Survivor: Gabon

Survivor: Gabon — Earth's Last Eden is the seventeenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The premiere aired September 25, 2008, with the first two episodes screened back-to-back. Survivor: Gabon began filming in late June. It marked the second season of the series that was filmed in Africa (Survivor: Africa had been filmed seven years earlier in Kenya). Reports from Gabon indicate the show was filmed around the coastal towns of Nyonie and Ekwata in the Wonga-Wongue Presidential Reserve.

This season, players sent to Exile Island had a choice of receiving a clue to the location of a Hidden Immunity Idol or a comfort item. On April 13, 2008, at the National Association of Broadcasters's annual show, Sony announced that the 17th season of Survivor would be the first to be shot in high definition, using Sony's XDCAMs. The show ranked number ten in DVR playback (2.33 million viewers), according to Nielsen prime DVR lift data from September 22, 2008 – November 23, 2008.

The winner was 57-year-old Robert "Bob" Crowley, a high school physics teacher from Maine. He defeated Susie Smith and Jessica "Sugar" Kiper in a 4–3–0 vote at the live finale to take the million dollar prize. In addition, Bob won the $100,000 "Sprint Survivor of the Season" award, beating out Sugar and Matty Whitmore, who were next highest in the popular vote. Crowley is the oldest survivor winner to date, by both birthday and age at victory.

Contestants

File:Ken Hoang.jpg

Ken Hoang

File:Jessica Kiper 2010.jpg

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper

File:Robert Crowley.jpg

Robert "Bob" Crowley

This season started with 18 people divided into two tribes, Fang and Kota, named after ethnic groups in Gabon through a schoolyard pick. Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was initially cast for this season, but was forced to drop out for medical reasons; he was replaced by Bob Crowley. Johnson went on to compete on Survivor: Nicaragua. Notable contestants from this season include former 2004 Olympic gold medalist Crystal Cox, professional gamer Ken Hoang, and Matty Whitmore, the grandson of actor James Whitmore.

List of Survivor: Gabon - Earth’s Last Eden contestants

Contestant	Age	From	Tribe				Finish
			Original	First switch	Second switch	Merged	Placement	Day
	24	Los Angeles, California	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe				1st voted out	Day 3
	61	Temecula, California				2nd voted out	Day 6
	23	Downey, California	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe				3rd voted out	Day 9
	25	Santa Barbara, California	rowspan="4" Template:Stribe			4th voted out	Day 12
	25	Portland, Oregon	Template:Stribe			5th voted out	Day 15
	22	Buffalo Grove, Illinois	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe			6th voted out	Day 18
	27	Naples, Florida			7th voted out	Day 21
	32	Boston, Massachusetts	Template:Stribe	rowspan="5" Template:Stribe				8th voted out
	28	Atlanta, Georgia	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe		9th voted out 1st jury member	Day 24
	29	New York City, New York	rowspan="3" Template:Stribe	rowspan="9" Template:Stribe	10th voted out 2nd jury member	Day 27
	49	Eagle Rock, Missouri	Template:Stribe	11th voted out 3rd jury member	Day 30
	29	Los Angeles, California	Template:Stribe	12th voted out 4th jury member	Day 33
	29	Durham, North Carolina	rowspan="3" Template:Stribe	rowspan="4" Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	13th voted out 5th jury member	Day 36
	22	Westminster, California	14th voted out 6th jury member	Day 37
	29	Pacific Palisades, California	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Eliminated 7th jury member	Day 38
	29	Brooklyn, New York	Template:Stribe	2nd runner-up	Day 39
	47	Charles City, Iowa	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe		rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Runner-up
	57	Portland, Maine	Template:Stribe	Sole Survivor

Future appearances

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper and Randy Bailey returned for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Corinne Kaplan returned for Survivor: Caramoan.

Outside of Survivor, Kaplan competed on The Amazing Race 31 with two-time Survivor contestant Eliza Orlins. In 2020, Marcus Lehman competed on FOX's Labor of Love.

Season summary

File:Eléphant en bordure de forêt Gabonaise.jpg

The season filmed in Estuaire Province in Gabon.

