“Survivor” Retrospectives: The Australian Outback

Finally moved into my new apartment, and what better way to celebrate than a new “Survivor” Blog?  This week, we tackle The Australian Outback, arguably the most popular and recognizable season after Borneo.  Certainly, the objective information about the season holds that to be true, but is the reputation really deserved?

Once again, I will warn people that this blog will contain spoliers.  If you have not seen the season/are considering seeing the season, go to the bottom of the page and read the section labled “Abstract”.  Now, to the analysis.

CAST

Many consider The Australian Outback’s cast to be the best, after possibly Borneo.  Again, it’s certainly one of the most recognizable out there, with a lot of famous (or in some cases infamous) “Survivor” names.  Colby Donaldson, the Challenge-winning Texan, immediately springs to mind as a fan favorite, along with, to a lesser degree, his would-be girlfriend and prototype “Survivor” villainess, Jerri Manthey.  Winner Tina Wesson is also fairly well-liked and remembered, although I can’t say why, save that she was a nice alternative to the polazing winner that is Richard Hatch (“Survivor Borneo”).  Elizabeth Hasselbeck (then Filarski) is, of course, still in the public conciousness due to her job as conservative commentator on “The View”.  Accordingly, her compatriate, the lovable Kentucky schoolteacher Rodger Bingham, is also quite fondly remembered.  Jeff Varner has a reputation for being a prototype for the mindset that future castaways would take (as well as one of the first people screwed over by a twist, but we’ll get to that in the “Twist” section).  One of the most physical women on the show at the time, Alicia Calaway is also well remembered, though more for her actions on “Survivor All-Stars” than anything, which we’ll get to in the analysis of that season.  And, of course, let us not forget crazy Mike Skupin, the pig hunter made doubly famous by falling into the fire, burning his hands, and being the first (and, for the next 10 seasons, ONLY) “Survivor” medevac.

Once again, CBS does a fairly good job with casting this season.  There’s a nice variety in personality types and strategies, although I notice that a lot of good old Southerners made the merge this season, and there appears to be a somewhat higher percentage of them this season (on Borneo, for instance, the only people around who could be considered Southerners would be B.B and Susan, and in the later case, it’s more the redneck stereotype than actually being Southern, as Sue was from Wisconsin).  Still, a good polarization of the purely physical and the purely mental, as well as occupational and economic class variety.

There are only two “drawbacks” to the cast of The Australian Outback, and one of them is arguable.  The first is that, overall, this cast was “nicer” than that of Borneo, for better or worse.  This might seem paradoxical, as unlike Borneo, no one went on a rant about the immorality of alliances (well, ok, one or two did, but on Borneo, the only ones who didn’t rant against it were those in the Tagi alliance, making the number of ranters much larger).  However, rather than vote straight down tribal lines, these people kept around some of the good, likeable people, rather than some despicable people for the sake of alliances.  Also, people just genuinely found it easier to identify with the cast of The Australian Outback than it did with Borneo.  Now, this came at the expense of strategic gameplay, to a degree, and thus The Australian Outback was not nearly as cutthroat as it’s predecessor.  This can be either a good thing or a bad thing in people’s eyes.  For me, however, while I prefer more cutthroat seasons, this one was also more unpredictable in it’s boot order (which I’ll talk about in the “Overall” section), and that, for me, makes it enjoyable.

The other drawback is that, while Borneo’s cast, even the early boots, were all memorable in some way, The Australian Outback’s was not, unfortunately.  Sure, it had a lot of highly memorable people, especially when compared to later seasons, but it had a few flops as well, particularly the early boots, who tended to have one (weak) defining characteristic.  Debb Eaton, the first boot, is remembered only because of an overblown scandal that came as a result of her being on the show.  Taking only what was on the show, she was actually quite a boring first boot.  I can’t really count her as unmemorable (given that I called Alicia memorable even though it was mainly for her actions in a later season) but if I’m really technical, she qualifies.  Kel Gleason is only remembered for being involved in the infamous “beef jerky” debacle, which really had less to do with him and more to do with Jerri than anyone.  Mitchell Olsen was tall, but otherwise turned in a very dull performance.  Kimmi Kappenberg is somewhat remembered for her refusal to eat cow brain at a challenge (due to her being a vegetarian), but beyond that, nothing.  These in and of themselves would be excusable, but a few flops made it through to the merge.  Amber Brkitch did nothing either of her seasons (and is only famous for winning “Survivor All-Stars”, which I’ll argue she shouldn’t have been on when we get there, and marrying Boston Rob [“Survivor Marquesas”]), Nick Brown really did nothing of note, and although I remember him fondly, Keith Famie is also remembered for almost nothing, save possibly being a bad chef.

