Survivor: Cook Islands

[Mary]

The new cast is scheduled to be announced tomorrow on The Early Show.

[Mary]

You can watch the cast announcement at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/earlyshow/series/survivor/main500180.shtml

There is a new twist this year. 20 Survivors, 4 tribes divided along racial lines:
White, Hispanic,  Asian and African American.

The official site is still not up at CBS but when it does come up I'll post a link.

[Mary]

The CBS site has been up for awhile now. There is a video perview of the season and for each contestant there is a biography and a list of their favorites.

The video profiles are not up yet. I like to watch them to pick an early favorite or two. It also helps me to remember everyone's name. With 20 people this year remembering names might be hopeless.

There has been a lot of negative press this year about the division of tribes along racial lines. Most of these people have never even seen the show. I never thought that the Amazon season was sexist because the tribes were divided by gender. I never thought Exile Island had gender and age discrimination because of the way they divided the tribes into older men vs. older women vs. younger men vs. younger women.

The final 4 contained Cerie, an older woman, Terry, an older man, Danielle, a younger woman and Aras, a younger man!

The way a game starts is no indication of the way it plays out.

Season 10 Survivor: Palau was released on DVD yesterday. I bought my copy today. Now I have season 1 Borneo, season 2 Australia, season 7 Pearl Islands, season 8 All Stars and season 10 Palau on DVD!

[Tammy]

MARY
THANKS!  IM LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEW SEASON..

[Prissy]

Mary and Tammy,

This may be the most controversial SURVIVOR of all.  It will be interesting to see what the reaction is from the public as the show progresses.  Of course, the show is finished filming, except for the final winner.

It looks like each tribe has 3 women and 2 men, but some of the names could be men or women.  Here is a list of the contestants:

African-American Tribe:
Make-up artist, Rebecca Borman, 34, from Laurelton, N.Y.
Jazz musician and recording artist Sekou Bunch, 45, of Los Angeles
Nursing student Stephannie Favor, 35, of Columbia, S.C.
Retail salesman Nathan Gonzalez, 26, of Los Angeles
Sundra Oakley, 31, an actress from Los Angeles

Asian-American Tribe:
Nail salon manager Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" Bui (pronounced Cowboy), 42, from Christianburg, Va.
Attorney Becky Lee, 28, of Washington, D.C.
Management consultant Yul Kwon, 31, of San Mateo, Calif.
Real estate agent Jenny Guzon-Bae, 36, of Lake Forest, Ill.
Fashion Director Brad Virata, 29, of Los Angeles

Hispanic Tribe:
Heavy metal guitarist Billy Garcia, 36, of New York
Professional volleyball player J.P. Calderon, 30, of Marina Del Rey, Calif.
Police officer Cristina Coria, 35, of Los Angeles
Waiter Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth, 25, of Venice, Calif.
Technology risk consultant Cecilia Mansilla, 29, of Oakland, Calif.

White Tribe:
Copier salesman Adam Gentry, 28, of San Diego, Calif.
Writer-producer Jonathan Penner, 44, of Los Angeles
Boxer-waitress Parvati Shallow, 23, of Los Angeles
Performer-roller girl Jessica Smith, 27, of Chico, Calif.
Pre-med student Candice Woodcock, 23, of Fayetteville, N.C.

Prissy

[Mary]

Hi Tammy and Prissy!

I sure am glad that there are a few Survivor fans out there.

[Prissy]

I thought it was interesting that 13 of the 20 are from California, and of the 13, 7 are from Los Angelas.

Prissy

[ILClaymate]

  Hey all!  Survivor fan checking in!  Looking forward to another season. 

[Tessie]

What is the controversy that we are anticipating?  Don't the tribes vote out their own members as they always do?  I am missing something.

[Tammy]

What is the controversy that we are anticiapting?  Don't the tribes vote out their own members as they always do?  I am missing something.

I think the tribes will be separated by their race...

