Survivor: Thailand

Survivor: Thailand
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	5
Filming Location	Ko Tarutao, Satun province, Thailand
Filming Dates	June 10, 2002 - July 18, 2002
Season Run	September 19, 2002 - December 19, 2002
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	16
Winner	Brian Heidik
Runner(s)-Up	Clay Jordan
Tribes	Chuay Gahn Sook Jai Chuay Jai
Viewership (in Millions)	21.21
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Marquesas
Next	The Amazon

Survivor: Thailand is the fifth season of Survivor.

The post-merge portion of the game was dominated by the Chuay Gahn Five, which systemically voted out the remnants of the Sook Jai tribe. The season was won by Brian Heidik, whose cutthroat strategic gameplay allowed him to win the title over Clay Jordan in a 4-3 vote. To date, it has produced one returning player (Shii Ann Huang) for subsequent seasons.

Production

Thailand took place in Ko Tarutao, the largest island located in the Satun province. An ancient Thai temple was used as the season's Tribal Council. Shooting commenced on June 10 and concluded on July 18, 2002.

In 2011, the season was released on DVD exclusively through Amazon.com.

Twists/Changes

• Tribe Composition: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight. In a Survivor first, Jake, the oldest man, selected the members of Sook Jai, while Jan, the oldest woman, selected the members of Chuay Gahn.
• Camps with Pros and Cons: The Chuay Gahn camp had a cave, thus making shelter a non-issue, though its water source was on another island. The Sook Jai camp, on the other hand, had a nearby water hole, though a shelter had to be made.
• Pre-merge Survivor Auction: For the first time, the Survivor Auction was held during the game's tribal phase. The auction itself was a bidding competition between the two tribes and not between individuals.
• Mutiny: Before the auction started, the castaways were invited to change tribe affiliations at will. No one took the offer, however.
• Fake Merge: The two tribes, having a collective roster of ten members, were instructed to live on one camp for the rest of the game. They took this to mean that the two tribes had merged. However, it was revealed not to be the case, with the tribes remaining separate and still competing for tribal immunity.
• Merged Tribe Composition: The merged tribe was composed of eight members.
• Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
	John Raymond 40, Slidell, LA Pastor	Chuay Gahn		1st Voted Out Day 3	6
	Tanya Vance 27, Gray, TN Social Worker	Chuay Gahn		2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
	Jed Hildebrand 25, Dallas, TX Dental Student	Sook Jai		3rd Voted Out Day 9	5
	Ghandia Johnson 33, Denver, CO Legal Secretary	Chuay Gahn		4th Voted Out Day 12	5
	Stephanie Dill 29, Ozark, AR Firefighter	Sook Jai		5th Voted Out Day 15	5
	Robb Zbacnik 23, Scottsdale, AZ Bartender	Sook Jai		6th Voted Out Day 18	5
	Shii Ann Huang 28, New York City, NY Executive Recruiter	Sook Jai		7th Voted Out Day 21	10
	Erin Collins 26, Austin, TX Real Estate Agent	Sook Jai		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	3
	Ken Stafford 29, Brooklyn, NY Police Officer	Sook Jai	Chuay Jai	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	6
	Penny Ramsey 27, Plano, TX Pharmaceutical Saleswoman	Sook Jai		10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	5
	Jake Billingsley 60, McKinney, TX Land Broker	Sook Jai		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	7
	Ted Rogers, Jr. 37, Durham, NC Software Developer	Chuay Gahn		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	7
	Helen Glover 47, Middletown, RI Navy Swim Instructor	Chuay Gahn		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	5
	Jan Gentry 53, Tampa, FL Teacher	Chuay Gahn		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
	Clay Jordan 46, Monroe, LA Restaurant Owner	Chuay Gahn		Runner-Up	3
	Brian Heidik 34, Quartz Hill, CA Used Car Salesman	Chuay Gahn		Sole Survivor	0

Season Summary

The game began with the contestants being brought to the island in two boats, one for each gender. This led the contestants to assume that the tribes would be divided by gender. However, this theory was proved wrong when Jake and Jan, the eldest male and female contestants, were instructed to select their tribemates (as Thai culture stated that elders received utmost respect) - a first in the series. Ultimately, Jan's picks were mostly older, weaker contestants (much to the ire of her teammates), and this left Jake to pick the younger, more athletic players.

