ENTERTAINMENT

Survivor Mania
By: K. Smith, Grade 12, Crescent Collegiate, Blaketown, NF

I, like millions of other people around the world, have fallen madly in love with the reality tv series Survivor: The Australian Outback. But what makes this show so interesting? What sets it apart from The Mole, Big Brother and the ever so popular Temptation Island?

Survivor craze started in July of 2000 when the first series arose. People immediately fell in love with military man Rudy, Doctor Sean, conniving truck driving Sue and the sweet and innocent Colleen. This show was the first of its kind. 16 strangers live on an island in the south China sea with only the clothes on their backs and each others company.

Every couple of days, the "tribes" would compete by doing certain challenges like eating bugs and balancing on planks over the ocean. Outwit, outlast, outplay was the name of the game, and the audience loved it. If the tribes won the immunity idol, then they would not have to go to tribal council and vote off one of their members. After a while the two tribes would come together and the game would be every man for himself. Instead of an immunity idol, each person would try to win the sacred immunity necklace. This made the dramatic real life tv even better for the die hard fans who would rather explode then miss an episode. I know, because I am one.

In the end, alliances were formed, people began to stab each other in the back, Sue hated Kelly and Rudy hated everybody until the final day arrived when Richard Hatch became the first ultimate survivor. It was all very exciting. Then, with anticipation, survivor fans waited for Survivor 2: The Australian Outback. For five months we waited in agony with no Survivor until the first episode came on. It was a glorious day for Survivor wannabes everywhere. It started off with two tribes: Ogakor and Kucha. The first person to go was Deb from Kucha, then Kel from Ogakor, then Ogakor lost two more of its members Marylin (Mad Dog to her friends) and Mitchell. Then it came the time for Kucha to vote again and off went Kimmy. The next week however was a very traumatic week for Survivor fans. While the members of Kucha sat around doing nothing, one of their members, Michael, accidentally fell into the camp fire and he was taken out of the outback in a helicopter.

Tribal council did not take place that week because of Michael's unfortunate incident. Then it came time for the two tribes to merge, so they came together and the game suddenly became every man for himself. The challenges became personal fights for rewards such as food and the ever sacred immunity necklace, meaning that person could not get voted off at that nights tribal council. So we are now in the midst of the combined tribe. Jeff was the first member voted out of the combo tribe, Berammundi. The next person to be voted out was Alisha. However, she didn't leave the island. She has to stay on the island and attend all of the tribal council because her and the other Survivor rejects after her will make up a jury which will decide the final Survivor. The next member of that jury is Jerri, the smart mouthed, opinionated person that no one could stand. She was stabbed in the back by her former tribe.

Oh the scandals! Oh the drama!

Nick is now the newest member of the Survivor jury. The tribe is weak and hungry and has traded in their shelter for more food.

What will happen next? Who will be the next to go? But most importantly, who will be the ultimate Survivor?

Stay tuned to find out more.