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By Mike Thompson

As I’ve written before, my first column of last semester was about Survivor. That 13- week reality program, about 16 contestants marooned on an island, was all the rage during the summer of 2000. Contestants on the program became household names, and the show was such a hit that CBS immediately ordered a follow-up, this time to take place in the Australian Outback. In the weeks before the show’s debut, there was a ton of hype about the show on such programs as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. To be frank, it was all too much. I was convinced that this new version couldn’t possibly live up to the original, which I had been addicted to last summer. It turns out I was wrong. Amidst crap like Temptation Island, Survivor: The Australian Outback serves as a reminder of how enjoyable reality shows can be. After three episodes, I have become a Survivor junkie again.

In Survivor: The Australian Outback (hereafter called Survivor: TAO), 16 contestants are taken and placed deep in the Australian Outback, where conditions are much more dangerous than they were on the desert island in the original Survivor. The contestants are then divided evenly into two groups and put into separate tribes: the Kucha tribe and the Ogakor tribe. During each episode, the tribes participate in two challenges, which can test your physical strength as well as their mental strength. The first challenge is the reward challenge, in which the tribe that wins is given a luxury that the members didn’t have before. But the all-important challenge is the immunity challenge.

Each week, a member of one of the tribes is voted off the Outback by his/her peers in the tribe. The tribe that gets to vote is determined via the immunity challenge that takes place during the episode. The tribe that loses the challenge has to go to a tribal council at the end of the episode and vote off one of their own. Eventually, enough people will be voted off that the two tribes will combine into one. And then, from that tribe, the last contestant not voted off will win one million dollars.

The original members of Kucha are: Alicia, a 32 year-old from New York City; Debb, 45, from New Hampshire; Elisabeth, 23, from Boston; Jeff, 34, from New York City; Kimmi, 28, from Long Island; Michael, 38, from Michigan; Nick, 23, from Washington; and Rodger, 53, from Kentucky. Among the original Ogakor tribe are: Amber, 22, from Pennsylvania; Colby, 26, from Dallas; Jerri, 30, from Los Angeles; Keith, 40, from Michigan; Kel, 32, from Texas; Maralyn, 51, from Virginia; Mitchell, 23, from New Jersey; and Tina, 40, from Tennessee.

One of the things that has been criticized about Survivor: TAO is that the cast is generally a younger and more physically attractive group than on the original Survivor. This is true, despite the fact that there were some hotties on the original series (such as Jenna). But while they may be aesthetically pleasing, they’re also an interesting bunch of people. Just like in the first Survivor, the producers of Survivor: TAO have chosen people that, while not always nice to each other, are fun to watch. There is plenty of lying and backstabbing going on in the Outback, and that’s part of what makes Survivor: TAO so addicting.

Also, the reason I used "original" in naming the members of each tribe is that, starting with the very first episode, members of both tribes have been voted off the Outback. In the first episode, Debb from Kucha was booted. The next two episodes saw members of Ogakor shown the door: Kel in the second week and Maralyn in last week’s episode.

Why were these members voted off, you ask? There are a couple of reasons. First of all, the three words surrounding the Survivor logo are: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. And the other members of the Kucha and Ogakor tribes, respectively, didn’t think they could cut it, be it physically or mentally. In the third episode, Maralyn fell during the immunity challenge, and that caused Ogakor to lose the challenge. Many members of Ogakor were pretty upset at her for that, and, although Maralyn had seemingly won a lot of friends in the tribe, she was still voted out. Friendship has no place on Survivor: TAO. People play to win, not to be nice to each other.

Another reason contestants get voted off is that they don’t get along with other members in their tribe. By the middle of the first episode, members of Kucha were already speaking unfavorably of Debb. Debb wanted to do everything the way she had read about it in a camping manual, and that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. "Debb’s not even a bad person," said Kimmi during the episode. "She means well. She’s just not someone that in the outside world I’d talk to, because she’d make me crazy." After Kucha lost the immunity challenge, Debb started telling everybody that Jeff wants off. Jeff actually wanted no such thing. That sealed Debb’s fate.

During the show, contestants regularly talk to the camera about their opinions of other people in their tribe. Some of it is good (almost everybody has nice things to say about the Bible-carrying Rodger), but a lot of it is negative commentary on other tribe members. For example, Kimmi is a loud talker, and that gets on the nerves of a lot of people, especially Jeff. "Kimmi cannot say a single thing without shouting it," he said at one point. "I just want to grab her by the neck and shake the s--- out of her." There’s also a good amount of tension between Keith, who is a chef for a living, and Jerri, who isn’t a chef but who seemingly cooks better than Keith. A lot of Survivor: TAO is like a soap opera. And it’s fun to watch.

I didn’t think I was going to get as hooked on Survivor: TAO as I was on the original Survivor, but it looks like I was mistaken. The show is interesting from start to finish. There is so much deceit and treachery going on, it’s almost impossible not to enjoy it. And don’t forget the all-important tribal council, where there’s so much suspense about who is going to be voted off again this week. If you think it’s too late to get involved in the series, it’s not. Only three people have been voted off, and I already told you who they are. Go on, watch the show. You won’t be disappointed. Survivor: TAO is as enjoyable and addicting as the original. The tribe has spoken. Survivor: TAO airs Thursdays at 8 PM on CBS, which is Channel 2 here at Marist.