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Survivor: The Australian Outback

Feb 6, 2011 by srgeman

I decided to post the first to entries within a day of each other because I've seen the first two season often enough that I remember them without having to rewatch them. I do not have that luxury for the other seasons, so I'll have to rewatch them before writing them. That'll take a while, but for now let's take a look at Survivor 2.

Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season. It's one of two seasons to be a Super Bowl lead out program, and it's the only Survivor season to be number one in the ratings. Things like this have given it an almost mythical quality, the perfect season where EVERYTHING went right! Does it deserve that reputation? ...No, but I'll explain why.

The season begins with the sixteen new survivors being flown into the Australian outback. They're being flown in by the Royal Australian Airforce, and for a moment I wonder if Coach called in a favor (this will make a lot more sense when we hit Tocantins). They're dropped off and divided into two tribes.

The Kucha tribe in blue consists of:
Kimmi Kapenburg: Loud mouthed vegetarian, annoying
Alicia Callaway: Despite her muscles, she was bad at challenges. Best remembered for waving her finger.
Nick Brown: Who?
Rodger "Kentucky Joe" Bingham: A good representation of Christianity, the south, and humanity. One of my two favorites.
Elisabeth Filarski: Future member of the view, despite her hair falling out from malnutrition, never gave up. My other favorite.
Jeff Varner: Good strategist, no luck what so ever.
Debb Eaton: Voted off to soon.
Michael Skupin: The pig killer. If he hadn't fallen into the fire, the final four would have probably been Kucha.

The Ogakors in green consisted of:

Amber Brkich: The worlds best coat-tail rider.
Colby Donaldson: Great at challenges, over rated player, can be arrogant. Not Jerri's friend.
Keith Famie: He can cook rice, and he's not nearly as bad as they say. Really not Jerri's friend.
Jerri Manthey: God damn it
Tina Wesson: Good strategist, but didn't do very much. Given that she won, that's a bit weird. Not Jerri's friend.
Mitchell Olson: Tallest cast member, could get blown away in a heavy wind.
Kel Gleason: Army intelligence officer, and beef jerky connoisseur. Not Jerri's friend.
Maralyn Hershey: Coolest ex-cop in the word. Oddly, not made of chocolate.

Much like with Tagi and Pagong, the differences in the tribes become obvious soon. When they're dropped off, the two tribes both get one crate of supplies and five minutes to take their supplies before leaving. Kucha grab stuff chaotically, and they get lost heading off to their camp. Debb bosses people around, Jeff throws up, Kimmi screeches, Nick can't use a compass, and Elisabeth carries a board on her head.

By the time they get to their camp, the minor things begin. Debb still bosses people around, much to the annoyance of others. Kimmi needs a muzzle, sparing the other Kucha's and the audience. Jeff keeps puking, Michael bosses people around, and Rodger fails to burn his Bible. They do at least work on stuff though, just not very well.

The Ogakors get going quicker, and with less fighting. Even when they arrive, they get to work quickly, building a shelter with Colby's flag. Only when they began working on the fire do the problems start. Jerri and Keith get into a fight over starting a fire. Get used to me saying "Jerri and X get into a fight over Y", I'll be saying it a lot.

At the first immunity challenge, the Kucha's do a pitiful job, and loose to Ogakor. Despite Jeff puking, Debb is sent home, reminding you just how important not being annoying is. Did they make the right choice? No, sending Kimmi home first would have been, but hindsight is 20-20.

Ogakor wins the next challenge, a reward challenge, earning them blankets. To celebrate their win, they bitch about not having food or being able to sleep. Chef Keith cooks up rice, that ends up being less rice and more glue, which they all hate. Only Jerri really tells it to his face though, what a shock.

As the day rolls on, Jerri claims to have spotted army intelligence officer with top secret clearance, Kel, chewing beef jerky. She leads the searching of his stuff, reminding us that boundaries mean nothing to Jerri. When Kel returns, he tells them that he was chewing grass. Jerri claims this is impossible, because you need to find grass to chew it. What makes this hysterical is, when she says this, you can see a large patch of grass over her shoulder. It just reminds you Jerri is a bitch.

