| Season Number: | 1 | ||||||
| Module1: |
| ||||||
| Num Episodes: | 12 | ||||||
| Network: | SVT1 | ||||||
| Film Start: | May 1997 | ||||||
| Film End: | June 1997[1] | ||||||
| Next Season: | 1998 |
Expedition Robinson 1997 is the first version of Expedition Robinson to air in Sweden. This season premiered on 13 September 1997. Martin Melin became the winner on 13 December 1997, with a jury vote of 6–2 over runner-up Kent Larsen.
Despite being the premiere season, the first season was the lowest rated season of the original seven having only garnered around 1.2 million viewers for most of its regular episodes and 2.3 million viewers for its final episode. A major controversy occurred during this season when the first person voted out, Sinisa Savija, committed suicide a month after returning home from the island. Because of this, the first episode to air covered the events between the time when the contestants first arrived on the island and the second elimination.
Following the success of the first season, Åsa Vilbäck, Kent Larsen, and Martin Melin all became well known in Sweden.
| Contestant | Original Tribes | Merged Tribe | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sinisa Savija 34, Norrköping | South Team | |||
| Anna Nordenfeldt 57, Uppsala | North Team | |||
| Peter Just 51, Stockholm | North Team | |||
| Suzanne Lai 39, Helsingborg | North Team | |||
| Zai Gordon-White 27, Södertälje | North Team | |||
| Camilla Lundegård 28, Borlänge | South Team | |||
| Christin Johansson 22, Copenhagen | North Team | align=center bgcolor="lightblue" rowspan=10 | Robinson | |
| Johan Reffel 23, Stockholm | South Team | |||
| Erika Bälldal 37, Oxelösund | South Team | |||
| Jürgen Weis 26, Gothenburg | North Team | |||
| Marie-Louise Niklasson 33, Malmö | South Team | |||
| Markus Fondin 19, Gothenburg | North Team | |||
| Åsa Vilbäck 23, Linköping | South Team | |||
| Ola Melén 25, Lund | South Team | |||
| Kent Larsen 61, Lycksele | South Team | |||
| Martin Melin 30, Stockholm | North Team |
| Air date | Challenges | Eliminated | Vote | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reward | Immunity | ||||
| 13 September 1997 | North Team | North Team | Sinisa | 4-2-1-1 | 1st Voted Out Day 4 |
| Both Teams | South Team | Anna | 4-3-1 | 2nd Voted Out Day 8 | |
| 4 October 1997 | North Team | South Team | Peter | 5-2 | 3rd Voted Out Day 12 |
| 11 October 1997 | North Team | South Team | Suzanne | 3-1-1-1 | 4th Voted Out Day ? |
| 18 October 1997 | South Team | South Team | Zai | 3-2 | 5th Voted Out Day 18 |
| 25 October 1997 | South Team | North Team | Camilla | 6-1 | 6th Voted Out Day 21 |
| 1 November 1997 | Midsummer Celebration | Kent | Christin | No Vote | 7th Evacuated 1st Jury Member Day 23 |
| 8 November 1997 | Åsa | (Jürgen) | Johan | 7-1-1 | 8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 27 |
| 15 November 1997 | Jürgen | Jürgen | Erika | 3-3-1-1 | 9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 31 |
| 22 November 1997 | Ola, [Åsa] | Åsa | Jürgen | 4-3 | 10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 35 |
| 29 November 1997 | Martin | Ola | 4-2 | 11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 38 | |
| 6 December 1997 | Åsa, [Martin] | Martin | 3-2 | 12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 41 | |
| 13 December 1997 | None | Martin | Åsa | 1-0 | 13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 44 |
| Martin | Ola | 1-0 | 14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 46 | ||
| Jury Vote | Kent | 6-2 | Runner-Up | ||
| Martin | Sole Survivor | ||||
In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.
The eighth vote was tied with Erika and Kent each receiving three votes. Following a tied second vote, a lot was drawn which led to Erika's eventual elimination.
| Original Tribes | Merged Tribe | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode #: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||||||
| Eliminated: | Sinisa | Peter | Suzanne | Zai | Camilla | Christin | Erika | Jürgen | Markus | Åsa | Ola | Kent | Martin | |||||
| Voter | Vote | |||||||||||||||||
| Martin | Anna | Suzanne | Suzanne | Zai | Johan | Kent | Kent | Marie-Louise | Kent | Åsa | Ola | Jury Vote | ||||||
| Kent | Sinisa | Camilla | Ola | Jürgen | Marie-Louise | Markus | ||||||||||||
| Ola | Kent | Camilla | Johan | Erika | Jürgen | Marie-Louise | Markus | Kent | ||||||||||
| Åsa | Camilla | Johan | Erika | Jürgen | Marie-Louise | Markus | Kent | |||||||||||
| Markus | Anna | Peter | Suzanne | Zai | Johan | Kent | Kent | Kent | Kent | Martin | ||||||||
| Camilla | Johan | Erika | Jürgen | Kent | Martin | |||||||||||||
| Jürgen | Anna | Peter | Suzanne | Christin | Johan | Kent | Kent | Martin | ||||||||||
| Erika | Camilla | Johan | Markus | Martin | ||||||||||||||
| Johan | Camilla | Camilla | Erika | Martin | ||||||||||||||
| Christin | Peter | Peter | Suzanne | Zai | Martin | |||||||||||||
| Camilla | Sinisa | Johan | ||||||||||||||||
| Zai | Anna | Peter | Suzanne | Christin | ||||||||||||||
| Suzanne | Peter | Peter | Christin | |||||||||||||||
| Peter | Suzanne | Suzanne | ||||||||||||||||
| Anna | Peter | |||||||||||||||||
| Sinisa | ||||||||||||||||||
At the eighth tribal council both Erika and Kent received three votes. Following a re-vote, there was still a tie. Because of this, both were forced to draw lots to determine who would be eliminated.