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For 39 days, 16 castaways were stranded in Asia.  Every 3 days on the island became a 1-hour show.  The first contestant eliminated pockets $2500.  Each successive eliminated contestant wins more money, through the next-to-last Survivor, who receives $100,000.  The final Survivor wins a million dollars!

Images (C) 2002 CBS, Inc. and Mark Burnett Productions. This page is in no way associated with CBS, Mark Burnett Productions, or the Survivor production.

Day one: Let's meet the Survivors...

Upon landing on Koh Tarutao Island, the sixteen are separated by gender. Cue Jeff and his almighty host boat of justice (patent pending). Was Jeff there to separate the tribes into male-female? Of course not. Where would the fun be in that? But before we see who'll join up on Chuay Ghan (Gordon's covering Sook Jai this season), let's meet all of the tribesmen...

Brian Heidik - 34; Quartz Hill, CA; Used car salesman
Clay Jordan - 46; Monroe, LA; Restaurateur
Erin Collins - 26; Austin; Real estate agent
Ghandia Johnson - 33; Denver; Legal secretary
Helen Glover - 47; Middletown, RI; Navy swim instructor
Jake Billingsley - 61; McKinney, TX; Land broker
Jan Gentry - 53; Tampa; Teacher
Jed Hildebrand - 25; Dallas; Dental student
John Raymond - 40; Slidell, LA; pastor
Ken Stafford - 30; Brooklyn; NYPD (compiler puts on NYPD salute hat)
Penny Ramsey - 27; Plano, TX, Pharmaceutical sales
Robb Zbacnik - 23; Scottsdale, AZ; Bartender
Shii Ann Huang - 28; New York City; Executive recruiter
Stephanie Dill - 29; Fayetteville (hey, a town... oh, never mind), AR; Firefighter
Tanya Vance - 27; Kingsport, TN; Social worker
Ted Rogers, Jr. - 37; Durham, NC (hey, a townie!); Software developer

So we met the sixteen, they met each other, Jeff met them, and they met Jeff. Well met. Then Jake and Jan are chosen, because they are the elders, and as such, they are revered. They will choose the tribe color, name, and beach. Jake chose purple, Sook Jai (happy heart), and the water beach. Jan chose orange, Chuay Gahn (help one another), and the sheltered cave beach. One by one, Jan chose many of the elder members of the group, those being Clay, Helen, John, and Ted. Rounding out the eight I'll cover are Ghandia, Tanya, and Brian. Tribes chosen, the teams row to their respective homes. It's a long row, so as to give the producers enough time to set up and post flags. I don't know; CBS is just weird like that. Some thoughts:

Helen: "They were thinking it was a race, and we knew it wasn't."

John: "None of our team understood how to paddle a boat."

Tanya: "John in particularly wants to get here as fast as we could. I'm the youngest one here. I got stuck with the group that I don't think I could relate to."

Arriving on the beach, the Chuay Ghan have made their first big discovery: a cave. Shelter from monsoon rains, check. Onto the matter of food. While wading in the low tide, Ghandia found it. "We got all kinds of food, y'all. There is so much shellfish, there are shellfish stuck on top of shellfish!" Jan helped with the declawing. Ted also finds coconuts. Food, check. Now all they need is fresh water. They'll save that for tomorrow morning. As night fell, the Chuay Gahn tribe returned to their beach with
buckets of crab and oysters.

The most touching of sentiments came from Ted: "We are no longer a team... We are a FAMILY."

(I know I'd leave Sook Jai to Gordon, but still, I have to say that it seems that they're playing Strip Survivor. Next one voted out loses their pants... And there they go.)

Day 2: A Combination Guaranteed to Make You Say...

John notes as day breaks, "Tanya got a little sick." They cut to the girl vomiting. They all come to the conclusion that she was dehydrated. If ever was a time to look for water...  The tide was coming in as the tribe split up, already scaling cliff after cliff, with Helen, John, and Tanya canoeing around the island's remote innards and the rest of the tribe swimming around. Helen and John find two water sources, a fresh watering hole and a muddy creek of ... mud. John devised a plan to trick the others into thinking that an "ugly, brackish pool" of water was actually the real water source. John showed them the creek, then the actual watering hole. Everyone was relieved and amused, except for Ghandia; "It wasn't really a time to joke about that," she noted.

Day 3: Tree Mail:

"You worked with your tribemates; you're conclusions are drawn.
But in this first Challenge, you'll need brains and brawn.
You'll all want to stay to experience this heaven,
But losing today will bring your tribe to seven."

This can only mean one thing...

I-CHALLENGE: Flying Your Flag.

The tribes must race around a small island by paddling a boat. Along the way they must visit several stations (a maze, then a deep-sea dive, and a sliding puzzle) where one player must complete the task. First tribe to release all three flags and return to Jeff's plank wins the Immunity Buddha and avoids the first Tribal.

Chuay Gahn leads until the sliding puzzle, where Ghandia takes too much time. She eventually completes it, and the men in orange try to play catch-up. But in the end, Sook Jai would win and the Chuay Gahn would have a date with Jeff at the docks for Tribal Council.

So far, there have been two candidates for expulsion: Ghandia, who took too long on the puzzle ( "I am a legal secretary; I work with facts. The fact is that we had a big lead, and I took too long with that puzzle. So now I am feeling like it is time for a sister to go.") and Tanya, who threw up more than she ate ("I have been sick and I can't control what my body does, but I am still going to try to stay here.").

Night 3: Tribal Council

We've heard the story before, so I won't waste valuable bandwidth with it. They start talking about Ghandia messing up the puzzle and how she feels responsible for it. Then Clay speaks about getting along with seven perfect stranger. John says it hasn't been troubling. Brian talks about being a used car salesman. "It's all about love. It's a beautiful thing." Then Jeff chimes in and says, "Someone always has the unfortunate distinction of being the first one voted out of the tribe." Let's see the votes.

John - GHANDIA: You have a killer smile; God bless you. It's a killer game. Have a great vacation.

Helen - CLAY: I think he might be a little better off than the rest of us.

Jan - JOHN: "In the long run, we can do better without the tension.

One for each. Now, the rest of the votes.

Brian - JOHN
Clay - JOHN
Ghandia - JOHN
Tanya - JOHN
Ted - JOHN

So, God help ya, John, but THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN. "Now go back to camp and build your world; in three days, anything can happen." Wait, that's S4.. Never mind.