Skip to Content
reality TV reviews, news, and analysis since 2000

Survivor: The Australian Outback recaps, reviews, and episode analysis

Survivor: The Australian Outback recaps, reviews, and episode analysis
The cast of Survivor: The Australian Outback (Photo by CBS)

Survivor: The Australian Outback is Survivor season two, and the highly anticipated follow up to CBS’s Survivor: Borneo, which had premiered and become a cultural phenomenon in the summer of 2000.

Season two premiered with the CBS reality competition’s highest-rated premiere episode ever. It was also the longest season ever: Tina Wesson, Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Elisabeth Filarski, Rodger Bingham, Alicia Calaway, Amber Brkich, Kimmi Kappenberg, and other members of the Ogakor and Kucha tribes spent 41 days in the Outback, facing a flood, a food shortage, and the show’s first-ever medical evacuation.

These recaps cover those events, plus the players’ strategy and alliances, and the evolution of Survivor, including Jeff Probst’s slightly more active role as host.

While Survivor: The Australian Outback premiered after the Super Bowl in 2001, I didn’t actually recap Survivor back then. These recaps and reviews—which have a lot of analysis and reflection—were written 20 years later, when I rewatched the season in 2021, starting with my thoughts on the season’s 20th anniversary.

All reality blurred content is independently selected, including links to products or services. However, if you buy something after clicking an affiliate link, I may earn a commission, which helps support reality blurred. Learn more.

More from reality blurred

About the author

  • Andy Dehnart

    Andy Dehnart is the creator of reality blurred and a writer and teacher who obsessively and critically covers reality TV and unscripted entertainment, focusing on how it’s made and what it means.

Discussion: your turn

I think of writing about television as the start of a conversation, and I value your contributions to that conversation. We’ve created a community that connects people through open and thoughtful conversations about the TV we’re watching and the stories about it.

To share our perspectives and exchange ideas in a welcoming, supportive space, I’ve created these rules for commenting here. By commenting below, you confirm that you’ve read and agree to those rules.

Happy discussing!