Thoughts on Survivor Cook Island.....

[* FeistyWench *]

So they are claiming Survivor Cook Island is a social experiment with the question being: will a team be more cohesive and better able to work together to win if they share the same ethnicity. Personally, I think it’s crap. I don’t think ethnicity matters. I think it depends on the individual personalities. Just because you are the same ethnicity, does not mean you are automatically going to like and respect each other. When you are stuck together 24-7, there is going to be tension and drama. Not to mention the added pressure to “represent”. people are going to look for tribe mates to blame when they fail. Despite the show's claim regarding this social experiment, they are basically asking which ethnicity is the best – which will be the ultimate survivor. Knowing this, I wonder why the hell they didn’t “stack” the teams fairly. Personally, i think this whole "social experiment" is a bit ridiculous. I would rather see 2 teams - well matched with all different ethnicities on the same team.

Before the first challenge, I noticed that the teams weren't well matched. It was easy for me to rank them and sure enough, in the first challenge, the ranking came out just as I predicted. The Asian-Americans appear to be the strongest team as they have 3 men and 2 women. All of which look strong and athletic. The Vietnamese guy, although older, still seems agile, strong, and athletic. The Latinos also have 3 men and 2 women. One of the men is big and may not be athletic, but he looks strong. The other men and women look strong and athletic. The Caucasians and African-Americans have 2 men and 3 women. The Caucasians have a somewhat older man but he seems fairly athletic and a younger guy who looks strong and athletic. The 3 women all look fairly athletic as well. The African Americans seemed to have the weakest team because, of their two men, the one that was booted off was a big guy, not athletic and fatigued easily. The younger guy looked average, not really athletic looking. The women are all in their 30s while the women on the other tribes are in their 20s (mostly). So, I am confused as to why they didn’t make the teams more congruent.



What are your thoughts?

[Mech.]

go team whitey.

[* FeistyWench *]

i think it would be interesting to do 2 teams in which no one on the same team speaks the same language...see how successful they are working together without verbal communication.

[K-DOGG]

Honestly, Fiesty, I disagree with you on the "social experiment" aspect. You are correct in how much individuality plays into the team-work aspect, and I agree with you that all teams need to be stacked evenly. True, there is the shadowy aspect of "which race is the best survivor"; but we don't know how it's all going to play out down the line....the whole purpose of the experiment may be to prove that individual personalities and traits matter more than race. I missed the first episode until the last ten minutes when the big guy was voted off, so I am not that familiar with how evenly the teams pair up.....even is a must for this to have any validity whatsoever, because, if, as you say, the Black team is unevenly put together compared to the other three, then that's just not right.....but were they put together that way to see if people viewing across all races would notice it and point that out?

Anyway, the reason I think it's a valid idea is that "comfort" has so much to do with how well people work together. Here's what I mean... Do you remember when you were in school? You and I are "young" enough to have gone to non-segregated schools, and the system had been in place for quite some time by the time you and I ate our first cafeteria meal. Did you notice how "usually" all the white kids sat together and how all the black kids sat together? Why? Because of "comfort".....same with the Black kids.

I grew up in the south on the dying (not dead yet; but I mean the extreme version) breaths of racism on a grand scale. My generation of children, I dare say, were the first to get along in school without racial tension. However, that being said, I had a couple of black friends of mine try to convey to me...when we spoke about it....how "weird" it felt being a black kid in a practically all white environment....how out of place they felt sometimes. I can relate to this to an extent when I went to see "House Party" and "Malcolm X"....felt like a lump of surgar in a huge cup of coffee. I was in no danger, I knew I was in no danger; but there was a "weird" feeling.

People, in general, want to fit in....and it's usually easier to fit in with people you either know or share a common experience with...in this case, the experience of being black or white.

While it's wonderful that we, as a society, are moving towards (I hope) understanding and accepting each other for who we are and what our heritages are, we're not there yet....not socially, not even subconsciously. This is not a bad thing. It just takes time to overcome time.

I never have liked reality shows as a rule, nor watched survivor since the first season; but this one I'm interested in, because I"m curious to see if "it"....makes a difference. That, to me, is more important than which team wins.

[* FeistyWench *]

CBS reveals 'Survivor: Cook Islands' cast, confirms racial tribe division

By Steve Rogers, 08/23/2006

Confirming weeks of rumors, CBS has revealed the iden****** of the twenty castaways who will be competing in this fall's Survivor: Cook Islands and announced that the castaways will -- in what the show's producer and host both acknowledge to be a controversial move -- initially be organized into four tribes divided along ethnic lines (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and Caucasian.)

