NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2006
New 'Survivor' A Race Among Races
Probst Reveals Contestants And Controversial Tribe Change
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Twenty new castaways, seen above, will rough it in the Cook Islands for the 13th season of "Survivor." (Monty Brinton/CBS)
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"Survivor" host Jeff Probst revealed the new crop of castaways on CBS' "The Early Show." (Monty Brinton/CBS)
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Photo Essay Aras Is Sole 'Survivor' Celebrates his victory in "Survivor: Panama - Exile Island."
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Photo Essay 'Survivor: Cook Islands' Meet the players in this controversial edition of the hit reality series
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In The Spotlight Survivors Of Panama Videos: "Survivor: Panama, Exile Island" contestants' profiles and interviews.
They will be split into four tribes, but how they will do that is guaranteed to be a talking point. For the 13th installment of the series, producers have yet another controversial way to begin the game: 20 people, four tribes — each divided by race.
Jeff Probst is back as host of "Survivor: Cook islands" and spoke with The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith about the controversial new season, which premieres Sept. 14 at 8pm ET on CBS.
Smith asked Probst whether the new way of dividing the "Survivor" contestants was a good idea for a reality show.
"Well, that's probably one of the reasons it will be interesting and controversial, maybe, as you say. I know, 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.
Smith asked him if this new twist was taking the reality show too far.
"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. The idea for this actually came from the criticism that 'Survivor' was not ethnically diverse enough," he said. "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. I think it fits in perfectly with what 'Survivor' does — it is a social experiment. And this is adding another layer to that experiment, which is taking the show to a completely different level."
How did the new players react when they were told they would be divided by race?
"The reaction was mixed. (Contestant) Yuhl wasn't sure. Yuhl was concerned we were going to turn this into something that would show stereotypes and reinforce them," Probst said. "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."
"I think it's very likely," he said. "In fact, our original idea was simply to have the most ethnically diverse group of people on TV. It wasn't until we got to casting and started noticing this theme of ethnic pride that you're alluding to. So, yes, I think it's very natural to assume that certain groups are going to have audience members rooting for them simply because they share ethnicity. At the end of the day, I think it will come down to what it always comes down to: who do I like?"
Probst announced the new crop of castaways and the tribes that they will be divided into:
African-American Tribe:
Asian-American Tribe:
Hispanic Tribe:
White Tribe:
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See all 76 CommentsKnaves: CBS producers, who decided that their hit show "Survivor" was just all too colorblind.
According to "Survivor" host, Jeff Probst, his show was coming under fire for "not [being] ethically diverse enough." How this matters in a show where a dozen or so contestants compete against the elements and each other on a deserted island is not the point. The point is that the producers had to act, lest the Diversity Police label "Survivor" as, well, "not diverse enough."
Their idea? To have a "Survivor" season where the contestants are divided into teams according to race %u2014 in this case, white, black, Latinos and Asians. Next season's lineup will presumably feature Arabs, Pacific Islanders, Indians and Other.
Anyway, it's a pretty knavish idea in a country where (in theory) people are individuals, not units of a race. And of course New York City officials are blasting CBS for "promoting divisiveness."
Which is great. Now, if only the same officials were as critical of race-based admissions and affirmative action programs, then this whole thing wouldn't stink of hypocrisy. But that's a whole other matter.
In the meantime, "Survivor," once an arguably neat social experiment, seems to have just "jumped the shark," or the Knave.
I wonder how many local stations will choose not to air this season of Survivor?
Hmmm - what do we do about this? I think I have it. Could the answer be... Yes, that's it! Segregation. This is absolutely brilliant. Why didn't we think of it before - cause "everything old is new again -la, la, la.
Where do they find em? There are millions of unemployed Americans and yet CBS manages to hire folks who are still back in the 1800's. This truly is priceless. But hey whatever sells - we have no higher purpose for being than selling ad spots and bringing in those fools- I mean viewers.
From what I read that the politically correct, whiny- butt crybabys are posting, I expect that we will be hearing from Asian groups that they didn't have dog with their rice. Or the Muslim/Arab folks will complain that they didn't have 72 virgins on the island for them. Next thing we know the ACLU, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be complaining that the blacks were not sufficiently represented or that they didn't have fried chicken on the island. I'm suprised someone hasn't dug up Johnny Cochran and got the race card out of his suit pocket.
Also I am awfully tired of hearing about these hyphenated Americans. Either you are an American or you are not. Get over it. Like the famous quote of Rodney King...."can't we all just get along"
Michelle
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