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Let's hope the Survivor: Thailand orientation included a warning to fasten their seatbelts: reports coming in reveal more than just one bumpy night . We hear one crew member was fired before filming began for leaking information, but that was just a small pothole on the access road compared to what followed. But first, let's start with the happy news.
Rumored to be a castaway is a firefighter from the FDNY. Dousing Manhattan fires may be a welcome vacation from life on Tarutao. How's that fire house food tasting these days? Nothing like Survivor fare to whet anybody's appetite for a communal pot of good old bean soup.
Your SurvivorNews Team has learned that fewer than 200 of the 65,000 applications received were from persons identifying themselves as Asian-American. Pressure was on to cast from this segment of the applicant pool, and we believe a female Asian-American contestant was chosen for Survivor: Thailand.
The drama started early this time around: A female contestant was disqualified during orientation, reportedly because her behavior was too wild. Were production staff concerned this player would go feral and leave the production area? Was she breaking the 'no communication with other players' rule? Did lack of food in pre-filming orientation drive her over the edge? We don't know the exact details, but when you recall the antics of players like S1's "Coconut Phone" Greg and Big Brother 2's knife-wielding Justin, this woman must have had serious attitude even by the Eye Network's Reality TV standards.
We'll reserve judgment on whether the alternate replacing the disqualified player was lucky. The Thailand cast is described as having "a very different vibe from the S4 group." Details continue to emerge, but the general feeling is very negative. Both cast and crew returned in a down mood, challenged and tired from their ordeal in Thailand, and perhaps disappointed that the interesting characters were voted off first. Friends describe one production assistant as "withdrawn," a contrast from her upbeat demeanor in post-Nuku Hiva days.
Bette Davis surely must have meant Thursdays when she rasped, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
<<We'll reserve judgment on whether the alternate replacing the disqualified player was lucky. The Thailand cast is described as having "a very different vibe from the S4 group." Details continue to emerge, but the general feeling is very negative. Both cast and crew returned in a down mood, challenged and tired from their ordeal in Thailand, and perhaps disappointed that the interesting characters were voted off first.>>
I'm guessing the drain of 39 days away during the monsoon season combined with a cast member losing her father in the final days of shooting might bring the mood down a little. Still, I'm guessing 2 of the people came home in good spirits.
Besides, if the most interesting bunch got voted off early, this group would mirror the Marquesas crew a lot more. Jeffy said today on the Early Show that this group is more akin to the first cast. If that's the case then I'll bet the most interesting ones hang around until the end.
Maybe it's just me.....but doesn't Jiffy always say that the upcoming cast is similar to that of the first season??? lol...shows you what a headcase he is.
<<Wonder if this means a return to the Pagonging.>>
Could be, but the similarity, he said, was in the "cross-section of America". So I'm guessing more brain-dead MD's and anger-management-challenged female truck drivers. One can only hope...
The show begins on September 19th @ the usual Survivor time.......the cast will be announced on Thursday on the Early Show.....hopefully we'll see some commercials during BB3 and CBS Football.
>I'm unclear why there was so much pressure to cast an >Asian-American -- was this a Thai government requirement or >something???
Could just be an effort to draw in even more viewers considering the large number of North Americans of Asian heritage out there, particularly on the West Coast -- and we've yet to have anyone of an Asian background (dunno about Kel).
>Could just be an effort to >draw in even more viewers >considering the large number of >North Americans of Asian heritage >out there, particularly on the >West Coast -- and we've >yet to have anyone of >an Asian background (dunno about >Kel).
Ya, but that pressure has been there for 2 years -- the wording of the article makes it sound like some new pressure has been put upon them (and if I remember right, I don't think it is likely that the pressure is coming internally from within CBS itself -- since I believe CBS ranked last in some Fall 2002 television diversity study released a few weeks ago.)
we've yet to have anyone of an Asian background (dunno about Kel).
I think Kel's half native American. Hmmm... maybe the pressure to cast an Asian American could be due to the show airing in many Asian countries.
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Kathy O'Brien... The Sole Survivor! (I'd rather be delusional)
>Your SurvivorNews Team has learned that >fewer than 200 of the >65,000 applications received were from >persons identifying themselves as Asian-American. >Pressure was on to cast >from this segment of the >applicant pool, and we believe >a female Asian-American contestant was >chosen for Survivor: Thailand.
And affirmative reaction rears its ugly head again. Rather than picking the 16 best qualified/most entertaining contestants, we get 15 and 1 "token" Asian American. Which is more insulting?
The Artist Formerly Known As DarkLotus Daddy, there's a monster outside my room. Can I have a glass of water?
>And affirmative reaction rears its ugly >head again. Rather than >picking the 16 best qualified/most >entertaining contestants, we get 15 >and 1 "token" Asian American. > Which is more insulting?
Well, look at the minority representation in the previous series, the show is always predominantly WASP with a few tokens. The truth is that MB has once again "cast" the players to create a microcosm of America, rather than trying to "select" the 16 best candidates to play the game. Much as I don't like that (I would prefer that the players be selected somehow by a criteria of how well they might play the game), under the circumstances of being "cast" it is no more insulting to be one of the minority tokens than to be one of the WASP tokens, or one of the male tokens, or one of the female tokens, or whatever.
