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Topic: Wacky Wanda previews Exile Island (Read 1029 times)

MediaScribe
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Wacky Wanda previews Exile Island
« on: Jan 19^th, 2006, 8:55am »

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'Wacky' Wanda Shirk from Survivor: Palau just e-mailed me her preview of the upcoming season of Survivor: Panama - Exile Island and asked me to share it with you all...

IMPRESSIVE, IMPRESSIVE, IMPRESSIVE! The Exile Island, Survivor 12 cast looks more like a Super-Star cast than a mix of ordinary people. Look hard now: Anybody see a construction worker, a redneck, a farm boy, a hotel doorman, a bartender, a cop, a fireman, a fishmonger? Nope? Me neither! Not even, far as anybody can currently detect, the sensitive, funny, just-me gay guy! Not that we've never seen a lawyer on Survivor before, or an engineer or a nurse or a teacher, but this time those professionals are holding candles to a four-space-walks astronaut, a Navy fighter pilot, an older woman who recently ran the Marathon Des Sables and a young woman whose international mountain climbing and adventure travels rival the best I've ever heard of. WOW, WOW, and WOW. The tribe by tribe analysis:

First, let's take the Young Women's tribe. The 24-year olds, Misty Giles and Danielle DiLorenzo, are, respectively, an engineer/ former Miss Texas Teen 1999, and a Med-Sales-rep/international track and soccer star. They're teamed with 27-year old Sally, a social worker from Duluth who is a HUGE Survivor fan who has applied to five of the 12 seasons, and with Courtney, the 31 y-o gymnast who has climbed mountains in Peru, hitchhiked across Mexico, marathoned in Honolulu, walked the deserts of Chili, and been in more of the countries of the UN than I have states of the US.

Before going any farther, let me let you in on one little secret about how I pick my favorites. When I check out the bios on the CBS website, I inspect each person's "favorite's" list for exactly one thing: Did the person list Survivor as his/her fav tv show? If it's not listed, then I'm a little suspicious of this person's legitimate right to take up space on my screen for this game, and the person is not one of my favs. So, Danielle's out. Even though she's a soccer star, reminiscent of Stephenie's MVP lacrosse history, Danielle's going to have to be fantastic to win me over. I love Sally just because she wants to do this so badly -- her heart and mine are in the same place. As for Courtney -- she's the kind of person I just idolize. Career and bank-account be damned; she's gonna see the world, "Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow till she finds her dream." Most of us buckle in to responsibility and just look in awe at those young folks who are smart enough not to waste the energy of youth on jobs that keep us inside too much of the time. See the world! I love that Courtney spirit -- There's a role model! So on Tribe YW, it's between Sally and Courtney for me.

Second, the Young Men's tribe. Here the 24 year olds are Aras, a yoga instructor and pro-basketball player with a BA in philosophy from UCA, and Austin the Author and --- whoops! We DO have a waiter-bartender! Shocking -- a bartender who went to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, runner-up to Bob Jones University and Pensacola for most notable Fundamentalist Christian college in the country. But Austin has "no favorite" for alcoholic beverage on the fav list; he serves it but doesn't drink it? This guy has me puzzled. Then there's Nick, 25, who does financial sales. Neither Nick nor Aras listed Survivor as a favorite TV show. What does that tell you? Did you say, "I suspect these are the recruited pretty boys?" Well, what suspicious minds some of us have! This tribe is rounded out with 32 y-o Bobby Mason, an LA attorney. Austin the Enigma intrigues me most on this tribe. At any rate, Austin's book sales are sure to go up over the next twelve months. I'm heading for Amazon.com shortly myself....

Third, the Older Women's tribe. At age 32, Bobby made the young guys tribe, but at the same age, Melinda the Musician makes the older women's tribe. She's good (professional), and good-hearted, too, I think. Will she dare to sing for us? Has Lydia made singing on Survivor okay by now? Nurse Cirie, age 35, attracts abundant initial attention just with her abundant physical presence. Here's a woman who lost 30 pounds to be on Survivor. Now when casting first called me, I started running and swimming and working out every day and I lost, uh, 3 pounds -- all of which I have subsequently put back on. (But it's winter now!) I really admire somebody who can lose 30 pounds. We're talking self-discipline Big Time, here. Next is "Timber Tina." Whose heart doesn't break for this strong mother who just lost a son in a tragic car accident? That kind of thing makes life so impossible, and the game of Survivor doubly impossible. You HAVE to think about and talk about it. You know that some people will suspect you're playing the sympathy card, which is dangerous, post-Johnny Foulplay, and potentially counter-productive, but it's your real life, not a card you're playing, and you can't hide it in the back of your hand. Tina's a big fav from the get-go: physically and mentally impressive -- we have to use that word, but also someone for whom our heart aches, even knowing that no amount of success in the game can compensate for a lost son, and winning without having Charlie to share it with would be bitter-sweet. Well, moving on to Ruth -- oh, my goodness! A woman who has run the Marathon Des Sables? I didn't know that was something women were even physically capable of doing! Do you know what that involves? SEVEN DAYS of running over stones and in sand dunes in day-time temps up to 120 degrees, carrying your food and gear and sleeping bag, in the Sahara in Morocco! This is not a 26 miler -- it's 152 miles - "The Toughest Footrace on Earth!" As with Courtney, I want to prostrate myself at the feet of this woman! Please don't ask me to pick a favorite on this tribe! Two-way tie, three-way tie, four-way tie? How many ways tie are we allowed to have?