The players were divided into tribes by a schoolyard pick started by the oldest players, Bob and Gillian. It became evident that Gillian's tribe, Fang, was weaker, losing many of the reward and immunity challenges even after a tribal switch, but a core alliance between Matty, Ken, and Crystal developed. On Bob's tribe, Kota, a series of alliances were formed, strengthened after the swap with the addition of Randy. Both the hidden immunity idol and Exile Island were in play; the winning tribe on reward challenges was able to send one of the losing tribe's members to the latter. At Exile, that player had the option of a clue to the immunity idol hidden near Exile (ultimately leading to a string of hidden clues to the idol), or to relax in a small shack with a provision of fruit and a hammock. Sugar was the second player to visit Exile and found the idol on her first visit; she was repeatedly sent back to Exile, where, isolated from both tribes, she relaxed most of the time. Sugar's idol was eventually discovered by Matty, Ken, and Crystal, and they decided to bring her into their alliance, with Ken convincing her to vote off her closest ally Ace who he claimed was using her for the idol.

On Day 22, both tribes were given clues suggesting a tribal merge; they enjoyed a celebratory meal, and discovered a hidden immunity idol nearby. Unanimously, the players agreed to throw the idol away into the ocean. They then discovered they were still separate tribes, mixed by random draw, and returned to their camps. This development proved crucial for the minority Fang alliance, who successfully convinced Kota alliance member Susie that she was on the bottom of her alliance, resulting in the elimination of Kota alliance leader Marcus. The tribes were then merged with the former Kota alliance in the minority. The Fang alliance, now with Susie, dominated the game, eliminating the former Kota alliance until only Bob was left. Bob won three consecutive immunity challenges, forcing the Fang alliance to turn on themselves and resulting in the eliminations of Crystal and Ken due to their strong strategic prowess.

The final four were Matty, Sugar, Susie, and Bob. Susie won the final immunity challenge and ended Bob's immunity streak. Sugar decided to vote with Bob due to their social bond, forcing a tie between him and Matty; Bob won the fire-making tiebreaker challenge.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury criticized Sugar for her backstabbing, not owning her game, and playing with her emotions. Susie was praised for playing under the radar strategically, while Bob was praised for his physical game, creating two fake immunity idols, and having control of his fate. The jury voted Bob the Sole Survivor in a 4-3-0 vote over Susie and Sugar, respectively.

Challenge winners and eliminations by episode

Episode			Challenge winner(s)		Exile Island	Eliminated
No.	Title	Original air date	Reward	Immunity		Tribe	Player
1	"Want to See the Elephant Dung?"	September 25, 2008	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	Template:Stribe	rowspan=2 Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Michelle
			colspan=2 Template:Stribe
			colspan=2 Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Gillian
2	"She Obviously Is Post-Op!"	October 2, 2008	rowspan=2 Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	rowspan=2 Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Paloma
			Template:Stribe
3	"It Was Like Christmas Morning!"	October 9, 2008	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	Template:Stribe	SugarTemplate:Efn	Template:Stribe	Jacquie
4	"This Camp Is Cursed"	October 16, 2008	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	GC
5	"He's a Snake, But He's My Snake"	October 23, 2008	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Kelly
6	"It All Depends on the Pin-Up Girl"	October 30, 2008	rowspan=2 Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	rowspan=2 Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Ace
			Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Dan
7	"Apple in the Garden of Eden"	November 6, 2008	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	Template:Stribe	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	Template:Stribe	Marcus
8	"The Brains Behind Everything"	November 13, 2008	Template:Stribe	Susie	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Charlie
9	""Nothing Tastes Better Than Five Hundred Dollars"	November 20, 2008	Template:Stribe	Ken	Bob	Randy
10	"I Was Put on a Planet For This Show"	November 27, 2008	Recap Episode
11	"The Good Things in Life Aren’t Easy"	December 4, 2008	Bob	Bob	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	rowspan="4" Template:Stribe	Corinne
12	"The Good Guys Should Win in the End"	December 11, 2008	Bob [Crystal, Ken]	Bob	Susie	Crystal
13	"Say Goodbye to Gabon"	December 14, 2008	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Bob	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Ken
			Susie	Matty
14	"Reunion"

In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.

