Survivor: Marquesas

Survivor: Marquesas was the fourth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it was shown on TV from February 28 - May 19, 2002 on CBS. There were thirteen episodes, plus a mid-season recap and live interview with Rosie O'Donnell after the finale (last episode). The winner, Vecepia Towery, was revealed on May 19, 2002, where she won against Neleh Dennis by a vote of 4-3.

Survivor: Marquesas
Presented by
No. of episodes	13
No. of days	39
No. of castaways	16
Winner	Vecepia Towery
Production
Production locations	Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands
Filming dates	November 12 – December 20, 2001
Original release
Release	February 28 – May 19, 2002

In the beginning, the players were divided into two tribes: Maraamu and Rotu (Marquesan for 'Southern Wind' and 'Rain'). They later merged (combined) into one tribe. Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien and Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano named the new tribe "Soliantu", a name they made up that means "Sacred Allegiance to the Sun".

The Marquesas Islands were actually chosen as a backup location for Survivor. This season was going to take place in Jordan, but they switched location due to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political situation in the Middle East.

This was the first season where the players were not given any supplies at the beginning, such as food, water, or matches. Also, the rules of the Individual Immunity Idol were changed so that a player who won the idol in a challenge was able to give it to another player. Finally, earlier votes against a player were not counted in future Tribal Councils. As this used to be the way of deciding if a contestant was eliminated in case of a tie, a new tiebreaker was made. The controversial Purple Rock tiebreaker was used in this season alone, and resulted in the elimination of Paschal English, then with no votes against him. A small rise in the average number of viewers was seen for the season compared to the last season, Survivor: Africa.

Vavrick-O'Brien and Mariano were chosen from this season to return in Survivor: All-Stars, where they placed 8th and 2nd. Mariano returned once again in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, placing 13th.

Players

Contestant	Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total Votes
Peter Harkey 44, Millis, Massachusetts	Maraamu	20	20	1st Voted Out Day 3	5
Patricia Jackson 49, Lugoff, South Carolina	Maraamu	20	20	2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
Hunter Ellis 33, La Jolla, California	Maraamu	20	20	3rd Voted Out Day 9	4
Sarah Jones 24, Newport Beach, California	Maraamu	Maraamu	20	4th Voted Out Day 12	11
Gabriel Cade 23, Celo, North Carolina	Rotu	Rotu	20	5th Voted Out Day 15	7
Gina Crews 28, Gainesville, Florida	Maraamu	Maraamu	20	6th Voted Out Day 18	3
Rob Mariano 25, Canton, Massachusetts	Maraamu	Rotu	Soliantu	7th Voted Out Day 21	8
John Carroll 36, Omaha, Nebraska	Rotu	Rotu		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	8
Zoe Zanidakis 35, Monhegan Island, Maine	Rotu	Rotu		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	8
Tammy Leitner 29, Tucson, Arizona	Rotu	Rotu		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	5
Robert "General" DeCanio 38, Queens, New York	Rotu	Rotu		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	6
Sean Rector 30, Harlem, New York	Maraamu	Rotu		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	7
Paschal English 56, Thomaston, Georgia	Rotu	Maraamu		Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37	0
Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien 47, Burlington, Vermont	Rotu	Maraamu		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
Neleh Dennis 21, Layton, Utah	Rotu	Maraamu		Runner-Up	4
Vecepia Towery 36, Portland, Oregon	Maraamu	Rotu		Sole Survivor	2

The Total Votes is the number of votes a player got during Tribal Councils where the player is able to be voted out of the game. It does not count the votes they got 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.

