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Archive through August 29, 2006

The TVClubHouse: Survivor ARCHIVES: Survivor XIII - Cook Islands: Survivor General Discussions: Non-Spoiler Discussions: Archive through August 29, 2006 users admin

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Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
LadyT, no kidding. why havent they made an effort to include this diverse of a cast all along??

Fruitbat
Member

08-07-2000

Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 11:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Fruitbat a private message Print Post    
Jeff has said in more that one interview and again above that very few racial minorities apply. They had to go into heavy recruitment mode to get these castaways. In the past they have relied on applicants sending videos. I think they were against recruiting for a very long time. The initial set up was anyone can apply.

As Adven said, they will merge after one or two challenges and that will be the end of that.

I fully expect that alliances will be made in the same way it has always been done. Like minded people fall in step together. Initially the strong are favored to win the challenges then things shift toward them looming as threats. And the requisite wild card idiot is dragged along as valuable to go against in F2.

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 4:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
I hope so FB, I really hope so...

Reader234
Member

08-13-2000

Monday, August 28, 2006 - 1:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Reader234 a private message Print Post    
I wonder if the final 4 from last season played into it - didnt one old woman, one old man, one young man, one young woman each representing the first 4 tribes came into the F4...

I agree that I think they will merge so fast it will become a non issue, like Mocah said being that they are mostly from Calif. or NY ....

ie about the Olympics - interesting idea - it did bring to mind that there are teams from other countries, but filled with "Amerians" I can only assume they have dual citizenship (I know the Italian Hockey team for instance at one time was composed of mainly "Americans" )

oh and as for not many racial minorities apply - I just figure they are the smart ones - (I mean some of those conditions, and "reality" is far fetched - or edited!!)

Puzzled
Member

08-27-2001

Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Puzzled a private message Print Post    
O.k. The contestants didn't know they were to be divided along racial lines when they agreed to go on the program--so, obviously, the fact that they are being so divided has absolutely nothing to do with being able to get diversity.

They think we're stupid.

Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Teachmichigan a private message Print Post    
Puzzled, I think the difference here is that Survivor actively recruited (apparently only in CA) this particular group of people. Not many people I know would say "no" if asked would they be willing to go play a game for a million bucks. From the cast, it also appears recruitment involved calling actors' agents -- that's a bit different than having a large number of ethnicities audition or send in tapes on their own.

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:22 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
so what? why couldn't they do this before?

Fruitbat
Member

08-07-2000

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 8:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Fruitbat a private message Print Post    
Why couldn't they do this before?

My guess: A big thing with Survivor was choosing people with no connections to the entertainment business. They reviewed thousands of applicant tapes each season. Survivor is the granddaddy of reality shows and Burnetts goal was to keep his vision authentic.

There were very few minorities who applied. Probst and Burnett publicly said this a number of times, in response to criticism.

Reality TV has changed over the years and we see more manipulation and padding the cast with wannabe stars, fame seekers, etc.

They switched their plan this time and recruited instead. They never would have done this earlier do to their mission statement. And if they had recruited earlier in this shows history we would have cried foul.

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 10:04 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
so they say ... I still think it's a ratings ploy and I know quite a few qualified minority applicants who didn't even get the courtesy of a call back, so that story doesn't wash.

Cndeariso
Member

06-28-2004

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 10:38 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cndeariso a private message Print Post    
i too know a fair number of minority applicants that never heard anything from them. so, if they really wanted a diverse cast now or before now they could have filtered those applicants to the top of the list and saved the others for last.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:03 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
I really can't believe that they have had a problem with minority applicants. Nope I do not buy that at all.

Jimmer
Moderator

08-30-2000

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
Has the number of minority contestants appearing on Survivor been inconsistent relative to their representation in the overall U.S. population?

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 11:37 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
uh yeah ... one or two per season? if there are twenty contestants, and two minorities, that's only 10% and there are darn sure more than 10% of the US population that is minority.

Spear
Member

08-06-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 1:07 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spear a private message Print Post    
Let's take a crack at it.

