending him home. (5-3)

Deborah - Deborah could not form any alliance quickly as she was targeted for being the weakest member left in the tribe and everybody voted for her except for Sylvan. Debroah and Sylvan voted for Caren. (3-2)

Sylvan - Sylvan was not in any alliance, but tried to convince Caren and Naomi that Craig would be a huge threat in the merge, and they should betray him. The women decided to stick with getting Sylvan out, while Sylvan changed his vote to Naomi. (3-1)

Caren - Kadina and Tipara merged into Aurora. The Tipara members formed an alliance and decided to pick of the Kadina members. Their original choice was to vote out Craig, but he won immunity. Caren the, alternate pick, was sent home. (7-2-1)

Naomi - After Craig won immunity again, the Tipara alliance targeted Naomi. However, they couldn't get along with each other. Despite their conflicts, Naomi was voted out next, and she became the first jury member. (7-1-1)

Craig - Craig had failed to win either reward or immunity. He was the last Kadina member standing, but had a slight chance of staying, after he had tried to convince some members to vote Robert. However Tipara held and voted Craig out. (7-1)

Lance - After Craig's elimination, the Tiparans had to turn on each other. There was a long debate on who deserved to stay, and who were the least bit threatening. Joel had won immunity, so everyone voted for Lance except Joel who voted for Jane . (5-1-1)

Jane - Jane, Katie, and Sophie voted for Joel while Joel, Robert, and Sciona voted for Jane. This caused a tie. In the revote Katie and Sophie voted for Joel again, and Robert and Sciona voted for Jane again. Jane had 4 previous votes cast against her while Joel had none. The four previous votes casted against Jane sent her home. Original votes(3-3), Revote (2-2).

Sophie - Katie, who was next to go, won immunity. Katie and Sophie decided they couldn't trust Robert anymore and tried to get rid of him. However, Joel and Sciona stuck to Robert's side and Sophie was voted out. (3-2)

Katie - Katie had a mental breakdown after Sophie was eliminated. This caused Joel, Robert, and Sciona to consider quitting the game. However, the producers threatened that if they would quit, they would give the money to Sophie. They then decided to stay and vote out Katie, who they thought really should go home. (3-1)

Joel - Robert had won Final Immunity after Joel threw the final challenge in keeping with an agreement he had made earlier with Robert and Sciona. Robert picked Sciona over Joel, because he thought he had a better chance against her in the Final Tribal Council. (1-0)

Sciona - Sciona couldn't correctly specify why she had voted for fellow tribe members, such as Jane and Lance. She proved to be social and respectful, but rode coat-tails, and apologized way too much. Her two votes came from Katie, because she was more straight forward with her than Robert (who she also had an alliance with), and Craig.

Robert - Robert was honest and prepared with his answers to the jury. Even though he broke a few alliances, he specified why (unlike Sciona). He received the winning amount of five votes from Naomi, being well liked by her; Sophie; Lance, mainly a vote against Sciona, but did respect his game; Jane, even though was criticized by her, he gained her vote due to Sciona making her frustrated; and Joel, who thought that he was a very brilliant player. He died at age 45 after the show of a car accident in South Africa.

Show Notes

Kadina	Tipara	Aurora

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
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, however, Survivor: Marquesas
Survivor: Marquesas
Survivor: Marquesas is the fourth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it aired from February 28 - May 19, 2002 on CBS. Thirteen episodes aired, plus a mid-season recap and live interview with Rosie O'Donnell...

was also broadcast at the same time much to the annoyance of New Zealand Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...

fans.

The theme of the show was shipwrecks and the theme song incorporated an Irish jig (in a nod to Australian history - First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

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.

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.

Tribal Council was held aboard a purposely-built shipwreck.

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.

Original 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, ice cream and lollies, a Ford
Ford Escape
The Ford Escape is a compact SUV sold by the automaker Ford Motor Company introduced in 2000 as a 2001 model year and priced below the Ford Explorer. Although technically it's a crossover vehicle, it is marketed by Ford as part of its traditional SUV lineup rather than its separate crossover lineup...

4WD, crab pots, pizza and fishing gear.

The Survivor Intro was shown at the beginning of each episode. The order that the contestants apper in is :

1. Sophie

2. Sylvan

3. Debroah

4. Jeff

5. Sciona

6. Tim

7. Katie

8. Joel

9. Lucindia

10. David

11. Caren

12. Craig

13. Naomi

14. Lance

15. Jane

16. Rob

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.

Production notes

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
Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland during 2000 and aired from January 28, 2001 to May 3, 2001 on CBS...

(U.S.) (circa 3 May 2001 to 10 May 2001).

A British company own the rights to Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...

(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
Uluru
Uluru , also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park....

(formerly Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

and Broome in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

Castaway Television were behind Australian Survivor.

One of the contestants, Lance Brooks started a charity, Communities For Communities after he left the show. The charity is now one of the most prominent charities in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Sponsors included Cadbury chocolates, IBM computers, Jetset travel agencies, Schweppes soft drink (as well as Solo, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sunkist and 7UP), Fa deodorant 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
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

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 placement
Product placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...

s in the show.

The show was produced by Stephen Peters.

The booted contestants featured on the Today show (an early morning breakfast news show) on the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

on the Thursday immediately after the Wednesday night episode where they were featured being voted off Australian Survivor. These interviews were conducted by Richard Wilkins
Richard Wilkins (TV presenter)
Richard Stephen Wilkins is a television presenter.Wilkins is currently the Nine Network's Entertainment editor for Today.- Career :...

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
Eddie McGuire
Edward Joseph "Eddie" McGuire AM is an Australian television presenter and businessman known for his long association with Australian rules football and the Channel 9 television network....

. Both were held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

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.

Controversy & Criticisms

The 'Survivor' title design in the official logo was taken from the UK version. The Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

series also have used the UK Survivor title design, as well as Celebrity Survivor
Celebrity Survivor
Celebrity Survivor, also known promotionally as Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu and Australia's Celebrity Survivor, was an Australian television series that screened on the Seven Network in 2006, based on the popular reality television show, 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
Survivor: Marquesas
Survivor: Marquesas is the fourth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it aired from February 28 - May 19, 2002 on CBS. Thirteen episodes aired, plus a mid-season recap and live interview with Rosie O'Donnell...

(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
Survivor: Thailand
Survivor: Thailand is the fifth season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed in the summer of 2002 and aired from September 19 – December 19, 2002 on CBS. It was set on the island of Ko Tarutao in Thailand. Fourteen episodes aired weekly. The two initial tribes were Chuay...

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.