The game

Episode title	Air date	Challenges		Eliminated	Vote	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
"Back to the Beach"	February 28, 2002	None	Rotu	Peter	5−2−1	1st Voted Out Day 3
"Nacho Momma"	March 7, 2002	Rotu	Rotu	Patricia	4−3	2nd Voted Out Day 6
"No Pain, No Gain"	March 13, 2002	Rotu	Rotu	Hunter	4−2	3rd Voted Out Day 9
"The Winds Twist"	March 20, 2002	None4 switch 2	Rotu	Sarah	4−1	4th Voted Out Day 12
"The End of Innocence"	March 28, 2002	Maraamu	Maraamu	Gabriel	7−1	5th Voted Out Day 15
"The Underdogs"	April 4, 2002	Maraamu	Rotu	Gina	3−1	6th Voted Out Day 18
"True Lies"	April 11, 2002	None7 merge 3	Kathy	Rob	7−2−1	7th Voted Out Day 21
"Jury's Out"	April 18, 2002	Kathy	Tammy	John	6−3	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24
"Two Peas in a Pod"	April 25, 2002	Paschal, Sean	Tammy	Zoe	7−1	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27
"The Princess"	May 2, 2002	Paschal, [Neleh]	General	Tammy	5−2	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30
"Marquesan Vacation"	May 9, 2002	Kathyep 11 4	Vecepia	General	5−1	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33
"A Tale of Two Cities"	May 16, 2002	Sean	Kathy	Sean	3−2	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36
"The Sole Survivor"	May 19, 2002	None	Vecepia	Paschal	2−24	Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37
			Neleh	Kathy	1−0	13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
"The Reunion"	May 19, 2002	Jury Vote		Neleh	4−3	Runner-Up
				Vecepia		Sole Survivor

If more than one tribe or player wins reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically if it was teamwork, or where one player won and invited others, the players that were invited are in brackets.

^1 No reward challenge took place due to tribal switch.

^2 There was no reward challenge due to tribal merge.

^3 Each of the six remaining contestants were visited by a friend or family member, who then proceeded to compete in a reward challenge on behalf of their loved one. Kathy's son Pat won the right to spend 24 hours at the Soliantu camp.

^4 Kathy and Neleh were tied 2-2 and due to no unanimous decision as to which of the two would be next to go, the two of them along with Paschal drew colored rocks (two yellow, one purple). Because Paschal drew the purple rock, he was eliminated and became the sixth jury member.

	Original Tribes			Switched Tribes			Merged Tribe
Episode #:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Eliminated:	Peter 5/8 votes	Patricia 4/7 votes	Hunter 4/6 votes	Sarah 4/5 votes	Gabriel 7/8 votes	Gina 3/4 votes	Rob 7/10 votes	John 6/9 votes	Zoe 7/8 votes	Tammy 5/7 votes	General 5/6 votes	Sean 3/5 votes	Paschal No vote5	Kathy 1 vote
Voter	Vote
Vecepia	Sarah	Patricia	Hunter		Gabriel		Rob	John	Zoe	Tammy	General	Neleh	Neleh
Neleh				Sarah		Gina	Rob	John	Zoe	Tammy	General	Sean	Kathy	Kathy
Kathy				Sarah		Gina	Zoe	John	Zoe	Tammy	General	Sean	Neleh
Paschal				Sarah		Gina	Rob	John	Zoe	Tammy	General	Sean	Kathy
Sean	Sarah	Patricia	Hunter		Gabriel		John	John	Zoe	Tammy	General	Neleh
General					Gabriel		Rob	Sean	Zoe	Vecepia	Sean
Tammy					Gabriel		Rob	Sean	Zoe	Vecepia
Zoe					Gabriel		Rob	John	General
John					Gabriel		Rob	Sean
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

Jury vote
Finalist:	Neleh 3/7 votes	Vecepia 4/7 votes
Juror	Vote
Kathy	Neleh
Paschal	Neleh
Sean		Vecepia
Robert		Vecepia
Tammy		Vecepia
Zoe	Neleh
John		Vecepia

^5 : Paschal was not voted out. The purple rock determined who would be eliminated. He drew the purple rock and he became the sixth jury member.

Purple Rock controversy

Paschal's elimination marked a big controversy in the game of Survivor. In the Episode Thirteen Tribal Council, Neleh and Kathy each got two votes while Vecepia had immunity. In earlier tie situations, where a re-vote did not decide who would be voted off, votes from past tribal councils were used, and the player with the most earlier votes was eliminated. In Marquesas, the earlier votes rule was no longer used; instead players who did not have immunity would pull rocks colored yellow and purple from a bag. The player with the purple rock would be eliminated. In this situation, Kathy and Neleh drew yellow rocks, and Paschal pulled the purple rock. Although he never got any votes in the entire game, he was eliminated due to chance. Probst later said 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.

No tie happened 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 thought that the Purple Rock challenge would still be used. As a result, many players would change alliances so they're wouldn't be another tie and another chance of drawing the Purple Rock.

Since Palau, there have been four tie situations that were solved with fire-making challenges, all of which were at the Final Four stage of the game. In Survivor: Micronesia, it was suggested 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.

Other websites

• Official CBS Survivor Marquesas Website