The next immunity challenge is a gross food challenge, one Kimmi nearly looses for Kucha. Instead, Tina throws up tripe, and then can't eat a worm. Oddly, despite this painting a target on her back, she doesn't receive a vote. Instead, the tribe decides to vote off physical powerhouse Kel, instead of bitchy and whiney Jerri. Damn it.

Ogakor briefly rallies, managing to win the next reward challenge and win fishing hooks. The Kuchas though catch fish without hooks thanks to Mike, and end up eating better then Ogakor. At the next immunity, Ogakor looses in part due to Maralyn "Mad Dog" falling down. Due to Mad Dog being the oldest cast member, she's an easy target.

Let me diverge for a moment and ask this. When they loose the third immunity challenge, the Ogakors return to camp, all depressed. Tina describes the mood as "a sad mood, but a very strategic mood." A very strategic mood? What the hell does that mean?

Keith tries to defend Mad Dog, since she is by no meaning the weakest member of the tribe, that award going to Mitchell. Mitchell and Jerri both receive votes at tribal council, but the rest go to Mad Dog, and she sadly is sent home.

After this, Kucha really begins to dominate in challenges, only loosing one more. Ogakor looses the next reward, a challenge involving a puzzle which would earn the winners chickens. Jerri and Kieth continue to fight over any little thing, the latest thing being fishing. In addition, Tina grows sick of Jerri and realizes she's not in Jerri's alliance. After Keith goes, she goes next.

Meanwhile, God continues to show he has it out for Ogakor when Mike of Kucha spears a pig. In a scene that is bloody, yet awesome, he spears a wild boar, much to Kimmi's irritation and constant whining. Kimmi whines about the chickens being killed also, and whines she isn't appreciated. Can't imagine why.

Next comes an odd immunity challenge, Survivor Knows Best. The rules are confusing, and due to some very terrible editing, players who correctly answered questions seem to go several times. At the end Kucha wins, and Ogakor goes to tribal council a third time!

Tina and Keith scramble, and manage to get Colby into their alliance as a third person. Remember that point, it'll be important later. Anyways, at tribal council, their is a dead locked tie between Kieth and Mitchell, with Mitchell finally being sent home.

Kucha wins the next reward, further crushing Ogakors mood. Jerri and Keith get into a fight over fish guts. At Kucha, Kimmi and Alicia get into a fight over the chickens, with Alicia waving her finger in Kimmi's face. Kucha finally looses an immunity, and Kimmi is sent packing. The audience rejoiced.

Kucha wins the next reward, earning Mountain Dew and Doritos. The Ogakors are broken, starving, and would probably loose if their was another immunity. Most of them just don't have the will to go on, but it doesn't matter.

At Kucha, Michael Skupin ends up falling into the fire, after breathing in a face full of smoke. He burns his hands badly, and has to be pulled out of the game, the first ever medical emergency. Due to this, the tribes will merge with five members each.

The tribes merge over the next few days, moving to a brand new camp site. They rename themselves Barramundi(does that mean anything?), and their color is orange. Unlike the other two, this one is heavily wooded. They end up building their camp in what turns out to be a dry river bed, something that will become important later.

Ogakor decides to target Jeff, due to him having votes against him, something Kimmi blabbed about. Kucha decides to go with Keith, since they suspect him of having votes. At the immunity challenge though, standing on a tower for the longest, Keith wins, so the Kuchas decide to vote for...Colby. Not Jerri, Colby. Colby. Colby. If I say it often enough, maybe I'll believe it

As an aside, the immunity necklace is pretty cool. It's a talisman with fangs, making it look vaguely fierce. One of the better ones, a hell of a lot better then the braided piece of shit in Africa.

Tribal council ends in a dead-lock, which ends with Jeff going home. After this, the Kuchas go from being shooters to being targets, though unlike Pagong they try everything to survive. Kieth wins the next individual immunity, and Alicia becomes the first member of the jury. Jerri annoys all of the Kuchas, managing to annoy every person left in the game.

