Redundancy is redundantly redundant. Kind of creepy post in its own right.

Thanks for telling me, sorry I couldn't be as good as the other guy who is taking time to answer questions and PMS........

re: Sabrina

u had 'expectations' for a last min cast that u found bc she just happen to have the same name as the other token black woman who dropped out? I want to be a suvivor casting director. Must be the easiest money in the world.

Sabrina was still easily in the top 20% of all black women ever cast on the show considering all the caricature loud angry black women they usually find.

I am glad that people are asking you this because it would be awesome to have an OOTV reg on the show.

I suggest people listen to this podcast with Dan Gheesling, winner of Big Brother 10, who made several deep runs into the casting phase before playing. He also has a free ebook telling his story and another ebook (not free) that is a step by step how-to of increasing your chances to get on. They are on his site http://www.howtogetonrealitytv.net/

+1

Pretty sure I could pick 10 more interesting people than in this past season. How do they miss that someone doesnt have a "personality"? thats pretty major on a show which makes story arcs around them. Most of all, how you miss that someone has cancer the size of mellons though?

Tell them to make a decent challenge. Like with swimming or holding their breath under water. Look at ozzys original season and go from there. It won't cost as much as building a gaint slide. kthx

The problem with the casting choices is two-fold

1. People know they are in an audition when they are going through the casting process so they probably give tons of personality.

2. People want to win a million dollars

As anybody who has watched the show knows it's often better to be the quiet controlled likeable person rather then the loud obnoxious character if you really want to win.

So, people dup the casting group as best they can so they can get on the show. Once they are on the island they play the low-key game because the million is way more important to them then what ratings the show gets.

@Bonafied - any knowledge on why they've been shying away from endurance challenges, particularly in F3/F4 challenges? Nothing better then standing on a stump holding an idol. I guess that's not great TV but neither is stacking plates, imo.

You work on Survivor yet never watched Season 1? Wow, that's surprising. Were you a fan prior to employment?

I 100% disagree with you. She was a cotailrider. Thats all she was. I have no respect for people who just wait to be carried through the game. Unless they are an extreme charachter. Really if you are out there to get 3rd place money, and you do nothing noteworthy it is BS. So many people want to be on the damn show, and if you can't make us good TV you don't deserve to be on the show. Some people though don't realize it while they are out there.

I can't say how, but we have ways to determine this kind of stuff. We know everything about the contestants and how they would react in every situation. They are all profiled extensively.

There are many reasons we can't do swimming challenges sometimes. It all depends on the location + the budget.

Like I said earlier. You can't fool the producers. You are profiled by well trained doctors. Everyone is cast in a certain role. And if people don't live up to that role there is nothing anyone can do.

Some challenges aren't done because of budget/technological/geographical reasons. There is no reason why we don't do specific challenges...

As for F3/F4 we want them to be fair to everyone. You guys don't see how challenges really play out because you see shortened versions. But very frequently the person who wins a challenge has a huge lead. And it is almost impossible for people to catch up. This is especially true for physical challenges.

No I didn't watch the show before I was employed there. I have watched every season I have been a part of, and seen a few episodes of some other seasons.

It is hard to enjoy the show like a casual viewer since A. I know what happens already. And B. sometimes in the 1 on 1 interviews when people pretend they are considering 2 options I am the person doing the interview. And I just know that I made sure the person gave me both options.

We are VERY aware about how the show is going to look when we do the ITM interviews. There is a reason that there is always "2 Options" even though usually everyone is dead set on 1 person.

What if they increased the prize to, say, $10 million, while keeping 2nd place at $100k? It would still be cheaper than a season of a network comedy or drama, and there would be a lot more incentive to win. I think participants these days realize that even if they don't win, if they do well they become minor celebrities and can parlay that into a living and possibly a return appearance. Making the final 5 should not be more important than winning.

Everyone cant be calling the shots all the time.

Is there someone who f...ed up so bad to miss the Kourney's cancer so that headlines read "One World — Kourtney Moon Has Cancer, Watched Premiere From Hospital Recovering From Surgery".

Also is it that easy to fake a personality to dupe the entire survivor army of Probts wow.

So are you the reason why kelly purple got almost no airtime? Im sure there are more things to ask to make this declining show more exciting.

imo, once you get on the show your only goal should be to maximize your equity. Whether it's $EV or lifeEV and whether you feel you should be focusing on that one game or potential future games, is up to you. That said, it's obviously up to you if you don't have respect for someone who only cares about their own interests.

This is pretty awesome that you're here answering questions.

Do you think most contestants really believe the edit is representative of their time on the island or are they just politicking (it's been said many times itt that the vast majority of contestants claim they like their edit and feel it's accurate).

10 million lol. that show would end the franchise. see Treasure Hunters (prize 3 million).

they went from Matusow/Negreanu all the way down to JRB.... What a slide...lol... I kid, I kid....

Seriously though, I have read several times online, big name players/personalitys in the poker community saying they would love to play.... Is it just that they don't apply????

I read just the other day on her twitter Liv Boeree saying she wants to be on the show so bad!!!

