Survivor since 2000: Reliving the game’s greatest moments year by year

Survivor 2002: Drawing The Purple Rock

During the early seasons, production was barely ahead of the players in terms of the evolution of gameplay. Dumb tiebreakers relied on weird parameters to determine who went home, many of which would be improved upon or changed in the interest of fairness.

The rock draw tiebreaker is a noble thought, forcing players to come to a conclusion to vote one player out instead of leaving things up to fate. However, in its first iteration, it was not fair at all. It came at the Final Four, where two players had two votes each. Had a consensus not been reached, all players who didn’t have an Immunity Necklace would draw rocks, with the purple rock indicating an elimination.

Paschal drew the purple rock in Survivor Marquesas, and he was the first player not medically evacuated to be sent home without a vote all season. There’s no reason for the targeted players to force a rock draw, as this early version didn’t make the vote targets safe. Still, early in the show’s run, it proved to be a huge occasion that further changed the dynamics of the game of Survivor.