The episode after Alicia goes home begins with Jerri annoying people, mostly the viewers. When the tribe gets it's info about the next reward challenge, they're told to pick partners. Jerri wants Colby. Jerri whines when they decide to pick names from a hat. Jerri gets Colby, Colby contemplates drowning himself.

The challenge is an obstacle course, won by Jerri and Colby. In a nice bit, Colby helps Jerri up over a wall, then drops her flat on her ass. Unfortunately, he doesn't break her mouth, so she talks all the way to their reward, a day at the Great Barrier Reef.

Colby tells Jerri he wants to enjoy himself, Jerri hits on him. Jerri talks strategy, Jerri annoys the piss out of Colby. Essentially, anything Colby tells Jerri she does the opposite. One amusing bit is that when they go back to Barramundi, Colby takes back two (illegal) pieces of coral. Jerri fears that this might make Colby more popular in the eyes of the others. I swear I did not make that up.

The next target is Nick (remember him? No? Me neither), but at a stupid immunity involving pulling ropes, he wins immunity. Jerri decides/decrees that the next target will be Elisabeth. The former Ogakors have to decide between voting off Elisabeth, or Jerri. In a decision that probably took five seconds, they send Jerri packing, with only Jerri and Amber voting Elisabeth. Jerri is voted off. Let me say that again.

Jerri is voted off.

After this, the Ogakors plan continues, and when Nick looses immunity to Colby, he's sent to the jury. One thing of note, at this point Barramundi has been burning through their rice, and finally run out of them and fishing hooks. Jeff Probst offers them more rice and 25 hooks, but first takes their tarp, and Colby's flag. Unlike the first season, this is another sign of how the food situation if effecting the tribe. They are starving, and all of them look a little like raisins by now from lack of nutrition.

The Kucha's could have tried to get Amber on their side and go after Keith, but they didn't really try, and ended up not staging a coup.

The next reward challenge, a rope maze, is won by Colby, earning him a trip with some cowboys and food, much food. While they're having their challenge, the river bed that the Barramundi tribe camp was built in floods, washing a lot of their stuff away, new rice included.

During the night, Tina and Keith go for the rice, Keith walking across the river bed, and Tina actually swimming out to get it. Rodger has to use a rope to pull her back, the entire scene being intense and yet awesome.

At this point, Amber and Elisabeth have been getting a little too close for the Ogakors. Colby won another immunity challenge, and the Ogakors decided Amber needed to go now.

The next challenge is a reward one, involving getting to speak to your loved ones via an internet challenge. The challenge is answering questions from a simplistic quiz, that Tina wins, making that her only challenge win. Now, family episodes very in their quality, but this was one of the better once, with a lot of memorable bits like Keith proposing to his girlfriend.

By now, the contestants have become fairly boring, as has the footage of them. One entire scene is of them staring at a fire, not talking. Yes really. Anyways, at the next immunity, Colby wins. The Ogakors decide to ask Rodger who needs the $60,000 that comes with 4th place more, and he says Elisabeth does. To my sorrow, Kentucky Joe becomes the 5th juror. At least he outlasted Jerri.

Now, usually the last 3 days would be the last episode of the season. For reasons that baffle my puny human brain, Survivor: Australia went for 42 days, not 39. As such, another person (named Elisabeth) would go before the final episode.

The next reward challenge was the first of many, the car challenge. The car challenge brought with it the Car Curse, something I do believe it. Whoever wins the car, looses the game, often immediately after. Maybe if it were once or twice it would be a coincidence, but this has happened twelve times! Anyways, the car was won by Colby (what a shock), earning him a Pontiac Aztek. I bet if he knew what he was winning, he'd have told them to give it to Jerri, let her drive around in the ugly mobile. Colby also wins a night camping out, with a surprise guest, his mother.

At Barramundi, we see just how bad food is, when Elisabeth’s hair starts to fall out from malnutrition. I don't mean a little bit, a lot of it starts to come out. In spite of this, she doesn't quit, she keeps fighting. REMEMBER THIS. When we get to Pearl Islands, it will be VERY important.

