andPOP » Survivor

Cat Deeley To Present At The Emmy Awards

Vanessa Baker — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:10:20 +0000

So You Think You Can Dance host Cat Deeley will be presenting an award at Sunday’s 61st annual Emmy Awards, but many say she should be among American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, Survivor host Jeff Probst, and Heidi Klum of Project Runway as a nominee for best reality show host.

At the G-Star Raw fashion show, Deeley told E! News two people had already told her she deserved a nomination in the 20 minutes since she’d arrived at the show.

“I’m a little bit nervous about it though,” said the Brit about presenting. “I’ve done it back in England, and I’ve hosted award shows back in England, but I’ve never actually done it before here. But I’m excited, you know? It’s a really exciting thing to do. I’m having a whole plethora of dresses coming in. I know I’ve got Matthew Williamson and [Burberry's] Christopher Bailey sending me over things so far, but I’m sure there’ll be more.”

Deeley said she’s also nervous about her show making the switch from a summer reality show to a staple in Fox’s primetime line-up this fall.

“I’m approaching it with a little trepidation,” she said. “There’s one part of me that is actually like, ‘Oh goodness, it’s really competitive, and we’ve just finished the last season, so is it too much too soon?’ But then I turn around and I go, ‘Well, Fox seems to have confidence in us, and the audience loves the show, so provided we keep doing what we’re doing and do it bigger and better than ever before, we should be OK.’”

Parvati Crowned ‘Survivor’ Winner

Irene Ogrodnik — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:56:14 +0000

Parvati Shallow, the former boxer from Los Angeles, was crowned the champion of “Survivor: Micronesia—Fans vs. Favorites.”

Shallow, 25, was awarded the $1 million prize by host Jeff Probst after her win proved to be a survival of the fittest, considering the numerous competitor injuries that occurred this season.

Shallow and other “favourites” Amanda Kimmel, from “Survivor: China”, and Cirie Fields, from “Survivor: Panama”, comprised the final three.

The non-profit organizer won the 16th season with five votes to Kimmel’s three.

Previously, Shallow was voted off and landed in sixth place on “Survivor: Cook Islands.”

Two Survivors Leave the Game

andPOP Staff — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:10:07 +0000

This season of Survivor: Fans versus Favourites has seen almost as many exits due to injury or personal reasons as it has from people getting voted out.

This week was no exception.

Before the immunity challenge, Kathy decided she had enough and needed to go home, because she “can’t feel [her] family anymore.”

And at tribal council, though she tried to make a play to get Ozzy out, Tracy was ultimately the one sent packing.

The Favourites are definitely outnumbering the fans at this point, and next week promises another gruesome injury that just might send one more castaway willfully packing to go home.

Yul Kwon Wins $1 Million Prize on ‘Survivor’

andPOP Staff — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:53:16 +0000

Yul Kwon, or “the puppet master” as many of his fellow contestants referred to him, won the $1 million prize during Sunday’s finale of Survivor: Cook Islands.

The 31-year-old took the win in a surprise closer that saw him facing two other finalists. Previous seasons of the show have ended with only two contestants vying for votes from the jury of ousted players.

Though Kwon, a management consultant, was joined by both Becky Lee and Ozzy Lusth in the final three, only himself and Lusth received votes in their favour. Kwon won in a 5-4 decision.

In the finale, Kwon mentioned that he wanted to win the show not only for the cash, but also to break stereotypes about Asian males. Kwon is South Korean, and this year’s season initially divided teams by race.

The next season of Survivor is set to take place in Fiji.

‘Survivor’ Filming Not Threatened by Military Coup

andPOP Staff — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:23:13 +0000

Don’t worry, the 14th season of “Survivor” is being filmed as planned, and everyone is okay.

In an e-mail to Entertainment Weekly, host Jeff Probst said despite the recent military coup in Fiji, it has so far not affected the filming of the reality show’s 14th season. However, he said, staff and crew are keeping an eye on news reports in case anything should change.

“To be shooting Survivor while the host country is in the midst of a coup is a bit surreal for all of us here in Fiji. We have set up our satellite TV in the catering area [for producers and crew members only] and during dinner the entire crew watches the local news to get updates on what is happening,” he wrote in the e-mail.

Despite the military coup, which the U.S. State Department has condemned, and will not be sending aid to, Probst said the contestants and crew are safe.

“Fortunately, we are on another island that is a 30-minute flight away from the capital city of Suva where the coup is centered. Everyone here is safe and the disruptions thus far have been minimal. We had a few production staff stationed in Suva that we brought back to base camp, and during the past week any crew members that were scheduled to fly to location were unable to due to flight cancellations. Otherwise, we have continued filming without interruption.”

