Survivors Yau-Man Chan to speak in Edmonton

EDMONTON - Survivor Fiji star Yau-Man Chan will be in Edmonton this month to give a talk on “What can we learn from Survivor?” in support of the Youth Emergency Shelter Society.

Chan, 55, did not win the popular reality TV series but was well-liked by television audiences because of his wisdom, integrity and authenticity. He lives in California, where is an Internet technology director at Berkeley.

In his talk, Chan will discuss how Survivor is a laboratory experiment that confirms psychological and social behaviours when normal people are subjected to physical and mental stress. Chan provides a laymans perspective with insider knowledge, and contends that the nastiness of Survivor contestants is a mirror on society.

The TV celebrity will do two three-hour talks at NAIT on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tickets are $50, or $40 before Oct. 6. Early bird ticket holders will be entered in a draw to win lunch with Chan.

Tickets can be purchased through the Edmonton Chinese Lions Club website at edmontonchineselionsclub.org.

Some very interesting information in this articles about Survivor and other reality shows. Read the whole thing.

‘Survivor’ casts getting less real each year - ASK THE REALITY TV EXPERTS - MSNBC.com

“Survivor” has come a long way from the days of grizzled Rudy and tough-talking Sue. You’ll find more models and actors on reality shows these days. Monty Brinton / AP

Whether it’s “Survivor,” “American Idol,” “The Apprentice,” “Real World” or another show, send in your questions. Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, MSNBC.com’s Television Editor, and Andy Dehnart, creator of Reality Blurred, will try to answer them.

Q: Why have “Survivor” and other reality shows gone to “casting” them? I loved watching all the audition tapes. –Jennifer, Maryland

A: A year ago, after CBS announced that the cast of “Survivor Cook Islands” would be divided by race, host Jeff Probst revealed that most of the cast had not applied for the show. Instead, the show’s casting director and her staff found about 85 percent of the group. That seemed almost scandalous for a reality show.

However, producers did that because the show had primarily attracted applications from white people. “We really just took off all blinders and said we want to find 20 people to play this game and we’re really gonna have to source them out,” host Jeff Probst told The Slug blog.

Still, that wasn’t the first time cast members had been recruited; some of the most memorable players, like Jon “Johnny Fairplay” Dalton, who lied about his grandmother’s death during his season to gain favor, were people who did not apply for the show on their own. And the recruiting continued for last spring’s “Survivor Fiji,” which also featured a more diverse cast than “Survivor” has seen in the past.

Besides trying to diversify the cast, there’s another problem that makes recruiting a necessity. Lynne Spillman, who casts both “The Amazing Race” and “Survivor,” told RealScreen magazine in 2005 that “20,000 (applications) isn’t enough for us to choose from because at least a third who apply have already either applied to or been on every other show. With ‘Survivor’ you really want to stay on top, so why would you pick another show’s rejects, or someone who’s already had the reality TV experience?”

In other words, there simply aren’t enough people applying to continue to cast these shows, and thus they must go out and find people. It may mean the loss of those home video audition tapes, but in return, we get dynamic, interesting casts full of real people who weren’t desperate to become TV stars. —A.D.

You’re mostly asking two forms of questions these days: How can I audition for X show, and when does X show return?

For the audition questions: Even though this column was published in February, it contains some good solid info to where online applications live for various shows. Check it first if you have an audition question. We also answer a few questions below. More… »

Survivor Winner Buying Home in Fiji

Last seasons winner of Survivor, Earl Cole, had such a good time filming and living in Fiji that hes decided to move there himself, at least part-time. It has recently been announced that Cole is planning to buy a home in Fiji as well as give back to the country by promoting tourism there. He confirmed this himself on his MySpace page saying that after a press tour in Australia, he was indeed heading to Fiji for what he deemed “a special project”.

Cole spent his time while filming Survivor in a small, remote area of Fiji and admits that he didnt know much about the country before he went there. He decided to back and learn more about the people and the culture. He fell in love with it and has decided to stay and help. “Theres going to be a way I can help Fiji,” he told the Fiji Times. “Theres a lot to do for this country.”