"We're going to take some heat for it," Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett acknowledged to People about the segregated tribe decision that will no doubt give the thirteenth edition of the long-running reality series -- which will also include the return of last season's new Exile Island concept -- some extra buzz. "But it's a great cast." "Some people will think this is controversial. Others will think, 'What's the big deal?'" Survivor host Jeff Probst added. "Either way, it's going to be very interesting."

According to Probst, the Cook Islands' segregated tribes concept is the end result of the show's attempt to respond to longstanding criticism that Survivor's casts needed more diversity. "The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough because, for whatever reason, we've always had a low number of minority applicants apply to the show. So we set out and said, 'Let's turn this criticism into creative for the show," Probst explained during a Wednesday morning The Early Show appearance in which CBS officially revealed the season's cast.

But while the producers did originally plan to make this season's Survivor edition "the most ethnically diverse cast in the history of TV," they didn't initially plan to divide the cast by ethnicity. "Our original idea was simply to have the most ethnically diverse group of people on TV," Probst explained to The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "It wasn't until we got to casting and started noticing this theme of ethnic pride that you're alluding to that we started thinking, wow, if culture is still playing such a big part in these people’s lives, that’s our idea -- let's divide them based on ethnicity."

"From where I sit, I found it to be one of the freshest ideas we've had going back to the beginning of this show in Season One," said Probst. "I think it fits in perfectly with what Survivor does, which is, it is a social experiment, and this is adding another layer to that experiment which is taking the show to a completely different level." "I think at first glance, when you just hear the idea, it could sound like a stunt. Especially with the way reality has gone, it wouldn't be unusual. But that's not what we're doing here."

However since, as Probst noted to Smith, producers have always maintained that the reason that Survivor wasn't more diverse was that few minorities ever apply to the show, the desire to cast an extremely diverse cast meant that the show's casting directors had to get especially creative for this season. Branching more outside the traditional application process than in past seasons, Survivor casting scouts reportedly found minority contestants at sporting events (Nate), in the audition tapes of rejected The Amazing Race applicants, and websites like MySpace.com (Becky), and even Realtor.com (Jenny.)

Unfortunately for those expecting something similar to the show's traditional geographically diverse cast, the casting directors don't appear to have spread out very far beyond California's state borders -- while only five of Cook Island's castaways identify themselves as native Californians, an overwhelming thirteen of the twenty castaways currently call the Golden State home and at least nine of them live in the Los Angeles area. At least two of the contestants -- an actress and an actor/writer/producer that CBS lists as a "writer/producer" despite having more acting credits than writing or producing credits -- also appear to work in the Los Angeles entertainment industry.

According to Probst, the Survivor: Cook Islands castaways had a "mixed" reaction to the news that their tribes would be divided by race. "Yuhl wasn't sure... Yuhl was concerned we were going to turn this into something that would show stereotypes and reinforce them," Probst told Smith. "On the other hand, you have people like Rebecca, who said, 'I don't really care how you divide it because I know that I need a certain amount of people to be on my side to help me get through this.' Ultimately, to win this game, you're voting people out that are then on the jury that have to come back and vote for you. So, the person who wins is actually going to do the best job of merging with all different ethnicities."

Despite the focus on casting a diverse cast, Burnett insists that the initial Cook Islands tribal divisions (the tribes will merge "in a later episode") are not about exploring racism or bigotry. "We're smart enough to not make it negative," Burnett told Entertainment Weekly. "We're smart enough to have gotten rid of every racist person in casting."

Somewhat uncharacteristically, Burnett also admits that after last winter's early season Thursday night faceoffs with American Idol and Dancing with the Stars resulted in a ratings drop that saw the show's most recent Survivor: Panama edition average only about 16.8 million weekly viewers, Survivor could use a shake-up. "Frankly, for a couple of seasons we've been getting the same stuff," Burnett told EW.

But despite the desire for a shake-up, CBS executives -- perhaps still gun shy about how last fall's Family Edition change appears to have permanently damaged the ratings of its The Amazing Race reality series -- took some time to sign off on the show's segregated tribes idea. "At the very beginning, [the reaction] was silence," said Probst. "What was being suggested was an extremely risky idea with a franchise that has delivered top ratings for six years. It would have been much easier to say, 'Continue as you have.' But at the end of the day, they said, 'Go for it.'"

According to Probst, the addition of ethically-divided tribes and inclusion of so many minority castaways has fundamentally changed the long-running series -- perhaps (for better or worse) forever. "It's not just 18 white people," the Survivor host explained to EW. Suddenly you have new slang, new rituals, people doing things like making fire in ways that haven't been done before on Survivor. I think we have a season where people will say you can never go back to what you were before."

