Episode 1
(3 September, 2006)
Don Soper was the first contestant voted off Survivor South Africa: Panama. After narrowly losing the immunity challenge the Rana tribe went to Tribal Council and split their vote between Don (4) and Danielle (3).
Don alienated himself from his tribe on the second and third days, claiming he was delusional and thus unable to form alliances.
"As a result of the heat, lack of food and sleep deprivation I became delusional," he said. "I trusted no one and at one stage even believed the other contestants were actors in a huge set-up in which I was the only real person."
Interview With Don
Episode Summary
Tribal Council Transcript
Episode 2
(10 September, 2006)
Sam Allerton was the second person voted out of the game. He formed an alliance with Brigitte which made his tribe nervous, and after a fight with Mzi during the building of their first fire the tribe decided he had to go.
Jude, Sanele, Mzi, Vanessa, Nico all voted for Sam, while he and Brigitte cast their votes for Vanessa.
Sam’s closing words: “I knew it was kind of on the cards, me being voted out. I put myself on the line, my temper got away from me sometimes. I’m not surprised. I feel sorry for Brigitte going back to camp, they are pretty cut-throat so my advice to her is to lie low, make as many new alliances as you possibly can or alternatively get off as soon as you can.”
Interview With Sam
Episode Summary
Tribal Council Transcript
Episode 3
(17 September, 2006)
Jude Wilken became the first contestant on Survivor SA to leave the game voluntarily, when she became weakened and feared for her health.
After the Immunity Challenge - which Aguila lost - Jude asked her tribe mates to vote her out. Since they all unanimously agreed Mark decided it was unnecessary for them to vote for her, and snuffed out her torch.
He threw a curve ball however when he said that voting still needed to take place, and the tribe voted unanimously for Nico.
Nico was told he could stay, but that at the next Tribal Council he would already have one vote in the urn.
Jude's closing words: "What I'm gonna remember is what the people said about me in the council this evening and how they perceived me. We are never open to each other to say, you do this and you do that, you bring the spirit up and you do this. What each person said there tonight is straight in my heart and I'll keep that as a good memory."
Interview With Jude
Episode Summary
Tribal Council Transcript
Episode 4
(24 September, 2006)
Ncumisa was the fourth person voted out of the game, in a vote which was split 4-2. The Rana tribe decided she was the weakest tribe mate and her inability to get in on the Jacinda/Gareth/Danielle alliance proved her downfall.
Zayn was the only person not to vote for Ncumisa - he joined her in voting for Danielle.
Ncumisa's closing words: "I didn’t manage to get on with Jacinda and Danielle. We got on okay, but there was just a huge distance so to speak. The overriding emotion was extreme disappointment and also telling myself 'Okay, put on a brave face', when all I wanted to do was burst into tears and say 'why me why me'. But I managed to not do that , so I think it was just disappointment in that I can’t believe it is over."
Interview With Ncumisa
Episode Summary
Tribal Council Transcript
Episode 5
(1 October, 2006)
During the episode it becamse clear that an injury to Sanele's arm - which he sustained during one of the first challenges - was too serious for him to continue.
He was removed by the production team from the game for medical observation.
Rana lost immunity and the tribe voted 3-2 against Danielle. After Danielle's torch was snuffed out Sanele emerged from the darkness, and Mark told Danielle that Sanele was being withdrawn permanently from the game and that she could take his torch and move to the Aguila tribe.
Sanele became the fifth person to leave the game after Danielle took his torch.
Sanele's closing words: "Leaving this morning, leaving my tribe behind when I looked back at them and I realised exactly what I have enjoyed and experienced over the last few days, it’s amazing how while you’re participating in a game like this you actually form genuine friendships and you learn to rely on people in a way that you would probably not have relied on anyone outside of this environment. At one point a tear or two did drop from my eyes and it was a very, very sad moment for me."
Interview With Sanele
Episode Summary
Episode 6
(8 October, 2006)
Becoming the first Survivor contestant in history to be voted out of the game at two consecutive Tribal Councils by two different tribes, Danielle became the sixth person to leave the game when her new tribe, Aguila, voted unanimously against her (all except for Brigitte, who voted for Mzi rather than for Nico like everyone else).
When Danielle joined her new tribe after being saved by Sanele's exit the week before, she quickly formed an alliance with Brigitte. The pair of them asked Vanessa to join them in an alliance of three, with the aim of voting Nico out.
But Mzi wanted to keep Nico in, so asked Brigitte to vote for him rather than Nico (which would save Nico from elimination and give Brigitte a clear conscience for not voting out her new friend Danielle).
Ultimately Aguila decided that with a merge looming it was too risky to keep Danielle.
Interview With Danielle
Episode Summary
Tribal Council Transcript
Episode 7
(15 October, 2006)
Restaurateur Nico Hinis was the seventh person voted out of the game after Aguila lost their second straight Immunity Challenge.
Nico and Brigitte's animosity towards one another escalated after Brigitte laid the blame for the Immunity Challenge loss squarely on Nico's shoulders.
Mzi decided that he couldn't vote against one of the women without being perceived of as sexist, and joined forces with Brigitte and Vanessa in voting Nico out.
Nico's closing words: "Aguila having one tribe member short, it looks like Rana has the upper hand, the pyschological hand as well and I think they gonna pick them off like daisies. If I had to bump into them in the street, I'd say hi, go for a little coffee maybe. But I most certainly wouldn't look them up in the Yellow Pages."
Interview With Nico
Episode Summary
Tribal Council Transcript
Episode 8
(22 October, 2006)
The two tribes merged in this episode into the Burba tribe. The four members of Rana (Gareth, Jacinda, Lezel and Zayn) had the upper hand over the three members of Aguila (Brigitte, Mzi and Vanessa) and targeted Brigitte for elimination.
