Survivor: All-Stars


Survivor: All-Stars is the eighth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. It was filmed from November 3, 2003, through December 11, 2003, and premiered on February 1, 2004, after Super Bowl XXXVIII. It was filmed on the Pearl Islands of Panama, also the location of the. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of the usual 39 days of gameplay with, for the first time, 18 returning competitors from the seven previous seasons instead of the usual 16 new contestants, and three tribes instead of the usual two.
The winner was ' castaway Amber Brkich, who was declared the Sole Survivor after a victory over ' castaway Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano with a 4–3 jury vote. The two had been closely allied throughout the game, and at the live reunion show just before the votes were read, Brkich accepted a marriage proposal from Mariano. At the end of the live reunion show, a twist called America's Tribal Council was announced. It involved the public voting to award a second million-dollar prize. Rupert Boneham won the million dollars over runners-up Mariano, Colby Donaldson, and Tom Buchanan.
This season was released on DVD on September 14, 2004.

Casting

Producer Mark Burnett stated that "the casting was really, really scientific. I got a yellow legal pad and wrote down 24 names, and cut down to 18. It was that quick." He confirmed that two former contestants turned down formal offers: Elisabeth Filarski Hasselbeck from ', who had recently taken a job as a co-host of The View, and Colleen Haskell of the show's, who "had moved on with her life" and "just genuinely didn't want to go through that again." Other contestants who were considered, but were ultimately cut included Kelly Goldsmith and Teresa Cooper from ', Neleh Dennis, and Sean Rector from ', Clay Jordan and Helen Glover from '. Sandra Diaz-Twine, winner of ' was asked to participate on the season, but declined due to parasites she had contracted in the Pearl Islands. She would eventually return for ', ', and '. Heidi Strobel from was also offered a spot on All-Stars, but she turned down the offer.

Contestants

ContestantFinish
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42,
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75, Virginia Beach, Virginia
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25, Plainview, New York
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42, Las Vegas, Nevada
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29, Los Angeles, California
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33, Los Angeles, California
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40, Santa Cruz, California
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48, Burlington, Vermont
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35, New York City, New York
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29, New York City, New York
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48, Rich Valley, Virginia
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39, Indianapolis, Indiana
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26, Burbank, California
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27, Canton, Massachusetts
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25, Beaver, Pennsylvania
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Future appearances

, Rupert Boneham, Colby Donaldson, and Jerri Manthey returned to Survivor again in the show's twentieth season, '. Mariano played again ' and returned in the thirty-ninth season as a mentor in '. Boneham and Tina Wesson returned for '. Boneham returned with his wife, Laura, who appeared on this season as loved one; whereas Wesson returned with her daughter, Katie Collins. Ethan Zohn, Amber Brkich, and Rob Mariano returned again for .
Several of the cast also later competed in other reality competition shows. Mariano and Brkich competed together on The Amazing Race 7 and The Amazing Race 11. Richard Hatch competed in the eleventh season of The Apprentice and the seventeenth season of The Biggest Loser. Zohn and Jenna Morasca competed against each other on a "Reality All-Stars" episode of Fear Factor and competed together on The Amazing Race 19. Boneham competed on The Amazing Race 31 with his wife Laura.

Season summary

Eighteen players from previous seasons were divided into three tribes of six: Chapera, Mogo Mogo, and Saboga. Saboga lost the first two immunity challenges and, during a shelter-building challenge, built a shelter that quickly flooded. Saboga's poor conditions caught up to them and, after losing a crucial reward challenge, the four remaining members were divided between the other two tribes. Chapera accepted the newcomers, Rupert and Jenna L., and the two entered a solid majority alliance with de facto leader Rob M. and his closest ally and romantic interest Amber. Rob and Amber also had alliances with the other members of the tribe, however a winning streak ensured that they never had to break any of them. Mogo Mogo struggled after Lex decided to vote out the stronger members of the tribe in order to cement his control, causing Mogo Mogo to continually lose challenges and approach the merge in the minority.
Two players voluntarily left the game. Jenna Morasca, fearing for her mother's health, decided to drop out on Day 9 and return to her mother's side; her mother would die eight days later from cancer. Sue Hawk also left, distraught after an incident during an immunity challenge in which a naked Richard Hatch had brief but inappropriate bodily contact with her.
With ten players remaining, a tribal switch was held where players drew new buffs out of a bag. In an unorthodox twist of fate, each player simply drew a buff of the opposite tribe color except Amber, with the net effect of having Amber forced into the old Mogo Mogo tribe under the Chapera name. After Chapera lost the next immunity challenge, Rob whispered a deal to Lex to save Amber, promising that he will make it up to him later in the game. With regards to their friendship, Lex convinced the rest of his tribe to vote out Jerri instead. The next day, the remaining players were merged into the Chaboga Mogo tribe and Rob went back on his deal and led the charge to vote out Lex, who he believed was his greatest rival and leader of the minority alliance, much to the heart-break of the latter for breaking the friendship.
Rob and his former tribe mates continued to dominate the rest of the game, systematically eliminating the rest of Lex's alliance. Rob and Amber then honored their deal with Rupert and Jenna L., eliminating the rest of the original Chapera tribe. After convincing Jenna to vote Rupert out in order to avoid a tie, Rob won the final immunity challenge and took Amber into the final two. It was recognized by the jury that the finalists played as a pair, however Rob's strategic gameplay was deemed more outwardly vicious than Amber's quieter and more social game. The jury decided that Rob had been too aggressive in his handling of the jury, choosing Amber as the winner in a vote of 4–3.

Episodes


Reception

The season received mixed reviews due to the lack of gameplay, the controversy between Richard Hatch and Susan Hawk, the predictability of the season as well as the questionable casting choices.

Voting history

America's Tribal Council

Survivor: America's Tribal Council was a special episode that was broadcast live on CBS on May 13, 2004, several days after the All-Stars finale. The special was announced at the All-Stars finale in lieu of the typical announcement of the upcoming Survivor season, and revealed in tandem with an additional million-dollar prize awarded to the All-Stars contestant who received the most votes from the public, which was awarded at the end of the special. Throughout the special, Rupert Boneham, Tom Buchanan, Colby Donaldson, and Rob Mariano were revealed to be the top four vote-getters, with Boneham ultimately being revealed as the winner with over 26% of the approximately 38 million votes cast. In addition to the million dollar prize, viewers voted on several other awards, the results of which were also revealed throughout the special.