Survivor South Africa: Panama

Survivor South Africa: Panama
Season Information
Version	South Africa
Season No.	1
Filming Location	Pearl Islands, Panama
Filming Dates	June 6, 2006 - July 5, 2006
Season Run	September 3, 2006 – November 26, 2006
No. of Episodes	14
No. of Days	29
No. of Castaways	14
Winner	Vanessa Marawa
Runner(s)-Up	Jacinda Louw
Tribes	Aguila Rana Burba
Prize for Winner	R1,000,000
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Next	Malaysia

Survivor South Africa: Panama is the first season of Survivor South Africa. The premiere aired on September 3, 2006.

After 27 days, estate agent Vanessa Marawa defeated entrepreneur Jacinda Louw in a 3-2 jury vote, winning the title of Ultimate Survivor and the R1 million prize.

Production

A South African version of global reality phenomenon Survivor was announced by pay channel M-Net on Tuesday 11 April 2006, and was filmed on the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama from June 6, 2006 until early July.

In Survivor South Africa: Panama 14 contestants were chosen from a shortlist of 700, with six additional contestants selected as replacements in case any of the original 14 were unable to take part through injury or other reasons. Entries opened for the show on April 11 and closed on May 15. More than 18,000 South Africans applied to be on the show. Pierre van Niekerk (49), a resident of Rietfontein in Pretoria, entered 1,000 times. Nico Panagio, who eventually joined the series as its host in Survivor South Africa: Santa Carolina, auditioned to be a castaway, but was not chosen as casting was not accepting public figures at the time.

On July 16, M-Net announced the host of the show - Capetonian Mark Bayly, who auditioned to be a contestant and was hired as presenter instead.

Survivor South Africa: Panama was filmed in the Pearl Islands at the same time as five other Survivor productions: The Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Sweden and Turkey.

Twists/Changes

• Tribe Composition: The fourteen castaways were divided into two tribes of seven.
• Unexpected Start: The contestant were led to believe that they were on their way to attend a media briefing, when the pilot of the plane they were in faked an emergency landing near a Panamanian village. The host then arrived, announcing that the game had started. The tribes were divided and informed that they could only take the belongings that could fit in one backpack for each tribe.
• Mock Vote
  • Penalty Vote: After Jude quit at Tribal Council on Day 8, the host announced to the remaining Aguila tribe members they would still have to vote. After Mark read the votes, he announced that the person who had received the majority of the votes would already have a vote cast against them at their next Tribal Council.
  • Tribe Switch: On Day 12, Rana unknowingly voted for one member of their tribe to join the Aguila tribe, replacing a member who had been evacuated.
• Merge: The tribes merged on Day 17 with seven contestants remaining.
• Dead Man's Island: Starting at the merge, the castaways voted out at Tribal Council would be exiled to an island called Dead Man's Island, where they would wait to compete for two spots to re-enter the game when there were three contestants left in the main game.
• Semi-Finals: At the second final four, the castaways would compete in a challenge where the first person out would be eliminated from the game, the last person standing would be the first finalist, and the other two people would compete in another challenge to define the second finalist.
• Final Tribal Council Format: Two finalists faced a jury of five. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Don Soper 54, Hurlingham Manor, GP Businessman	Rana			1st Voted Out Day 3	4
	Sam Allerton 30, Hogsback, EC Sculptor	Aguila			2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
	Jude Wilken 39, Kempton Park, GP Hostage Negotiator	Aguila			Quit Day 8	0
	Ncumisa Ngcaweni 30, Kenilworth, WC Skills Trainer	Rana			3rd Voted Out Day 10	4
	Sanele Gumede 27, Sandton, GP Brand Manager	Aguila			Evacuated Day 12	0
	Danielle Vukic 35, Green Point, WC Fashion Producer	Rana	Aguila		4th Voted Out Day 14	8
	Nico Hinis 43, Parkhurst, GP Restaurateur	Aguila	Aguila		5th Voted Out Day 16	5
	Lezel Crook 28, Llandudno, WC Attorney	Rana	Rana	Burba	Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25	9
	Brigitte Willers 24, Auckland Park, GP Sports Model	Aguila	Aguila		Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 25	5
	Gareth Tjasink 27, Sunninghill, GP Medical Doctor	Rana	Rana		6th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	3
	Zayn Nabbi 24, Durban, KZN Journalist	Rana	Rana		Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 28	2
	Mzi Tyhokolo 31, Honeydew Ridge, GP Energy Advisor	Aguila	Aguila		Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 29	5
	Jacinda Louw 25, Bedfordview, GP Entrepreneur	Rana	Rana		Runner-Up	1
	Vanessa Marawa 27, La Lucia, KZN Estate Agent	Aguila	Aguila		Ultimate Survivor	6