Now, as I say, these are only a few people, and overall excusable.  However, compared to Borneo’s home run cast, they seem a little lackluster.

Score: 8 out of 10

CHALLENGES

This is where the true strength of The Australian Outback shows.  I mentioned in my earlier retrospective that although Borneo’s challenges were good, they were lacking in the epic quality of furture challenges.  This is not true of The Australian Outback.  Admittedly, some of this has to do with the location, which provides a fantastic backdrop for the challenges, the jumping off the cliff reward challenge in the second episode being a prime example.  Even so, though, the challenges have been increased in size, scale, and difficulty, again with a good mix of physical and mental challenges.  Now, many of these challenges did not become classics, as with most of the challenges of Borneo, but you’ll still find the genesis of some challenges here.  For instance, this is the origin of the food auction.  The one minor drawback of this season is the lack of Probst narration on this season.  Now, I know a lot of people find it annoying and distracting, but I think it’s funny, and without the narration, it was sometimes a little hard to tell who was ahead, such as on a sliding puzzle reward challenge.  Still, overall a very strong season on challenges.

Score: 9 out of 10

TWISTS

If challenges are The Australian Outback’s strength, then it’s twists are it’s weakness.  This was still before the concept of producer induced twists came about, so the only thing that could really be considered a “twist” in that sense is the fact that game time was increased to 42, and I’m not particularly fond of that twist.  It just felt like things were dragging, and just seemed wrong somehow.

Still, this season did give us a few people/nature related twists.  Although it was around since Borneo, this was the first time that the “previous votes” procedure for breaking deadlocked votes was implemented, and I did like it. It seemed appropriate, and fit in with the theme of past actions coming back to haunt a person.  However, I can see why they got rid of it, as it made for predictable gamplay in the event of deadlocked merges, and could lead to the inadvertent and untimely ousting of good characters, Jeff Varner of this season ing a prime example.  Also of note, this season was the first time that a blindsided vote went down pre-merge, when Colby, Keith, and Tina banded together to oust Mitchell.

Nature also played a part in twisting the game.  Mike Skupin falling in the fire is, of course, the ime example of this, and while it was dramatic, and interesting in and of that it had never happened before, it was painful for me, and wasn’t really a happy memory, as good twists should be.  Of course, one should not discount the equally infamous camp flooding.  I like this one a little more.  It was nice and dramatic, but still ended on a happy note, with Keith and Tina recovering the lost rice.

Probably the biggest twist, however, was that the game did not go down tribal lines post-merge.  Bear in mind, this season was heavilly influenced by Borneo.  Nearly everyone had seen it, and most people expected it to go down in a similar way.  This time, however, it was not a straight “Pagonging” as Borneo had been, but instead some nicer people were kept around at the expense of more annoying alliance mates.  This was shocking, and, to a degree, made for a less predictable boot order than Borneo, which is a major positive for me.

So, The Australian Outback had some good cast imposed twists.  On the whole, however, there were no producer twists, and a lot of the cast twists were painful to watch.

Score: 6 out of 10

OVERALL

I mentioned in my intro that objectively, this was the best season, and I should explain that.  First off, this is the season that produced the most all-star castways of any season (5 in all), even though I’d argue that Amber didn’t deserve to be a part of that, and many would argue that Alicia didn’t either.  Also, although Borneo produced the single most watched “Survivor” episode, The Australian Outback overall had higher viewer ratings.  The explanation for this is the same as for why the season is so fondly remembered.  The fact is that, although Borneo was enourmously influential and successful, it was a new show.  Word of mouth takes time to build up.  By the time it had, Borneo was pretty much over, and so The Australian Outback got the spillover, and managed to keep the viewership by being a fairly entertaining season.

Also, whereas Borneo voted along tribal lines, The Australian Outback changed it up a little, which, for me, made it more entertaining.

This nostalgia, however, paints it in a better light than it deserves, as The Australian Outback does have a couple of weak elements.  What ties it together is nostalgia of “classic” “Survivor” seasons, and the location, which is probably one of “Survivor”‘s best.  So does the season work?  Kind of, but you have to view it in the right light.

Score: 30 out of 40

ABSTRACT

If you watched and liked Borneo, you’ll probably like The Australian Outback.  If not, you should probably watch it anyway, as it is also one of the most talked about seasons of “Survivor”, and although it’s not the strongest in terms of gameplay, it’s a visual delight that will keep one entertained.

