Looks like Mark Burnett and the whole team behind the newest twist on “Survivor” didn’t really think it would cause such a big uproar.

Everyone – from newspaper columnists, to talk show hosts, to New York City Council – has weighed in with an opinion. And it’s not a good opinion.

E! Online reports that the New York City Council held a press conference on Friday denouncing the fact that the tribes on “Survivor: Cook Islands” are being split up by race.

“This idea is so ill conceived that it would be funny–but for the fact that racism does still sometimes rear its ugly head. This show has the potential to set back our nation’s race relations by 50 years. Nowhere else do we tolerate racial segregation, and we certainly won’t stand for it in this battle-of-the-races scheme to prop up sagging television ratings,” city councilman John Liu said.

The councilors worry that by segregating the tribes on “Survivor,” segregation among the races in the United States would begin to become prevalent again.

Host Jeff Probst told CBS’ “The Early Show” earlier this week that the move was not done as a ratings grabber, but as a social experiment.






Related Stories: