Survivor: Marquesas

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Survivor: Marquesas
Filming location	Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands
Winner	Vecepia Towery (4-3)
Original run	February 28, 2002 – May 19, 2002
Filming dates	November 12, 2001 – December 21, 2001
No. of episodes	13
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	16
Tribes	Maraamu      Rotu      Soliantu
All-Stars	Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, Rob Mariano
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: Africa
Next	Survivor: Thailand

Survivor: Marquesas was 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 after the finale. The winner, Vecepia Towery, was revealed on May 19, 2002, where she defeated Neleh Dennis by a vote of 4-3.

The contestants were divided into two tribes: Maraamu and Rotu (Marquesan for 'Southern Wind' and 'Rain' respectively). They later merged into the Soliantu tribe (a word created by competitors Kathy-Vavrick O'Brien and Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano which they intended to mean "Sacred Allegiance to the Sun.")

The Marquesas Islands were initially selected as a backup location for Survivor. The original location, Jordan, was discounted as a result of the September 11 attacks^[1] and the political situation in the Middle East.^[2]

This was the first season where the contestants were not given any initial supplies, such as food, water, or matches. Also, the rules of the Individual Immunity Idol were changed so that a contestant who won the idol in a challenge was able to give it to another contestant. Finally, previous votes against a contestant were discounted in subsequent Tribal Councils. As this was the former method of determining if a contestant was eliminated in case of a tie, a new tiebreaker format was developed. The controversial Purple Rock tiebreaker was used in this season alone, and resulted in the ousting of Paschal English, then with no votes against him. A small increase in the average number of viewers was observed for the season compared to the prior season, Survivor: Africa.^[3]

Vavrick-O'Brien and Mariano were selected from this season to compete in Survivor: All-Stars, where they placed 8th and 2nd, respectively.

[edit] Contestants

The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway has received during Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

Note 1: Paschal was not voted out. The purple rock determined who would be eliminated. He drew the purple rock and he became the 6th jury member.

[edit] The game

In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.

[edit] Episode 8: "Jury's Out"

• Reward Challenge: The castaways were asked to each construct a kite with the materials given. They are not restricted to just the given materials. They then must get their kites 300 feet into the sky. A purple ribbon at the end of each of their spools will fly off when the target is reached. The first castaway to get his or her kite 300 feet into the sky wins.
  • Reward: A king-sized Snickers candy bar (which can be shared if desired) and a deep sea dive with professionals.
• Immunity Challenge: The castaways are asked true or false and multiple-choice trivia questions of life and survival of the Marquesas islands. Each castaway is given an answer block with True, False, A, B, C, and D written on each side. For every correct answer, that castaway will pick a number out of a hat to determine the order they will go to chop a rope off another castaway's stand. The chopped rope will release a bundle of color-coded coconuts. Each castaway has three bundles of coconuts. If all three coconut bundles are released, that castaway is eliminated. The final castaway standing with any amount of coconuts remaining wins.

Back at camp, Sean annoyed the former Rotu members by passing gas during the night. In the morning, the castaways found out that some nearby trees miraculously did not fall onto them, but instead in the opposite direction. Kathy and Zoe talked about their positions in the game, but Kathy didn't trust Zoe after she had lied to her about Kathy's position. She also thought Zoe was double-faced, and could be playing both alliances. The castaways then spent time relaxing at the waterfall and pool. At tree mail, the castaways found items to make kites. Kathy won the reward, and had fun diving underwater. She chose to share the candy bar when she got back from the trip. Sean then approached Kathy about eliminating the Rotu Four alliance. Kathy immediately agreed and tried to convince Neleh and Paschal to join, but both refused, not wanting to align themselves with Sean and Vecepia. Tammy then won the immunity challenge. John, Robert, Tammy, and Zoe were confident that Sean was the next to go. However, after seeing how quickly Kathy and Paschal were eliminated at the immunity challenge, Neleh and Paschal knew they were included in the Rotu Four alliance's pecking order, and not to make it as far as they were told. Angered by the poor display of power, Neleh and Paschal joined Kathy, Sean, and Vecepia in blindsiding John 6-3. Unknown to anyone, Zoe had secretly voted against John herself, for unknown reasons.

[edit] Voting history

[edit] Purple Rock controversy

Paschal's elimination marked a large controversy in the game of Survivor. In the Episode Thirteen Tribal Council, Neleh and Kathy each received two votes while Vecepia was immune. In previous tie situations, where a re-vote did not determine a single contestant to be eliminated, votes from past tribal councils were used, and the contestant with the most prior votes was eliminated. In Marquesas, the prior votes rule was no longer used; instead contestants who were not immune would pull rocks colored yellow and purple from a sack. The contestant with the purple rock would be eliminated. In this situation, Kathy and Neleh drew yellow rocks, and Paschal pulled the purple rock. Despite having received no votes in the entire game, he was eliminated due to chance. Probst later admitted that using the purple rock tie-breaker was a mistake at this point in the game, because the formula behind it was impossible to apply fairly with only four survivors left.^[4]

No tie occurred on the show until six seasons later on Palau. It was during that season that the tie-breaker was revealed to be a fire-making challenge. However, Survivors who took part in the show between the Marquesas and Palau seasons believed that the Purple Rock challenge was still intact. As a result, many contestants would change alliances in order to avoid another tie and another chance of drawing the Purple Rock.

Since Palau, there have been four tie situations that were settled with fire-making challenges, all of which were at the Final Four stage of the game. In Survivor: Micronesia, it was theorized by Cirie Fields that the purple rock tiebreaker is the tiebreaker for all ties except in the Final Four, when a challenge is used instead.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official CBS Survivor Marquesas Website