“Survivor” Retrospectives: Borneo

Hello, and welcome to… Wait a minute!  This can’t be “Idol Speculation”!  The off-season just started, there’s nothing to discuss!  Unless, of course, one wants to talk about the rumors that abound for the upcoming “Survivor Philippines”.

Thanks, but that’s actually not why I’m here.  Although it would be enthralling to discuss rumors about the upcoming season, I prefer to wait until the cast itself is announced, so that I have something substantial to discuss, rather than a few scattered rumors that may end up making me look like a fool, and making this blog utterly pointless.

No, I won’t be discussing rumors.  If you wish to find them, googling “Survivor Philippines USA” should allow you to find them with ease, and thereby draw your own conclusions.

I do, however, have the urge to write.  Blogging about “Survivor” is a joy for me, and can no longer be contained merely when a new season is airing.  With that in mind, I’ve decided to start doing a feature in the off-season, which I like to call (rather lamely) “Survivor Retrospectives”.  During the off-season, I’ll look back at old seasons of “Survivor” and give them my honest assessment.  To organize things a little more, all “Survivor Retrospectives” will follow the same format: A short opening teaser paragraph in which I make some snide remarks about how this season is normally perceived vs. how I perceive it.  This will be followed by my analysis of 4 categories: Cast, Challenges, Twists (both the official ones and those made by the contestants themselves), and Overall.  To make for simpler analysis, the first 3 categories will be given marks out of 10.  The 4^th category will be a mark out of 40, totaling the 1^st 3 scores, and adding another mark out of 10 for the overall effect of the season, as well as how it fits with the theme it set for itself.

A quick word of warning: as you might guess from the fact that I discuss the season’s overall impact, I will be writing this blog assuming that my readers have already seen the season, and just want to see what I think of it.  As such, my blog will contain spoilers for the season.  For those who want my recommendation for whether or not to watch the season, and accordingly don’t want spoilers, I will be including an Abstract section at the bottom of the page, in which I give a non-spoilered recommendation as to whether the season is worth a watch or not, so you might want to skip down to that.  Also, as this blog is no longer tied to immediacy upon seeing an episode (as I’ll analyze the season overall, not episode by episode), this will be more casual than “Idol Speculation”.  I will try to make the installments weekly, but I may miss a week or two due to outside events, so please don’t be disturbed if I disappear for a while, and don’t be surprised if this blog isn’t as reliable as “Idol Speculation”.

Ok, enough formality!  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the “Survivor”!

Yes, and where better to start off a look back at “Survivor” seasons past then with Borneo?  Easily the most recognizable season of all, not to mention the 2^nd most viewed program episode of the last decade (only the finale of “Friends” attracted more viewers), your average “Survivor” analyst will usually declare this the “best” season.  Now, while I don’t deny its impact, and certainly its importance in “Survivor” lore, I do have to admit, I don’t think it’s everything people say it is.  Let’s analyze why, beginning with the cast.

CAST

Now, I’ve already admitted that I’m not as fond of Borneo as most viewers are, but I will not deny that this was a home-run cast for “Survivor”.  While CBS does a good job of casting overall (save a few seasons that shall be saved for a later analysis), there’s usually one or two people who don’t really have a personality in the season, and are forgotten quickly.  This is the one season of “Survivor” in which I can honestly say that I remember vividly at least one defining thing about each castaway.  With a cast of 16, this is no small feat, and shows that each brought something unique and interesting to the table.  Ok, so it could be argued that certain people brought little or nothing to the table (Stacey Stillman comes to mind as not having had that many great moments), but the point is, you still remember them.  This is partly by virtue of this being most viewers’ first season of “Survivor”, and how iconic it’s become in the pop culture lexicon, but the cast itself needs credit as well.  Of course, just being memorable is not enough, and you need some castaways that particularly stand out to make a cast truly good.  And boy, did this season have some stand outs!  Winner Richard Hatch immediately comes to mind as the self-proclaimed “Gay, Naked Guy” that “Survivor” is associated with.  He’s so well known that even my friends who have never seen the show will make quips about the winners of the show having to stroll around in the nude.  If that isn’t recognizability, I don’t know what is.  Richard is not alone in his notoriety, however.  Sue Hawk’s “Snakes and Rats” speech at final tribal council is fairly famous (and, by sheer coincidence, so is Sue), and Rudy Boesch is also rather well known at this point.  Even castaways who didn’t quite make the final episode are still fairly well known.  Gervase Peterson and Jenna Lewis are both fairly well remembered even to this day (though in the case of the latter, this may be more due to a well publicized sex tape of herself and her husband than her performance in the actual game).  In fact, one didn’t even have to make the merge to be famous.  Sonja Christopher, to this day, is the prototypical first boot.  Partly by virtue of being the “first” cast, and partly by virtue of being well remembered, these are the people that new castaways are most often compared to.

