Here is the article by Peter Ames Carlin that ran this morning (08/22) confirming that EBT correctly guessed it was Lindsey Richter as the Portland contestant:

'Survivor' Series Speculation as Big a Show as the Show Itself

08/22/01

On Aug. 8, this column was delighted to report that the cast of "Survivor: Africa," currently shooting in the wilds of Kenya, will include a young woman from Portland.

Now, to realize how quickly news can spread and echo these days, consider that the newspaper containing that story hit the street at dawn. The digitized version went up on the Oregonlive.com Web site a few hours later. And it wasn't even lunchtime yet when I got an e-mail from Trish McLeod, who runs her Survivorfever.net Web site in New Orleans. "I was ecstatic over your article," she wrote, noting that she had first heard rumors about the woman in question in mid-July. "Now it seems the story has broken wide open. I was wondering if you are able to confirm if the Portland native who is rumored to be the contestant is . . ."

McLeod had the right name. And while it's hard to say where she got the information, she wasn't the only one on the right track. By 2:55 that afternoon, Tim Gillman, a San Francisco software guy who also operates the Survivornews.net site, could back up his (also correct) hypothesis on the woman's identity with a list of decade-old articles from The Oregonian he had cross-indexed with hints I had put in my column.

That was impressive. And the fun had only just begun. By the end of the week I had received more than a dozen e-mails from folks representing "Survivor" Web sites. All hoped I could confirm the Portland contestant's identity. Most, assuming I would now be privy to all kinds of insider information, asked me to help them ferret out, and publicly spoil, the show's weekly cliffhangers.

"Since you will undoubtedly be looking to report on (her) role in Kenya," wrote Melissa Batson, the Los Angeles-based ringleader of the Ellipsiiis Brain Trust "Survivor" spoiler board, "perhaps we can find some way to help each other."

A day or two later I got a note from an EBT member who identified himself only as AtlantaFatMike. "All contact information will remain confidential," he promised. "Compensation is also an option."

Most of us are content to watch the "Survivor" game unfold on the TV screen. But in a world where every cultural action inspires a reaction of equal or even greater strength, the show's immense popularity has created a vast community of viewers making up their own subterranean counterpart: An online competition to outwit the producers, outplay their top-secret maneuvers and just plain out each week's developments before the episode's opening credits roll.

The competition to be the world's leading "Survivor" spoiler can be fierce. Some sites accuse others of planting moles in their discussion groups. Others assert that certain groups are actually secret hideouts for CBS and/or "Survivor" staff moles. And which site dispatches computer hackers to take out their competitors?

The more questions I asked, the more convoluted the whole thing became.

"It is highly likely that the person who (offered you) compensation for information was not a member of the EBT, but someone who is trying to make the EBT look bad," wrote Melanie Walker, who helps run a Portland-based site called SurvivorAddicts.com. Not that SurvivorAddicts is a friend of the EBT. On the contrary, Walker's Web site partner, Sam Gibson, trashes the EBT -- a group to which he once belonged, of course -- at every opportunity.

"I do not tolerate dishonesty," Gibson explained. "I have tarnished their reputation . . . and intend to continue doing so."

At this point, I'm not sure that Richard Hatch could navigate the layers of rivalry, bile and subterfuge employed by the various "Survivor" spoilers. I'm beginning to think this should be the show.

If it were, the story would begin a year ago last June, when the first "Survivor" series started airing. MightyBigTV.com devoted a message board to the new hit. The first all-"Survivor" site, the now-extinct Survivorsucks.com, went up at the same time, more or less, and as the show bounced from cliffhanger to cliffhanger, the identity of the eventual winner became a source of frenzied discussion.

The sweeping fervor attending the first series' climax only heightened the spoiler stakes for the second, Australian version. More sites popped up, including Surviiivor.com, run by Batson, a canny Pepperdine University senior (majoring in TV production!) whose private, 120-member discussion group -- named the Ellipsiiis Brain Trust, after her on-screen nickname -- soon developed a reputation as the most accurate spoiler group on the Web.

True enough, the EBT predicted 36 of the 39 "S2" cliffhangers (winners of award and immunity challenges, each week's ejected tribesmember and the winner). How do they do it? Batson is cagey, as you might expect.

"We look at the week's previews to see what people are wearing, what their hair looks like, how much weight they've lost," she said. Others say the group has connections to the show and that they are somehow selling out everyone else in the online community in exchange for the info.

But here's a big question: Who cares? No one is going to win a prize for guessing "Survivor" plot twists. The fame is negligible. Why does anyone bother?

"I guess some people are just bored and they want something to do," Batson said. You can reach Peter Ames Carlin at 503-221-8562 or by e-mail at petercarlin@news.oregonian.com. The regular mailing address is 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201.

Of course, the Oregonian could be pulling our leg, but I doubt it.