Colby again wins immunity, and Elisabeth’s chances for survival evaporate like a snow ball in hell. She becomes the sixth member of the jury, and Kucha dies with her.

At this point, the problem with a 42 day season becomes apparent. Their is a two hour finale, with one person voted off. As such, the first hour is padded to the extreme, with the Tina, Keith, and Colby decorating little idols, reflecting on their experience, and looking at stuff.

They go on their spirit walk, and once again, although cheesy I love this. No one talks, unlike later seasons, and some of the footage we see of past survivors is really ironic (like Mike standing in front of a fire).

The final challenge is Fallen Comrades, answering trivia about past contestants. Colby wins, is anyone surprised? He has to choose between Kieth, unliked by some of the jury for being cocky, or Tina, loved by the jury and someone who could beat him. Showing that intellect that earned him second place, Colby voted off Keith, costing himself $900,000.

That night, Colby and Tina burn stuff, and talk about voting Keith off. This sequence really made me dislike Colby because of his statements like "Keith didn't deserve to be in the final two." Uh, why? If it's by who deserves it the most, Rodger and Elisabeth would be in the final two, you and Tina on the jury, and Jerri at the bottom of the ocean. The crowning jewel of arrogance is this bit though:

"We brought Keith into our alliance because we needed a third person. If we could have gotten rid of him sooner, we would have." No. Keith and Tina formed an alliance to get rid of Mitchell, and they needed a third person, so they got you. You didn't do anything dickhead. Hell, by your earlier statement, you deserved to go sooner because it took Tina and Keith to get you into your alliance! What an asshole.

The final tribal council is a lot better then the first one, but I only want to comment on a few statements. Nick asks a good question, the primary reason Kucha lost was because Mike fell into the fire. If he hadn't, which Kucha's would have been in the final two.

Tina answered Mike, while Colby went with Mike and Nick. Elisabeth asks which two did NOT deserve to make it to the end, no explanation, just names. Both of them answer Jerri, something that made me applaud.

Finally, Jerri asked her question, showing just how deluded she is, asked for moments they were ashamed of, sorry for. Tina answered searching Kel's stuff, something Jerri started! Colby answered voting off Alicia, Rodger, and Elisabeth. You know who wasn't mentioned? Jerri.

Unlike the last time, both contestants were very well liked by the jury. Colby earned three votes from Rodger, Nick, and Amber. This wasn't enough though, and with four votes, Tina became the second sole survivor.

The Greg Buis Memorial Chucklehead Award: Few seasons is it so easy to give out this award. It has to go to Jerri Manthey, the wicked witch of the Outback. If only they had dropped a house on her.

End Of Season Thoughts:
Survivor: The Australian Outback is frankly overrated. It's good, but like Borneo, it hasn't aged well. The finale sucks, and some of the survivors (like Nick and Amber) are invisible until they're voted off. In addition, when the Kuchas start to get voted off, the end of the season can be seen coming from a mile away. The final two will be Ogakor, Kucha will collapse.

That being said, it's an improvement over the first season. The location is cooler, the challenges more fun, and their is less...tension among the cast. What little tension their is goes away when Jerri melts...er, is voted off. The cast you can tell really did like each other, and with the exception of Colby's last decision, they were able to be friends and still play the game.

The opening credits no longer have the cheesy flaming words. They also add an Australian style noise to the opening credit music. The opening credit music would be changed a little in every season untill Nicuragua.

Survivor: The Australian Outback is loved by other fans, and is one of Jeff Probst favorites, but it's not in my top five. I think Africa, the season after this is better, and several have more happening then this. Still, it's a really strong season, and everyone should watch it once.

Comments

Sent by noraw6842,Feb 6, 2011

i agree jerri is annoying but without her it would have been a bit boring
i totally agree with you about people being invisible until there voted out

in the from gabon onwards*excluding hvv* i cant rember many of the tribe members at all

Sent by pikasadge,Feb 8, 2011

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Survivor: The Australian Outback

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