Reality TV - Survivor 14: Fiji (February 8)

jennarose · 01-13-2007, 07:43 AM

The cast has been revealed and the show premieres February 8.

Quote:

CBS reveals 'Survivor: Fiji' cast, series to premiere February 8
By Steve Rogers, 01/12/2007

CBS has revealed the identities of nineteen of the castaways who will be competing on its upcoming Survivor: Fiji reality series.

Survivor: Fuji, the fourteenth installment of the long-running reality franchise, will premiere Thursday, February 8 at 8PM ET/PT -- a date that, unless CBS opts to reschedule some of the show's early season episodes, will put three of the season's first five episodes on a collision course with Fox's Thursday night broadcasts of American Idol 6's semifinalist results shows.

As CBS announced last month, the new season will feature an ethically diverse cast, however unlike last season's Survivor: Cook Islands edition, Survivor: Fuji's won't be divided by race. Instead, all nineteen contestants will begin the game living in one "exceptionally comfortable" camp. Then, on Day 3, one of the castaways -- who will be determined by an undisclosed event that will take place before the game's first Immunity Challenge -- will be given the task of splitting the group into two tribes.

Unfortunately for the rest of country, Survivor's new racial diversity seems to have once again come at the cost of geographic diversity -- similar to Survivor: Cook Islands, over half of Survivor: Fuji's cast are from California.

Once the castaways are divided into their two new tribes, the tribes will then compete in an Immunity Challenge that will not only determine which tribe will win immunity, but also determine which of the new tribes will get to return to the plush camp that they had all initially shared. The losers will be forced to relocate to a new island that, in a The Apprentice: Los Angeles-like twist that Survivor host Jeff Probst first revealed during December's Survivor: Cook Islands finale broadcast, will have "virtually nothing" -- only a pot, a machete and a water source.

As the network previously announced, the show's new Exile Island concept will also return for a third straight season. Like the show's last two seasons, Survivor: Fuji will require the castaways to exile at least one castaway during each episode, however unlike the show's last two seasons, Exile Island won't contain a hidden Immunity Idol. Instead, there will be two hidden Immunity Idols -- but they'll be hidden somewhere near each of the two tribes' camps, with Exile Island still supplying each exile with a new clue to their exact whereabouts.

According to Us Weekly, the fact that a twentieth contestant dropped out of the competition the night before Survivor Fiji's production started is the reason why the new season features an odd number of castaways. "It put us in a weird situation, because we didn't anticipate the problem," Probst told the magazine in its January 22 issue.

The nineteen castaways competing on Survivor: Fiji are:

• Alex Angarita, 28-year-old attorney who currently reside in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Colombia

• Kenward "Boo" Bernis, a 34-year-old construction worker from Lafayette, LA

• Yau-Man Chan, a 54-year-old computer engineer who currently resides in Martinez, CA but was born in Hong Kong and raised in Borneo, Malaysia

• Earl Cole, a 35-year-old advertising executive who currently resides in Santa Monica, CA and is originally Kansas City, KS

• Jessica DeBen, a 27-year-old fashion stylist who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from New Orleans

• Erica Durousseau, a 27-year-old non-profit fundraiser from Lake Charles, LA

• Cassandra Franklin, a 42-year-old civil engineer manager from Los Angeles. CA

• Liliana Gomez, a 25-year-old loan officer from Oxnard, CA

• Andria "Dre" Herd, a 25-year-old cheerleading coach from Wilmington, NC

• Stacy Kimball, a 27-year-old interactive Internet producer from Montpelier, VT

• Sylvia Kwan, a 52-year-old architect from Ross, CA who was born in Hong Kong

• Mookie Lee, a 25-year-old loan manager from Wheeling, IL who was born in Seoul, Korea

• Lisette "Lisi" Linares, a 36-year-old customer service representative who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Miami, FL

• James Reid, a 28-year-old bartender who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Boston, MA

• Edgardo Rivera, a 28-year-old advertising executive who currently resides in Miami Beach, FL and is originally from Puerto Rico

• Anthony Robinson, a 32-year-old expert witness locator from Compton, CA

• Gary Stritesky, a 55-year-old school bus driver from Ramsey, MN

• Rita Verreos, a 38-year-old single mom who currently resides in San Antonio, TX and is originally from Venezuela

• Michelle Yi, a 23-year-old student from Cincinnati, OH

Moochie · 01-13-2007, 08:59 AM

Thanks for posting that Jenna. This is funny because I was just on Krista from Big Brother 2's website yesterday (for the first time ever) and was poking around at the pictures and such. She mentions her best friend is Kenward Bernis aka Boo and who do I see in the cast for this show? What a coincidence.

Anyways, I'm not sure how I feel about the comfy camp vs the have nothing camp. It won't be as extreme as what they're doing on The Apprentice but it's close enough.

Interesting about having two immunity idols. Hopefully with two of them and the fact that they're hidden near their own camps will provide a bit more excitement where those are concerned. If this season doesn't have excitement/drama with the idols and Exile Island, they really should consider just eliminating the whole concept.

I wonder why they can't get a more racially diverse cast while being more geographically diverse as well. It can't be that hard to find people of other races living in other states besides CA.

mild toxicity · 01-13-2007, 07:32 PM

I'm sick of Survivor: Quotas. Not that I mind diversity, in fact I like it. But I hate that they go through so much trouble to make it look like theyre making an effort. Why can't they just cast entertaining people? And why can it ONLY be Caucasian, Asian, African-American and Hispanics? We've NEVER seen a survivor of Middle Eastern descent. And I believe Julie from Vanuatu was the only Native American. I want the show to be diverse, but I also want it to be a semi-accurate representation of America.

jennarose · 01-13-2007, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Thanks for posting that Jenna. This is funny because I was just on Krista from Big Brother 2's website yesterday (for the first time ever) and was poking around at the pictures and such. She mentions her best friend is Kenward Bernis aka Boo and who do I see in the cast for this show? What a coincidence.

Very interesting. I also read that

Quote:

Rita Verreos, a 38-year-old single mom who currently resides in San Antonio, TX and is originally from Venezuela

is the sister of Nick Verreos, who was on Project Runway 2. (I haven't seen that season yet.) All these reality shows are getting a little too incestuous to me.

xstarsgoblue25x · 01-13-2007, 10:34 PM

thanks for starting this thread Jenna ... i was going to if no one else did.

the cast this season seems boring, and i'll sound super shallow when i say that they aren't super attractive either.

i find it annoying that they used racial groups from last season again, as there are like 5 asians, 5 latinos, 5 african americans, and 4 white people. *yawn* ... i definitely think that they could find some other races as well.

the double immunity idols will be interesting.

hopefully these people won't be as boring as they seem.

i'll probably root for Dre from Wilmington, NC ... just because he's from NC.

Moochie · 01-13-2007, 10:48 PM

Yah, the reality TV community really does seem to be quite incestuous. Is the pool of people to choose from really that small?

Interesting that PR's Nick's sister is on as well. Nick was my favourite from that season. I hope I like his sister.

unapologetic mocker · 01-14-2007, 12:05 AM

i cannot wait for this survivor!!

The Survivor · 01-14-2007, 06:36 AM

No one really stands out in the cast for me yet. So I don't have a pick right now. I do have to say what is with all the people being casted from California. I wish they would expand the casting auditions some more.

I do think Jessica, Liliana, and Stacy are pretty.