[1] The series was set in the South China Sea on the remote Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga in the state of Sabah, about 6 miles (9.7 km) off the north coast of Borneo, Malayasia.

The sixteen contestants were initially separated into two tribes, named Helang and Ular, meaning "eagle" and "snake" in Malaysian, respectively.

On Day 20, the ten remaining players merged into one tribe, named Sekutu, the Malaysian word for "together".

After 40 days of competition, police officer Charlotte Hoborough was named the "Ultimate Survivor", defeating airline industry purchaser Jackie Carey in a 7–0 jury vote.

[5] Despite Survivor receiving initial media hype, the debut episode opened with 6.6 million viewers, which was seen as a disappointment for ITV.

[7] In response, ITV made the decision to transmit less episodes per week to allow the hype for the series to grow.

[10] Despite being low in ratings by ITV's expectations, Survivor was the most watched reality television series in the UK at its time of airing, such as Big Brother.