Survivor: Africa

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Survivor: Africa
Filming location	Shaba National Reserve, Kenya, Africa
Winner	Ethan Zohn (5-2)
Original run	October 11, 2001 – January 10, 2002
Filming dates	July 01, 2001 – August 10, 2001 (approximately)
No. of episodes	14
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	16
Tribes	Boran      Samburu      Moto Maji
All-Stars	Ethan Zohn, Lex van den Berghe, Tom Buchanan
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: The Australian Outback
Next	Survivor: Marquesas

Survivor: Africa was the third season of the United States reality show Survivor. It was filmed during 2001 and aired from October 11, 2001 - January 10, 2002 on CBS. It was set in Kenya's Shaba National Reserve on the African continent.

The two initial tribes were Boran and Samburu (named for the real-life Borana and Samburu tribes). In the fifth episode, after 12 days, three members from each team were switched to the other team, in what became known as the first "twist" in the Survivor series. This emphasized that the players must be ready for the most sudden changes; future seasons would have similar twists. Eventually the two tribes merged into the Moto Maji (Kiswahili for 'fire' and 'water') tribe.

This season was also the first to have a tiebreaker challenge: in the previous season, the person with the most previous votes was voted out in such a situation, but in Samburu's first tribal council, Carl Bilancione and Lindsey Richter each received four votes. The pair competed in a nature quiz tiebreaker, the loser of which was eliminated.

During the finale, the producers made it appear that the votes were being read at the site of the Final Tribal Council immediately after the votes were cast. Jeff Probst went to get the voting urn and, when he returned, it appeared he had returned directly to the Tribal Council site to read the votes. However, he was actually on a CBS sound stage in Hollywood (with a live audience) that was made up to look like the site. This was revealed after he read the votes and announced the winner. The contestants were told to try to make themselves appear as they had looked during the last Tribal Council and the audience was told to hold any cheering or applause until after the winner was announced.

Thirteen episodes were aired, plus a mid-season recap, a live reunion/interview with Bryant Gumbel after the finale, and a "where are they now" show. The winner, Ethan Zohn, was revealed on January 10, 2002, where he defeated Kim Johnson by a vote of 5-2.

Ethan Zohn, Lex van den Berghe, and Tom "Big Tom" Buchanan competed in Survivor: All-Stars, where they placed 11th, 9th, and 5th 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.

[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] Voting history

Note 1: Lindsey and Carl competed in a nature quiz tiebreaker, which Carl lost.
Note 2: Lindsey was eliminated because she had four previous votes against her.

[edit] Controversy

There was some controversy surrounding an immunity challenge in the final episode. In a "Fallen Comrades" challenge, in which the contestants were quizzed on trivia regarding players in the game who had been voted out, the final question was "Which female contestant has no piercings?" The official answer, given by Kim Johnson to earn the win, was Kelly Goldsmith. Lex van den Berghe answered the question with Lindsey Richter's name, who, unbeknownst to the producers, also had no piercings. After the producers were alerted to the mistake, both third place finisher van den Berghe and fourth place finisher Tom Buchanan were awarded the $100,000 runner-up prize instead of the traditional third and fourth place earnings.

[edit] External links

• Official CBS Survivor Africa Website