Survivor Ends Race Segregation

andPOP Staff — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 13:25:39 +0000

After much criticism, reality show Survivor’s race segregation experiment is no longer.

For its 13th season, the TV competition threw 20 castaways on Cook Islands in the South Pacific and in the first episode, divided them them into four tribes by race (Asian-American, Caucasian, Latino and African-American).

Of course, an uproar ensued from both viewers and critics and CBS lost several major advertisers as a result. Still, the race angle played out for two episodes until last night when producers merged the four groups into two mixed-raced tribes.

“Drop your buffs,” host Jeff Probst told the castaways. “You have been living together as tribes divided based on ethnicity. It is now time to integrate.”

No other explanation was given for the changes, but contestants from the old Hiki and Puka tribes were randomly selected to join the Raro and Aitus tribes before competing in another tough challenge.

“We’re back to America. We’re a melting pot,” said 23-year-old boxer/waitress Parvati, from Los Angeles. “I love it.”

‘Survivor’ Loses GM Sponsorship

andPOP Staff — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:30:49 +0000

Car manufacturer GM, a long-running sponsor of CBS reality series Survivor, announced on Wednesday that it is ending its partnership with the program.

However, a spokesperson for the company says the move has nothing to do with the recent controversy over the show’s decision to separate contestants by race on the upcoming season.

“I think it’s just a coincidence,” said spokeswoman Ryndee S. Carney, according to the Associated Press. “I know it’s not cause and effect.” She said that the decision was made months ago when GM was deciding on ad buys, long before the ethnic twist was announced for Survivor.

While survivor has split teams based on age and gender in previous seasons, divisions based on race are new for the 13th edition. Contestants will initially be put into one of four groups — African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and whites.

According to Carney, GM is looking to shift ad placement more heavily towards live sports, awards shows and other major events.

“There’s a limited number of possibilities as to how you can integrate a car or truck in a show that people spend their whole time on an island,” she said.

Survivor Segregation Makes Waves

andPOP Staff — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 23:49:40 +0000

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.

‘Survivor’ Divided By Race

andPOP Staff — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:56:59 +0000

“Survivor” host Jeff Probst confirmed that the tribes for the next instalment of the island reality show, will be split up by race, E! Online reports.

Probst told CBS’ “The Early Show” that there will be four tribes on “Survivor: Cook Islands:” blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians.

Probst defended creator Mark Burnett’s decision to divide the 20 castaways by race, saying it was a “social experiment” not “segregation.”

“The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough, because for whatever reason, we always have a low number of minority applicants apply for the show,” Probst said.

“So we set out and said, let’s turn this criticism into creative for the show. And I think it fits 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.”

The 13th season is set to premiere on September 14. It also released a list of the competitors for the new season. They are: Rebecca Borman, 24, makeup artist, Laurelton, New York; Anh-Tuan “Cao Boi” Bui, 42, nail salon manager, Christainburg, Virginia; Sekou Bunch, 45, jazz musician, Los Angeles; J.P. Calderon, 30, pro volleyball player, Marina Del Rey, California; Cristina Coria, 35, police officer, Los Angeles; Stephannie Favor, 35, nursing student, Columbia, South Carolina; Billy Garcia, 36, heavy metal guitarist, New York; Adam Gentry, 28, copier sales, San Diego; Nathan Gonzalez, 26, retail sales, Los Angeles; Jenny Guzon-Bae, 36, real estate agent, Lake Forest, Illinois; Yul Kwon, 31, management consultant, San Mateo, California; Becky Lee, 28, attorney, Washington, D.C.; Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth, 25, waiter, Venice, California; Cecilia Mansilla, 29, technology risk consultant, Oakland; Sundra Oakley, 31, actress, Los Angeles; Jonathan Penner, 44, writer/producer, Los Angeles; Parvati Shallow, 23, boxer/waitress, Los Angeles; Jessica Smith, 27, performance artist/rollergirl, Chico, California; Brad Virata, 29, fashion director, Los Angeles.

Surivor Winner Arrested

andPOP Staff — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:49:31 +0000

Brian Heidik, winner of Survivor Thailand, was arrested on Tuesday for misdemeanor battery and animal cruelty charges, E! Online reports.

Heidik was arrested and posted a $6,000 bond after allegedly shooting a dog with a bow and arrow.

Police say he shot the dog after it wandered into his yard. The dog, a 12-16 week old shepherd-hound mix, was shot below its ribcage. The animal survived his injuries.

“You can equate it to seeing a kid going across your property and going and beating the heck out of him,” Douglas County Chief Deputy Stan Copeland told the Journal-Constitution.

Heidik says he thought the animal was a fox or a coyote and that’s why he shot it.