Episode Name: The Marooning
Original Airdate: May 31, 2000
Here we are - 39 days, 16 contestants, 1 million dollars.
This episode doesn't waste time - the two tribes, Tagi and Pagong, have already been chosen. Here are the contestants, with their profession and age:
Tagi:
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| Sean Kenniff - Doctor [30] |
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| Kelly Wiglesworth - River guide [22] |
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| Rudy Boesch - Retired Navy Seal [72] |
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| Sonja Christopher - Musician [63] |
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| Richard Hatch - Corporate trainer [38] |
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| Susan Hawk - Truck driver [38] |
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| Dirk Been - Dairy farmer [23] |
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| Stacey Stillman - Attorney [27] |
Pagong:
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| Gervase Peterson - Youth basketball coach [30] |
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| Colleen Haskell - College student [23] |
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| B.B. Andersen - Real Estate developer [64] |
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| Ramona Gray - Biochemist [28] |
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| Gretchen Cordy - Teacher [38] |
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| Greg Buis - Recent college graduate [24] |
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| Jenna Lewis - College student [22] |
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| Joel Klug - Health Club consultant [27] |
For Tagi, rifts arise quickly. Richard would prefer to discuss what steps they need to take to accomplish their goals, while most of the tribe is more action-orientated, such as Susan. Kelly has immediate problems with Rudy's bossiness. Richard has problems hiding his disappointment of the disorganization of his tribe, and his tone comes across as condescending to some tribe mates. The next day, Sean tends to Sonja, who cut her legs (due to thinner skin and her age, she believes). Despite working hard, Tagi is unable to get a fire going.
On Pagong, Ramona has difficulty on the raft (being a biochemist, she doesn't get out much) and appears greatly weakened when they reach their camp. Still, she and B.B. are able to find the water after an hour, and later, Gretchen makes a fire using B.B.'s glasses. B.B. rubs most of the tribe the wrong way, though, with his hard-working attitude. Joel, Colleen, and Greg, in B.B.'s eyes, are all lazy. Gretchen tries to reason with B.B., and let him know how he comes across, but comes across as bossy to her also. Gretchen worries that B.B. will burn out, ruining their chances of winning the Reward and Immunity challenges.
Speaking of the challenges, the Reward and Immunity challenges are combined into one in this episode (the prize being waterproof matches). During the physical challenge, Tagi and Pagong are close at the beginning, but Pagong comes out ahead, partially due to Sonja struggling to stay upward, causing significant delay.
Rudy discovers that despite his preconceived beliefs, he meshes well with Richard ("He's fat, but he's good"). The same can be said vice versa, as Richard enjoys Rudy's straight-forward attitude. Sonja feels responsible for the loss, while Rudy considers that he may be voted off for being older. Susan gives an amusing confessional in which she says that Stacey believes Susan to be voting for Rudy, but she's actually not.
At Tribal Council, Sonja states that despite her age, she is perfectly able to carry on with the tribe. Unfortunately, this doesn't work, as she becomes the first individual voted off of Borneo, and Survivor as a whole.
The vote count, with the parenthesis indicating who voted for that person.
Sonja: 4 [Susan, Rudy, Sean, Dirk]
Rudy: 3 [Stacey, Sonja, Kelly]
Stacey: 1 [Richard]
The first episode, and season in general, is really interesting to watch if you're familiar with modern-day Survivor. Personally, I've not watched the show in something like 15 seasons now, but this is quite far removed from what many viewers have come to known. Case in point: during the challenge in this episode, instead of Jeff supplying us with updates, we have dated techno music playing throughout. Quite simply, it just feels different.
Before I go on and give my analysis, I want to make this clear: I know the winner of this season (most Survivor fans do). I know the winner of the first eight seasons, to be perfectly honest. Anything after that, well, it's been too long to remember the specifics. Because of this, I cannot give a completely non-biased analysis of each contestant, because I know that some will surprise us and last longer than expected, and others will be voted out before we really get to know them. But I'll do what I can.
On the teams themselves, I think Pagong has an advantage when it comes to physical challenges. Gervase, Greg, and Joel all look like they can hold their own, while Tagi really only has Sean and Dirk (you could argue Richard, but he's not the typical strong guy). On the other hand, Rudy gets along better with Tagi than B.B. does with his tribe. Plus, Ramona could be a weak link, given her weakened state in this episode. Tagi got rid of their obvious weak link this episode (Rudy, despite his age, seems quite able to physically compete), so one would hope that would make them more successful as they move on. But just looking at the team dynamics, physically, Pagong appears a stronger team.
This episode was featured far more on Tagi than it was Pagong. Partly, this is because Tagi lost the challenge so their drama is more interesting to cover than Pagong's victory celebrations. As such, we got to see a bit of most Tagi members. We didn't really see much of Kelly, Stacey, or Dirk, so my opinions on them are not quite formed. Sean seems a decent guy, and being a doctor (neurosurgeon, to be specific) shows that he is willing to work hard. Rudy, while gruff, seems to know what he's doing, though I highly doubt he can play the social aspect of this game really well. Richard, I liked also, as the way he approaches this game seems far more fine-tuned than how Susan came in (they're disagreement in this episode was perhaps my favorite scene). Speaking of Susan, while she may well be a strong competitor, I won't lie - her accent is quite grating to me. Hopefully, it'll wear off as the series continues.
