Posted on: Monday, April 30, 2001
'Survivor II' champion to have g'day on Thursday
By Frazier Moore
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK — The end is nigh. Again. Sort of.
Just as last August we saw slithery Richard Hatch become the first "Survivor" champ, soon we will see who aced "Survivor: The Australian Outback," a struggle for one-upmanship Down Under that's been watched, analyzed and talked about for weeks.
Is the million-dollar winner Tina, the twangy, down-home wife and mom from Tennessee? Colby, the Texas hunk with the movie-star grin? Keith, the fussy chef from Michigan who can't cook rice?
On CBS' two-hour finale Thursday, we will learn along with the finalists the tribal jury's ruling, supposedly kept under lock and key since the contest was taped last fall during 42 days on the banks of Queensland's Herbert River.
"Survivor" creator Mark Burnett insists the verdict will be news even to him: "I personally carried the sealed container (with the untallied votes) to CBS and put it in their vault."
The audience should be huge — the original "Survivor's" finale was seen by nearly 52 million viewers. Then it will be time for "Survivor II" to go.
But this isn't really goodbye. The fun and games of reality TV will go on, particularly as the networks turn to this strike-proof alternative in the face of contract disputes with writers and actors who, very soon, may vote themselves off the job. (TV's writers union could go on strike as early as this week, while actors could walk out in July.)
With its passing, "Survivor II" is prologue to a future of clones and wannabes. And, of course, sequels: This fall, look for "Survivor III."
"There clearly will be a lot more reality," says CBS president Leslie Moonves, "whether there's a strike or not."
In other words, the TV-watching tribe has spoken. "Survivor II," capturing on average 28.7 million viewers since its Super Bowl Sunday premiere, not only won huge ratings but also let some air out of NBC's formerly puncture-proof domain.
Moonves now believes "Survivor" is "one of the most significant television shows in the history of this network, especially since it enabled us to win Thursday night for the first time in 17 years."
And when the show comes to an end, don't expect these players to go away.
After Thursday, a new class of "Survivor" grads will enter the swelling labor pool of reality-show alumni trying to prolong their celebrity.
Item: Sexy, scheming Jerri Manthey, bounced as a "Survivor" hopeful weeks ago, bounces back on "The Young and the Restless." For her May 28 appearance on the popular CBS soap, the would-be actress is cast in the role she was born to play: Jerri Manthey.
Item: "Survivor I" finalist Kelly Wiglesorth has landed a series of her own as host of E! Entertainment's weekly "Celebrity Adventures," set to premiere in September. "Not bad for someone who didn't have a passport a year ago," crows the former rafting guide.
The latest "Survivor" crew's performances have seemed less theatrical than the original cast's often operatic style. While the Class of II had more eye appeal, arguably no one from its ranks matched larger-than-life characters like Hatch, that diabolical corporate trainer, fire-breathing truck driver Susan Hawk or military coot Rudy Boesch.
For one thing, the "Outback" bunch was regularly upstaged by natural plagues: rain, wildfires, the persistent lack of food. Even in competition with one another, these players formed their main alliance against a common foe: the hostile environment. "Survivor II" became less knife-in-the-back than its predecessor, and more tug-at-the-heartstrings.
"My hair is falling out! It's malnutrition," sighed Elisabeth last week, just before the cutie-pie footwear designer got the heave-ho from her sorrowful tribe.
