Borneo

Survivor: Borneo · Season 1

Episode Guide

How Survivor: Borneo unfolded, week by week.

  1. 1“The Marooning”May 31, 2000Sixteen strangers are marooned off the coast of Borneo with next to nothing, split into the Tagi and Pagong tribes, and nobody yet has the faintest idea what this game even is. Tagi drops the first immunity challenge and trudges to the very first Tribal Council in Survivor history. The tribe settles on Sonja Christopher, the upbeat older musician who'd stumbled during the challenge, and she becomes the first person ever voted out of Survivor, 4-3-1.
  2. 2“The Generation Gap”Jun 7, 2000Over on Pagong, B.B. Andersen's hard-charging, let's-build-a-shelter-right-now work ethic starts grating on the tribe's younger, looser crew, and the generation gap hardens into a real divide. Meanwhile on Tagi, Richard opens up to his tribe about being gay, an early sign of how personal this experiment is going to get. When Pagong loses immunity, the tribe sides with youth and votes B.B. out 6-2.
  3. 3“Quest for Food”Jun 14, 2000Tagi finally catches a break with a fishing-gear reward, and Richard puts it to work immediately, spearing fish and quietly making himself the man who feeds the tribe. That value pays off at Tribal, where Stacey had been trying to round up votes to take out the gruff old Rudy. The plan backfires when Richard, Rudy, and Kelly close ranks, and it's Stacey who's voted out 5-2 instead.
  4. 4“Too Little, Too Late?”Jun 21, 2000On Tagi, something brand-new takes shape: Richard pulls Rudy, Kelly, and Sue into the first organized voting alliance the game has ever seen, a bloc that agrees to vote as one. Pagong, blissfully unaware this is even allowed, keeps playing loose and trusting. When Pagong loses immunity, the weakened, ailing Ramona is voted out 4-2-1.
  5. 5“Pulling Your Own Weight”Jun 28, 2000With their alliance locked in, the Tagi four decide there's no reason to wait for an outsider to slip up. When the tribe lands at Tribal, they turn their attention inward and target Dirk, the devout young farmer who never quite meshed with the bloc. The four vote as a single unit and send Dirk home 4-1-1, proving the alliance will trim its own on its own schedule.
  6. 6“Udder Revenge”Jul 5, 2000Pagong's easygoing chemistry takes a hit when Gervase cracks a joke that the women are about the dumbest thing going next to cows, and Joel laughs right along, coming off every bit as condescending. The women of Pagong do not forget it. When the tribe loses immunity, they quietly band together, and it's Joel, who'd egged the moment on, who gets voted out 4-2, milked right out of the game.
  7. 7“The Merger”Jul 12, 2000The two tribes merge into Rattana, and the ex-Pagong crew assume the game has become every-person-for-themselves. They assume wrong. The Tagi alliance strolls in still voting as a bloc, and while Pagong scatters its votes all over the tribe, the alliance's four land squarely on Gretchen, the capable, well-liked den mother nobody pegged as vulnerable. She's blindsided as the first member of the jury, and the era of 'Pagonging' is born.
  8. 8“Thy Name Is Duplicity”Jul 19, 2000Now in firm control, the Tagi alliance sets about dismantling what's left of Pagong one name at a time. Greg, a free-spirited wild card and a genuine threat to start winning immunity, is the obvious next target. The bloc holds, and Greg is voted out 6-3, joining the jury as the methodical pick-off rolls on.
  9. 9“Old and New Bonds”Jul 26, 2000Sean, the doctor who can't stand making enemies, debuts a strategy all his own: he announces he'll simply vote people off in alphabetical order so nobody can take it personally. The gimmick is every bit as passive as it sounds, but it doesn't slow the Tagi bloc down a step. Jenna is voted out 4-3-1 and sent to the jury.
  10. 10“Crack in the Alliance”Aug 2, 2000The systematic march continues, and Gervase, the last ex-Pagong man with any real footing, can see the writing on the wall. The alliance doesn't blink. Gervase is voted out 5-2, leaving the once-thriving Pagong tribe down to a single member.
  11. 11“Long Hard Days”Aug 9, 2000Colleen, the last Pagong standing and one of the season's most beloved players, is the alliance's obvious next cut. But Kelly throws a wrench in the works, gutting out a grueling balance challenge to win immunity and save herself. With Kelly untouchable, the bloc closes the book on Pagong instead, voting Colleen out 4-2 to finish what it started.
  12. 12“Death of an Alliance”Aug 16, 2000Kelly's on a roll, grabbing immunity yet again and refusing to give the alliance a clean shot at her. That leaves the original Tagi four eyeing the only outsider left, Sean, whose alphabetical experiment has run its course. They cut him loose 4-1, and the alliance that ran the entire game is suddenly down to the four people who built it.
  13. 13“The Final Four”FinaleAug 23, 2000Finale night, and the alliance finally turns on itself. The first vote ties 2-2 between Richard and Sue, and on the revote Kelly flips to write down Sue, sending her old ally to the jury in fourth. Kelly then wins the final immunity when Richard, in a now-legendary gamble, simply takes his hand off the idol and concedes the challenge, and she chooses to bring Richard to the end over Rudy, who finishes third. At Final Tribal, a furious Sue delivers her blistering 'snakes and rats' speech, branding Richard the snake and Kelly the rat. When the votes are read, the jury crowns Richard Hatch the very first Sole Survivor, 4-3 over Kelly.