reality blurred + Best Survivor contestants “have really strong opinions, they know who they are”

Applications for Season 19 are due Jan. 14!

CBS' Survivor came first with 13.3 million viewers

This is an interesting interview with Jill Spillman, the casting director for Survivor. If you want to be on the show, she’s the one who will have to approve of you. She talks about what they are looking for and what the process is. Click through and read the whole article. There’s some good information there.

reality blurred + Best Survivor contestants “have really strong opinions, they know who they are”

With Survivor Tocantins production complete, the show is now casting for its 19th season, which will film during the summer. Applications are due Jan. 14, and local affiliates are beginning their open calls (listed on the front page of CBS’ crap-awful new Survivor web site).

But is it even worth applying any more now that so many of the show’s contestants are recruited? Survivor Gabon winner Bob was recruited, as was Sugar, who actually recruited for a different show. That’s despite the fact that Survivor currently gets between 10,000 and 15,000 applications, including open calls; “it usually hovers around 12,000,” casting director Lynne Spillman told me.

The problem is twofold: A lot of “people [are] sending tapes in that look like they are just reality TV tapes; ‘hey, pick me.’ They don’t even say the word Survivor … they’re sending in really nicely produced tapes that could be for The Real World, Big Brother,” Spillman said. In addition, fans of the show who “know we do do a lot of recruiting to get different types, and they kind of feel like they don’t have a chance, I guess,” so they don’t bother applying.

Read the entire article at reality blurred + Best Survivor contestants “have really strong opinions, they know who they are”