Another factor that the Borneo cast has going for it is the diversity.  While “Survivor” does endeavor to get “16 strangers, all from different walks of life…” the success to which it does this varies, and particularly in the years where recruiting has become more common, the diversity of strategies and personalities is much less.  Borneo, however, was pure.  Everyone had a distinct personality, and the cast itself was a good mix of people.  You had those who were brainy, those who were brawny, and those who were a good mix of the two, with everything in between.  There were castaways to like, castaways to hate, and castaways to debate furiously with your friends.  At no time did I feel that two castaways were fulfilling the same role, each making the other redundant.  This sort of casting is essential for a successful “Survivor” season, and in this case, Borneo pulls it off perfectly.

Score: 10 out of 10

CHALLENGES

The challenges of “Survivor Borneo” are a little harder to dissect than the cast.  Again, as Borneo was the first season, it can be credited with inventing a lot of the challenges and challenge concepts that we take so for granted nowadays.  Borneo gave us, amongst others: The use of fire in the 1^st immunity challenge, the “Fallen Comrades” challenge, “Hand on a Hard Idol”, balance beam mazes, trivia contests, rope mazes, obstacle courses, and many other things that still make their way into challenges today.  So in that sense, Borneo can be credited with all challenges that came in future.  However, despite all this, the challenges in Borneo still feel off somehow.  I’ll talk about this more in the “Overall” section, but partly due to the location, the challenges just felt small and hashed together, rather than large and professional like they would in later seasons.  In other words, the challenges in Borneo, I suppose, feel more real than later challenges, which again, I’ll discuss the impact of in the “Overall” section, but suffice to say I’m not that fond of it.

Still, for all that I’ve seemingly trashed the challenges of Borneo, there are a lot of things to like about them.  Like the castaways, the challenges were diverse, having mental, physical, and endurance challenges available.  Again, it’s a nice mix, although I will say that the challenges overall were more physical than mental, which very slightly works against it.

For all that I call the challenges “small”, I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re “boring”.  They are different from what we’re used to, generally taking up a smaller chunk of the episode than later seasons would, as well as missing narration by Jeff Probst, for better or worse (I personally enjoy Probst’s narration, and so miss it).  However, this does not make them boring.  You are certainly invested in their outcome, and for the most part, they’re fun to watch, providing an excellent combination of humor and drama.

Overall, while I’ll go more into my criticisms of the challenges in the “Overall” sections (and I’m sure you tire of hearing that phrase by now), Borneo’s challenges are alright.  They’re dramatic and solid, a good mix with a few minor nitpicks on my part.

Score: 8 out of 10.

TWISTS

This, in my opinion, is really where Borneo starts to fall apart.  It’s not really a fault of the season but the fact is, as it went first, Borneo really had no major twists, certainly not in the sense that we think of them these days, and I feel it works against the season a bit.

For my money, I can only think of two major twists.  The first was the “Salvage the Boat” opening, which was, admittedly a good opening for the season.  It plunges the viewer quickly into the action, and makes for some drama, as well as showing various castaway strengths and weaknesses.

The second “twist” however, was done by the castaways themselves, and is not to be taken lightly.  I’m speaking, of course, of the alliance orchestrated by Richard Hatch.  Now, given what “Survivor” has evolved into, this doesn’t really seem like a twist, but the fact was, “Survivor” was originally designed to be “survival of the fittest”.  It still is, but back in Borneo, this was meant much more literally than it is now.  The physically strong and outdoorsy were supposed to weed out the weak and brainy, leading the ultimate survivalist to victory.  No one predicted, going in, that social politics could be so key, that man more known for his mental capacity than anything could arise victorious.  This was mind blowing to most viewers, and at the time stirred up much debate.  Still, by today’s standards, forming an alliance is not exactly a major twist, and the “Salvage the Boat” twist, while good, is nothing spectacular.

