Survivor: Borneo
Survivor: Borneo is the first season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. It was originally broadcast without a season title, but was later officially given the retroactive title of Survivor: Borneo to distinguish it from subsequent seasons. The show filmed from March 13 through April 20, 2000, and premiered on May 31, 2000. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of 39 days of gameplay with 16 competitors. It was set in the South China Sea on the remote Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga in the state of Sabah, about off the north coast of Borneo, Malaysia.
The 16 contestants were initially separated into two tribes, Tagi and Pagong, which represented the names of their beaches. When 10 players remained, the contestants merged into one tribe, Rattana. While Tagi and Pagong's names and makeups were picked by the producers, Rattana was named by contestants Sean Kenniff and Jenna Lewis, because of the rattan wood that was at their camp. After 39 days of competition, corporate trainer Richard Hatch was named the Sole Survivor, defeating whitewater rafting guide Kelly Wiglesworth in a 4–3 jury vote.
On August 23, 2000, the Survivor: Borneo finale received the highest ratings of any Survivor episode to date with an average of 51.7 million viewers. Nielsen reported that 125 million people watched at least some part of the finale. The season was released on DVD on May 11, 2004. In 2006, it was revealed that Hatch failed to declare his winnings, among other earnings, in his tax return and was sentenced to 51 months' imprisonment.
Production
Over 6,000 people applied for the show; 800 were then interviewed in 16 cities. Forty-eight people were then chosen, and after background checks and psychological evaluations done by the producers, the final 16 contestants and two alternates were picked.As the survivors awaited the game's start, Survivor crews prepared the island for reward and immunity challenges, removing harmful items, checking for harmful animals in specific locations, and building a Tribal Council set. Camera and other crews were sent to the island three weeks in advance for testing. On the opposite side of the island from the tribes, headquarters were set up for the producers and crew to live in. This facility included traditional trailers with running water, televisions, and a phone line. The Tribal Council set was built 200 yards from the crew's facility.
On March 7, 2000, the contestants were flown to Los Angeles, then to the city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. From there they were taken by boat to their island. Contestants were not allowed to speak to one another until they got on the boat headed toward their beaches. The two tribes shared the island of Tiga, which was divided by over of forest. They were surrounded by wildlife such as pythons, kraits, adders, monkeys, monitor lizards, and white-bellied sea eagles. Filming began on March 13, 2000 and lasted until April 20, 2000.
Contestants
There were 16 contestants, divided into two tribes, Pagong and Tagi. After six contestants were eliminated, the tribes were merged to form one tribe, Rattana. The final seven eliminated contestants made up the jury that decided who would win the game and the $1 million grand prize.| Contestant | Original tribe | Merged tribe | Finish |
| ' 63, Walnut Creek, California | |||
| ' † 64, Mission Hills, Kansas | |||
| ' 27, San Francisco, California | |||
| ' 29, Edison, New Jersey | |||
| ' 23, Spring Green, Wisconsin | |||
| ' 27, Sherwood, Arkansas | |||
| ' 38, Clarksville, Tennessee | rowspan=10 | ||
| ' 24, Gold Hill, Colorado | - | ||
| ' 22, Franklin, New Hampshire | - | ||
| ' 30, Willingboro, New Jersey | - | ||
| ' 23, Miami Beach, Florida | - | ||
| ' 30, Carle Place, New York | - | ||
| ' 38, Palmyra, Wisconsin | - | ||
| ' † 72, Virginia Beach, Virginia | - | ||
| ' 22, Kernville, California | - | ||
| ' 39, Newport, Rhode Island | - |
Future appearances
, Richard Hatch, Susan Hawk and Jenna Lewis returned to Survivor for '. Gervase Peterson returned for ' alongside his niece, Marissa. Kelly Wiglesworth returned for .Outside of Survivor, the Borneo cast have made many appearances on other TV programs and film. Colleen Haskell appeared in a lead role in 2001 film The Animal opposite actor Rob Schneider. Hatch competed in the 11th season of The Apprentice and appeared on the 17th season of The Biggest Loser.
