Neleh Dennis - Purple Rock Controversy

Purple Rock Controversy

Paschal's elimination marked a large controversy in the game of Survivor. In the first tribal council of episode thirteen, Neleh and Kathy each received two votes while Vecepia was immune. In previous tie situations, where a re-vote did not determine a single contestant to be eliminated, votes from past tribal councils were used, and the contestant with the most prior votes was eliminated. It should be noted that both Neleh and Kathy had the same number of votes cast at previous tribal councils so that tie-breaker wouldn't have worked anyways. In Marquesas, the prior votes rule was no longer used; instead, if the tribe could not reach a unanimous decision as to who should be voted off within an allotted time, the contestants who were not immune would pull different colored rocks from a sack . Whoever chose the odd-colored rock would be eliminated. The official rules of this tiebreaker also state that the contestants receiving the most votes (in this situation, Kathy and Neleh) also become immune. However at this tribal council, Neleh and Kathy were also forced to choose rocks, when according to the rules they should have been immune, which would in theory automatically eliminate Paschal. Though Paschal chose the purple rock and was eliminated anyway, it is speculated that the fire-making challenge (which would involve only Neleh and Kathy) was meant to be used in this case and that production was in error by using the rock tiebreaker. This theory was supported by host Jeff Probst, when he later admitted that using the purple rock tie-breaker was a mistake at this point in the game, because the formula behind it was impossible to apply fairly with only four survivors left.

No tie occurred on the show until six seasons later on Palau, which had several tie votes. The first two ties were solved by a re-vote, while the other two had to be resolved by a fire-making challenge (the first occurred when the Ulong tribe had only two members left, and the other occurred with the final four contestants). However, due to Paschal's elimination at the hands of the purple rock, future castaways that took part in the show between the Marquesas and Palau seasons believed that drawing rocks was the tiebreaker for all situations, including the final four. As a result, many contestants would change alliances late in the game in order to avoid another tie and another chance of drawing the Purple Rock. For example, Jenna Lewis of All-Stars voted against her ally Rupert at the final four to avoid what she thought would be the purple rock tiebreaker.

Other than Palau, there have been three other seasons (Panama, Cook Islands and Gabon) where the tie votes were all settled with a fire-making challenge, all of which were when there were only four contestants left in the game. In Survivor: Micronesia, it was theorized by Cirie Fields that the purple rock tiebreaker is the tiebreaker for all ties except in the final four when the fire-making challenge is used instead. In Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: South Pacific, it was stated numerous times that in the event of a deadlock tie, the purple rock would be used, thus confirming Fields's theory.