Borneo, however, has the benefit of being the first season, and as such the impact of the twists cannot be denied.  While the “Salvage the Boat” twist, did impact the start of later seasons, it’s somewhat debatable how big of a twist it is.  Hatch’s alliance, however, is undebatably a huge twist!  Single handedly, Richard Hatch planted the seeds of how “Survivor” would be played from now on.  Without him, it is safe to say that alliances, in other words what makes up the crux of the game in modern day, would not have come about.  Hardly a small matter to be easily tossed aside, this.

So, while Borneo’s twists on their own are not great or exciting, they’re solid, and not mistakes like we’ll see in other seasons, their impact is undeniable, and thus, the twists do have to be acknowledged.

Score: 7 out of 10.

OVERALL

So Borneo’s got some high scores, but how well does it all come together?  Well, that’s a very iffy subject.  The thing with Borneo is that while the twists and challenges are alright by themselves, the castaways are what truly bind this season together.  Borneo would have been thoroughly unremarkable had it not been for the cast being such a good one, and I can safely say that viewership would have greatly decreased if the cast had been different.  This is not bad, in and of itself, but it does make the season seem weaker overall.

Another thing that, to a degree, drags Borneo down is the theme.  Whereas other locations tried to tie the theme to the season with the local, Borneo was picked to be the “every-island”, the prototype people picture when they think of being stranded on a desert island.  As such, the theme of the season was basically “shipwreck”, and the look of the season reflects this.  Everything seems “grittier” I suppose.  The camerawork is fuzzier and less precise, and things look less well-put together than in later seasons.  Put it this way, when it comes to the style of later seasons (particularly given immunity idols and tribal council) I always felt that it looked authentic.  I could see the peoples of that culture actually making these things, and decorating them the same way the “Survivor” art department did.  With Borneo, it all seemed very cheesy and fake, more like the stereotypical 1960’s movie interpretation of what island culture was like, rather than what authentic island culture was like.  This leaked its way into the challenges as well.  Although I applaud the challenge department for making the challenges from local materials (which did add a little air of authenticity), it made the challenges look a bit flimsy, and less challenging than the epics of later seasons, which is part of what dragged down the “challenge” category.

This slapdash nature also meant that the show was inconsistent at times.  Although some staples remain, there were several episodes, particularly early ones, that tried new things to see if they worked.  For instance, Tribal Council 3 saw Tagi tribe passing around a conch shell to be able to talk (a la Lord of the Flies), which was never seen again after that tribal council.  For me, this made the season seem more disorganized, and detracted from the overall effect.

On the other hand, this “thrown together” nature of the theme works, in a strange way, to the show’s advantage as well.  As I said before, it was supposed to be “survival of the fittest” played out in real life, and Borneo was designed to evoke stereotypes of being shipwrecked.  In that sense, it played out perfectly, matching exactly people’s expectations, even if it didn’t exactly match “reality”.

So, if the season seems thrown together and is held up solely by the cast, why do people like it so much?  The answer, I think, lies in expectations.  When “Survivor Borneo” premiered, people had expectations that were thoroughly shattered as the results played themselves out.  People had never seen this sort of lying and betrayal displayed so publicly before then, and this shock helped cement the season in the public’s collective consciousness, and the effect of nostalgia makes people remember it fondly.  In this sense, Borneo was blessed in getting to be the first season, as by today’s standards, it’s merely “ok”.  There’s no real major twists (not as much lying and betraying as later seasons, and people actually have consciences) and the challenges are only so-so.  This, perhaps, is why I don’t remember Borneo so fondly as others.  I had seen several seasons before I came to Borneo (for those wondering, the first season that I saw which I actually recognized for what it was was “Survivor Guatemala”), so to me, the season didn’t shock and awe, it just seemed like a bunch of people who didn’t know how to play the game.  Still, I remember my shock and awe when I first saw “Survivor”, and, if I apply that feeling to “Survivor Borneo”, it becomes much better.

I think “Survivor Borneo” is a season better remembered than watched.  By today’s standards, it’s rather boring, but its impact cannot be denied.

Score: 33 out of 40.

ABSTRACT

On the whole, Borneo is a fairly interesting season, that should keep the viewer at least mildly entertained.  For a person wanting to watch a single season and get an overall sense of what “Survivor” is like, this is not the season I would recommend, as it deviates drastically from later seasons.  Still, it was very influential in how later castaways would play the game, and for the completionist, or for the new viewer wishing to get the references made by other analysts, or just wanting to see the origin of the show, this season is definitely a must see, and a good, diverting way to spend a week.

And there you have it!  I hope you all like this new feature, and be on the lookout for my review of “Survivor The Australian Outback” sometime next week!

-Matt