Since Survivor is such a huge show and every player gets paid, it costs a lot of money to produce. Unfortunately for CBS, one of the show’s most unpredictable and ridiculous mistakes also cost the network $200,000.
Survivor’s Messed Up Immunity Challenge Cost CBS $200,000
In a lot of ways, Survivor: Africa is one of the most remarkable seasons in the show’s history. One example of that is the fact that the tribes had to have people awake all night long to make sure that the fire kept going to keep lions aware since they were filming in Africa.
Another one of the reasons that Survivor: Africa is so remarkable is that things didn’t play out the way they should have. The unfortunate truth is that an immunity challenge went completely wrong and turned out to be very costly.
As a result of the immunity challenge that played out wrong, the ultimate outcome of the season could have been different. On top of that, the messed up immunity challenge cost CBS $200,000 as the network paid to make the problem go away.
During Survivor: Africa, the final four immunity challenge required the players to answer a series of questions about the previously voted out players. At that point in the game, the remaining players were Ethan Zohn, Kim Johnson, Lex van den Berghe, and Tom Buchanan.
Ultimately, the challenge came down to a single question that asked the players to answer a specific question. The players had to name the eliminated female player who didn’t have any part of their body pierced.
In response to that question, Lex answered Lindsey and Kim answered Kelly. In the game, Kim was named the winner since Kelly didn’t have any piercings.
For Survivor: Africa’s viewers, it seemed like there was nothing wrong with how things played out. That wasn’t accurate, however, as the truth is that the outcome of that challenge was wrong because the people who put it together made a mistake. The problem is that Lex’s answer was also right because Lindsey also didn’t have any piercings, but the show’s producers didn’t realize that.
The immunity challenge that went wrong during Survivor: Africa took place in front of the jury. Since Lindsey Richter didn’t last long enough to be a part of the jury, there was nobody there to stick up for Lex and say he was right too.
If Survivor’s producers realized that Lex was right too, the challenge would have continued. In that scenario, it certainly was possible that Lex could have won immunity and Kim could have been the one who was voted out. After all, Ethan, Lex, and Tom were in an alliance which would have resulted in Kim’s exit if they stuck to that.
After Kim was named the winner of the immunity challenge that went wrong, Tom Buchanan was voted out, which meant he came in fourth place. Lex van den Berghe went on to get voted out next and came in third place.
If Kim was voted out, there is no way to know how differently the rest of the season would have played out. For that reason, it seemed obvious that CBS had to do something to make things right, since Lex and Tom both could have gone further or maybe even have won the game.
In February 2002, The New York Post reported on how CBS chose to make things right. After it was realized that the challenge went wrong, CBS paid Tom and Lex both $100,000 to make up for the mistake. For those who don’t know, $100,000 was the prize given to the runner-up from each Survivor season.
It also has to be noted that despite the mistake that could have impacted how the season played out, Ethan was still considered the Sole Survivor and he got $1 million.
After CBS gave Lex and Tom the $100,000 prizes, they initially kept the mistake secret, according to The New York Post’s report. However, the outlet also revealed that reporters soon learned what happened. As a result, CBS released an extremely short statement about the mistake and how it was dealt with.
This was a screw up, not a scandal. It was an honest mistake and the producers dealt with it right after they became aware of the situation.
Survivor’s Lex Van Den Berghe Once Revealed When The Challenge Screw Up Was Discovered
In 2014, Lex van den Berghe took part in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session on the r/survivor subreddit. Since Lex was at the heart of a huge Survivor screw up, it makes sense that he was asked about that situation.
