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Heyltslori
Moderator
09-15-2001
| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 12:16 pm
Biography Debra "Debbie" Beebee (46) Hometown: Auburn, Ala. Occupation: Middle School Principal A self-described people person, Debra Beebe is a middle school principal and married mom from Auburn, Alabama who believes that her natural leadership abilities and tactful problem-solving skills will contribute to her success as a castaway on SURVIVOR. Debra, also known as "Bubbles," feels that her enthusiastic and energetic personality, in addition to her take-charge attitude, will erase any doubts about her ability to succeed in this game. The fact that she is one of the older castaways will not be a hindrance for this woman who previously trained alongside Olympic athletes and still rises every morning at 4:30AM to get in her daily workout before tackling a day filled with hundreds of pubescent teens, pre-teens, parents, faculty and staff. Not one to be intimidated (even at a tiny 5’2”), Debra juggles work, her husband and her children. It’s no surprise that this go-getter won “Alabama’s Principal of the Year” award yet still finds occasional free time for shopping and dancing. Debra feels that her occupation has taught her how to deal with politics which she can apply to the group dynamics of her tribe. With her abilities as a natural leader combined with her bossy and competitive nature, Debra plans to focus on the weaknesses of others in an effort to get them eliminated. Debra is married with five children and currently resides in Auburn, Ala. Her birthday is September 28.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 3:53 pm
I would love for this gal to do well as both a "more mature" competitor and a fellow educator. However, "leadership abilities," "take-charge attitude," "natural leader," and "bossy . . . nature" are all phrases which make me worry not a little!
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 5:35 pm
She looks really young for her age. I guess she's not the annoying older lady in Tyson's words. She very athletic and well fit. But she is very "small". If her tribe lost a couple strength-related challenges, they might look at her as one t be expandable. Some where she said she had applied for this for years. She thought they rejected her on account of her being very thin. But after seeing Courtney in China, she went back and insisted on a chance. All in all, DeBBB is one real person who wasn't "invited to apply".
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Friday, January 30, 2009 - 4:38 pm
The middle school experience will probably come in handy if we get lazy whiners and idiots who haven't grown up yet! (No offense to those who really are 12; you should be acting that age)
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Friday, January 30, 2009 - 11:19 pm
From Andy @ Reality Blrred dot com Debra Beebe: “I’m kind of upbeat so negativity kind of grinds on my nerves” Survivor Tocantins cast member Debra Beebe may be a middle school principal—she was Alabama’s middle school principal of the year in 2007 for her work at J. F. Drake Middle School in Auburn—but have you ever known a middle school principal who dances on tables with her teenage daughters’ friends? Debra told me that she has “kind of have a Brady Bunch family: I have two children, my husband has three; I’m an old child living with five teenagers,” and she said that, “my daughter’s friends, when we go on vacation, just beg me to go out with them, because I’ll be the one on the table, dancing to Flo Rida. I live life to the fullest and I’m going to have fun with whatever I do.” “I’m an extremely social being,” Debra said, and her work demands that, as she’s in charge of 908 kids and a staff of 75. She introduced herself as Debra, and her CBS nickname says “Debbie,” but she’s also known as “Bubbles”—“you’re always bouncing, you’re bubbling,” a friend in Italy told her—but she won’t use that nickname in her tribe. Still, it seems to fit, although she doesn’t bounce or bubble quite like Sandy Burgin. While she was recruited—apparently through an Auburn professor who has a kid at her school—Debra actually applied eight years ago for Survivor Australia. “I just thought it was the coolest show I’d ever seen,” she told me. “I don’t like monotony, I don’t like the same things.” Although she went to Chicago for an interview, casting “had no idea I had ever applied” because that was after her divorce and she applied under her former name. Debbie now says she “wasn’t ready” at the time. We talked a lot about her 10 years as a principal and how that will come into play in the game. “I’m really a natural leader; I do this every day of my life,” she said, but in Brazil, she plans to “step back, don’t be the leader, don’t be bossy. … I’m constantly going to have to tell myself, ‘Step back and think about what you say’.” She said that her job helps her “relate to people from various needs, from various diverse backgrounds,” and she plans on using that to her advantage. In the tribe, Debbie also plans to be the “clown”—pointing out that, after competing as a high school gymnast and cheerleading in college, “I can still tumble.” Along with enthusiasm, she also has a lot of compassion. Debra told me that she regularly picks up a kid from the projects whose mother is dying of cancer and takes him to school, and she’ll also go “sit down with mothers [at their homes] if they’re intimidated.” But that kindness doesn’t mean she won’t play the game. “I absolutely will manipulate if I have to, but I prefer to play a kind of clean game, because I think in the end, the jury looks at that, too,” Debra told me. “I want to play an exciting game, and if that means manipulating, I will. It doesn’t mean that I’m just going to walk a straight line because I’m worried that everybody’s watching me. Absolutely not.” Still, she kept returning to the idea that one doesn’t have to play dirty. “I want to get to know them a little bit better to decide if I’m going to manipulate them; I may not need to. Tina [Wesson] didn’t do a lot of manipulating; she played a clean game, she was everybody’s friend,” Debra said. Along the same lines, she told me, “I’m kind of upbeat so negativity kind of grinds on my nerves,” and said, “I don’t have a lot of tolerance for negativity, that’s the one thing that kind of gets under my skin, is the ‘woe is me’ negative things, because there’s always somebody with it worse.” As to those people who might get under her skin, she said she already feels a connection with Candace, the “first one that smiled at me” who’s “real sweet.” She said that a “young girl, very tall blonde girl” (Sierra, I assumed) was “very distant,” and astutely pointed out, “There have been seasons where the minute you start talking you vote somebody off, and to me, that’s not somebody I want to be stuck with.” Debra shared a flight with JT but hid because she’d been bumped up to first class; she called him “the cowboy, a country looking boy, he’ll walk around and burp … [and] kind of doesn’t give a hoot what people think.” She also knew Brendan as “the granola guy” because of her pre-season research. “I Googled Survivor 18” and “kind of knew where we were going,” she said, because of my report about a crew member’s death. That kind of preparation and her people skills will probably help her stick around for a long time. Hear Debra talk about how she’ll be in the tribe, why casting told her Jeff Probst’s going to hate her, and hanging out with her daughters’ friends, plus being a role model to her students:
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Friday, January 30, 2009 - 11:56 pm
Hmmmm.... She said she was a "recruited" also. I'd read something differnt then.
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Trueheart
Member
09-12-2006
| Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:30 pm
The middle school experience will probably come in handy if we get lazy whiners and idiots who haven't grown up yet! LOL That's a good point! After I looked at her pic and I saw her age! Wow. She definitely looks good. But I've gotta say, is that a swim suit? It is very weird looking......
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Allietex
Member
08-16-2002
| Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 4:22 pm
The teacher background could backfire though. A lot of people resent authority in this kind of situation unless it is backed up by actions.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 7:58 pm
Sheesh, I don't even recognize her as having been in the first episode.
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Lycanthrope
Member
09-19-2002
| Sunday, May 03, 2009 - 10:18 pm
She's not really representing well as a supervisor of young people. Her personality is horrible for school principal...I hope the powers that be notice this
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