Live Boeree Tells Kid Poker She would love to play

I assume The Mouth couldn't be on due to medical reasons... Actually didn't the mouth FT the ME that year? Than he won the Players Champ...

If Liv Boeree actually watches the show and thinks about lots of strategy, she could kick some ass. Any poker player is going to do okay. JRB played about as terrible as a poker player could and yet is probably an average to above average player.

JRB was gold, right down to his reaction at FTC when Todd stoked his ego. Just gold!

Survivor is only still on the air because it is cheap to produce. And the costs don't really rise, it is easy to cut the budget. We don't have to worry about our "Actors" not returning if we don't increase their salary.

The budget isn't as big as everyone thinks. I know when Mark offered to give the lunch lady 50k in China it was out of his own pocket. Increasing the budget 9 million would force CBS to cancel it.

I can't really comment to much on this, just due to obviously there could be a potential lawsuit some day. But I don't believe Kourtney ever had any kind of test that could determine she had cancer. That is not factually based, it is just a guess.

Its not easy at all. Some people just shut down when they get out there because they see how many people have gotten to the end by "Having a good social game" which means riding coatails and being nice.

I don't edit the show so I have no say in how much airtime anyone gets. It isn't that the editors try to give a dissproportionate amount of air time to everyone, it is that some people are better talkers than others. Rick from South Pacific would just mumble to the camera despite being told to speak up. We need storytellers, and if you can't tell the story good then you won't get much air time.

Really, well lists of the prize money they get is out there. I would rather go all out for a win like Troyzan did than just be complacent and get 4th or 5th place. The only meaningful money that will really change ur life unless you are destitute in my opinion is first.

I love talking to you guys. I won't tolerate though people bashing me on how I answer some questions. You have the absolute right to disagree but don't be insulting my posts. 2+2 isn't paying me to do this, and I probably shouldn't be doing this. I wouldn't lose my job or anything, but I am supposed to keep a low profile.

I think everyone wants a Hero edit like JT got in Tocantins. That is the honest truth. I also think some more savvy people (Colton) try to play up the villian role to get more air time. I think in all the time I have worked on the show the only people happy with their edit have been Russell,Fabio, and Matthew (Sash) from Nicaragua. Everyone else always complains about how they are edited to me or someone else. The players though have absolutely no contact with the editors, and they really have no clue who they are. So Yes they do come and bitch to me all the time. Even though I don't decide how each person is edited.

I think some people say that they are happy with their edit because they know there is stuff they said that we could have aired that would have made them look horrible.

Mouth would be great on the show. Don't know if he would pass the physical, but I wish they would recruit him. I don't remember if that is the year he FTed the Main, maybe someone can look it up. All I know is that Mouth and Negreanu passed. I am sure they called up other people also. But JRB got casted when all was said and done.

Liv Boeree isn't American. If we were allowed to cast 1-2 people that aren't American (Which I think may happen someday) they are not going to be applicants. I have tons of foreign friends that I think would be great on the show. I also think that they would probably cast foreigns for the hot guy and girl role. Foreign applicants will never get on the show. If you are foreign and want to be on American Survivor then you should move to USA and get citizenship. If they ever cast foreigns, they will be picked out of an Agency I guarantee you.


This is the season I have watched the most of any season I haven't been a part of. I think JRB was great on it. He didn't even do the BrokeLiving stuff back then. Imagine would it would be like now!

And this is one of the problems I think Survivor has. And a reason ratings have been going down.

Everyone knows the game plan now from watching 24 seasons and if you want to win the money then you better stick to the tried and true game plan.

It's just human nature. If I was being cast I'd love to play the villain. Fine, everyone can hate me, I don't care. I can play the most back-stabbing, Machiavellian, entertaining game imaginable......but once I get out there human nature takes over and you start to think "well, if I did this I could win" and people shut down.

The goal of the producers is to produce the most entertaining show possible. The goal of most contestants is to win a million. These two goals often don't result in the same outcome.

I do agree with you though, I'd rather see someone like Troyzan win but in the current Survivor model I'm not sure that will happen.

I'd really like to see them change up the game unexpectedly so that the "game plan" doesn't work. It could make for a much more interesting season where everyone needs to scramble to come up with a new workable strategy rather than rely on the same ol' - same ol'.

Giving the value of the brand, what kind of re-boot can we think of for Survivor???

Looking at most things produce by entertainment ppl these days, creativity is something hard to come by from network exec's and hollywood power players....

I think having return players every season seems like they are grabbing at straws to be relevant again.... While i enjoy some returning players, do you think the general public likes that as well???

For Bonafied:

--How is it determined which people start on which tribe?

--How does production handle not giving away game secrets to other players when trying to get confessionals? Rough example, when player X is about to get blindsided and all of production knows it but needs a shot of that person saying the deathly "I know it's not me tonight" confessional, it seems like those kinds of situations may lead the more savvy/paranoid players to correct conclusions they may not have otherwise drawn.



Not sure how much you can go into detail about those things but thanks for taking so much time here, it's awesome having you.