Cole plans to purchase a home in Fiji soon, which will help him plant roots on the island and promote tourism there. The country has been going through some trying times, and is currently under a state of emergency. Fijis current prime minster Frank Bainimarama ordered the state of emergency in order to silence the man he removed from power in a coup last year, Laisenia Qarase

Earl Cole became the first African-American winner of Survivor and won by a unanimous vote. To be fair, his biggest threat, Yau-Man Chan, had been removed by Dre Herd right before final tribal council. Had that not happened, the story would have ended an entirely different way. He has not taken his win for granted, having given back to many people, particularly in his home state of Kansas. He recently did a charity event benefiting The University of Kansas Hospital. He also has set up his own charity, the Earl Cole Fund for Legg-Calve Perthes Disease.

Variety.com - Emmy snubs Survivor, Showtime by JOSEF ADALIAN

Survivor
Survivor got the cold shoulder from Emmy voters this year.
“Survivor” has been voted off of Emmy island — and it’s not the only show that’s not feeling the love this year.

For the first time since the TV Academy launched a reality competition category in 2003, Mark Burnett’s CBS skein has not been nominated in the category. Voters appeared to have subbed in Bravo’s “Top Chef,” which is making its first appearance in the competion.

Despite being credited with launching the reality competition boom in 2000, “Survivor” has never won the Emmy for reality competition. Another CBS skein — “The Amazing Race” — has snagged the statuette each of the past four years. More… »

StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC By Ken Little

Woman who claims she lived with Herd seeks child support, medical expenses

Survivor contestant Andria “Dre” Herd spent weeks baking in the Fiji sun, overcoming dehydration, depravation and the relentless plotting of opponents.

The Wilmington native came in second on the show, winning $100,000 and, after a controversial deal with another contestant, a pickup truck valued at $60,000. But back home, the 25-year-old was soon slapped with a paternity lawsuit by a former member of his Wilmington tribe who gave birth to a baby boy Nov. 30. More… »

Info is rolling on on the China season.

Reality TV Forums at Survivor.com

3 more players

Dave Cruser–38 years old, into water polo–not a lot of info on him yet
Leslie Nease–2001 Miss United States contestant, Christian radio host
Peih-Gee Law–29 years old, University of California Grad,sales

Fiming started June 25th
Filming ends August 2nd

Tribe names:
Zhau Hu-Fighting Tigers
Fei Loung-Flying Dragons

The viewers are not liking Pirate Master so far. Read the forum and let us know how you feel…

Second Episode - Reality TV Forums at Survivor.com
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Yeah, I liked Treasure Hunters from last summer better…. And you learned something of American History too
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Well I would hope that Mark Burnett would have more integrity than to script a show like this. But yeah, it does kinda stink. The premiss is ok. The pirates court thing is ok. Its definatly not survivor. When does China start??? Maybe Mark should do three seasons of survivor a year and can this show.

Ill keep watching to see how it plays out but so far its sortta, no its cheesy.
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Yep. There was really no reason to get rid of Christian that was shown. I am really thinking that this is truly scripted and that they drew marbles to see who would win the most money…

That could be why the application for this show was so strange. It was Survivors app with SOME of the wording changed…. It was truly thrown together…….
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The Second Episode is not better. Why did NO one vote for mutiny? That makes no sense. What are these people thinking? This smells like its totally scripted and poorly written at that.

What do you think?

Exclusive Interview: Yau-Man Chan, 4th place finisher on Survivor (Interview Conducted by Oscar Dahl)

Yau-Man Chan will go down as one of the most beloved Survivors in the series long history. It is impossble to discuss Yau with any Survivor fan and not end up postulating on the little man from Borneo’s greatness. Yau-Man came into Survivor: Fiji as an afterthought. No one expected much from him, but he was formidable in every aspect of the contest. He won more challenges than anyone else, found the immunity idol, and was simply smarter than the rest of the field. The only reason Yau didn’t win was the fact Dreamz reneged on his immunity deal with Yau. Nonetheless, Yau-Man will go down in Survivor lore as one of the game’s best players. Earlier in the week, Yau-Man stopped by to speak with us about his time on the show.