The twenty castaways who will compete on Survivor: Cook Islands will be:

• Rebecca Borman (African-American Tribe), a 34-year-old make-up artist from Laurelton, NY

• Sekou Bunch (African-American Tribe), a 45-year-old jazz musician/recording artist who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from New York, NY

• Sundra Oakley (African-American Tribe), a 31-year-old working actress who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from New York, NY

• Stephannie Favor (African-American Tribe), a 35-year-old nursing student from Columbia, SC

• Nathan Gonzalez (African-American Tribe), a 26-year-old in retail salesperson from Los Angeles, CA

• Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" Bui (Asian-American Tribe), a 42-year-old nail salon manager from Christianburg, VA

• Jenny Guzon-Bae (Asian-American Tribe), a 36-year-old real estate agent who currently resides in Lake Forest, IL and is originally from Melrose Park, IL

• Yul Kwon (Asian-American Tribe), a 31-year-old management consultant who currently resides in San Mateo, CA and is originally from Flushing, NY

• Becky Lee (Asian-American Tribe), a 28-year-old attorney who currently resides in Washington, DC and is originally from Pittsburgh, PA

• Brad Virata (Asian-American Tribe), a 29-year-old fashion director who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Seattle, WA

• J.P. Calderon (Hispanic Tribe), a 30-year-old professional volleyball player from Marina Del Rey, CA

• Cristina Coria (Hispanic Tribe), a 35-year-old police officer from Los Angeles, CA

• Billy Garcia (Hispanic Tribe), a 36-year-old heavy metal guitarist who currently resides in New York, NY and is originally from Miami, FL

• Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth (Hispanic Tribe), a 25-year-old waiter from Venice, CA

• Cecilia Mansilla (Hispanic Tribe), a 29-year-old technology risk consultant who currently resides in Oakland, CA and is originally from Arequipa, Peru

• Adam Gentry (Caucasian Tribe), a 28-year-old copier salesperson who currently resides in San Diego, CA and is originally from Fredericksburg, VA

• Jonathan Penner (Caucasian Tribe), a 44-year-old writer/producer who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from New York, NY

• Parvati Shallow (Caucasian Tribe), a 23-year-old boxer and waitress who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Atlanta, GA

• Jessica Smith (Caucasian Tribe), a 27-year-old performance artist and rollergirl from Chico, CA

• Candice Woodcock (Caucasian Tribe), a 23-year-old pre-med student from Fayetteville, NC

[* FeistyWench *]

Honestly, Fiesty, I disagree with you on the "social experiment" aspect. You are correct in how much individuality plays into the team-work aspect, and I agree with you that all teams need to be stacked evenly. True, there is the shadowy aspect of "which race is the best survivor"; but we don't know how it's all going to play out down the line....the whole purpose of the experiment may be to prove that individual personalities and traits matter more than race.



I missed the first episode until the last ten minutes when the big guy was voted off, so I am not that familiar with how evenly the teams pair up.....even is a must for this to have any validity whatsoever, because, if, as you say, the Black team is unevenly put together compared to the other three, then that's just not right.....but were they put together that way to see if people viewing across all races would notice it and point that out?

Anyway, the reason I think it's a valid idea is that "comfort" has so much to do with how well people work together. Here's what I mean... Do you remember when you were in school? You and I are "young" enough to have gone to non-segregated schools, and the system had been in place for quite some time by the time you and I ate our first cafeteria meal. Did you notice how "usually" all the white kids sat together and how all the black kids sat together? Why? Because of "comfort".....same with the Black kids.

I grew up in the south on the dying (not dead yet; but I mean the extreme version) breaths of racism on a grand scale. My generation of children, I dare say, were the first to get along in school without racial tension. However, that being said, I had a couple of black friends of mine try to convey to me...when we spoke about it....how "weird" it felt being a black kid in a practically all white environment....how out of place they felt sometimes. I can relate to this to an extent when I went to see "House Party" and "Malcolm X"....felt like a lump of surgar in a huge cup of coffee. I was in no danger, I knew I was in no danger; but there was a "weird" feeling.

People, in general, want to fit in....and it's usually easier to fit in with people you either know or share a common experience with...in this case, the experience of being black or white.

While it's wonderful that we, as a society, are moving towards (I hope) understanding and accepting each other for who we are and what our heritages are, we're not there yet....not socially, not even subconsciously. This is not a bad thing. It just takes time to overcome time.

I never have liked reality shows as a rule, nor watched survivor since the first season; but this one I'm interested in, because I"m curious to see if "it"....makes a difference. That, to me, is more important than which team wins.

