Posted on 08/23/2006 11:28:27 AM PDT by Pokey78
Confirming weeks of rumors, CBS has revealed the identities of the twenty castaways who will be competing in this fall's Survivor: Cook Islands and announced that the castaways will -- in what the show's producer and host both acknowledge to be a controversial move -- initially be organized into four tribes divided along ethnic lines (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and White.)
"We're going to take some heat for it," Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett acknowledged to People about the segregated tribe decision that will no doubt give the thirteenth edition of the long-running reality series -- which will also include the return of last season's new Exile Island concept -- some extra buzz. "But it's a great cast." "Some people will think this is controversial. Others will think, 'What's the big deal?'" Survivor host Jeff Probst added. "Either way, it's going to be very interesting."
According to Probst, the Cook Islands' segregated tribes concept is the end result of the show's attempt to respond to longstanding criticism that Survivor's casts needed more diversity. "The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough because, for whatever reason, we've always had a low number of minority applicants apply to the show. So we set out and said, 'Let's turn this criticism into creative for the show," Probst explained during a Wednesday morning The Early Show appearance in which CBS officially revealed the season's cast."
(Excerpt) Read more at realitytvworld.com ...
*ping* Ready for a little Survivor action? What do you think of this new "social experiment"?
This is just a programming stunt. Just like last season, when there were four tribes separated by age and gender: young female, older female, young male, older male.
That lasted for ONE EPISODE, then the four tribes were formed into two new tribes.
Same thing will happen here.
I heard Rush today too....this season should be interesting...the show has begun to get stale..
I think so too. They've had a lot of weak contestants on the island lately.
*ping*
We can just wrap this all up with a logo:
Cook Islands Survivor:
Race War Mutiny for the Bounty
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.