Below you will find both the written transcript and full mp3 audio of the interview.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/SurvivorYauMan.mp3

Before we get into anything from last night can we talk a little bit about how you found yourself on the show, how you got cast? More… »

Los Angeles Times
The long-running CBS reality show isn’t immune to the networks’ general malaise.

Eating bugs, stabbing fish with a makeshift spear and tropical island backstabbing appear to be losing their appeal for “Survivor” fans.

The long-running CBS game isn’t immune to the general malaise affecting network TV this spring, as only 13.6 million people watched Sunday as California advertising executive Earl Cole unanimously won the Fiji edition, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That’s down 17% from the 16.4 million people who watched the end of the previous edition in December. Last spring’s finale had 17.1 million viewers, Nielsen said.

It illustrates how long it has been since the first “Survivor” in the summer of 2000 electrified fans and drew 51.6 million people to its conclusion. The latest game was the 14th “Survivor” edition.

CBS notes, however, that “Survivor” consistently wins its time slot against a hot new hit, ABC’s “Ugly Betty,” and NBC’s “My Name Is Earl.” More… »

How did you feel about the outcome? Talk about it here.

Boo tries to get them to vote off Dreamz instead of him, but when Yau Man wins the immunity challenge, Boo goes home.

The final immunity, with only 4 people in it, is won by Dreamz. He swears that he will give the necklace to Yau Man, but when the tribal council comes, he betrays his promise. Earl is surprised and torn, but votes for Yau Man and Yau goes home. The final three is Earl, Cassandra and Dreamz, with the jury picking one of them.

The final tribal council has every vote for Earl. The first time in Survivor history that the vote is unanimous.

During the reunion show, Dreamz claims that he was thinking everything through and made every decision on purpose. He said then that he never intended to give Yau the necklace.

At the end of the show, Earl wished his mom a Happy Mother’s day and gave her half his money.

www.tvgrapevine.com by honeySC

Only 36 days ago, there were 19 Survivors and tonight we are down to the final five. Jeff takes us on a review of the events leading up to the present, including Dreamz’s outspoken and strategic role in the events that lead up to this night of the finale. With Yao Man using his immunity idol and narrowly avoiding banishment, he realizes that his safety net is gone. He says that tribal council was brutal and it was a good thing to use it. Earl says that no one knows for certain that he has the other idol and when Yao Man says that he might have to borrow the idol, Earl says that he might have to keep it for himself because they know that he knows they don’t trust him.

Cassandra says that this is the time in the game when you have to start playing for yourself. When she brings up that Yao might have the second idol, Earl tells her that he doesn’t think he does because he hasn’t been walking around. He also tells her that he gave Yao his word and that is something he won’t break. More… »

Season Finale on SUNDAY at 7:00pm

Hutchinson Leader by Jorge Sosa

“Survivor: Fiji” will mark a couple of milestones Sunday night. It will be the 200th “Survivor” episode and it will see the return of contestant Gary “Papa Smurf” Stritesky, a Silver Lake native. More… »

This season just keeps getting better and better. Last night’s Tribal Council was almost as good at the one 3 weeks ago when the tables turned the first time. This throws everything into complete chaos. I think Yau Man just might win this thing.

I’m looking forward to the SUNDAY NIGHT FINALE!

The Daily Advertiser - www.theadvertiser.com - Lafayette, LA

In life, a slip of the tongue rarely costs you a shot at $1 million. On Survivor, it can happen quite easily.

It did this week.

“I think that everyone wants to seem like they’re playing nice, but I think there’s going to be lines drawn. And, there’s going to be division amongst the tight-knit alliance,” Stacy said at tribal council. “Because I don’t think that it’s all going to be a vote one way or the other. I think it’s going to be split.”

She might has well have said, “We’re all voting for Yau-Man. Better pull out that hidden immunity idol that we all know you have.” More… »

www.buddytv.com

Episode Overview: Big risk could equal big reward for Yau-Man as he makes a series of game-changing decisions on Survivor:Fiji.

Episode Highlights:

* Boo is starting to feel like there is a target on his back…but so does Yau-Man.
* Yau-Man makes a crazy-like-a-fox proposition to Dreamz.
* The hidden immunity idols continue to impact the face of the game.

