New "Survivor" to Divide Tribes by Race

[kurth]

New `Survivor' to Divide Tribes by Race
Associated Press

The new season of "Survivor" will be a race among races. At the start of the reality show's 13th edition, "Survivor: Cook Islands," 20 contestants will be organized into four tribes divided along ethnic lines - black, white, Hispanic and Asian, CBS announced Wednesday.

The tribes, as usual, will merge later in the season, which debuts Sept. 14, the network said.

Jeff Probst, host of the show, said the network was worried the racial divide might offend viewers. "It's very risky because you're bringing up a topic that is a hot button," Probst told asap, The Associated Press service for younger readers. "There's a history of segregation you can't ignore. It is part of our history." "For that, it's much safer to say, `No, let's just stick with things the way they are. Let's don't be the network to rock the boat. Let's not have "Survivor" try something new,'" he said. "But the biases from home can't affect you. This is an equal opportunity game."

Probst said he and the "Survivor" producers wanted to bring more ethnic diversity to the competition...

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/08/23/ap2968565.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. New "Odyssey" to unite tribes by Spirit

And this Odyssey is real, not some phony made-up bunch of TV hooey.

Odyssey of the 8th Fire is the true tale
of an epic pilgrimage across North America
by people of all colors and faiths.

We walked for the Earth,
listening to the wisdom keepers,
looking to the whirling rainbow.

The saga of the 8th Fire odyssey will unfold on this web site
day by day until February, 2007.

http://www.8thfire.net/


Of note, this Odyssey was guided by the Red tribes -- the only group Survivor found it convenient to ignore...

[durrrty libby]

2. Survivor has jumped the shark n/t

[Kashka-Kat]

3. There's something that annoys me about this...

Well it may be interesting and insightful... but on the other hand, 4 races or "colors" is actually a pretty artificial construct and reality TV-- entertainment media in general-- has a way of exploiting and playing up conflict for the sake of conflict.

[kurth]

17. What are they going to do with mixed-race people?

Will CBS use a skin color chart? Or will they employ an ethnologist to measure their nose and forehead?

[NYCGirl]

21. Here's the group; maybe you can figure it out.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor13/

[RoseMead]

4. They're worried the racial divide might offend viewers

but they're gonna do it anyway. And to add insult to injury, they're going to spout all this nonsense about how they're standing up for diversity while they do it. Lovely.:grr:

[Fierce]

5. Good God, that's offensive.

nt

[madrchsod]

6. nothing like tribal racism to boost ratings

i bet the fundy`s won`t say a word about this...

[Virginia Dare]

7. Race baiting as a publicity stunt...

wow, it's hard to imagine "television entertainment" could get much lower, but I'm sure that it can.

What ever happened to Playhouse 90? I guess that was too cultured and boring to hold the attention of all of us intellectually deficient Americans.

[sui generis]

8. I'm not offended

I think if one group or the other had some perceived advantage or disadvantage it would be offensive.

But at this point it's as inane as saying, let's put all the redheads and blondes and brunettes in three different tribes. Who cares? Isn't that the point?

I suspect that by presuming racism and taking offense we're being racist, a teensy bit. Things are what they are - they're on an island and it's a game in isolation.

But I do agree - it's also a publicity stunt.

[Virginia Dare]

9. Because idiots like this will come out of the woodwork...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1973246

[NYCGirl]

12. They'll come out of the woodwork for any reason. Maybe turning the lights

on the cockroaches is a good thing?

[Virginia Dare]

15. Yep, that was my comment...

maybe that is what is behind all of this?

[shanti]

24. i thought of that too

but still don't like the idea of it.

[sui generis]

19. there's only one solution for Rush and his castings

[treestar]

10. So say the Asians win

That proves something about those four or five Asians on Survivor, but not about everybody else in the world.

They are trying for controversy which seems the best way to get attention in show biz. Content or substance appear to be irrelevant.

They need a new spin to keep it going. I've seen enough of Survivor to think that they are all the same. You hear the people saying the same things, different people in different locations, but the dynamic always ends up the same, no matter what they try to do to make this one "different."

They already tried dividing them by male and female at the beginning. That didn't prove the superiority of the male sex, to me, at least.

[NYCGirl]

11. But that won't happen, because the teams will merge. An Asian individual

might win, though. Last season teams were divided by age and sex — but it only went on for about three shows, then the four tribes merged into three, etc.

[treestar]

13. Yeah, the merge thing makes it all irrelevant anyway

I don't even remember if the man/woman divide one had a male or female winner. By the end it did not matter anyway.

Just shows it is for the shock value.

[Coyote_Bandit]

14. This will feed the bigots

I remember when The Apprentice was a competition between college grads and those without college degrees. Guy I know with a 6 figure income who barely earned his high school degree and is barely literate made the show very personal. He has always resented suits. And that show fed his hatred.

[Ron Green]

18. Feeding hatred (a form of fear) is what it's all about.

These TV execs have convinced themselves that they're doing something "edgy" and adventurous, while it's really the same old shit: exploiting fears, whether tribal or personal, to sell advertising - which itself exploits fear to sell products.

These people are empty.

[Arkansas Granny]

16. The last season show was initially divided by age and sex. It

really won't matter much in the long run because they all merge into one tribe toward the end. Usually, the majority of the contestants are white so this does bring more diversity into the game to start. It might be interesting to watch.

[donsu]

20. I'm not upset - think this will be a fascinating Survivor and look forward

to watching it. it's a fact that various ethnics approach problem solving and working together differently.

and racists have a field day 24/7 about everything and anything. let the racists talk ugly, that just shows the world what they are.

go Survivor!

[CrazyForKucinich]

22. I concur.

This season is going to be great. This show definitely has not jumped the shark. Palau and Exile Island were fantastic. Guatemala was okay. This show continues to get more and more interesting as it progresses.

[noonwitch]

23. It might end up being more fair

When you only have a few minorities mixed up on teams that are mostly white, the white people will likely gang together and vote off the minority contestants early.

[Zodiak]

25. I have noticed that pattern

However, one African-American woman won the show, so the hypothesis does not hold in all cases.

Nevertheless, I cannot help but to be interested in seeing the results of this season even though the activist in me gets a little prickly that race is an independent variable.