Survivor returns, with fans vs. favorites
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One quick thing to dispel about the new season of “Survivor: Micronesia” (Thursday night at 8 on CBS), which pits fans against favorites.
To be a “favorite” does not necessarily mean you had to win “Survivor” from seasons past or even be a crowd-pleaser. Quite the contrary, some not only lost but stretch the definition of the word “favorite.”
Take (please) Jonny “Fairplay”Dalton, who helped make “Survivor: Pearl Islands” so memorable. But favorite? Probably not to Danny Bonaduce, who allegedly assaulted him last fall during the taping of a reality awards show. Or to Jeff Probst, whose brother reportedly got in a fight with Jonny as well.
Then, there’s favorite Yau-Man Chan, the computer engineer from California who really was a genuine fan favorite after his gutsy “Fiji” performance. But Yau-Man came in no better than fourth.
Meanwhile, Tom Westman, among the most memorable winners in “Survivor” history and an indisputable fan fave, won’t be one of the “favorites” either. That’s by his own choice, which you can call either a wise career choice or perhaps just a simple act of personal dignity.
Westman – still living in Sayville, N.Y., with his family and now working as an executive with Hartford Insurance Co. – said by phone, “I’ve got a year invested in a career,” then added with a laugh: “The bottom line is, no one’s going to give you the money the second time around.”
“Survivor,” now in its 16th edition, has an equally amazing ability to continually reinvent itself, even if that reinvention involves a bit of self-parody and semantic flights of fancy.
This season’s gimmick is both: The show has summoned genuine names that will be recognizable to hard-core fans.
But for the most part, they’re not particularly well-known to the casual viewer.
The season works thusly: Ten “ultra-fans”– presumably people who live/sleep/eat/breathe “Survivor,”will go to Palau where they will face off against the favorites.