Kenward “Boo” Bernis is being crafty. He clears a secret path to the watering hole so that he can eavesdrop on any of the other Survivor: Fiji tribe members who might be conspiring against him.

Good plan, but his time away from the camp gives them time to conspire in the comfort of home. Earl Cole talks to the others about ensuring that Boo is out next. More… »

JAM Television By JOHN POWELL — JAM Showbiz

Although they might not know it, ‘Survivor’ fans witnessed the most significant happening of the ‘Fiji’ series on last night’s episode.

Absent from the ‘Cook Islands’ edition, the Car Challenge returned with a vengeance. The startling outcome is sure to have a direct effect on not only how the game plays itself out but how the Fiji jury votes and why.

Facing off against Boo and Stacy in an axe hurling competition, Yau-Man won the gas-guzzling product placement but stopped short of accepting the prize. More… »

www.tvgrapevine.com by honeySC

The episode opens with only six remaining survivors. In a conversation recollecting the events of the night at tribal council, Cassandra discusses that they had planned for Boo to go, but the game changes.

The following morning they wake up to receive tree mail that tells them they have a reward challenge coming up and speculation runs rampant that this is the challenge for the car. Dreamz dreams what it would be like to have a vehicle, saying that not only did he not own one, but he didn’t even have a driver’s license. It was easier that way he said, not having that in his pocket every day to remind him that he didn’t even own a car.

Jeff calls them to the challenge and tells them that they are going to be roped together in two teams of three. They would have to maneuver over a see saw like balance beam as a team and then crawl through a jungle gym type apparatus and finally dig an implement out of the sand to release a rope tied to precious cargo. He has the tarp pulled off a large surprise, a Ford Super pickup filled with a huge crate of school supplies that the winning team will deliver to a local school. More… »

Tonight is the last Thursday night episode.

Find out who wins in 3 days!

One Survivor surprises everyone when they attempt to use their Reward as a bargaining chip, the tribe is left in a state of shock when one Survivor reveals their decision of who to send to Exile Island and one Survivor creates a hidden path to eavesdrop on conversations, while back at camp, others plot to take him out of the game.

TV Guide - Hardcopy 5.7.07 Issue

Survivor: Fiji began with controversy when the Moto tribe won the luxury beach while the Ravu tribe had virtually nothing.

So, it is only fitting that the Survivor: Fiji Finale will end in the same way it began, with major controversy. We’ll get to that in a moment.

First a quick recap. As of April 26 (I can’t play spoiler for those of you reading this before May 3), we’re down to our Final Seven: Alex, Boo, Cassandra, Dreamz, Earl, Stacy and Yau-Man.

Now, as the game enters the “every person for himself” phase, Yau-Man and Earl seem to have the most solid alliance, which puts them in a very good position, and it appears that Earl is calling the shots.

Thanks to Mookie’s snooping (and, subsequently, being voted off for it), everybody knows that Yau-Man has one of the immunity idols. This could put him in a vulnerable spot because the longer he’s allowed to hold onto it, the safer he becomes. This won’t sit well with the others, especially considering how likable Yau-Man is and how hard it would be to defeat him at the final vote. I can tell you that at least one more idol gets played at Tribal Council, and it will have an impact. Plus, there is still another hidden idol somewhere at camp and its discovery could dramatically change the power structure. More… »

www.tvgrapevine.com

With only seven left, the campers return to their island to discuss what went wrong that Alex, their target, was still there and Mookie was not. Earl wonders why the group didn’t think that the split vote might backfire on them, as it did. Alex feels that they are all stressing out and are not in agreement. Stacy asks him what is going on and he says that his best bet is to lay low. He says that the decision to vote for Mookie is the reason he is still there and he double checks to make sure he is.

Alex feels he is still on the chopping block and decides to go into Ninja mode, laying back and observing what is going on. He wants to listen and watch to see what is going on and stay under the radar. Dreamz thinks that honesty is the thing that keeps you in the game. Cassandra, Yao, Earl and Dreamz is Dreamz pick as the core four. Yao Man thinks that the core four for him are Cassandra, Stacey, Earl and Yao because they are the four that Yao sees as getting him the farthest in the game. The group really think that Alex and Boo are the next to go. More… »