For many Pagong members, we don't really learn much. Gervase, Colleen, Greg, Jenna, and Joel are sort of just there. Joel can't stand B.B., but from the lot of them, this is about all we know. B.B. is much like Rudy, only he seems more vocal about his displeasure with other tribe mates. I sense that B.B. will have a far harder time in Pagong than Rudy will in Tagi. I don't even disagree with B.B. on this point, but it's not the way to go if you actually are looking to win. Ramona seems out of her element here, but that might wear off as the season progresses. Gretchen seems a very nice woman, partially, I am guessing, because she's a pre-school teacher. Instead of ignoring B.B. like others did, she explained to him her perspective calmly, and unlike Joel, did not give up when annoyed. Quite simply, she came across as a polite individual in this episode, so hopefully she can make that work with the group.
As for Sonja, well, she seems like a very nice lady. Optimistic, willing to help out the tribe by playing music for them, Sonja was a perfectly fun and loving individual. Her lack of physical prowess notwithstanding, she could have been one of the more popular contestants. As such, she was a weak link, so pragmatically, it's good that she was booted out, and on good terms too.
It was close, though. Rudy had three votes, Sonja had four. While it's obvious why Sonja voted Rudy, Stacey and Kelly teaming up on him (and trying to get Susan to join in) was interesting. We know from her confessionals that Stacey considers Rudy too bossy, but beyond that, we don't know much. As for Kelly, I am guessing she just followed Stacey's line of thought and voted Rudy because Stacey did. Most interesting, though, is Richard's vote for Stacey. You can tell that Stacey obviously didn't expect it, and even Richard seems unable (or unwilling) to describe exactly why he voted for her. Not voting for the obvious choice shows that Richard isn't using the same thought process that many contestants seem to be.
Contestants who stood out positively in this episode include Richard, Rudy, and Gretchen. Everyone else either didn't leave an impression, or we didn't learn much about.
Next episode
The vote count, with the parenthesis indicating who voted for that person.
Sonja: 4 [Susan, Rudy, Sean, Dirk]
Rudy: 3 [Stacey, Sonja, Kelly]
Stacey: 1 [Richard]
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| Sonja following the extinguishing of her torch |
Before I go on and give my analysis, I want to make this clear: I know the winner of this season (most Survivor fans do). I know the winner of the first eight seasons, to be perfectly honest. Anything after that, well, it's been too long to remember the specifics. Because of this, I cannot give a completely non-biased analysis of each contestant, because I know that some will surprise us and last longer than expected, and others will be voted out before we really get to know them. But I'll do what I can.
On the teams themselves, I think Pagong has an advantage when it comes to physical challenges. Gervase, Greg, and Joel all look like they can hold their own, while Tagi really only has Sean and Dirk (you could argue Richard, but he's not the typical strong guy). On the other hand, Rudy gets along better with Tagi than B.B. does with his tribe. Plus, Ramona could be a weak link, given her weakened state in this episode. Tagi got rid of their obvious weak link this episode (Rudy, despite his age, seems quite able to physically compete), so one would hope that would make them more successful as they move on. But just looking at the team dynamics, physically, Pagong appears a stronger team.
This episode was featured far more on Tagi than it was Pagong. Partly, this is because Tagi lost the challenge so their drama is more interesting to cover than Pagong's victory celebrations. As such, we got to see a bit of most Tagi members. We didn't really see much of Kelly, Stacey, or Dirk, so my opinions on them are not quite formed. Sean seems a decent guy, and being a doctor (neurosurgeon, to be specific) shows that he is willing to work hard. Rudy, while gruff, seems to know what he's doing, though I highly doubt he can play the social aspect of this game really well. Richard, I liked also, as the way he approaches this game seems far more fine-tuned than how Susan came in (they're disagreement in this episode was perhaps my favorite scene). Speaking of Susan, while she may well be a strong competitor, I won't lie - her accent is quite grating to me. Hopefully, it'll wear off as the series continues.
For many Pagong members, we don't really learn much. Gervase, Colleen, Greg, Jenna, and Joel are sort of just there. Joel can't stand B.B., but from the lot of them, this is about all we know. B.B. is much like Rudy, only he seems more vocal about his displeasure with other tribe mates. I sense that B.B. will have a far harder time in Pagong than Rudy will in Tagi. I don't even disagree with B.B. on this point, but it's not the way to go if you actually are looking to win. Ramona seems out of her element here, but that might wear off as the season progresses. Gretchen seems a very nice woman, partially, I am guessing, because she's a pre-school teacher. Instead of ignoring B.B. like others did, she explained to him her perspective calmly, and unlike Joel, did not give up when annoyed. Quite simply, she came across as a polite individual in this episode, so hopefully she can make that work with the group.
As for Sonja, well, she seems like a very nice lady. Optimistic, willing to help out the tribe by playing music for them, Sonja was a perfectly fun and loving individual. Her lack of physical prowess notwithstanding, she could have been one of the more popular contestants. As such, she was a weak link, so pragmatically, it's good that she was booted out, and on good terms too.
It was close, though. Rudy had three votes, Sonja had four. While it's obvious why Sonja voted Rudy, Stacey and Kelly teaming up on him (and trying to get Susan to join in) was interesting. We know from her confessionals that Stacey considers Rudy too bossy, but beyond that, we don't know much. As for Kelly, I am guessing she just followed Stacey's line of thought and voted Rudy because Stacey did. Most interesting, though, is Richard's vote for Stacey. You can tell that Stacey obviously didn't expect it, and even Richard seems unable (or unwilling) to describe exactly why he voted for her. Not voting for the obvious choice shows that Richard isn't using the same thought process that many contestants seem to be.
Contestants who stood out positively in this episode include Richard, Rudy, and Gretchen. Everyone else either didn't leave an impression, or we didn't learn much about.
Next episode
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