Season Summary

The debut season of Survivor South Africa started with 14 castaways divided into two tribes: Aguila and Rana. The Aguila tribe dominated in Reward Challenges, but suffered from poor interpersonal dynamics and eventually spiraled into an extensive losing streak. Meanwhile, Rana struggled in most of the tribal challenges, but the group of self-proclaimed "diplomats" was able to keep their morale high. Their unity helped them to win the challenges where they counted, helping them to enter the merge with a 4-3 numerical advantage over their rival Aguilas.

Upon the advent of the merge, the Ranas used their numbers' advantage to dispose of the three Aguilas. Despite the apparently seamless pagonging, cracks began to form within the alliance, as Gareth and Zayn disagreed with Jacinda Louw and Lezel's amoral approach to the game. Unbeknownst to the Ranas, the Aguilas who had been voted out were sent to Dead Man's Island for a chance to re-enter the game. They were joined by Lezel, who was voted out by her alliance at the final five. Ultimately, Mzi and Vanessa won the return challenge and successfully broke apart the Rana coalition, causing Gareth's blindside.

The Final Two was decided by a semi-final challenge, the first round of which was won by Vanessa and the second round by Jacinda. The two women pled their case at Final Tribal Council, with Jacinda emphasizing her strategic game and Vanessa asserting that she had to scrape her way through to the finals. The votes were split between tribal lines, with Zayn emerging as the swing vote; his inclination to support the more moral player led him to cast his jury vote for Vanessa, who defeated Jacinda in a 3-2 final vote.

Episode	Air Date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
1	September 3, 2006	Aguila	Aguila	Don (4-3)	1st Voted Out Day 3
2	September 10, 2006	Aguila	Rana	Sam (5-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6
3	September 17, 2006	Aguila	Rana	Jude (no vote)	Quit Day 8
				Nico (4-1)	Receives Vote Penalty Day 8
4	September 24, 2006	None	Aguila	Ncumisa (4-2)	3rd Voted Out Day 10
5	October 1, 2006	Aguila	Aguila	Sanele (no vote)	Evacuated Day 12
				Danielle (3-2)	Switched to Aguila Day 12
6	October 8, 2006	Aguila	Rana	Danielle (3-2-1)	4th Voted Out Day 14
7	October 15, 2006	Rana	Rana	Nico (3-1)	5th Voted Out Day 16
8	October 22, 2006	None	Gareth	Brigitte (4-3)	Sent to Dead Man's Island Day 19
9	October 29, 2006	Jacinda [Lezel]	Gareth	Mzi (4-2)	Sent to Dead Man's Island Day 21
10	November 5, 2006	Vanessa [Gareth]	Gareth	Vanessa (4-1)	Sent to Dead Man's Island Day 22
11	November 12, 2006	Gareth	Gareth	Lezel (3-1)	Sent to Dead Man's Island Day 24
12	November 19, 2006			Lezel	Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 25
				Brigitte	Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 25
		Zayn3	Mzi	Gareth (3-1-1)	6th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27
13	November 26, 2006	None	Vanessa	Zayn (no vote)4	Eliminated 4th Jury Member Day 28
			Jacinda	Mzi (no vote)5	Eliminated 5th Jury Member Day 29
		Jury Vote		Jacinda (3-2)	Runner-Up
				Vanessa (3-2)	Ultimate Survivor
Notes: ^1 In a surprise twist, instead of voting out players, the person who received the most votes would automatically receive a penalty vote at their next Tribal Council. ^2 In a surprise twist, the person voted out would join Aguila. Danielle was "voted out" and swapped to Aguila. ^3 This Reward Challenge was held after the episode's Immunity Challenge. ^4 The final four competed in an elimination challenge, with the first-placer going straight to the Final Tribal Council. Vanessa came in first, while Zayn finished last in the challenge, eliminating him from the game. ^5 Jacinda and Mzi competed in a challenge for the final spot at the Final Tribal Council. Jacinda won, eliminating Mzi from the game.

