?Stephenie spends a night all alone [at camp]. First castaway to do that, right?? ? SurvivorSucks message board post by Mersaydeez, Feb. 20, 2005. .Survivor: Palau premiered Feb. 17.

The just-completed Survivor: Palau has been one of the series? most compelling seasons. For better or for worse, it has also has been one of the most spoiled.

On Feb. 19 ? a mere two days after Palau premiered on CBS ? someone using the name Mersaydeez posted the following at the popular message board SurvivorSucks, regarding the Palau season that featured the Ulong tribe vs. the Koror tribe:

Sorry Ulong fans, but they get their asses kicked. Koror prevails. Here are your pre-jury boots, in no order…

Ashlee, Angie, Bobby Jon, Ibrehem, James, Jeff, Kim, Willard (along
with Jolanda, Jonathan and Wanda of course)

Which makes your Jury, again, in no order… Coby, Caryn, Gregg, Ian, Jen, Janu, Katie, Stephenie, Tom (yes that is right, 8 original Koror, 1 Ulong)

From the hints my source gave me, I would most likely say that 5 of the final 6 consists of *updated*… Tom, Katie, Gregg, Caryn, and Ian.

Kim and Jeff are not the only two to play Rob/Amber on the island…Gregg and Jen do as well.

This posting set off a stampede of leaks, speculation and rumors among the tens of thousands of Survivor viewers who congregate online to debate and analyze each episode. Indeed, as of this writing, the above message has been replied to more than 5,900 times. As I?ve written about before, most of these Survivor fans have one goal: Spoil the show by figuring out what will happen in advance, be it by poring over previews of coming episodes; analyzing episodes, at times frame by frame, in search of editing patterns; or reading into every word uttered in media interviews by the host and participants.

Increasingly, however, fan sites such as SurvivorSucks have been the recipient of ?source spoilers,? such as Mersaydeez?, where those with a personal Deep Throat show up and spill a hill of beans all at once. In the case of Mersaydeez and a handful of others this season, nearly every detail, predicted weeks in advance in some cases, was spot-on.

To some, this is thrilling. To others, it ironically defeats the purpose of spoiling.

?Having a list of bootees is not in a true sense outwitting, it’s out-scooping,? the Web master of a popular Survivor fan site told me in an interview three years ago. ?It’s the difference between spoiling by being tipped off and spoiling by detective work and intelligent speculation. Both are ?spoilers,? but which is more rewarding??

It?s a difficult question, on a number of levels, and it goes to the heart of fan culture, studied most prominently by the likes of MIT scholar Henry Jenkins. It raises also another question: Do reality TV?s producers even care anymore that their shows are spoiled?

Granted, Survivor ?boot lists? have been accessed even in the early days of the show ? but usually only leaked bit by bit. A number of newspapers, Web sites and radio stations correctly gave away each week?s Australian Outback victim for several weeks running back in spring 2001, on the day each episode aired. The fan site SurvivorNews.net has a nearly perfect track record in announcing each week?s ?bootee? just prior to the episode airing; many assume the site?s Web master must have an inside source.

Public source spoilers have been on the rise since spring 2003?s Survivor: The Amazon ? much of which was spoiled by a fan known as The ChillOne who happened upon the filming site while on vacation, then wrote a book about his experience, then found another source during Survivor: All-Stars and spoiled that season?s final seven.

However, many fans persist in spoiling the ?old-fashioned? way, and successfully. For instance, one fan was able to discern from video footage of an upcoming episode that contestant Coby would be voted out of Palau that week. Such sleuthing, however, has largely been eclipsed ? if not in quality, than in impact ? by source spoiling. Spoiling by the likes of Mersaydeez, who leaked well in advance the identity of last night’s final two, Tom and Katie. Another SurvivorSucks member, BiancaXXX, provided accurate weekly spoilers such as who would win immunity in each episode; others, such as a member who goes by the name Wezzie and has provided endless details about filming locations in the past, contributed as well.

In some respects, one wonders if reality show producers even care these days. Such programs have been increasingly leak-happy. The final two of The Apprentice 2 and the winners of The Amazing Race 7 were spoiled by online betting sites, just as an example. It?s a far cry from the first Survivor season, when executive producer Mark Burnett hoodwinked a nation into believing the doomed Gervase would win. And the increase in leaks hasn?t hurt Survivor?s ratings ? Palau has been among the higher-rated seasons.

So, does it matter? Does knowing an outcome in advance make things less interesting? If you flip to the last pages of a book before reading it, is it still worth it to plow through 500 pages? If your friend tells you Keyser Soze?s identity just as you pop in the Usual Suspects DVD you rented, would you still bother watching? Or is it more fun to try to read into each scene along the way and not know the outcome?

Most people, of course, would say that knowing the outcome in advance is less fun. I, for one, don?t want to know what?s going to happen on the season finales of Lost and Desperate Housewives. I didn?t read about the ending of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it aired even though I knew details of the series finale were readily available online. Oddly, though, for Survivor I don?t mind knowing ? or at least thinking I know. I want to see how the announced outcome comes to pass. And I never know when an apparently good spoiler will go bad.

Indeed, a trusted spoiler taking a wrong turn can be thrilling for an obsessive television fan. For instance, during Survivor: The Amazon, a respected SurvivorSucks member announced early on that contestant Heidi would place sixth in the game, while the nearly spot-on ChillOne reported that deaf contestant Christy would come in fourth. But Christy was voted out in sixth place, leaving fans atwitter.

Finally, ironically, thinking you know the outcome ? but not knowing all the details ? can make things more exciting. I have a colleague who watched seasons 1 and 2 of Survivor and then stopped, having lost interest. This spring, he heard me talking about the Mersaydeez spoiler at work (albeit without specifics so as not to ruin virgin ears), and it piqued his interest: He borrowed the first three Palau episodes from me, and began watching Survivor regularly once more. It fascinated him to watch the season play out and compare it to the spoiler. This past Thursday, I even caught him on Survivor Sucks, reading a list of finale spoilers someone had compiled. Another colleague who watches Survivor hovered over him, trying not to look at his computer screen, but also dying to know what would happen.

In other words, unwrapping a few presents on Christmas Eve only makes you hungrier for the next morning.