'Survivor' host in 'love affair' with contestant [View All]

[Champ]

We've opened a Pandora's box with all our talk of simulacra: It appears that with CBS's "Survivor," actual reality has become intertwined with the hypo-actuality of reality TV. This in the form of a gall-darn, genuine down-to-earth romance between rugged host Jeff Probst and contestant Julie Berry, who lasted fifth-longest on "Survivor: Vanuatu."

"Nobody is more surprised than me that I could find my love affair on a show that I host," Probst tells People mag with the appropriate amount of aw-shucksism.

"The truth is, when something like this gets dropped in your lap ... you just put your arms around it and you hold on because this is my love affair and there's no question in my mind about it."

In other words the heart knows what the heart wants, or to put it in Probst's touching words again: "I'm in love. I'm with her. I'm with her family, and there ain't no turning back."

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