Jeff Probst Promises a Season of Compelling Survivor Fiji Castaways  2/3/07

With a new reality show popping up every week or so, how does one last for fourteen seasons while 10 are gone and forgotten in one season - or sometimes less?  If you think about the shows you Tivo and the ones you watch if it happens to be convenient, where are the differences?  For one thing, to hold an audience a show must have compelling characters.  Viewers need to really care about what these people say and do, and what happens to them as a result.  They don’t even have to be likeable; they just have to hold your interest.

In a recent media teleconference, host Jeff Probst revealed that in a world awash with reality shows, it’s getting harder to find that unique individual who will keep viewers tuning in week after week.  So rather than sit back and sift through the applications that come in, Survivor now goes out and actively seeks the kind of contestants that make for great TV.  In selecting the final cast, group dynamics are also considered.  It’s hard work, but it pays off in entertainment value and ratings.  Probst promised a compelling cast of castaways for the fourteenth installment of Survivor.

Take Andria ‘Dre’ Herd, who grew up literally on the streets of Wilmington, North Carolina .  Sleeping in dumpsters, eating in soup kitchens on good days and scrounging on bad, he and his brothers took care of one another, honed their gymnastic abilities and eventually earned a living as street performers.  Dreams uses these skills today to coach cheerleading and is training to be a boxer.

Yau Man grew up in the same area of Borneo in which the first season of Survivor was filmed.  He was completely at home in Fiji; many of the ‘survival skills’ were a part of his everyday life as a child.  In a season with a preponderance of strong young guys, Probst says that that “frail looking” 54 year-old really holds his own, and that viewers will come to “adore” him.

Rita Verreos is a very attractive single mom from Texas , who becomes the nurturer of the group.  A former Miss Venezuela contestant, runway model and actress, she is unabashedly proud of her beauty and hopes to be able to use her looks to further herself in the game.

Probst really enjoyed James ‘Rocky’ Reid, whom he describes as “Stallone, only about 150 pounds lighter.”  He walks and talks like his namesake and shares many of his mannerisms.  Probst describes Reed as “funny, challenging, and sometimes irritating.”

At 23, Michelle Yi is the youngest of the group, but according to Probst she has a “huge impact” on her tribe very early on.  Probst further teases that Yi is “responsible for something that hasn’t happened [on Survivor] since Africa.”  Other castaways might disregard her at first, but Probst describes Yi as “feisty, deceptive, and more of a player than she seems.”

Probst found all three Louisiana contestants to be “nice, respectful, good people.”  Boo is a big athletic guy, but perhaps the most injury prone survivor ever, to the point that it was “almost funny.”  Erica is a “quiet force” in the game, “someone who is not easily swayed, who has her own opinions and will act on them.”  Jessica, the “the quintessential girl next door,” has experienced family tragedy making her life has been a struggle at times.  Jessica wears her father’s shirt on the island as a tribute to his memory.  Probst feels that viewers will root for Jessica as a likeable underdog. 

Perhaps the most colorful castaway is someone viewers will never meet.  When questioned about the odd number (19) of initial contestants - a Survivor first - Probst explained that they had originally cast twenty people for the show.  However, as the time drew near for the ‘marooning,’ one woman became increasingly overwhelmed by anxiety, which escalated into a panic attack requiring medical attention.  With only about six hours to go before show time, the producers decided it would be best not to attempt to talk the woman into staying.  No alternates were on hand, as none of the contestants had seemed “iffy,” so the producers went with the odd number, and it “all played out fine.”

The diversity of life experiences this group of castaways brings to the show should make for one of the most fascinating seasons of Survivor we have ever enjoyed.