Voting history

	Original tribes			First switch					Second switch	Merged tribe
Episode	1		2	3	4	5	6		7	8	9	11	12	13
Day	3	6	9	12	15	18	21		24	27	30	33	36	37	38
Tribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	colspan="2" Template:Stribe
Eliminated	Michelle	Gillian	Paloma	Jacquie	GC	Kelly	Ace	Dan	Marcus	Charlie	Randy	Corinne	Crystal	Ken	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	Matty
Votes	8–1	7–1	7–2	5–2	6–1	5–1	3–2	4–3	3–2	5–4	5–3	4–3	4–0Template:Efn	4–1	2–2	ChallengeTemplate:Efn
Voter	Vote
Bob			Paloma					Dan	Ken	Crystal	Susie	Matty	Crystal	Ken	Matty	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn
Susie	Michelle	Gillian						Dan	Marcus	Charlie	Randy	Corinne	Crystal	Ken	Bob
Sugar			Paloma	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn	GC	Kelly	Ace			Charlie	Randy	Corinne	Crystal	Ken	Matty
Matty	Michelle	Gillian		Jacquie	GC	Kelly	Crystal			Charlie	Randy	Corinne	Crystal	Ken	Bob	Template:StribeTemplate:Efn
Ken	Michelle	Gillian		Jacquie	GC	Kelly	Ace		Marcus	Charlie	Randy	Matty	Matty	Susie
Crystal	Michelle	Gillian		Jacquie	GC	Kelly	Ace		Marcus	Charlie	Randy	Corinne	Matty
Corinne			Paloma					Dan		Crystal	Susie	Matty
Randy	Michelle	Gillian						Susie		Crystal	Susie
Charlie			Paloma					Dan		Crystal
Marcus			Paloma					Susie	Ken
Dan	Michelle	Gillian						Susie
Ace			Paloma	Kelly	GC	Kelly	Crystal
Kelly			Ace	Jacquie	GC	Crystal
GC	Michelle	Gillian		Jacquie	Kelly
Jacquie			Paloma	Kelly
Paloma			Ace
Gillian	Michelle	Ken
Michelle	Gillian

Jury vote
Episode	14
Day	39
Finalist	Bob	Susie	Sugar
Votes	4–3–0
Juror	Vote
Matty		Template:Ya
Ken		Template:Ya
Crystal		Template:Ya
Corinne	Template:Ya
Randy	Template:Ya
Charlie	Template:Ya
Marcus	Template:Ya

Production notes

Probst recalled that the live finale of Gabon was almost ruined as the production assistant normally in charge of bringing the Final Tribal Council votes from the production offices to the live venue had forgotten to bring them, a fact discovered just as the live show started. Probst explained that another staff member raced back to the offices, breaking into the room where the votes were secured due to having no key, and faxed the votes over to the live venue, where another production staff member retraced the votes by hand with only about 15 minutes left before the live show vote reading. In the end, the original votes arrived at the studio in time and were read.

Reception

Survivor: Gabon was initially met with generally negative reception. Host Jeff Probst originally ranked Gabon 14th out of 19 seasons in 2010, thus ranking it as the sixth-worst season of the series. He later went on to say that the show was drifting during Gabon and that he nearly quit the show as a consequence. Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly ranked Gabon 28th out of 40, summarizing: "It got better near the end, but it was still a case of too little, too late. The fact that so many unworthy players went so far is simply too damning." Gabon is ranked as the second-worst season of the series by Examiner.com (only ahead of Survivor: Fiji), and The Wire (only ahead of Survivor: Redemption Island). "The Purple Rock Podcast" also ranked Gabon 34th out of 40, describing the cast as one of the most "inept Survivor casts ever from a gameplay perspective." In 2012 and 2013, Survivor fan site "Survivor Oz" consistently ranked Gabon as the eighth-worst season of the series in its annual polls ranking all seasons.

However, reception for Gabon has improved significantly in recent years. In 2014, it was voted the tenth-best season by "Survivor Oz". Its ranking improved substantially again in 2015, when it was ranked the seventh-best season. In 2015, a poll by Rob Has a Podcast ranked this season 23rd out of 30, with Rob Cesternino ranking this season 29th. This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings, ranking 26th out of 40. In 2020, Inside Survivor ranked this season 20th out of 40 saying that "the gameplay is completely baffling" but is "one of the most entertaining seasons of the show from a comedic perspective." In 2024, Nick Caruso of TVLine ranked this season 42nd out of 47.

Controversy

Survivor: Gabon received some minor criticism from the Parents Television Council for a brief, uncensored glimpse of Marcus's penis when the tip was partially exposed through the fly of his boxer shorts. The exposure occurred on the season opener during the second Immunity Challenge when Marcus raced alongside fellow contestants.

External links

• Official CBS Survivor Gabon Website