Lawrence.com

The tribe has spoken, and America has survived another reality show.

Despite a growing number of reality-based shows such as "The Mole" and "Boot Camp," the zest for "Survivor" hasn't died down as fans loyally glued themselves to the TV Thursday for the two-hour final episode.

"The new shows are all bad take-offs of 'Survivor' but the original's the good one," said Asa Tysseling, who tuned into the final episode with five faithful fans Thursday.

Tysseling and friends at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity haven't missed an episode since "Survivor, the Australian Outback" made its premiere Super Bowl Sunday. They cheered, booed and groaned their way through the season to see Tina Wesson, a Knoxville, Tenn., nurse, emerge as the survivor Thursday.

The Australian "Survivor" topped the first season in which contestants competed on a stranded island, fans said Thursday.

Jennifer Mueller watched the show with about 30 other fans at the Kansas University Alumni Association "Survivor" graduation party at the Adams Alumni Center. Mueller said the scenery, but particularly the characters, were better Down Under.

"The last one people were mean to each other," Mueller said. "This one I can actually tolerate it because people were nice to each other."

For the most part, the final episode wasn't a clincher, fan Ryan Crowder said, but rather overdramatic and drawn out. However, he said the live announcement of the winner from Los Angeles was a nice touch.

"The way that they played it out in the end, playing it live, was a really good idea," Crowder said. "That way you saw the outcome with them."

Next Thursday is the postadventure show, "Back from the Outback" at 7 p.m. on CBS.