CBS ANNOUNCES 19 NEW CASTAWAYS FOR
"SURVIVOR: FIJI"

14th Installment of the Hit Television Series Premieres on Thursday, Feb. 8

CBS today announced the 19 new castaways who will compete in SURVIVOR: FIJI when the 14th installment of the Emmy Award-winning series premieres Thursday, Feb. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SURVIVOR: FIJI will feature a diverse cast of Americans who will begin the series as one tribe with plenty of supplies and resources on their island to make an exceptionally comfortable camp. On Day Three, the castaways will be split into two tribes, selected by one of their own as a result of events to take place prior to the first Immunity Challenge. The tribe that wins the first Immunity Challenge will return to the camp of copious resources while the losing tribe must relocate to a new island with only a pot, a machete and a water source.

In addition, throughout the series, at least one castaway in each episode will be banished to a separate island (Exile Island) miles away from camp. The castaways will learn that there is a Hidden Immunity Idol located somewhere at each tribe camp and that a new clue to their whereabouts will be waiting for the latest person sent to Exile Island. Such a twist offers the opportunity for more than one individual to be in possession of a Hidden Immunity Idol at the same time. These Hidden Immunity Idols may be played at future Tribal Councils if the possessor feels they are in danger of being voted off the island.


Castaways competing in SURVIVOR: FIJI (in alphabetical order) are:

ALEX ANGARITA
28
Los Angeles (originally from Colombia)
Attorney

KENWARD “BOO” BERNIS
34
Lafayette, La.
Construction Worker

YAU-MAN CHAN
54
Martinez, Calif. (born in Hong Kong, raised in Borneo, Malaysia)
Computer Engineer

EARL COLE
35
Santa Monica, Calif. (originally from Kansas City, Kan.)
Advertising Executive

JESSICA deBEN
27
Los Angeles (originally from New Orleans)
Fashion Stylist

ERICA DUROUSSEAU
27
Lake Charles, La.
Non-Profit Fundraiser

CASSANDRA FRANKLIN
42
Los Angeles
Civil Engineer Manager

LILIANA GOMEZ
25
Oxnard, Calif.
Loan Officer


ANDRIA “DRE” HERD
25
Wilmington, N. C.
Cheerleading Coach

STACY KIMBALL
27
Boulder, Colo. (originally from Montpelier, Vt.)
Interactive Internet Producer

SYLVIA KWAN
52
Ross, Calif. (born in Hong Kong)
Architect

MOOKIE LEE
25
Wheeling, Ill. (born in Seoul, Korea)
Loan Manager

LISETTE “LISI” LINARES
36
Los Angeles (originally from Miami)
Customer Service Representative

JAMES REID
28
Los Angeles (originally from Boston)
Bartender

EDGARDO RIVERA
28
Miami Beach, Fla. (originally from Puerto Rico)
Advertising Executive

ANTHONY ROBINSON
32
Compton, Calif.
Expert Witness Locator

GARY STRITESKY
55
Ramsey, Minn.
School Bus Driver

RITA VERREOS
38
San Antonio, Texas (originally from Venezuela)
Single Mom

MICHELLE YI
23
Cincinnati, Ohio
Student

SURVIVOR: FIJI is hosted by Jeff Probst and produced by SEG, Inc. Mark Burnett and Tom Shelly are the executive producers. Doug McCallie and Kevin Greene are co-executive producers.

For more detailed information on SURVIVOR: FIJI and the 19 new castaways, log on to www.cbs.com/survivor. For more information on Fiji, log on to www.bulafiji.com.

The whole interview can be found here:

http://asapblogs.typepad.com/theslug/2007/01/jeff_probst_tal.html

Here are some of the most interesting points:

The Slug: So what's "Survivor: Fiji" about?

Jeff Probst: The overall theme is letting them make almost every decision in terms of how this game will play out in the initial setup. That was the big idea. It starts with 19 people because we had somebody quit the night before, which has never happened before, so that threw us for a bit of a loop because we didn't anticipate an odd number.

They're literally just put on a beach. They've got some fruit trees there, but that's it. I come over in a float plane and drop a box. And in that box they start to get the information. And the information is you're gonna need to build the most elaborate shelter "Survivor" has ever seen. Here's the blue prints, a building plan, a map to find lumber and tools. You've got a sink and a kitchen area and a couch, all kinds of stuff to build this elaborate shelter. They're told they have to finish this before the game can continue.

They build this great shelter. They've got water and flint. Once they finish building it, I show up and say, "Now you're gonna figure how to divide these tribes up." They choose somebody to divide the tribes. That person divides them, and they square off in a challenge. The losers have to go to a new beach where they literally have a machete, pot and water they have to boil. No fire. They have a cave they can kind of get under, but it's miserable.

The game is about one tribe living a life of luxury, and the other tribe really scraping to get by while the other tribe has it so good it almost doesn't feel like "Survivor" to them. They have a couch. They have tables. The tribe that wins the first challenge goes back to this reward, which is all these luxury items. They're not necessarily better. They just make life better like hammocks and umbrellas and bottles and decanters and all this silverware and plates and china and a bush shower. So you see them eating. It looks like some sort of Ralph Lauren picnic.

The other tribes show up and they're dragging their butts because they haven't even had water. What was really interesting was how quickly you started to see the attitude change where the winning tribe started to have this sense of entitlement. It was fascinating to watch the rich tribe get lazy and entitled and the poor tribe get desperate and resentful.

Instead of having two equal teams, you have two tribes and one extra person. And what do you do with that other person? It played out just fine. The only drag is we lost a person, and it just affects your creativity a little bit. Where you maybe wanted to do a double Tribal Council and vote two people out, you can't because you just lost one. It has a little bit of trickle down, but when it happens before the show, it's very easy to move everything a little bit.

The Slug: There's more diversity in the cast again. Was that a conscious effort again?

Jeff Probst: We started something in motion. Let's work hard to do it again. I think we're setting ourselves up if we think each season we can have an equal number from every ethnic group. There's already ethnic groups that aren't represented.

You really hamper your casting if you say you have to have five people from a certain group. So I don't think that's something that has to happen forever. But I think (executive producer) Mark (Burnett) and CBS wanted to show that we didn't just do it as a gimmick. We really want to incorporate more diversity into the show. And we're gonna keep doing it as best we can.

The Slug: Tell us about the Hidden Immunity Idols. There's two this season, but how are they used?

Jeff Probst: I think we figured out how to do it this season. The very first time we introduced it, you had to play it before anybody voted. Then the second time we introduced it, you could play it after the votes had been made and read. So it was an absolute get-out-of-jail-free card.

This season, I think we found the happy medium. You must play the Idol after the votes have been cast but before I read them. Before the votes, I say, "How confident are you? Do you want to take a chance? Or should you play your Idol?" That made a dramatic difference. The Idols get played. Nobody is sitting on their Idol until the end and taking it home as a souvenir.

The Slug: Do you have another "Survivor" in you?

Jeff Probst: Oh yeah. CBS has told us we're renewed. So we're working on "Survivor 15" right now

for this and the slug post below.

very informative.

one person quit the night before! what a jerk! they'd better have a VERY good reason or millions who tried out are going to want blood!

i think the leftover person from the tribes will be sent to exile first. the last person in the schoolyard pick. then whichever team loses and ousts someone will have the exilee replace the bootee. just my guess using the 'keep it simple' concept.

~ cqc