'Survivor 3' Immunity Challenge Scandal!

At the end of Survivor: Africa, we looked at “Why Ethan Won,” among other articles. Now it seems that Ethan may have won because of an error in one of the immunity challenges! Get all the info on this breaking news story about producer error and a possible payoff to final four contestants!We have breaking news concerning a mistake made during the Survivor: Africa finale: According to the website Allyourtv.com, there was an error in the second-to-last immunity challenge (the one that led to Tom being booted). Now, according to the site, it looks like cash settlements have been made to two of the final four because of it.

As you may recall, the 8th question asked: Which female Survivor does not have anything pierced, including her ears? Kim answered “Kelly.” Ethan said “Linda.” Lex said “Lindsey.” And Tom said “Jessie.” Kim got it right, and that one question was the margin of victory that granted her immunity. Then, along with Ethan and Lex, she voted out Tom That is what we all saw on TV.

However, it now appears that the producers later realized that the answer to the final question is incorrect – or not totally correct, anyway. More than one female Survivor fits that description. Allyourtv.com reports, “At this point, it’s not clear which other female Survivor could have been the correct answer, but the result was that everything after the challenge was thrown into doubt. If Lex had won the challenge, he presumably would have booted Kim off the show.”

And if Kim had been eliminated instead of Tom, and everyone knows were we are going with this, it is possible with a final three of the Boran Boys Club, Ethan may not have won. It is possible Tom might have won. Or Lex.

Though it’s not possible to know for certain how the next day would have ended up, let’s think about it. If the three guys had indeed booted off Kim, they would have had to face the final immunity. Ethan still would have bombed out early from weakness, and Lex would have gone at about the same time as well. The real question is where Tom would have landed. It is, of course, difficult to say. We know Tom was weakened from the lack of food (just look at all the weight he lost). But he was still sharp enough to be able to lash out and grab the chicken as it passed by. Could he have lasted to win the final immunity?

Let’s say, for the moment, that he could have. After the fighting they showed between him and Lex, he almost certainly would have booted Lex. In a battle of Ethan vs. Tom, Ethan would have won. If Lex would have won the immunity, he likely would have booted Tom for the same reason. Between Lex and Ethan, again I think Ethan would have won. The real question is what would have happened if Tom or Lex had decided instead to boot Ethan, thinking strategically about who they’d rather face in the finals. In that case, we won’t even hazard a guess as to who would have won, but we know it wouldn’t have been Ethan, and one of them would have walked away with a million while the other would have gotten $100,000. Quite a bit more than either ended up with as things stood.

The website notes that CBS was faced with a public relations nightmare just prior to Survivor: Marquesas starting , so they did things the American way: They supposedly paid off two of the four final survivors. CBS is not commenting on this, and due to the stringent contracts the Survivors signed with CBS, the contestants are not talking, either. But who could those two be? Well, we just saw who – it has to be Lex and Tom. Kim would not have gone any higher. And it obviously wasn’t Ethan. How much were they paid? We’ll probably never know that. That won’t stop us from trying to find out, of course! More news as it breaks.