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Survivor: Marquesas is the fourth installment of the reality television show Survivor. It premiered on February 28, 2002, and ended May 19, 2002.

This season was notable for being the Survivor debut of Rob Mariano, who quickly became a fan favorite and would eventually appear as a contestant in four subsequent seasons (as well as a mentor in another), more than any other returning player. It also saw the first ever dismantling of a dominant alliance in the Rotu Four, and featured the first ever instance of a contestant being "rocked out" due to a deadlocked vote, which would set a precedent to avoid a tie vote at all costs for many seasons to come.

In the end, Vecepia Towery beat Neleh Dennis in a 4-3 vote to become the winner of this season, and received the $1,000,000 prize. To date, this season has produced two returning players (Rob Mariano and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien) for subsequent seasons.

Production[]

Originally, Jordan was supposed to be the location of the fourth season. Mark Burnett wrote in his autobiography "Jump In" that the Survivor team was in pre-production of Survivor: Arabia — the outline for the opening involved the castaways boarding a train, then riding on camels to their campsites. Eventually, as a result of the September 11 attacks and the political situation in the Middle East, CBS was forced to use another place for the show within eight weeks from the cancellation of the production in Jordan. The Marquesas Islands were chosen as the backup location.[2] Because there was no island large enough to house the production team, cruise ships had to be used.

The season was filmed from November 12 to December 20, 2001, on the island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.

Twists/Changes[]

  • Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
  • Meager Supplies: The castaways were not given any food rations. The tribes' supply crates were drastically reduced to only a magnifying glass, three pans, a fillet knife, and two water containers.
  • Camps with Pros and Cons: The Maraamu camp was a white sand beach with relatively more fruit-bearing trees than Rotu, but only had a small stream for a water source. The Rotu camp on the other hand had a rocky beach with very little food sources, but had a waterfall as a water source.
  • Tribe Switch: On Day 10, the final thirteen castaways were shuffled into two tribes, with the number of members on each tribe remaining unchanged.
  • Summit: On Day 19, both tribes were tasked with selecting an ambassador to attend a summit. The ambassadors would have to choose which camp the merged tribe would live at, along with giving it a name.
  • Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of ten members.
  • Transferable Immunity Necklace: Beginning from this season, the winner of the Immunity Challenge reserved the right to transfer the Immunity Necklace to another player, keeping the recipient safe instead and leaving the original wearer vulnerable.
  • Purple Rock Tiebreaker: In case of a deadlocked tie and there is no consensus as to how the vote will go, everyone, including people who did not receive votes except the owner of the Immunity Necklace, will pick a rock from a bag. Inside the bag, there is one purple rock, and the contestant who gets it will be automatically eliminated from the game.
  • Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

Castaways[]

Contestant Tribe Affiliation Finish Votes
Against
Original Tribe Switched Tribe Merged Tribe
S4 peter t Peter Harkey
45, Millis, MA
Bowling Alley Owner
Maraamu 1st Voted Out
Day 3
5
S4 patricia t Patricia Jackson
49, Lugoff, SC
Truck Assembler
Maraamu 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
5
S4 hunter t Hunter Ellis
33, La Jolla, CA
Ex-Navy Fighter Pilot
Maraamu 3rd Voted Out
Day 9
4
S4 sarah t Sarah Jones
24, Newport Beach, CA
Account Manager
Maraamu Maraamu 4th Voted Out
Day 12
11
S4 gabriel t Gabriel Cade
23, Hollywood, CA
Bartender
Rotu Rotu 5th Voted Out
Day 15
7
S4 gina t Gina Crews
28, Gainesville, FL
Nature Guide
Maraamu Maraamu 6th Voted Out
Day 18
3
S4 rob t Rob Mariano
25, Canton, MA
Construction Worker
Maraamu Rotu Soliantu 7th Voted Out
Day 21
8
S4 john t John Carroll
36, Omaha, NE
Nurse
Rotu Rotu 8th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
8
S4 zoe t Zoe Zanidakis
35, Monhegan Island, ME
Fishing Boat Captain
Rotu Rotu 9th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
8
S4 tammy t Tammy Leitner
29, Mesa, AZ
Crime Reporter
Rotu Rotu 10th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
5
S4 robert t Robert DeCanio
38, College Point, NY
Limousine Driver
Rotu Rotu 11th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
6
S4 sean t Sean Rector
30, Los Angeles, CA
Teacher
Maraamu Rotu 12th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
7
S4 paschal t Paschal English
56, Thomaston, GA
Judge
Rotu Maraamu Eliminated
6th Jury Member
Day 37
0
S4 kathy t Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien
46, Burlington, VT
Real Estate Agent
Rotu Maraamu 13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 38
5
S4 neleh t Neleh Dennis
21, Layton, UT
Student
Rotu Maraamu Runner-Up 4
S4 vecepia t Vecepia Towery
35, Hayward, CA
Office Manager
Maraamu Rotu Sole Survivor 2

Season Summary[]

The 16 castaways were divided into two tribes: Maraamu and Rotu. Rotu, a unified front, dominated in challenges, despite initial friction between Kathy and several tribe members. Meanwhile, Maraamu was a happy-go-lucky tribe but was marred by politics, being ran by a majority alliance consisting of Rob, Sarah, Sean and Vecepia. This led to Maraamu's 5-challenge losing streak.