After six days of competition, the younger Sook Jai tribe dominated the elderly Chuay Gahn tribe in challenges, with Chuay Gahn's members immediately decimated to six. Chuay Gahn's fortunes turned around after the first losses, and they went on to win the next Reward Challenge and then the Immunity Challenge, thus temporarily sending Sook Jai to Tribal Council. Sook Jai's lack of shelter proved to be a source of tension in the tribe, as the tribe members quickly became divided between those who worked on building the shelter and those who gathered water and food.

Despite their newly-found vigor, Chuay Gahn also had their share of mishaps, when Ghandia accused Ted of having sexual advances with her, which the latter denied. This argument threatened the unity within the tribe, and as a result, they lost another Immunity Challenge. Ghandia tried to make an all-female alliance with Jan and Helen, but Helen sided with the men to get rid of Ghandia.

On Day 19, a twist in the game sent Sook Jai to live together with the Chuay Gahns at their camp, making everybody believe that a merge had occurred. With this, Sook Jai member Shii Ann, who deemed herself as the lowest-ranking person in her alliance, made an alliance with the Chuay Gahn members to ensure her safety. However, in a shocking announcement at the seventh Immunity Challenge, it was revealed that the tribes weren't merging yet, but were just living together on one beach. With Sook Jai suffering two Immunity losses in a row, Shii Ann and Erin paid the price, dwindling the once strong Sook Jai tribe to a paltry three members against Chuay Gahn's five.

On Day 25, the two tribes finally merged into the Chuay Jai tribe, but the deficit Sook Jai faced entering the merge overwhelmed them, and they were systematically eliminated. With only Chuay Gahn members left, the remaining survivors were faced with the reality of having to vote one of their own out. Helen and Ted quickly targeted Clay for his lack of work ethic. However, Brian, who had made separate alliances with three of the four remaining castaways, used his influence to manipulate the vote to his liking. At the next three Tribal Councils, Brian swerved the vote in the direction of Ted, whom he perceived as the biggest physical threat, then Helen, for catching her playing both sides and, finally, Jan, for being well-liked and not being as close to Brian as Clay was.

At the Final Tribal Council, Brian was castigated for breaking friendships to further his interests, while Clay was admonished for his coattail riding and poor work ethic. Eventually, Brian's athleticism and superb strategy awarded him the title of Sole Survivor by a vote of 4-3.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"The Importance of Being Eldest"	September 19, 2002	None	Sook Jai	John (6-1-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	23.05	9.6/28
2	"The Great Divide"	September 26, 2002	Sook Jai	Sook Jai	Tanya (5-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	21.72	8.6/21
3	"Family Values"	October 3, 2002	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Jed (5-3)	3rd Voted Out Day 9	20.60	8.5/N/A
4	"Gender Bender"	October 10, 2002	Sook Jai	Sook Jai	Ghandia (4-2)	4th Voted Out Day 12	21.16	8.6/22
5	"The Ocean's Surprise"	October 17, 2002	Survivor Auction	Chuay Gahn	Stephanie (5-2)	5th Voted Out Day 15	N/A	8.3/23
6	"The Power of One"	October 24, 2002	Sook Jai	Chuay Gahn	Robb (5-1)	6th Voted Out Day 18	20.80	8.4/N/A
7	"Assumptions"	October 31, 2002	None	Chuay Gahn	Shii Ann (4-1)	7th Voted Out Day 21	N/A	7.5/N/A
8	"Sleeping with the Enemy"	November 7, 2002	None	Chuay Gahn	Erin (3-1)	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	N/A	N/A
9	"Desperate Measures"	November 14, 2002	Brian	Clay	Ken (5-3)	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27	21.62	8.6/22
10	"While the Cats Are Away"	November 21, 2002	Brian [Clay]	Helen	Penny (4-2-1)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	N/A	N/A
11	"The First 30 Days"	November 27, 2002	Recap Episode				N/A	N/A
12	"A Big Surprise... and Another"	December 5, 2002	Helen	Ted	Jake (5-1)	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	21.50	8.6/N/A
13	"The Tides Are Turning"	December 12, 2002	Ted [Helen]	Brian	Ted (4-1)	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	19.00	7.4/N/A
14	"Slip Through Your Fingers"	December 19, 2002	None	Brian	Helen (3-1)	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	24.08	9.9/26
				Brian	Jan (1-0)	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Clay (4-3)	Runner-Up
					Brian (4-3)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						20.42	9.2/24