The US Census Bureau says that a little under 20% of the population is non-white. Hispanics/Latinos are not classified as a separate ethnicity but about 14% of the population claim Hispanic/Latino origin.
LINK

S1:
Gervase, Ramona = 2/16 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S2:
Alicia, Nick, Kel = 2.5/16 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S3:
Linda, Clarence = 2/16 non-white
Jessie = 1/16 Hispanic
S4:
Sean, Vecepia = 2/16 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S5:
Ted, Ghandia, Shii-Ann = 3/16 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S6:
Joanna, Daniel = 2/16 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S7:
Osten, Tijuana = 2/16 non-white
Sandra = 1/16 Hispanic
S8:
Alicia, Shii-Ann = 2/18 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S9:
Rory, Julie = 2/18 non-white
0/16 Hispanic
S10:
Jolanda, Ibrehem = 2/20 non-white
Janu = 0.5/20 Hispanic
S11:
0/18 non-white
Lydia = 1/18 Hispanic
S12:
Bobby, Bruce, Cirie = 3/18 non-white
0/18 Hispanic

NOTES:
- I'm sure there are errors somewhere. There are probably more who are of mixed ethnicity or Hispanic origin. Corrections are welcomed.
- I don't know which contestants should be considered as white or non-white Hispanic/Latino. I have assumed the pessimistic case -- they are all white Hispanics.

Excluding All-Stars and BJ/Steph in S11 (to avoid double-counting), there have been 22.5/184 non-white contestants overall, which is 12.2% (US pop = 19.8%). If you want to break it down even further, 9.8% of the contestants are black (US pop = 12.8%) and 1.6% are Asian (US pop = 4.3%).

There have been 3.5/184 or 1.9% Hispanic contestants (US pop = 14.4%).

So yes, it seems minorities have been underrepresented, especially Hispanics/Latinos.

Fruitbat
Member

08-07-2000

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 1:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Fruitbat a private message Print Post    
Wow Spear, thanks for that. What a lot of work!

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 1:37 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Alicia/Nick/Kel should = 3??

Spear
Member

08-06-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 1:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spear a private message Print Post    
According to his bio on the CBS website, Kel is ½ South American Indian (Peruvian).

Also, Janu from S10 is ½ Cuban.

Konamouse
Member

07-16-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 1:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Konamouse a private message Print Post    
And how do we know if someone is 'qualified'?
There may be a variety of folks sending in their packets but if the video tape and/or written application doesn't bite the producers, then in their eyes, "not qualified". There could be conflicts of interest (certain folks jobs, for example), incomplete applications, ineligible, inappropriate. So many possible reasons someone is not selected (or called) after sending in their package.

And sometimes someone here has gotten past the first round: Ask Landi about her Amazing Race audition. She came pretty close.

While we know the percentage in the US population, what about the percentage of those who actually WATCH Survivor? That would probably be more representative of the percentage minorities who actually apply for the show (or any other reality show).

'squeek'

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 2:01 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Oh so they don't have that 1-drop rule like black people do?

Cndeariso
Member

06-28-2004

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 2:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cndeariso a private message Print Post    
isn't landi caucasian? i'm not sure how she could speak for a minority applying unless i'm wrong about the caucasian thing. <shrug>

what is a 1-drop rule?

Spear
Member

08-06-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 2:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spear a private message Print Post    
Mocha, if I've incorrectly counted someone as "full black", please let me know. Like I said, there are probably more who are of mixed ethnicity but unless there was definitive information in their bios (like Kel and Janu), I just made a crude classification as a starting point. No offense was intended.

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 5:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
I say qualified is if they fall into the prerequisites listed on the application. And Burnett is the one that said they didn't have minorities apply, and I called bullcrap.

Spygirl
Board Administrator

04-23-2001

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 6:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spygirl a private message Print Post    
When did he say he didn't have minorities apply?

What is the 1-drop rule?


Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 6:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
yep. Ladyt..Bill applied 3 times and never heard a word

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 6:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
1 drop...means that if you have 1 drop of African American in you, you are considered A/A

Like my son, is mixed but per the the 1 drop rule he would be considered A/A.

I hope I explained that right. Mojo, LadyT?