Section B·Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, April 19, 2000
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Reality survival show to test strength, wit of castaways
The Associated Press
PULAU TIGA, Malaysia — Catch fish with a bamboo spear and roats rats over a fire. Help another castaway track down water — then sabotage your own chances for survival by calling her a stupid cow. Outwit outplay outlast.
That's the motto of a group of adventurous Americans vying for a million bucks on this ferocious little island off the coast of Borneo.
Sixteen back-stabbing castaways, captured on film by camera crews lurking behind palm fronds and coral reefs, are trying to outfox each other as well as vipers, poisonous plants and other natural perilis.
"People are out for themselves and only themselves," said Mark Burnett, executive producer. "Yet all 16 people will grow a bit stronger and may discover who
In a bid to capitalize on America's obsession with reality TV, CBS is throwing millions of dollars behind Survivor, which is to air in 13 weekly episodes beginning 8 p.m. May 31. The network chose eight women and eight men — a mix of personalities and professions — and turned them loose on this lush rain-forest island.
they really are out here."
The castaways are working together to survive, yet every third night they hold secret ballots around a "tribal council" campfire to kick out one contest, who is escorted away by helicopter with a consoling psychologist.
Everything is unscripted, and the emotions are real. Not only are the castaways competing for $1 million, their every action will be judged by American viewers who could turn them into national celebrities — or just turn them off.
The survivors are camping out on the beach beneath a makeshift hut of hand-cut rattan and palm fronds. They are catching their own fish and stomaching field rats for protein to conquer the wilting heat and humidity.
But though CBS on its Web site first promoted Survivors as being filmed on a deserted island, untouched by humans for centuries, reports pointing out that park rangers live there and a resort is under way forced the network to concede the island is merely remote.
And survivors do stand a chance of stumbling onto modern equipment. Tons of sound and lighting equipment have been shipped in,
generators keep the crew cabins and editing rooms air conditioned, and satellite TV and rock music blares beneath the neon sign at Survivor Bar.
When the group is whitted down to the final pair, the last eight kicked off the island will decide who becomes the celebrity millionaire. Another half-million dollars will go to the losers, with the first runner-up taking home $100,000 and the others getting a share depending on how long they lasted.
"But they're all getting a multi-
million-dollar experience,"
Burnett said.
The show is based on a popular Swedish production, Expedition Robinson, which has been filming in Malaysia for three years. The producers of that show still are trying to live down the suicide of the first contestant to be voted off the island.
Burnett said he had no concern about a convcat suicide.
Of 6,000 applicants, CBS interviewed 800 people. Forty-eight were then flown to Los Angeles for 10 days of grilling and six hours of psychological tests.
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"It's all in choosing people who are really strong to begin with," Burnett said.
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