Voting History

		Original Tribes								Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	12	13	14
Voted Out		John	Tanya	Jed	Ghandia	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Helen	Jan	Clay	Brian
Vote		6-1-1	5-2	5-3	4-2	5-2	5-1	4-1	3-1	5-3	4-2-1	5-1	4-1	3-1	1-01	4-3
►	Brian	John	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Helen	Jan	Jury Vote
►	Clay	John	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Jake	Jake	Ted	Helen	None
►	Jan	John	Tanya	—	Clay	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Helen	None		Brian
►	Helen	Clay	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Ted	Jan			Brian
►	Ted	John	Tanya	—	Ghandia	—	—	—	—	Ken	Penny	Jake	Jan				Brian
►	Jake	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ted	Jan	Jan					Brian
►	Penny	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ted	Jake					Clay
►	Ken	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Erin	Ted						Clay
	Erin	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Shii Ann	Ken							Clay
	Shii Ann	—	—	Jed	—	Stephanie	Robb	Penny
	Robb	—	—	Shii Ann	—	Shii Ann	Shii Ann
	Stephanie	—	—	Shii Ann	—	Shii Ann
	Ghandia	John	Helen	—	Clay
	Jed	—	—	Shii Ann
	Tanya	John	Helen
	John	Ghandia
Notes: ^1 Clay and Jan did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Brian voted.

Trivia

• Thailand is the first cast to include an Asian-American contestant: Shii Ann.
• Thailand is the first season not to include any LGBT contestants.
• Thailand was the first season not to feature the Buggin' Out challenge as the second Immunity Challenge. Instead, it was incorporated as part of the Loved Ones Challenge, with the loved ones having to eat the disgusting food to spend time with their respective castaway.
• Thailand marks the first time that Jeff Probst could not determine against whom a vote was cast. In the episode "Gender Bender", Clay cast a vote for Ghandia that read "Bye Bye Denver Diva". Probst had to ask whoever cast the vote to explain what it meant and whom it was intended for.
• Thus far, Thailand is the only season to feature the Survivor Auction before the merge, with tribes competing.
• Thailand is the season to have the fewest castaways comprise the merged tribe with eight.
• Thailand is the first season to have the jury phase begin before the merge.
• Thailand is the first in which the winner of the Final Immunity Challenge won the game.
• Thailand marks the first time two tribes lived on one beach without being merged, as part of the Fake Merge twist. This concept would later be used as the central twist in Survivor: One World.
• Thailand is the first to have two men in the Final Two.
• Thailand marks the first time that the castaway's loved ones were able to compete alongside them in an Immunity Challenge.
• Thailand is the first season to not feature a tie vote of any kind.
• Thailand's jury phase mirrors that of Survivor: Borneo, where one tribe got systematically voted out, leaving the five representatives of the other tribe by Day 34. Then, at the Final Tribal Council, three of the four members of the obliterated tribe voted for the eventual runner-up, then the fourth member, plus the jurors from the other tribe voted for the winner.
• Thailand is the first season where Jeff Probst hosted the Reunion Show.