Survivor: Pulau Tiga is the first season of the British reality TV show, Survivor. It was broadcast on ITV1 from May 21 to July 25, 2001. The prize for the winner was £1,000,000, which was, at the time, the joint-highest amount of money ever won on British television. Adjusted for inflation, the prize is roughly equal to US$2,200,000 in 2023.
After 40 days in Malaysia, Charlotte Hobrough defeated Jackie Carey in a 7-0 jury vote to become the Ultimate Survivor.
Production[]
The first season was filmed on the Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga in the South China Sea, which was also the filming location used in Survivor: Borneo, the first U.S. Survivor season, which was broadcast the previous year. The season heavily followed the format of Borneo, with similar challenges, graphics and a documentary-style format in an attempt to emulate its success.
Format[]
- Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
- 40-Day Format: The game lasted 40 days, one day longer than Survivor: Borneo. This was due to the fact that the first Tribal Council occurred on Day 4 instead of Day 3. The remainder of the game followed the same format as the American franchise.
- Past Votes Tiebreaker: In the event of a tied vote, votes cast against the players in question at previous Tribal Councils would also be counted. The castaway that had received more votes would be eliminated from the game. If the tied vote occurred at a pre-merged tribe's first Tribal Council - and thus no previous votes could be counted - the tribe would have a discussion in a separate location without the castaways involved in the tie. A revote would then occur, and the castaway who received the most votes would be voted out.
- Merge: The merged tribe was comprised of ten members.
Castaways[]
Contestant | Tribe Affiliation | Finish | Votes Against | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Original Tribe | Merged Tribe | ||||
Nick Carter 38, Gedling, Nottinghamshire Pharmaceutical Company Manager |
Ular | 1st Voted Out Day 4 |
5 | ||
J.J. Adams 37, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Temporary Worker |
Helang | 2nd Voted Out Day 7 |
8 | ||
Uzma Bashir Sheikh 30, Croxley Green, Hertfordshire Entrepeneur |
Helang | 3rd Voted Out Day 10 |
10 | ||
Sarah Odell 30, Fulham, London Model |
Ular |
|
5 | ||
Jayne Meyler 47, Steyning, West Sussex Personal Trainer |
Helang | 5th Voted Out Day 16 |
7 | ||
Adrian Bauckham 22, Gravesend, Kent Barrister's Clerk |
Helang | 6th Voted Out Day 19 |
4 | ||
Simon Dunkley 35, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham Financial Service Manager |
Helang | Sekutu | 7th Voted Out Day 22 |
6 | |
Andy Fairfield 41, Syresham, Northamptonshire Longhaul Pilot |
Helang | 8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 25 |
6 | ||
James Stroud 40, Wimbledon, London Property Developer |
Helang | 9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 28 |
9 | ||
Pete Farrar 30, Stockport, Cheshire Model |
Ular | 10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 31 |
5 | ||
Zoe Lyons 29, London, England Bartender |
Ular | 11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 34 |
8 | ||
Eve Holding 30, Wantage, Oxfordshire Fence Installer |
Ular | 12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 37 |
6 | ||
Mick Easton 55, Dartford, Kent Field Technical Officer |
Ular | 13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 38 |
4 | ||
Richard Owen 33, Cardiff, South Wales Clinical Research Fellow |
Ular | 14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 39 |
5 | ||
Jackie Carey 31, Woking, Surrey Airline Worker |
Ular | Runner-Up | 7 | ||
Charlotte Hobrough 24, Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan Police Officer |
Helang | Ultimate Survivor | 4 |
Season Summary[]
The season premiere began with sixteen people divided into two tribes. They were Helang, wearing yellow, and Ular, wearing blue. Throughout the pre-merge portion of the game, Ular proved to be the superior tribe and only attended Tribal Council on two occasions, with the first being a disqualification after initially winning the Immunity Challenge. At these Tribal Councils, they eliminated Nick Carter for trying to control the game and Sarah Odell for being closely associated with Eve Holding, who had been causing rifts in the tribe. Helang, on the other hand, was not so fortunate when it came to challenges, winning just two of the six Immunity Challenges and two of the five Reward Challenges. The tribe's failures sent them to Tribal Council four times, where they voted out J.J. Adams for being too domineering, Uzma Bashir Sheikh for being considered physically weak and falling ill, Jayne Meyler for feeling homesick and being considered physically weak, and Adrian Bauckham for being perceived as lazy.