On Day 10, a random tribe switch occurred, keeping the tribes' numbers the same. Rob, Sean and Vecepia were sent to Rotu in the minority and Kathy, Paschal and Neleh to Maraamu, outnumbering Gina and Sarah. After the new Maraamu's loss at the fourth Immunity Challenge, Sarah was on the outs and voted out. Now a paltry tribe of four, Maraamu surprisingly went on to win the next three challenges. On Rotu, an alliance of four comprising John, Robert, Tammy and Zoe formed, and despite Rotu's numbers advantage, both alliances came together to vote out Gabriel due to his non-commitment to any strategy.

Before the two tribes merged on Day 19, Rob and Kathy were sent to a summit in which they had to decide on a name, flag, and location for their new tribe. During the summit, Rob convinced Kathy that the Rotu tribe intended to vote her out first, and she decided her only option was to win the first individual Immunity Challenge, which she accomplished. The newly merged Soliantu tribe came together to vote out Rob for being a threat.

Following Rob's elimination, the original Rotu now held a 7-2 majority over Maraamu. An overconfident Rotu Four, however, accidentally gave away their intended pecking order during the next Immunity Challenge, leaving Kathy, Paschal and Neleh to question their allegiance. They joined Sean and Vecepia to form an Outsiders Alliance, systematically picking off John, Zoe, Tammy and Robert in the process.

With the Rotu Four gone and on the jury, the final five were divided into two sides: Paschal and Neleh on one side, and Sean and Vecepia on the other, with Kathy in the middle. After a heated discussion at Tribal Council, Kathy sided with Neleh and Paschal and voted out Sean.

As the last original Maraamu remaining, Vecepia was on the outs, but went on to win the next Immunity Challenge; and at Tribal Council, Kathy and Vecepia agreed to pair up as Neleh and Paschal would never turn on each other, thus causing a tie between Kathy and Neleh. With the vote being deadlocked, a draw of rocks between Kathy, Paschal and Neleh decided who will go next. In a twist of fate, Paschal, the only person besides Vecepia who did not receive votes, drew the purple rock and was eliminated. When Kathy dropped out at the Final Immunity Challenge, Vecepia reneged on her deal with Kathy by telling Neleh she would step down if she took her to the Final Two. Neleh agreed, and Kathy became the final member of the jury.

At Final Tribal Council, Neleh and Vecepia were met with an averse jury. Both women were grilled for hiding behind religion to use a form of guilt-free deception. Neleh was castigated by the former Rotu Four alliance for initially accepting that she would have been contented by reaching the jury phase only to turn on her word, while Vecepia was chastised for constantly shifting from alliance to alliance and was met with heavy disdain for betraying Kathy after publicly aligning with her. Ultimately, it was Vecepia who was crowned Sole Survivor after a close 4-3 vote, becoming series' first African-American winner.

Episode Air date Challenges Eliminated
(Vote)
Finish Viewers
(in millions)[3]
Ratings/Share
(18-49)[3]
Reward Immunity
1 "Back to the Beach" February 28, 2002 None Rotu Peter
(5-2-1)
1st Voted Out
Day 3
23.19 9.1/22
2 "Nacho Momma" March 7, 2002 Rotu Rotu Patricia
(4-3)
2nd Voted Out
Day 6
23.40 9.4/23
3 "No Pain, No Gain" March 13, 2002 Rotu Rotu Hunter
(4-2)
3rd Voted Out
Day 9
20.10 8.9/24
4 "The Winds Twist" March 20, 2002 None Rotu Sarah
(4-1)
4th Voted Out
Day 12
N/A N/A
5 "The End of Innocence" March 28, 2002 Maraamu Maraamu Gabriel
(7-1)
5th Voted Out
Day 15
N/A 8.2/22
6 "The Underdogs" April 4, 2002 Maraamu Rotu Gina
(3-1)
6th Voted Out
Day 18
N/A N/A
7 "True Lies" April 11, 2002 None Kathy Rob
(7-2-1)
7th Voted Out
Day 21
N/A 7.7/N/A
8 "Jury's Out" April 18, 2002 Kathy Tammy John
(6-3)
8th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
19.88 8.0/23
9 "Look Closer: The First 24 Days" April 24, 2002 Recap Episode N/A N/A
10 "Two Peas in a Pod" April 25, 2002 Paschal,
Sean
Tammy Zoe
(7-1)
9th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
19.42 7.8/20
11 "The Princess" May 2, 2002 Paschal
[Neleh]
Robert Tammy
(5-2)
10th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
19.60 7.8/21
12 "Marquesan Vacation" May 9, 2002 Kathy Vecepia Robert
(5-1)
11th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
20.83 8.1/22
13 "A Tale of Two Cities" May 16, 2002 Sean Kathy Sean
(3-2)
12th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
19.15 7.5/20
14 "The Sole Survivor" May 19, 2002 None Vecepia Paschal
(2-2;
tiebreaker)1
Eliminated
6th Jury Member
Day 37
25.87 10.4/23
Neleh Kathy
(1-0)
13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 38
Jury Vote Neleh
(4-3)
Runner-Up
Vecepia
(4-3)
Sole Survivor
15 "Reunion" 18.30 8.3/N/A
Notes:
^1 Per Survivor rules, if the event of a deadlock tie, the non-immune castaways would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied castaways. If no consensus is reached, all the castaways will have to draw rocks, with the castaway who draws the odd-colored rock being eliminated.

