Survivor: The Australian Outback


Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station, on the bank of the Herbert River in northern Queensland from October 23, 2000, through December 3, 2000, eventually premiering on January 28, 2001. Hosted by Jeff Probst, instead of the normal 39 days it consisted of 42 days of gameplay with 16 competitors.
The sixteen contestants were initially separated into two tribes, named Kucha and Ogakor. When ten players remained, they merged into one tribe, named Barramundi. Tina Wesson won the season and was named the Sole Survivor, defeating Colby Donaldson by a jury vote of 4–3.
It was the top-rated show of 2001, according to Nielsen Ratings with an average of 30 million viewers tuning each week. The entire season was released in DVD format on April 26, 2005.

Contestants

ContestantOriginal tribeMerged tribeFinish
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45, Milan, New Hampshire
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32, Fort Hood, Texas
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51, Wakefield, Virginia
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23, Union City, New Jersey
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27, Ronkonkoma, New York
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38, White Lake, Michigan
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34, Manhattan, New York		rowspan=10
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32, Manhattan, New York		-
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30, Los Angeles, California		-
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23, Steilacoom, Washington		-
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22, Beaver, Pennsylvania		-
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53, Crittenden, Kentucky		-
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23, Newton, Massachusetts		-
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40, West Bloomfield, Michigan		-
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26, Dallas, Texas		-
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40, Knoxville, Tennessee		-

Future appearances

, Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Alicia Calaway, and Amber Brkich returned to compete in '. Donaldson and Manthey would again return for '. Michael Skupin returned for '. Wesson would again return for ' along with her daughter, Katie Collins. Jeff Varner and Kimmi Kappenberg returned for '. Varner again appeared for his third appearance in '. Brkich, now using her married name of Mariano, returned again for .
Outside Survivor, Elisabeth Filarski, now Hasselbeck, went on to host on the ABC talk show The View and later served as a contributor to Fox News. Brkich also competed on The Amazing Race 7 with her fiancé and fellow Survivor alumnus Rob Mariano; the couple, now married, then returned for The Amazing Race 11.

Season summary

The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight: Ogakor and Kucha, named after the words for "crocodile" and "kangaroo" in an Australian Aboriginal language respectively. Though Ogakor fared significantly worse in challenges, the tribes were merged with five members apiece after Kucha member Michael fell into the campfire and suffered third-degree burns, requiring his evacuation. As a result, the vote at the first Tribal Council after the merge ended in a tie along tribal lines. Per the rules, ties were resolved based on which player had received the most votes in all previous Tribal Councils; former Kucha Jeff was eliminated, putting the remnants of Ogakor in power.
Ogakor's majority alliance of Colby, Keith and Tina alternated between eliminating former Kucha members and betraying former tribe-mates Jerri and Amber. The three stayed together until the end, and Colby took Tina with him into the final Tribal Council. Tina's strategic plan was valued over Colby's prowess in challenges, and she was awarded the title of Sole Survivor by a jury vote of 4–3.

Episodes


Voting history

Reception

Ratings

Survivor: The Australian Outback is still, to this day, the highest-ranked season of the series, as it was the top-rated show for the 2000–2001 TV season. It is still the most-watched season with an overall average of 30 million viewers per episode and a 13.3/33 share in adults 18-49. It also had the highest amount of premiere viewers, and the second-highest amount of finale viewers and reunion viewers, behind .

Critical reception

The Australian Outback is still very well-received among the Survivor fanbase. Host Jeff Probst ranked it as the 8th-best season, citing such memorable contestants as "Colby, the prototype for a Survivor 'hero'; Jerri, the original 'black widow'; and Elisabeth 'The View' Filarski," as well as Michael Skupin's infamous injury. In 2013, both Andrea Reiher of Zap2it and Joe Reid of The Wire ranked The Australian Outback as the 3rd greatest season of the series. Since 2012, Survivor fan site "Survivor Oz" has consistently ranked The Australian Outback highly in its annual polls ranking every season of the series; it was 3rd in 2012, 4th in 2013 and 2015, and 6th in 2014. In the official issue of CBS Watch, commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor in 2015, The Australian Outback was voted by viewers as the 4th greatest season in the series. In another poll for the same magazine, Skupin's injury in the fire was voted as the #9 most memorable moment in the series.

Controversy

During a reward trip, contestant Colby Donaldson broke an Australian law by breaking off coral from the Great Barrier Reef which could have resulted in a fine of 110,000. The helicopter pilot involved in the reward trip also broke an Australian law as he flew over sea bird rookeries. Survivor's producer Mark Burnett apologized on behalf of Donaldson and the production team after the season had aired.