For the first time, a "Survivor" season-premiere ran for 90 minutes instead of the usual 1-hour.
Rupert Boneham provided the season's first memorable moment by stealing the other tribe's shoes and using them to barter for supplies.
The premiere of "Survivor: Pearl Islands" began with the contestants being told to leave their luggage at the hotel and dress formally for a publicity photo. The contestants boarded a yacht and, instead of posing for a photo, were told by Jeff Probst to abandon ship in the clothes on their backs and that "the game has begun!"
This episode began with the contestants aboard a luxury liner dressed in their fine clothes having been told they were being taken to a publicity shoot. The liner dropped anchor a good distance from shore, 'Jeff Probst (I)' climbed aboard, and proceeded to inform the contestants that "the game has begun." The Survivors were divided into their tribes, told to "abandon ship", and swim to shore with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Then, each tribe was given 100 Balboas (Panamanian currency) and told to go to a fishing village and buy what they needed for the next 39 days.