Voting History[]

Original Tribes Switched Tribes Merged Tribe
Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14
Voted Out S4 peter t
Peter
S4 patricia t
Patricia
S4 hunter t
Hunter
S4 sarah t
Sarah
S4 gabriel t
Gabriel
S4 gina t
Gina
S4 rob t
Rob
S4 john t
John
S4 zoe t
Zoe
S4 tammy t
Tammy
S4 robert t
Robert
S4 sean t
Sean
Tie S4 paschal t
Paschal
S4 kathy t
Kathy
S4 neleh t
Neleh
S4 vecepia t
Vecepia
Vote 5-2-1 4-3 4-2 4-1 7-1 3-1 7-2-1 6-3 7-1 5-2 5-1 3-2 2-21 Lottery 1-02 4-3
Vecepia Sarah Patricia Hunter Gabriel Rob John Zoe Tammy Robert Neleh Neleh None Jury Vote
Neleh Sarah Gina Rob John Zoe Tammy Robert Sean Kathy Kathy
Kathy Sarah Gina Zoe John Zoe Tammy Robert Sean Neleh None Neleh
Paschal Sarah Gina Rob John Zoe Tammy Robert Sean Kathy Eliminated Neleh
Sean Sarah Patricia Hunter Gabriel John John Zoe Tammy Robert Neleh Vecepia
Robert Gabriel Rob Sean Zoe Vecepia Sean Vecepia
Tammy Gabriel Rob Sean Zoe Vecepia Vecepia
Zoe Gabriel Rob John Robert Neleh
John Gabriel Rob Sean Vecepia
Rob Peter Patricia Hunter Gabriel John
Gina Peter Sarah Sarah Sarah Kathy
Gabriel Rob
Sarah Peter Patricia Hunter Kathy
Hunter Peter Sarah Sarah
Patricia Peter Sarah
Peter Patricia
Notes:
^1 Per Survivor rules, if there is a deadlock tie, all non-immune players will have to draw rocks, with the player who draws the odd-colored rock being eliminated.
^2 Kathy and Vecepia did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Neleh voted.

Trivia[]

  • Marquesas is the first season to have a castaway that was born in the 1980s: Neleh Dennis.
  • Marquesas was the first season where Tribal Council had a roof.
  • Marquesas is the first season where a man was the first person voted out.
  • Marquesas is the first season where at no point during the season did the male castaways outnumber the female castaways. This would next happen in Vanuatu and later in Micronesia.
  • Marquesas is the first season to feature two male castaways with the same first name: Robert DeCanio and Rob Mariano.
  • Marquesas the first time, the loved ones of castaways were on location during the loved ones Reward Challenge (in Borneo and The Australian Outback, only the winner's loved one visited the castaways).
  • Marquesas is the first season where three contestants are tied for most individual Immunity Challenge wins: Kathy, Tammy, and Vecepia each won 2 challenges. This distinction would be matched in Philippines, Survivor 42, and Survivor 44.
  • For the first time, two different contestants won the penultimate and final Immunity Challenges.
  • Marquesas is the first season to utilize the rock drawing tiebreaker.
  • Marquesas is the first time that both original tribes were represented in the Final Tribal Council.
  • Marquesas is the first season in which both finalists had votes against them during the game.
  • Marquesas is the first season in which the finalists were of the same gender, as both finalists were women.
  • Marquesas was the final season to feature the Reebok logo on the tribe's buffs.
  • Marquesas is the only season to not have aired in Australia.
  • Host Jeff Probst has stated that Survivor will never use the Marquesas as a location again, solely because of the painful bites from the native no-no sandflies.

References[]

Survivor (U.S.) Seasons
BorneoThe Australian OutbackAfricaMarquesasThailandThe AmazonPearl IslandsAll-StarsVanuatuPalauGuatemalaPanamaCook IslandsFijiChinaMicronesiaGabonTocantinsSamoaHeroes vs. VillainsNicaraguaRedemption IslandSouth PacificOne WorldPhilippinesCaramoanBlood vs. WaterCagayanSan Juan del SurWorlds ApartCambodiaKaôh RōngMillennials vs. Gen XGame ChangersHeroes vs. Healers vs. HustlersGhost IslandDavid vs. GoliathEdge of ExtinctionIsland of the IdolsWinners at WarSurvivor 41Survivor 42Survivor 43Survivor 44Survivor 45Survivor 46
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