On Day 21, the ten remaining castaways were merged into one tribe - Sekutu. Before the merge, the Ular tribe had decided to form an alliance and vote off the original members of Helang. The alliance followed through with their original plan at the first three Tribal Councils, and voted out the three remaining men of Helang: Simon Dunkley, Andy Fairfield and James Stroud. In these three Tribal Councils, the Helang tribe members spread their votes among members of Ular, in case a tie occurred between a Helang member and previous votes would be counted in order to break the tie.
At this point, it looked as if Charlotte Hobrough, the last remaining member of Helang, would be voted out next. However, Ular decided that it would be a prime opportunity to eliminate the biggest physical threat in the game, Pete Farrar, and Charlotte was spared as Pete was voted out. At the next Tribal Council, Charlotte was targeted once again, but Richard Owen defected from his alliance with Eve, Zoe Lyons and Mick Easton, forming a new counter-alliance with the two outsiders of the tribe, Charlotte and Jackie Carey. The vote was tied 3-3, but as Zoe had five votes previously cast against her, and Charlotte had only one, Zoe was eliminated from the game. Eve, angered by the surprise of the vote, began stealing items from the tribe. Due to Eve's "inhumane" behaviour, the tribe voted her out next. Mick, the last remaining member of his alliance, was eliminated at the following Tribal Council after quitting the previous Immunity Challenge alongside Charlotte. At the Final Immunity Challenge, Charlotte came out victorious and had the power to decide who would sit next to her in the Final Two. The decision seemed fairly clear to Charlotte, and she cast the deciding vote against Richard, who was thought to be much better liked by the jury than Jackie.
At the Final Tribal Council, the jury praised Charlotte for overcoming so many obstacles to get to the Final Two, and criticised Jackie for being "carried" through the game. By a unanimous vote of 7-0, Charlotte became the UK's first Ultimate Survivor, as well as the first winner of an international English-speaking season of the Survivor franchise.
Episode | Challenges | Eliminated (vote) |
Finish | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Reward | Immunity | |||
1 | None | Helang | Nick (5-3) |
1st Voted Out Day 4 |
2 | Ular | Ular | J.J. (4-4; 4-2)1 |
2nd Voted Out Day 7 |
3 | Ular | Ular | Uzma (4-2-1) |
3rd Voted Out Day 10 |
4 | Helang | Helang | Sarah (5-2) |
4th Voted Out Day 13 |
5 | Helang | Ular | Jayne (5-1) |
5th Voted Out Day 16 |
6 | Ular | Adrian (3-2) |
6th Voted Out Day 19 | |
Ular2 | ||||
7 | None | Andy | Simon (6-2-1-1) |
7th Voted Out Day 22 |
8 | James [Andy] |
Pete | Andy (6-2-1) |
8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 25 |
9 | Survivor Auction |
Richard | James (6-1-1) |
9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 28 |
10 | Pete | Richard | Pete (5-1-1) |
10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 31 |
11 | Richard [Charlotte] |
Eve | Zoe (3-3; tiebreaker)2 |
11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 34 |
12 | Eve | Richard | Eve (4-1) |
12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 37 |
13 | None | Richard | Mick (3-1) |
13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 38 |
Charlotte | Richard (2-1) |
14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 39 | ||
14 | Jury Vote | Jackie (7-0) |
Runner-Up | |
Charlotte (7-0) |
Ultimate Survivor | |||
