LAST EDITED ON 03-07-01 AT 12:43 PM (EST)Hi gang -
Not sure if this is any kind of spoiler info, but I know alot of you pay attention for clues based on where the various tribe members pop up from time to time. I'm not very good at the spoiler theories myself, but here's an article from today's NY Daily News, so take a peek and see if there's anything you can glean from it. Sorry it's so long!
One thing I can say that might not be such a big deal is the fact that since Jeff and Alicia are both NY residents (though they keep listing Jeff as being from NC, since he is originally from there, he currently lives in NY, I believe), this may mean nothing. Sorry if it has no spoiler potential, just figured I'd send it out to the real clue hounds!
'Survivor' Celebs Are a Class Act
After they vamped in Abe Lincoln's lap and grinned beside Duke Ellington and picked Mayor Giuliani's nose and snuggled up to Brad Pitt and pressed a $20 bill into President Bush's hand and stood tall with Michael Jordan and joined the Beatles in a group pose, the 13 girls in Sinead Daly's 13th birthday party trooped out of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum with nary an inking that they soon would encounter living celebrity in its most modern incarnation.
Uptown they went, past the MTV studio and the Broadway theaters to a set of steps that descended to a sunken plaza. The line outside the Mars 2112 theme restaurant was Disneyland-long, and the girls whiled the wait by performing a dance they had choreographed to "Baby Got Back." They somehow managed to remain completely endearing even as they chanted, "I like big butts, and I cannot lie."
Once inside, the girls skipped the space ride and headed directly through the Zip Speed Passage into a huge chamber done up to look like a Martian catacomb. They chatted with an alien named Slick as they waited for "Daly" to flash on a screen.
The girls were finally ushered to a table at the back. All but two of them opted for the special drink of the night, a lemon slushee with cherries.
Sinead's father took a seat at the far end of the table, where he was least likely to put a damper on the fun. He deliberately absented himself from the happy chatter and, only because his attention had to wander somewhere, did he take note of a man who approached the next table with a question.
"Excuse me, are you from 'Survivor?'" the man asked.
The three adults at the next table confirmed that they were indeed from the hit reality show. Sinead's father had never seen it, but he had heard the girls talking about the show as they prepared to hop the subway in Brooklyn.
"Hey, guys," the father now said, though they were girls. "The people at the next table are from 'Survivor.'"
One girl quietly offered a minority opinion.
"It's just a bunch of people who pretend to survive."
The majority view rang out for all to hear.
"Oh, my God!"
The girls who follow the show immediately recognized one of the Survivors as Michael Skupin, whose hands had been badly burned in the episode that had aired just two nights before. The other two Survivors were Alicia Calaway and Jeff Varner. All three were warm and friendly and obliging as most of the girls rose from their table and crowded around.
Skupin told the girls he spent several weeks in an Australian burn unit. He was not allowed to rejoin the show after he recovered.
"I think they should have let you," Sinead said.
"I do, too," Skupin said.
He showed the girls his hands, and the scars were barely visible in the Martian mood lighting. He said he forgot how much it had hurt until he watched the show. The next day an interviewer repeatedly played the clip of him grimacing in pain.
Another girl asked if he and the others would do it all over again. The three Survivors said they would, but that they would better prepare themselves to forage for food.
"There was never enough to eat," Skupin said. "You were always hungry."
As if on cue, the waiter brought the Survivors their orders. The meals sat untouched as the Survivors continued to cheerfully answer questions and sign autographs.
"Sinead, for your 13th birthday. I wouldn't vote you out of the outback," Skupin wrote.
"To Sinead, happy big 13," Calaway wrote.
Calaway added, "Go, Kucha," that being the name of her tribe on the TV show that surreally transformed her and her comrades into the most modern of celebrities. They may not be famous for being world leaders or brilliant artists or great athletes like those commemorated in wax at Madame Tussaud's, but they seem to enjoy their fame all the more because it is so improbable and fleeting.
Whatever the reason, the three Survivors proved to be the most gracious celebrities a troop of big little girls could ever hope to encounter.
Thank you.
Original Publication Date: 3/7/01
(Edited for Lisa's shaky use of spellcheck!)
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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS
what it's all about???
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