That said: Fortunately, individual merit makes a big difference in the game, so for the most part I don't believe how any individual player does is actually representative of whatever segment of the population they may represent. In other words, the early boots will still most likely go to those who don't fit in with the others (whether by being an irritant, an anti-social loner, or perhaps just by being perceived as a challenge liability).
I do hope they avoid Pagonging somehow, though that seems to be an inherent aspect of the game (the Misfit 5 escaped Pagonging by Pagonging the Rotu 4). I hope even more never again to see an example of pre-twist Maraamu (Most * Pathetic * Tribe * Ever!).
You're interested in the 16 "best-qualified"???!!! By what standards?? Do you suppose Sara was chosen last time because of her superior strategic thinking or special survival skills? Do you think maybe she was selected to attract a certain viewing demographic? But she didn't do much to pull in certain other ones. So what is wrong with selecting other players to target other demographics? This is TV for God's sake. By the way, an Asian woman just won "The Mole". Token my eye!
>By the way, an Asian >woman just won "The Mole". > Token my eye!
Exactly. Dorothy wasn't a token anything. Neither was Elavia or Darwin. They were chosen because the producers thought they could play the game well enough to make the show interesting. And the producers were right.
But if you look at the casting of Survivor, token representation is an accurate statement. I'll bet there were a number of Asian-Americans who auditioned for the previous versions that could have played the game well. Just like I think they could have found more interesting minority candidates than the one or two they've sprinkled into each episode.
"The Mole" chose players, and had a much better cross-section than Survivor.
all evil is seductive and Ms. Bebo is most certaintly the most evil of them all !!!!! -katem
Agree, Bebo... I had that same thought that the Mole 2's "diversity" players were VERY un-token like, and played the game well. In fact, I noticed (mind you I didn't see every ep., but most)that "gay", "minority status", "gender" and most all other stereotyping didn't come up at all. Religion or religous beliefs barely even reared it's head. It was truly refreshing to watch the Mole 2's players simply play the game without drama and spin...
>You're interested in the 16 "best-qualified"???!!! > By what standards?? >Do you suppose Sara was >chosen last time because of >her superior strategic thinking or >special survival skills? Do >you think maybe she was >selected to attract a certain >viewing demographic? But she >didn't do much to pull >in certain other ones.
You missed the other half of my statement. I said best qualified or most entertaining. Sarah and her ilk are picked for entertainment value, not for survival qualification.
>So what is wrong with >selecting other players to target >other demographics? This is >TV for God's sake.
There's nothing wrong with it, in and of itself. I'm all in favor of a "multicultural" cast. What I have a problem with is that they basically say from the beginning that "We must choose 2 african americans, 1 asian american, 1 homosexual, and 4 age-enhanced americans." That's insulting to me that they make the point of singling out certain groups that "have" to be involved in the show. What's wrong with picking the 16 people that will make this show great, or at least passable entertainment.
>By the way, an Asian >woman just won "The Mole". > Token my eye!
Yes, and she deserved to win. But as someone else has said, race, religion, and sexual orientation never ever came up. With the possible exception of Katie, the contestants were 14 people who were chosen, by the producers, to put forth the best show possible.
I tell you what, I'd be extremely insulted if I found out that the only reason I got on Survivor is because they needed a slightly overweight late-twentysomething mutt to boost that demographic.
The Artist Formerly Known As DarkLotus Daddy, there's a monster outside my room. Can I have a glass of water?
>The drama started early this time >around: A female contestant was >disqualified during orientation, reportedly because >her behavior was too wild. >Were production staff concerned this >player would go feral and >leave the production area? Was >she breaking the 'no communication >with other players' rule? Did >lack of food in pre-filming >orientation drive her over the >edge? We don't know the >exact details, but when you >recall the antics of players >like S1's "Coconut Phone" Greg >and Big Brother 2's knife-wielding >Justin, this woman must have >had serious attitude even by >the Eye Network's Reality TV >standards. > > >
Okay, hope I quoted that right... if one girl was disqualified, is orientation early enough to send in an alternate in her place? Or would the game just begin with 15 contestants?
And also, this bit about Tanya Vance's father...does that mean that she made it far in the game, because if she was voted off pre-merge, some of the contestants wouldn't know her. Would it still affect them?
I thought i remembered something similar Dabo. Also, i thought i read somewhere, probably here, that alternates were kept in LA until filming started so they could be quickly flown out if needed.
The Anti-Executee Winner & Shameless Self Promoter
>I thought i remembered something similar >Dabo. Also, i thought >i read somewhere, probably here, >that alternates were kept in >LA until filming started so >they could be quickly flown >out if needed.
According to SurvivorNews report from back when they left, the alternates were onsite this season:
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
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Fester
God used to be my co-pilot, but then we crashed in the Andes and I had to eat Him.
.......
ARRRRRRR!!!!