Notes: ^1 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, past votes were taken into account, but because it was the tribe's first Tribal Council, no previous votes could be taken into account. With this, a second vote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^2 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, past votes were taken into account. Zoe had more past votes than Charlotte, eliminating her. |
Voting History[]
Original Tribes | Merged Tribe | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Episode | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||||
Eliminated | Nick |
Tie | J.J. |
Uzma |
Sarah |
Jayne |
Adrian |
Simon |
Andy |
James |
Pete |
Tie | Zoe |
Eve |
Mick |
Richard |
Jackie |
Charlotte | |
Vote | 5-3 | 4-41 | 4-2 | 4-2-1 | 5-2 | 5-1 | 3-2 | 6-2-1-1 | 6-2-1 | 6-1-1 | 5-1-1 | 3-32 | Past votes3 | 4-1 | 3-1 | 2-1 | 7-0 | ||
► | Charlotte | — | J.J. | J.J. | Jayne | — | Jayne | James | Eve | Richard | Zoe | Eve | Zoe | — | Eve | Mick | Richard | Jury Vote | |
► | Jackie | Nick | — | — | Sarah | — | — | Simon | Andy | James | Pete | Zoe | — | Eve | Mick | Richard | |||
► | Richard | Nick | — | — | Sarah | — | — | Simon | Andy | James | Pete | Zoe | — | Eve | Mick | Jackie | Charlotte | ||
► | Mick | Jackie | — | — | Sarah | — | — | Simon | Andy | James | Pete | Charlotte | — | Eve | Jackie | Charlotte | |||
► | Eve | Nick | — | — | Zoe | — | — | Simon | Andy | James | Pete | Charlotte | — | Jackie | Charlotte | ||||
► | Zoe | Nick | — | — | Sarah | — | — | Simon | Andy | James | Pete | Charlotte | Voted Out | Charlotte | |||||
► | Pete | Jackie | — | — | Sarah | — | — | Simon | Andy | James | Charlotte | Charlotte | |||||||
► | James | — | J.J. | J.J. | Uzma | — | Jayne | Adrian | Zoe | Richard | Mick | Charlotte | |||||||
► | Andy | — | Uzma | Uzma | Uzma | — | Jayne | Adrian | Zoe | Jackie | Charlotte | ||||||||
► | Simon | — | Uzma | J.J. | Uzma | — | Jayne | Adrian | Richard | ||||||||||
Adrian | — | J.J. | J.J. | Jayne | — | Jayne | James | ||||||||||||
Jayne | — | Uzma | Uzma | Uzma | — | Adrian | |||||||||||||
Sarah | Nick | — | — | Zoe | |||||||||||||||
Uzma | — | J.J. | None | James | |||||||||||||||
J.J. | — | Uzma | None | ||||||||||||||||
Nick | Jackie | ||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
^1 A tie occurred, but as it was the Helang's first Tribal Council, and no previous votes could be counted to break the tie, a discussion was held before a second vote, where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. |
Trivia[]
- Survivor: Pulau Tiga and Survivor: Borneo, the first season of the American franchise, have various similarities:
- Both were set in Pulau Tiga, Sabah, Malaysia.
- Both followed the basic format of Survivor.
- Both featured orange and yellow tribes.
- Both featured a female runner-up.
- Both featured tribes living at the Pagong beach.
- Both yellow starting tribes were Pagonged after the merge.
- However, unlike in Survivor: Borneo, the Pagonging was not successful, where the remaining member of the Pagonged tribe reached the Final Tribal Council and won.
- Both featured contestants named "Richard" who reached the Final 3.
- Both featured contestants called by two letters, "B.B." and "J.J.", that were eliminated in the second episode.
- Both castaways in the Final Two of each season were aged in their 30s and 20s.
- The two tribes this season both had an identical age average of 34.5.
- This is the first English-speaking season of Survivor broadcast outside of the United States.
- Adjusted for inflation, this season offered the largest prize for the winner ever seen in the Survivor franchise.
References[]