THE SHOW HAS SHARED THAT THEY WILL EVENTUALLY MERGE, PROBABLY WHEN ONE OF THE TEAMS ONLY HAS 1 OR 2 MEMBERS LEFT, SO THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT WILL ONLY BE FOR PART OF THE SHOW. THE SHOW EXPLAINED THE SEPERATION OF TEAMS BY ETHNICITY BY SAYING IT WAS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT, BASICALLY TO SEE IF RACE IS A FACTOR IN TEAM COHESION/WORK BETTER TOGETHER OR IF FOR A PARTICULAR RACE IT WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE. BUT LIKE I SAID EARLIER I FELT IMMEDIATELY THATTHE TEAMS WERE NOT EVENLY CREATED. I DON;T KNOW IF IT WAS OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE ELSE, BUT IT WAS TO ME, ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE WAS NOT EVEN DISTRIIBUTION OF MEN AND WOMEN ON ALL TEAMS. PLUS, DIFFERENCES IN ATHLETIC ABILITIES AND AGE.

I COMPLETELY SEE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT RACIAL COMFORT, BUT I THINK THAT WILL BE THE INITIAL TIE THAT BINDS THEM AND WILL ONLY LAST SO LONG BEFORE PERSONALITIES CLASH. YES, THEY MIGHT NOT FEEL LIKE AN OUTCAST AS A MINORITY WHEN THE MAJORITY OF TEAM MATES ARE WHITE. HOWEVER, PERSONALITY CLASHES ALWAYS SEEM TO BE THE REASON FOR THE LACK OF TEAM WORK ON THIS SHOW. PERSONALITIES CAUSE MOST OF THE CONFLICT: DO YOUR TEAM MATES VIEW YOU AS BOSSY, LAZY, ANNOYING, SELFISH, USELESS, SNEAKY, ETC.
HELL, IN THE PREVIEWS FOR THE NEXT EPISODE THE THE LATINOS WERE TALKING ABOUT PURPOSELY LOSING SO THEY COULD BOOT OFF ONE OF THEIR MEMBERS.

[K-DOGG]

THE SHOW HAS SHARED THAT THEY WILL EVENTUALLY MERGE, PROBABLY WHEN ONE OF THE TEAMS ONLY HAS 1 OR 2 MEMBERS LEFT, SO THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT WILL ONLY BE FOR PART OF THE SHOW. THE SHOW EXPLAINED THE SEPERATION OF TEAMS BY ETHNICITY BY SAYING IT WAS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT, BASICALLY TO SEE IF RACE IS A FACTOR IN TEAM COHESION/WORK BETTER TOGETHER OR IF FOR A PARTICULAR RACE IT WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE. BUT LIKE I SAID EARLIER I FELT IMMEDIATELY THATTHE TEAMS WERE NOT EVENLY CREATED. I DON;T KNOW IF IT WAS OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE ELSE, BUT IT WAS TO ME, ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE WAS NOT EVEN DISTRIIBUTION OF MEN AND WOMEN ON ALL TEAMS. PLUS, DIFFERENCES IN ATHLETIC ABILITIES AND AGE.

I COMPLETELY SEE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT RACIAL COMFORT, BUT I THINK THAT WILL BE THE INITIAL TIE THAT BINDS THEM AND WILL ONLY LAST SO LONG BEFORE PERSONALITIES CLASH. YES, THEY MIGHT NOT FEEL LIKE AN OUTCAST AS A MINORITY WHEN THE MAJORITY OF TEAM MATES ARE WHITE. HOWEVER, PERSONALITY CLASHES ALWAYS SEEM TO BE THE REASON FOR THE LACK OF TEAM WORK ON THIS SHOW. PERSONALITIES CAUSE MOST OF THE CONFLICT: DO YOUR TEAM MATES VIEW YOU AS BOSSY, LAZY, ANNOYING, SELFISH, USELESS, SNEAKY, ETC.
HELL, IN THE PREVIEWS FOR THE NEXT EPISODE THE THE LATINOS WERE TALKING ABOUT PURPOSELY LOSING SO THEY COULD BOOT OFF ONE OF THEIR MEMBERS.

Okay, okay. No need to yell.

[* FeistyWench *]

Okay, okay. No need to yell.

i know it was all caps. Sorry. i was going to reply to different sections of your post and break it up, but that was too hard, so I was just going to have all caps and then that got too confusing so i just moved it all.


yeah. i am THAT pregnant. lol!

[K-DOGG]

i know it was all caps. Sorry. i was going to reply to different sections of your post and break it up, but that was too hard, so I was just going to have all caps and then that got too confusing so i just moved it all.


yeah. i am THAT pregnant. lol!

Salright!

Yeah, you're due to pop any day now, aren't you?

[* FeistyWench *]

Salright!

Yeah, you're due to pop any day now, aren't you?

could be anytime...
from now until the 26th.
they will deliveer the baby on the 26th if i do not go into labor before then.