[Prissy]

Tessie,

By controversy, I'm just wondering if some of the public will object to the obvious segregation of the tribes, and it will be interesting when tribes are joined together.  Though not separated by race, we have seen in other Survivors that some tribes stay loyal to their original tribe, and vote out other tribe members when they can.  So, this may not be any different from Survivors shows in the past.

Mary made an interesting point:

There has been a lot of negative press this year about the division of tribes along racial lines. Most of these people have never even seen the show. I never thought that the Amazon season was sexist because the tribes were divided by gender. I never thought Exile Island had gender and age discrimination because of the way they divided the tribes into older men vs. older women vs. younger men vs. younger women.

The final 4 contained Cerie, an older woman, Terry, an older man, Danielle, a younger woman and Aras, a younger man!

I actually think the Survivor producers were thinking, "What can we do that we haven't done yet?"

Prissy

[ILClaymate]

I don't see how this season can be any more controversial or discriminatory than the last few seasons have been when they divided them up by gender and then by age.  I don't remember hearing any complaints about those seasons like we have heard about this one.  I just wonder who is doing the complaining.  Its not like they will stay divided that way for long.

Oh well....I'm looking forward to it anyway!! 

[Mary]

Most of the people causing a ruckus have never even seen the show and have no idea what they are talking about.

The last time we had 20 people starting three were eliminated in the first hour. Wanda and Jonathan never even were assigned to a tribe. This time I will guess that the three losing tribes will have to vote someone out.

[Mary]

Survivor starts tonight. Only 4 hours to wait!

[Mary]

I already have favorites.

Cao Boi, what an interesting character. I don't think he has any chance whatsoever.

Yul, he got just enough airtime for me to really like him.

Rebecca, just because she is Elizabeth's make-up artist on The View and probably has more than a few insider tips.

Ozzy reminds me of Gabe on Marquesas. Gabe didn't get far but I like Ozzy.

Jessica (Flicca) reminds me of Courtney and I think she will be gone early but I never thought Courtney would last as long as she did.

Sekou, when he gave up on fire and was on the raft I thought he was a gone when that team lost.

I like Jonathan but he didn't have enough airtime for me to decide.

Exile Island looks desolate. I never understood why those exiled wouldn't try to build some kind of a shelter but on this island it seems almost impossible.

I haven't seen enough of anyone else to comment.

[Tessie]

Mary,
I am impressed that you remember as many as you do!  It always takes me a few shows to know one person from another.  No one stands out for me at this point as a favorite.  It was an interesting beginning.

[clayMaine-iac]

It was an interesting beginning! 

I wished they had showed a little more of exile island, tho. 

I thought it was interesting that they mentioned a romance budding already. 

I haven't picked a favorite yet.  Too early!! 

[Tessie]

I wished they had showed a little more of exile island, tho. 

I thought it was interesting that they mentioned a romance budding already. 

I would have liked to see more of exile island too.

Weird that two people would get together that quickly for a national TV audience!  I am not even sure which two people they are.

Maybe it was just cold at night.   

[Mary]

Tessie, the guy is Adam I'm quite sure and the girls name began with a "C" maybe Candice.

I tape the show and watch it a few times before the next week so I can remember the names! When there are 20 people they each get so little airtime it's hard to remember who is who. The tribe that goes to TC gets extended airtime and that's where I concentrate first.

Deanna, it's good to see another Survivor fan. I think that we will see a bit more of EI next week.

When Sekou and Nate went off to the side to decide who was going to EI it looked like Rebecca was going to join them but them stayed back with the girls.
I would be so ticked off if I didn't have input to that decision!

[clayMaine-iac]

I think it was way tooooo early for a tribe to throw a challenge.  We will have to see if this strategy comes back to bite them.

I am getting more impress with the Asian tribe as the show progresses. 

I would like to see the Immunity Idol play a big role in the game now that it has been found.

Last season I was disappointed that it never came in to play.  I thought that was a big mistake on the finder's part.

I still have no fav, although it might be a good time to back the guy with the Immunity Idol.