"Survivor’s" biggest drawing card is not the exotic locales,
but often the contestants themselves. Watching some of the players deal with the
game’s emotional issues can often lead to dark comedy. Sue Hawk, a contestant
in the first season, launched a descriptive tirade against the game’s final two
players: Richard and Kelly:
“If I were ever to
pass you in this life again, and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I
would not give you a drink of water. I’d just let the vultures take you, and do
whatever they want with you, with no ill regrets.”
Season 5: Thailand
Winner: Brian Heidik
Synopsis: A switch by the producers this time allows the
two oldest contestants to choose their own tribes. The younger of the two
tribes, Sook Jai, dominates the early competition against the older Chuay’s.
The Sook Jai’s, however, then committed one of the game’s larger blunders by
purposefully losing an immunity challenge to vote off one of its own members.
The plan backfires and the Chuay’s dominate, with ringleader and used-car
salesman Brian Heidik seemingly ushered to a 4-3 victory over fellow Chuay-ian
Clay Jordan in a fairly lackluster season.
Season 6: The Amazon
Winner: Jenna Morasca
Synopsis: Things picked up in Brazil as the original tribes
were divided by gender. The game featured two other firsts: a deaf contestant,
Christy Hastie, and two of the game’s sexier female contestants, Jenna Morasca
and Heidi Strobelgo naked for peanut butter and cookies in a surreal rewards
challenge (The two would later pose for Playboy). In the end, it was swimsuit
model Jenna defeating the nice, well-built, yet slightly creepy Matthew Von
Ertfelda, 6-1 in a victory for nudists everywhere.
Season 7: Pearl Islands
Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine
Synopsis: This time around, the contestants were given the
challenge of being thrown off a boat with only the clothes on their back and
being forced to swim to a small town nearby to barter for supplies. Bear-like
Rupert Boneham immediately became a fan favorite by adhering to the “Pirate”
theme and swiping some of the opposing teams unsecured belongings. A second
twist occurred when the producers gave six ousted contestants the chance to
compete in an event to get back on the show. The ousted players won and two
contestants returned. Lilian Morris, one of the two
returners, gets to the final only to be trounced by new-millionaire Sandra
Diaz-Twine, 6-1.