Yes, but the problem is people who are young are doing this. We expect this from older people, we don't expect this from younger people. This is one of the big reasons we take recruits. The casting people observe people in there natural environment so they really know if they are being genuine. 90% of the people who send in tapes all say the same thing. My best advice to actually get on the show is to find out the name of a recruiter. Basically stalk them, and do something crazy in front of them. That is probably your best chance of getting on the show unless you are good friends with a casting person.

You shouldn't be getting the oppurtunity if you can't help us make our show. If everyone was a gamebot or was just riding coatails it would be the most boring show on earth. This is a HUGE reason why we don't just take tons of blue collar applicants every season.






Well, they can just cancell the show in 3 years. and then in 2025 they can do the show with a new host or with Jeff Probst. This isn't a scripted comedy. The formula will work 100 years from now. I also think that if Survivor is in a big danger of cancellation that NBC might buy it. They could really use a show like Survivor. Or I think if the ratings dip low enough it will just be a summer show. If a scripted comedy on CBS had Survivors ratings it would be cancelled, the show isn't cancelled because of how iconic it is. CBS still to this day has no problem finding companies to sponser the show. That says a lot for a show in its 25th season.

Returning players come back so often because we know we will get good TV out of them. They also tend to get better ratings. If all of our seasons were like the last one we would have been cancelled 10 years ago. They also keep casual watchers still tuning in. We know the super fans will always tune in.


-Picked by producers for the best creative fit! The contestants are profiled extensively, we usually can predit the outcome of putting most people together. I think the worst profiled tribe ever was in RI (Zapatera,Ometepe). Those tribes should have been mixed. I also think a lot of great players were casted in Nicaragua and the Old-Young split hurt some huge charachters.

- The ITM's are done by segment producers. We know what is happening and we tailer it around that. We know who each person thinks is going home and each person who does the interviews knows what that person thinks. We also dont use names when we ask about if certain people are going home.

PMed Questions: I was asked how I got involved with the show:

Well, I was recruited for the show. I was out in Samoa ready to go and I guess I was an alternate (Ben Browning got on instead of me). We were taken on a boat, and they loaded the tribes up in canoos. I was told to not get in a canoo. Obviously I was basically heartbroken. I will be honest to you guys, I started crying because I put my life on hold for a month and got physically and mentally prepared. One of the producers then told me I would probably get on next year. I told them to go **** themselves. And sat in a corner in silence the whole way back to land. When we got back and I calmed down they apologized again. And said that someones personal assistant had dropped out last second and they needed someone. They told me I would be staying in a five star resort, would be payed well, and could make great entertainment contacts. I took the position. And then in HVV one of the segment producers had an emergency and couldn't do the season, and I guess they liked the work I did. They chose me to take his place. And I have been on since then.

I wish I could tell you guys I was some huge fan and applied, but honestly I never even watched the show before. I also didn't even get casted for doing anything cool. I was picked out of an agency (NEXT). They liked my look and contacted my agent. My agent sold them on me, and I guess I impressed them in casting.

This is how Jay was casted last season!

Most of the contestants have not seen the show or said they were picked up off the street, so I disagree with this.

I like that you are answering questions, thanks. Though Im not convinced that you are who you say you are.

This contradicts what you said earlier.


This is funny.


This is also funny. It does explain why the show keeps getting boring. Also, I love the confidence that there will be major interest in this show in 600 years. They are so creative in hollywood.

a Um, I have been a 2+2 member since Febuary. I have been backed by several 2+2ers. All of whom know my real name and my job. I would be happy to get one of them to come here and verify it. I also am not some random person with 2 posts. I have been an active contributer in the TV ratings thread for months and stated several times that I work in TV. Going back months. This would be a pretty huge scam.

I think you just don't like the reality of what I have said about the show. Everything I say is 100% true. I haven't contradicted myself at all. I have answered every question I could open and honestly.

I am not being done a favor by answering questions. I get no money for this, this doesn't help me at all. I actually put myself in harms way. And for someone with 8 posts who hasn't contributed to this thread at all, it is really sad you are going to ruin it for everyone. Because as I said earlier I won't take disrespect. I will just go get one of my backers to come here and verify I am who I say I am and that will be all. I guess you can answer everyones questions since you seem to have such great insight

@ eltong: stop posting.

While I loved watching Alicia this season, I wished they had shown her to be more of a strategist. Sounds like she really did have power til she let go of Tarzan. She had Tarzan's and Christina's vote for sure, could have possibly had ties with Leaf from the NuManono days, and had a relationship with Kat that potentially could've gotten her on her side (although I doubt Kat turns on Kim). I think if they foreshadowed a Kim-Alicia showdown, having Alicia talk about her end-game strategy before the episode before the finale there would have been more suspense to the second half of the season.

By the time Kim talked about the two sides within the Salani alliance it was a foregone conclusion to the viewers which side would win out and that Kim was the winner.

Not to mention how great it would be see more of Alicia talking about how great of a player she is before Kim out levels her.

Bonified:

What about a Celebrity Survivor? I'm sure it's been considered, but I guess it would be difficult to set up.