MSN Article on Finale
TV ClubHouse: Archive: General Discussions:
MSN Article on Finale
Chill_Town | Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 01:23 pm     ©CBS Will Jon's "dead grandmother" help him win it all on "Survivor: Pearl Islands"? One player quit and ousted players returned, but the biggest surprise of "Survivor: Pearl Islands" may be yet to come. The latest season of executive producer Mark Burnett's unscripted CBS series ends in a two-hour finale Sunday, Dec. 14. The show's most crucial Tribal Council is followed by an hourlong reunion of all who competed off the coast of Panama for the $1 million grand prize. (Story continues below...) Series host Jeff Probst will preside over the reunion, now to be televised (live in the Eastern half of the country) from Los Angeles, since El Arco Chato -- the Panama City landmark originally earmarked for the special -- partially collapsed last month. The buccaneer theme of "Pearl Islands" was clear from the start, when the participants were thrown off a boat with only the clothes they had on, then were split into tribes Drake and Morgan (named for the English pirates Sir Francis Drake and Captain Henry Morgan). The first six people voted out of the game reappeared as a third tribe, the Outcasts. Along the way, Boston equity trade manager Osten Taylor made no secret of his wanting out. He got his wish when Probst dismissed him without the usual Tribal Council sanction. Probst reasons, "On a show like this, where you can't control the outcome with a script, you have to have some impact with twists that you know will ensure the game will change every few weeks or so. The worst-case scenario is, 'Boring, boring, boring ... twist,' so you hope for a little luck in-between." Probst must be an actor to a certain degree, wearing a poker face to keep "Survivor" players from knowing in advance when the surprises will come. "It's a weird role," he allows. "My job sometimes is to sucker somebody into moving left when I know we're heading right. The producers tell me the stuff I absolutely need to know, but not too many details. That lets them keep their confidence with the players, who truly can believe the stuff they say is private. It also gives me the freedom to react honestly, which has made me better at my job." Some media watchers have credited Probst for being edgier with Osten and other "Survivor" contestants this season, and he's glad they've noticed. "It's a combination of a few things," he reflects. "I've gotten more comfortable on the show, and I'm more willing to take risks I might not have the first season. CBS also has gotten more comfortable with my having a personality. They used to take out anything where it appeared I might have a point of view. They felt I needed to be neutral at all times. "That really changed with 'Survivor: Thailand.' There was a near-fight among some of the contestants and some ugly behavior, including from me. It became a shouting match full of back-and-forth expletives, like we were eighth-graders who were going to meet after school. That was left in the show." The audience response was positive, and Probst says the network took a hands-off approach with him from then on. "I feel my job is to represent the audience. If a question needs to be asked, even if it's very sensitive, I'm going to ask it. It's not personal." Among "Pearl Islands" contenders, the biggest surprise for Probst was Rupert Boneham, an Indianapolis husband and father. "When we met with him in the early stages of casting, he was an interesting guy with a layered background," Probst says. "Since he had worked with troubled teens, we figured he probably would be good at reasoning -- but we had no idea he would leap off the screen. We hadn't decided on the pirate theme yet, but once we did, we realized we had this built-in Blackbeard. It was just one of those lucky mistakes. "Also, Jon [Dalton, an art consultant currently living in Los Angeles] is one of the best villains we've ever had," Probst adds. "Often, Jon would show up at Tribal Council drunk, or he'd say something that seemed ridiculous. I'd be right there to tell him that. To his credit, I haven't gotten an e-mail or a phone call from Jon, or a message through CBS saying that he was upset about how hard I was on him. That's because Jon knows he went into the game as a villain, and he played it that way." As is often the case when a "Survivor" finale airs, Probst already is taping the next edition. Set to debut Sunday, Feb. 1, right after CBS' telecast of the Super Bowl, it will be an "All-Stars" version with 18 contestants drawn from the previous "Survivor" shows. At press time, the participants hadn't been named yet. Since they have firsthand experience in playing the game, new twists and turns are inevitable. "I enjoy the search for truth," Probst says, "and that's what appeals to me about 'Survivor,' the pursuit of someone's truth -- and their truth may be that they're going to lie every single day. Whatever journey they may take, I find it endlessly fascinating." I saw this and thought it was kinda cool, hope you all enjoy it... |
Curlyq | Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 03:03 pm     Can someone refresh my memory? I don't remember a shouting match that involved Probst in Survivor Thailand. Was it when that goofy guy strangled the older guy? |
Tishala | Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 05:46 pm     Yeah I looked at the Thailand thread to try to remember too, Curly. It must have been the Robb chking incident, but I don't really remember it. |
Lancecrossfire | Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 06:54 pm     Jeff did some yelling during the challenge were Robb choked Clay. That was the first challenge that included physical contact. But that incident wasn't the only thing--a number of Robb's tribe broke the rules of the challenge--that really frustrated Jeff. He let a couple of them have it--but Robb more so because of his grabbing Clay at the throat. |
Curlyq | Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 10:29 pm     Thanks. I couldn't remember their names off the top of my head. That must've been the incident because the only other major brouhaha I remember in that one was that grinding in the night incident, and Jeff didn't get in a shouting match over that one. |
Daydreamer | Thursday, December 11, 2003 - 06:13 am     Great article! Thanks Chill_Town! |
|