Gareth won the first individual Immunity Challenge and with no effort made on the part of the former Aguilans to try and form alliances with the former Ranains, Brigitte was voted out in a 4-3 vote along tribal lines (the former Aguila members all voted for Lezel).
In a surprise twist Mark Bayly announced to viewers (unseen by the remaining Burba tribe members) that Brigitte may have been voted out but was in fact not yet eliminated from the game.
She was sent to Dead Man's Island, a small, hostile place where all remaining eliminated contestants will be sent.
Before the Final Three those voted off castaways will have to fight a duel for the right to be given another shot. Whomever wins will be reintroduced into the game and will be able to fight for the million rand.
Interview With Mark Bayly
Episode Summary
Episode 9
(29 October, 2006)
With the former Rana alliance holding strong, Jacinda and Lezel managed to persuade Zayn and Gareth that voting off Mzi was a better option than targeting Vanessa.
The first sign of gender alliances was seen in this episode, with Jacinda and Lezel flexing their persuasive muscle to keep Vanessa in the game.
At Tribal Council Vanessa knew that Mzi was about to be voted out and offered to have her flame snuffed out instead. Mark told her if she did that there would still be a vote, and not only her but Mzi would both be out the game. Vanessa chose to stay in the game, and Mzi was voted out to join Brigitte on Dead Man's Island.
Interview With Brigitte
Episode Summary
Episode 10
(5 November, 2006)
Vanessa Marawa was the last remaining former Aguila member to be voted out of the game. It became apparent that Gareth and Zayn were aligned and wouldn't vote for each other, while Jacinda made it clear she would not vote for Lezel.
Throughout the episode, Vanessa expected to be the next one to go and tried to enjoy her last days on the island.
Following the previous week's emotional tribal council, in which she first wanted to lay her torch down to save Mzi, and then decided that she would give it another go, she knew she had to come out tops at the challenges.
Vanessa managed to win the Reward Challenge, but couldn't clinch the Immunity necklace, which was taken by Gareth for the third week in a row.
Vanessa joined Brigitte and Mzi on Dead Man's Island.
Interview With Vanessa
Interview With Mzi
Episode Summary
Episode 11
(12 November, 2006)
The four remaining ex-Rana members finally had to turn in on themselves and it was lawyer Lezel Crook who found herself on the outside.
In a tight contest, with Jacinda leading most of the way, Gareth won immunity for the fourth week in a row.
Knowing that Gareth and Zayn would vote along the same lines, Lezel put up a fight right until the end, trying to convince them that it would be beneficial for them to have her in the Top 3. She pointed out that Gareth would have an easier time beating her than Jacinda if it came down to the final two.
However Gareth revealed at the tribal council that he thought Lezel wasn't playing the game as honourably as she pretended to be doing, largely because she seemed incapable of giving him her word.
Lezel got three of the four votes and was taken to Dead Man's Island.
Interview With Lezel
Episode Summary
Episode 12
(19 November, 2006)
In this penultimate episode the four ousted contestants on Dead Man's Island competed in the Dead Man's Challenge for the chance to return to the game. The challenge was won by Vanessa and Mzi, who joined the tribe they'd been ousted from, while Brigitte and Lezel were finally sent home.
Zayn won a 4x4 vehicle in the reward challenge but it was Mzi who won the crucial immunity challenge, which totally shifted the balance of power.
With Vanessa by his side Mzi had to choose between Jacinda and Gareth as to who to vote out, and came to the conclusion that since Zayn was so tight with Gareth, the latter had to go.
Jacinda joined Mzi and Vanessa in an alliance and the three of them voted Gareth out - at the first Tribal Council at which he wasn't in possession of immunity.
Zayn thought Mzi and Vanessa were going to vote Jacinda out, so voted for her. Gareth voted for Zayn as he had promised Jacinda he wouldn't vote for her the week before. He too believed Jacinda was going to be leaving.
The official Final 4 were thus: Mzi, Vanessa, Zayn and Jacinda.
Interview with Gareth
Episode Summary
Episode 13
(26 November, 2006)
This two hour season finale saw the final four Survivors battling it out for a place in the final two and the anouncement of the winner in a live show broadcast from M-Net's studio's in Gauteng.
The first hour picked up the action on Day 28 with Zayn, Mzi, Vanessa and Jacinda being called to a physical showdown where they had to balance on a pole for as long as possible while Mark removed beams at intervals, making the task of balancing more and more difficult.
Zayn was the first to fall off after joking about distracting the other three and Mzi followed when he tried to pursuade Jacinda into a final deal saying that his alliance with Vanessa broken.
With the two girls left standing Jacinda jumped on the poles in an attempt to unbalance Vanessa and lost her footing, giving Vanessa the victory of being the first of the final two.
Jacinda and Mzi then competed in a water obstacle course challenge and Jacinda won herself the seat next to Vanessa. The two faced the jury made up of Mzi, Zayn, Gareth, Lezel and Brigitte, the jury voted and the votes were sealed.
The second hour cut to the live studio broadcast where Mark welcomed each of the 14 eliminated Survivors and chatted to them before welcoming Vanessa and Jacinda to the stage where they stood before him as he read out the votes.
The first vote was for Vanessa, the second for Jacinda, the third for Vanessa, the fourth for Jacinda and the final fifth deciding vote went to Vanessa who became South Africa's first Sole Survivor.
Episode Summary
Reunion Show Summary
Survivor SA: Aftermath Party: Pics And Goss