Australian Survivor

Infobox Television Survivor

caption = Australian Survivor
season_name = Australian Survivor
first_aired = 2002-02-13
last_aired = 2002-05-15
(Special 2002-05-29)
filming_started = circa 2001-11-01
filming_completed = 2001-12-24
location = Whaler's Way, Port Lincoln,
Eyre Peninsula,
South Australia
winner = Robert Dickson
host = Lincoln Howes
final_vote = 5-2
number_survivors = 16
number_days = 39
number_episodes = 13
previous_season =
(on "Nine Network")
next_season =
(on "Nine Network"),
Celebrity Survivor
(on the "Seven Network")
tribes = colorbox|#CCFF33 Kadina
colorbox|#00CCFF Tipara
colorbox|#e6e6fa Aurora

"Australian Survivor" was a television series based on the popular 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 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 flag). 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.

While this was the only season of "Australian Survivor" produced, due to the series' middling ratings, in 2006 the competing Seven Network broadcast a spin-off, "Celebrity Survivor", featuring Australian celebrities.

Contestants

Elimination Notes

*Lucinda- Kadina lost Immunity and the group thought Lucinda wasn't valuable to her tribe. Knowing that she was the one going home, Lucinda had voted for herself, making her the first survivor ever to do so, thus sending her home (8-0).

*Tim- Kadina, having lost their second immunity challenge, were sent to Tribal Council yet again. Before heading, mismatched discussions happened over who the weakest link was. Caren, David, and Deborah each recieved a vote, but it was Tim, who was seen as the oldest and weakest member, who was voted off.(4-1-1-1).

*David- The losing streak of Kadina continued, and every one had the feeling of just going home. Sylvan had done better at the challenges and the group decided to keep him. Caren had been snappy at David when not pulling his weight, and plotted to vote against her by asking Craig and Deborah if they would do so. But Craig could not betray his alliance, and Deborah did not want to make herself more vulnerable. At Tribal, Sylvan had given a throw-away vote to Deborah, and David was voted out.(4-1-1)

*Jeff- Tipara lost their first challenge, which shocked the tribe and made them unprepared for what was ever to happen at Tribal Council. Katie had gotten Rob in an alliance with her and told him and Joel the idea of sending Jeff home. Joel had felt betrayed, but still voted against Jeff at Tribal, thus sending him home (5-3).

*Deborah- Kadina lost their fourth Immunity, and Deborah could not form any alliance quickly as she was targeted for being the weakest member left in the tribe, and she was voted out at Tribal (4-1).

*Sylvan- Sylvan was not in any alliance, but tried to convince Naomi and Caren that Craig would be a huge threat in the merge, and should betray him. But they decided to stick with getting the most vulnerable one out, which was Sylvan (3-1).

*Caren- The merge had arrived, and the Tipara tribe decided to stick together, and pick off the Kadina tribe. Their first choice was to vote out Craig, but he had won immunity. Caren was their alternate pick, and sent her home (7-3).

*Naomi- Craig had won immunity again, and Tipara had a difficult decision to get rid of Naomi, even though some of the Tipara members did not get along, Naomi was voted out of the game, making herself the first juror, and Craig the last Kadina standing (7-1-1).

*Craig- Craig had won reward, but not 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 out Lance. Having known he was going home, Sciona had voted for Lance, because she felt bad for Craig going home (6-2).

*Lance- Since there were no more Kadina members, it was time to send a Tipara member home since Jeff was voted out. There was a long debate on who deserved to stay, and who were the least bit threatening. Joel had won immunity, which left Lance as the only tribe member outside the alliance made up of Rob, Joel, Katie, and Jane. Lance had the majority and was voted out (5-1-1).

*Jane- Jane thought by using her sex-appeal would make the guys vote against Sciona, however Rob and Joel did not fall for it, and knew she was the next vulnerable person. Jane did not contribute as much as the other ladies did, and thus was blindsided by her alliance (5-1).

*Sophie- Sophie, Joel, and Robert were the physical threats remaining, however Robert won immunity. Robert had to betray either Katie by voting out Sophie, or Joel. Robert decided to betray Katie and vote out her alliance partner (3-2).

*Katie- The mental breakdown of Katie, made the tribe want to leave the game. However, the producers threatened them that if they had quit, they would give the money to the previous person voted out (which was Sophie). They decided to stay, and vote out Katie, who they thought really should go home (3-1).

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

*Sciona- Sciona was very underrated, and 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 some coat-tails, and apologized way too much. Her two votes came from Katie, because she was more straight forward with her then Rob (who she also had an alliance with) was, and Sophie, who gave her kudos for being the eldest of the females and making final two and playing the best game that she could.

*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; Craig, who guaranteed to vote for him; 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.

how 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, "" 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.

*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.

*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 "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.

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 "" (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".

* 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.

*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" 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.

*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 "Australian 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.

Controversy & Criticisms

*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 ' (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. ' 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 formatFact|date=April 2007 (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").

ee also

*Survivor U.S.
*Survivor U.K.
*Celebrity Survivor
*
*Treasure Island

External links

"Australian Survivor" archived website news articles
* [http://www.bandt.com.au/news/11/0c00b311.asp B&T media magazine]
* [http://www.bandt.com.au/news/3f/0c00c03f.asp B&T media magazine]
* [http://mediacentre.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=74600 Nine Network Australia]

"Australian Survivor" archived news articles
* [http://www.australiantelevision.net/survivor.html Australian Television Information Archive]
* [http://www.if.com.au/Press/2002/05/16.html Inside Film magazine]
*imdb title|0310416
* [http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/international_shows/2002_Feb_14_australian_survivor Reality Blurred]
* [http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article1569.art&page=1 Reality News Online]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/14/1034561099400.html Sydney Morning Herald newspaper]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/15/1021415015429.html The Age newspaper]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/26/1051316052306.html The Age newspaper]

"Australian Survivor" archived contestant articles
* [http://www.joelbetts.com/ Contestant Joel Betts' official site]
* [http://www.curriculumsupport.nsw.edu.au/learningtechnologies/newsday/abbotsford65G/page01.htm Contestant Lance Brooks' news]
* [http://www.icmi.com.au/speaker.phtml?id=242 Contestant Robert Dickson's contacts]
* [http://www.afana.com/cgi-bin/footybbs/webbbs_config.pl/frames=n/read/1010 Contestant Robert Dickson's news]
* [http://eidolon.net/?book=enigmalibras:thebookofsymbols&pagetitle=Enigma+Libras:+The+Book+of+Symbols Contestant Sylvan Dorney's book]
* (Note: Contestant Katie Gold's official site now defunct)

"Australian Survivor" forum archives
* [http://phorums.com.au/archive/index.php/t-1003.html Aussie Phorums]

Other
* [http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Television/Australian-Survivor---Contestant-Quiz-105709.html "Australian Survivor" contestant quiz]