Season summary
The contestants were divided into two tribes of eight: Tagi and Pagong. The tribes fared equally in challenges but differed in organizational structure. Pagong was dominated by the younger, more carefree members, whereas four Tagi contestants—Kelly, Richard, Rudy, and Sue—formed an alliance, choosing to vote as a bloc to ensure their safety. When ten players remained—five from each tribe—the tribes merged into one, Rattana. The alliance strategy proved successful, and the four took advantage of the other contestants' lack of voting strategy to gain dominance. There was dissension in the alliance as Kelly was deemed untrustworthy, but she won four consecutive immunity challenges and was ineligible for elimination.When only the four alliance members remained, the vote initially ended in a draw; close allies Richard and Rudy voted for Susan, and Susan and Kelly voted for Richard. On the revote, Kelly decided to switch her vote and Susan was eliminated. After winning the final immunity challenge, Kelly decided to eliminate Rudy because she believed she had a better chance against Richard. At the final Tribal Council, Susan lambasted Kelly for switching her vote and proclaimed her support for Richard. Richard's strategic prowess and leadership were valued over Kelly's impressive challenge performances, and the jury awarded him the title of Sole Survivor by a vote of 4–3.
Episodes
Voting history
;NotesReception
Ratings
By the second week, the show had already gained over 18 million viewers, beating ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?s ratings. After the season finale, Carter said that Survivor "built over a 13-week run to what was expected last night to be the biggest single television audience ever assembled for a summer television series, far eclipsed every expectation the network had when it acquired the rights to the show last year." Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS Television, said that "it has beaten our expectations by about double." The finale of Survivor was watched by 51.7 million viewers, the second-highest viewership of any American television episode during the first decade of the 21st century, exceeded only by the finale of Friends. The finale had higher ratings than the World Series, NBA finals, NCAA men's basketball finals, and Grammy Awards of that year. CBS was able to make the cost of commercial advertisers up to $600,000 during the season finale.Survivor'' was the surprise summer hit show of the season garnering an average of 28.3 million viewers with a 12.1/36 share in the 18/49 market over its 13-week run. The season had the second-highest ranking and the second-highest average viewers of the entire series, behind '. In addition to the most finale viewers, it also had the most reunion viewers.
Critical reception
Survivor: Borneo initially received mixed reactions in the media. The New York Times Bill Carter wrote that Survivor has "clearly begun to emerge as part of the wider culture, with news and discussion about the show widespread on television and radio talk shows and coverage increasing in newspapers." On the Late Show with David Letterman, David Letterman began a segment titled "Top 10 Things That'll Get You Thrown Off the Survivor Island." During the first season, USA Today covered the show like a sporting event, listing which participant was voted off. USA Today also held a poll to see who viewers would have voted off. With 26 percent, Susan Hawk won the poll, although it had no effect on the game, as Susan made it to 4th place. CBS's The Early Show held an interview with each contestant the day after the episode in which they were voted off aired.Survivor: Borneo was criticized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in response to footage showing the contestants trapping rats on the island, initially for fish bait but later for human consumption.
Susan Hawk's "snakes and rats" speech during the final Tribal Council has been cited as one of the greatest and most memorable speeches in the show's history.
Despite the initially mixed reception, Borneo has undergone significant critical reappraisal and is now considered one of the best seasons of the series. Probst consistently ranks it as his favorite, equating it to a "first girlfriend." Entertainment Weekly columnist Dalton Ross ranks Borneo tied for first with ', saying "Borneo now seems dated and tame by comparison, but it's the biggest game changer in the past 20 years of television...If you ask me which is the most important season, well, obviously it's Borneo." Borneo is also ranked the best season by Examiner.com and Zap2it, and second behind ' by The Wire. Survivor fan site "Survivor Oz" has consistently ranked Borneo in the top 10 in every one of its annual polls ranking all seasons of the series; it was 5th in 2012, 6th in 2013, and 8th in 2014. Another prominent Survivor fan site, "The Purple Rock Podcast," ranked Borneo the 10th best season in 2015. Fifteen years later, in the CBS Watch official issue commemorating the 15th anniversary and 30th season of Survivor, Borneo was ranked the seventh-greatest season of the series by a viewer poll. In another poll in the same magazine, Hatch's win at the end of the season was voted by viewers as the #5 most memorable moment in the series. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club noted that the 5th episode, "Pulling Your Own Weight", was one of the season's most influential segments. In this episode, the Tagi alliance led by Hatch secretly worked together to vote Dirk off the island, surprising many of the remaining contestants, who were shocked to discover the alliance. Murray noted that while this sentiment towards alliances at the time seemed controversial and against the spirit of the show, it formed the basis for most future Survivor series and reality television in general, and highlighted the lengths to which players on reality television shows would go to win the game.