Finally, the Master's Division, Men. 35-year-old Shane, who's in the entertainment business and, like Bobby, lives in LA , did not list Survivor as a tv favorite. That makes him suspect on more than one count. He's out-classed here from the start, so I'm ready to move on to the real men. Now we're back to another three-way tie. Terry, 46, graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis and became a Navy fighter pilot; we all know Navy pilots are the best. Dan, 52, is a Cornell grad (one of my favorite schools) and our space-walkin' astronaut; how cool is that? Finally, Bruce, 58, rings all kinds of bells for me, starting with being an Eagle Scout -- a most impressive start to a young man's life ( if I may be forgiven for the redundancy of the i-word) and culminating with being a backpacking instructor whose heart is on the John Muir Trail (we do know the founder of the Sierra Club, don't we, folks?) As a backpacker, I just want to arrange my next trip concurrently with Bruce's. Oh yes -- and he's a karate black belt and a high school art teacher. This is surely a man who deserves to win Survivor! Look at all the dimensions to his achievements and passions! Terry, Dan, and Bruce are absolutely awesome!

Whether it's sports or Survivor, rooting for someone (or, admittedly, sometimes rooting against someone), adds immeasurably to the pleasure of watching and evaluating. Having read the bios, we now are posed with some gigantic questions. On what grounds do we decide whom we think should win? If you think you have to struggle with that as a viewer, let me assure you that it is thousands of times more difficult as a player! I went to the game with the intention of a "Bond of the Best" strategy -- similar to Gary's approach in Guatemala, although he did not use that term. Like him, we ask the question, "Who here is worthy of winning? Who here is worthy of a Final Four spot?"

Sometimes it's easy to sort worthy people from unworthy ones; sometimes it's not. We can be certain, though, that the professionalism and class that we see in Eagle Scouts and astronauts and Marathon Des Sables runners reflects a strata that's a big cut above the average. Mentally and physically, these people are superior. We would do well to respect that. This cast is loaded with people who deserve our admiration because their daily choices over many years have made them such fantastic people that anyone would be proud to know them and prouder to call them friends. They are already winners.

One of the tough choices is whether we want to root for someone young and poor and bursting with enthusiasm like Social-Worker Sally or for someone who has already reached many pinnacles of success and perhaps has less need of a big cash prize and other notoriety when a life of accomplishment has already brought financial and other rewards.

And do we dare to speculate about what kind of person our winner will be post-Survivor? Does it matter whether it's a person who cares very deeply about the less fortunate, or how the winner's gifts of time and presence and yes, cash and goods, might make lots of lives better, not just his or her own? Those things at least cross my mind.

Bios are a start. They do tell a lot about a person's mind and spirit, enthusiasm for life, love of nature and family, self-discipline and character. But in the coming weeks, we will get to see more.

I've said it many times before, but it bears repeating here. The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, "Oh would some power the gifte gi'e us, to see ourselves as others see us." Reality TV is precisely that power. Those of us who have been there may complain about "our terrible edit," but when we are honest, we have to admit that the editors usually have done a fair job. So -- yes, I have to acknowledge that though some people find my singing to be entertaining and fun or inspirational, Coby and Willard found it annoying, and in the course of my life, lots of other people undoubtedly have too! "Annoying" wasn't "an unfair edit" -- it was the way some people saw it. Different people will see it different ways, but Survivor's editors can only serve up what's really there for each person, and they do! So we will soon see the cast of Exile Island the way they really are, and as we do with everyone else in our lives, we will continually revise our analysis based on new information.

Okay, February 2! We know the Groundhog will see his shadow -- WE want to see SURVIVOR!

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Jerrethan
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Re: Wacky Wanda previews Exile Island
« Reply #1 on: Jan 19^th, 2006, 2:15pm »

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I think it's funny how Coby says this is 'the' most normal-looking cast ever, while Wanda thinks the exact opposite of that.
Thank you VERY much for posting this, MS.

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MediaScribe
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Re: Wacky Wanda previews Exile Island
« Reply #2 on: Jan 19^th, 2006, 3:03pm »

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I think it's funny how Coby says this is 'the' most normal-looking cast ever, while Wanda thinks the exact opposite of that.

Well, that was in reference to my asking Coby who he'd date :wink3:

, so I think he was mainly commenting on this cast's physical appearance in that quote.

After having chatted with Wanda a number of times now, I know she really looks at a person's lifestyle and background more so than their physical appearance. So I can see why she's pretty excited about this cast.

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JP
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Re: Wacky Wanda previews Exile Island
« Reply #3 on: Jan 20^th, 2006, 11:16am »

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I love Wanda's article! Thanks for sharing MediaScribe! Cheesy

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lakelady
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Re: Wacky Wanda previews Exile Island
« Reply #4 on: Jan 23^rd, 2006, 5:51pm »

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Just now reading this. How refreshing! Loved hearing Wanda's perspective. I also go and comb through the favorites. Says alot about them. I have similar thoughts as she does. I also used to enjoy seeing the luxury items that were chosen for them out of the ones they provided. Really miss those.

And for the record, Wanda if you are reading this, I heard you sing in Cocoa Beach last year and it was delightful.

Love your positive attitude. Have you ever met Survivor Lill? Because I think you two have alot in common.

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