articles
January 26, 2001
Outwit, Outsmart, Outplay -- in the Outback
by Barbara Fletcher
Survivor: The Australian Outback
CBS, Sunday, Jan. 28, after the Super Bowl
Thursdays, 8 to 9 p.m. ET (starting Feb. 1)
It's time! After months of waiting, Survivor fans (and foes) will get a whole new cast of characters in a
brand new location. CBS's Survivor:
the Australian Outback debuts January 28 -- right after the SuperBowl.
Former Survivor host Jeff Probst
is back with sixteen new contestants who will begin their adventure --
not on an island this time, but in northeastern Australia in the
Queensland outback. This rugged landscape will
challenge the players with extreme temperatures, treacherous topography, and lots of dangerous critters.
Not to mention the poisonous
plants, poisonous
(and hallucinogenic)
mushrooms, poisonous
snakes, and one of the
most posionous spiders in the world: the
Funnel-web spider.
Who cares about the dangers on Temptation Island -- this promises to
be genuinely rivetting television!
Two tribes go to war
The two new tribes take their names from Aboriginal words: "Kucha" for kangaroo and "Ogakor" for
crocodile, two creatures that the tribes will get well-accustomed to seeing in the flesh. The setting for
Survivor II is home to 70 species of marsupials,
as well as various reptiles.
The sixteen survivors come from various age groups, backgrounds, and interests. There's a chef, a retired
police officer, a singer-songwriter, an Internet project manager, a farmer, a nurse, a law student.
There's also a corrections officer, a footwear designer, a software publisher, an auto customizer,
an administrative
assistant, an Army intelligence officer, and two bartenders -- one for each tribe.
Of the sixteen contestants, two are in their 50s, three are in their 40s, five are in their 30s,
and six are in their 20s.
As with the Survivor I, the
tribes are required to complete various physical and mental
challenges, competing for rewards of food, tools, and luxuries, as well as for immunity from
being "voted out of the tribe" -- the replacement phrase for being "voted off the island".
Betting on the outcome
Two Las Vegas hotel-casinos have begun taking
bets on the winner. Both the Sahara (with 6-to-1 favourite) and the Stardust (4-to-1 favourite)
have pegged the 32-year-old Army intelligence officer Kel Gleason
as being the best bet.
Born in Illinois, Gleason moved to Fredericton and lived there until he completed high school. After
working as a production assistant for CBC Radio,
he joined the U.S. Army.
Who Will Be Our Rudy?
So if Kel is going to be our
Rich, who will
be our Rudy? Will it be 53-year-old farmer/teacher and Church elder
Rodger
Bingham? And will 23-year-old footwear designer
Elisabeth
Filarski fill the loveable
Colleen's
shoes?
Will corrections officer and motorcycle momma
Debb
Eaton step up to the plate as a counterpart to
Sue?
Viewers will just have to watch and find out.
Survival of the Fittest
And it looks like there will be plenty more viewing for Survivor fans in the future.
Executive Producer extraordinaire Mark Burnett signed a
deal on Tuesday with CBS
for a Survivor III and Survivor IV. Rumoured locations for the next show include Africa and South
America.
With this blinding pace, reality series The Mole and
Temptation Island will need to work really hard to keep up.
Let the games begin!