Voting History

		Original Tribes							Switched Tribes		Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3		4	5		6	7	8	9	10	11	12		13
Voted Out		Don	Sam	Jude	Mock Vote	Ncumisa	Sanele	Mock Vote	Danielle	Nico	Brigitte	Mzi	Vanessa	Lezel	Lezel Brigitte	Gareth	Zayn	Mzi	Jacinda	Vanessa
Vote		4-3	5-2	No vote1	4-12	4-2	No vote3	3-24	3-2-1	3-1	4-3	4-2	4-1	3-1	Challenge6	3-1-1	No vote7	No vote8	3-2
►►	Vanessa	—	Sam	—	Nico	—	—	—	Danielle	Nico	Lezel	Lezel	Lezel			Gareth	—	—	Jury Vote
►►	Jacinda	Don	—	—	—	Ncumisa	—	Zayn	—	—	Brigitte	Mzi	Vanessa	Lezel	—	Gareth	—	—
►►	Mzi	—	Sam	—	Nico	—	—	—	Danielle	Nico	Lezel	Lezel				Gareth	—	Eliminated		Vanessa
►►	Zayn	Don	—	—	—	Danielle	—	Danielle	—	—	Brigitte	Mzi	Vanessa	Lezel	—	Jacinda	Eliminated			Vanessa
►►	Gareth	Don	—	—	—	Ncumisa	—	Danielle	—	—	Brigitte	Mzi	Vanessa	Lezel	—	Zayn			Jacinda
►►	Brigitte	—	Vanessa	—	Nico	—	—	—	Mzi	Nico	Lezel				Eliminated					Vanessa
►►	Lezel	Danielle	—	—	—	Ncumisa	—	Danielle	—	—	Brigitte	Mzi	Vanessa	Zayn	Eliminated				Jacinda
►	Nico	—	Sam	—	Brigitte	—	—	—	Danielle	Brigitte
►	Danielle	Don	—	—	—	Ncumisa	—	Zayn	Nico
	Sanele	—	Sam	—	Nico	—	Evacuated
	Ncumisa	Danielle	—	—	—	Danielle
	Jude	—	Sam	Quit
	Sam	—	Vanessa
	Don	Danielle
Penalty vote									Nico5
Notes: ^1 Jude elected to quit the game due to her poor health. No vote occurred for her removal. ^2 Instead of being voted out, the person who received the most votes would receive a penalty vote at their next Tribal Council. ^3 Sanele was evacuated after sustaining a shoulder injury. No vote occurred for his removal. ^4 In a surprise twist, instead of voting out players, Rana would vote for one person to be swapped to Aguila. Danielle was "voted out" and swapped to Aguila. ^5 After receiving the most votes at Tribal Council on Day 8, Nico automatically received a penalty vote at his next Tribal Council. ^8 Starting at the merge, the castaways competed in a duel for two of them to re-enter the game, with the other two castaways being permanently eliminated. ^7 The final four contestants competed in an elimination challenge, with the first placer going straight to Final Tribal Council. Vanessa came in first, while Zayn finished last in the challenge, eliminating him from the game. ^8 Jacinda and Mzi competed in a second challenge to for the second spot in the Final Two. Jacinda won, eliminating Mzi from the game.

Trivia

• With only 14 contestants, Panama features the fewest number of castaways in Survivor South Africa.