something tells me they'll get the lamest, most steretypical minorities they can find..

Racial teams on 'Survivor' may cross more than the color line
Updated 8/23/2006 10:05 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this




Front row from left: Adam Gentry, Jessica Smith, Parvati Shallow, Candice Woodcock, Jonathan Penner, Brad Virata, Becky Lee, Anh-Tuan Bui, Jenny Guzon-Bae and Yul Kwon. Back: Cecilia Mansilla, Oscar Lusth, Cristina Coria, J.P. Calderon, Billy Garcia, Rebecca Borman, Nathan Gonzalez, Sundra Oakley, Sekou Bunch and Stephannie Favor.




By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY
Outwit. Outlast. Outplay.
Outrageous?

CBS announced Wednesday that Survivor: Cook Islands (Sept. 14, 8 ET/PT) will start off with a controversial bang: 20 contestants will be divided into teams by race, pitting whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians against each other.

Immediate reaction ranged from shock to humor.

"We have more than enough polarization in the country right now," says Jacques DeGraff, former board member of economic empowerment group 100 Black Men and reverend at Canaan Baptist Church in New York. "To promote this even as a game or sport is to encourage a dark side in our American psyche. ... At some point, somebody's got to say, 'That's not really a good idea. That's not how we want to make money.' "

At gossip site defamer.com, comments posted about the story imagined the worst stereotypes that could emerge and suggested that the door would be open to other offensive combinations such as Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice teams, or religious groups against each other.

Similar ideas have been rejected in the past: ABC's Welcome to the Neighborhood, in which white families would pick their neighbors, was pulled before it aired. And Donald Trump considered racial teams last year for The Apprentice but told The Boston Globe, "Needless to say, not everybody thinks it's a good idea."

Harry Smith, introducing a segment announcing the game on CBS' Early Show Wednesday, said there were "groans" from staffers. "I was stunned and, quite frankly, dismayed," he said on air. But it could help boost ratings. After years of viewership hovering around 20 million, last fall's edition dipped to 18.3 million; spring's Panama: Exile Island dropped to 16.8 million, still enviable for any show.

Mark Burnett said Wednesday that the idea was in response to criticism Survivor has not been ethnically diverse enough. "No one knows anything (about the show), so this is all simply an assumption."

He says: "Maybe it's showing it's OK to have social time in your ethnic group — it doesn't mean you have to hate everyone else. There's good, bad, mean and conniving in every race. It's a valid experiment."

But to what end, asks Jen Chau, co-founder of New Demographic, an anti-racism training company.

"If the producers are splitting the contestants up by race, it's clear they want to show racial tensions, and they want the usual competitive trash-talking to devolve into racial slurs," she says. "I don't buy that they are merely trying to do the right thing by presenting a more diverse cast. Would any thinking person with truly good intentions think that pitting racial groups against one another is a good way to bring diversity?"

Posted 8/23/2006 2:24 PM ET




This time the new Survivors are stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. The castaways include a police officer (BLACK) , a heavy metal guitarist (WHITE) , an attorney (JEWISH) and a nail salon manager (ASIAN). The new season of Survivor debuts September 14th.
[Edited 8/23/06 18:10pm]
[Edited 8/23/06 18:12pm]
[Edited 8/23/06 19:31pm]

what about the mixed people? do we get our own tribe as well?

I've never watched Survivor.

There's no way Im watching it now.

Drama

JasmineFire said:

you can move to which ever tribe you feel comfortable with at the moment, like Tiger Woods

JasmineFire said:

Guess not.

I place $100 bucks on the African American team.



Not british blacks, or French blacks mind you--just the African americans.




Oh, if they have Russians, I might place bets on them--not other Euro whites or American Whites though. Just the Russians.



Hey people--I play to win!

Fury said:

perfect! imagine all the alliances that could be made!

Imago said:

maybe towards the end the black team and the russian team will combine! so exciting!

JasmineFire said:

Just imagine! Pound-per-Pound russian strength with long black penises!

Imago said:

i'm so watching this now!

Imago said:

I was gonna say something but now I forgot

So their answer to having a more ethnically diverse programme is to separate the teams into races?

how ridiculous.

ThreadCula said:

ThreadCula said:

just start dreaming about the sexy black russian team...

Bizarre. Shameful... especially in this day and age.

I think I wanna be on the Latino team. That sounds like it would be fun.

LleeLlee said:

Weird bizarro logic.

JasmineFire said:

about 9 months from now, there's gonna be about 15 mixed-race babies being born

JasmineFire said:

There's no fucking way.

Latin guys are like we Asians--We aint' geting into a raft and doing any physical effort, unless it's paddling to America

Imago said:

but imagine the after event parties! it would be so much fun!

now that's some dumb fucking shit....

bet you $10 the white folks get all oceanfront land

Fury said:

That ain't right!

hmmm, this will start arguments in the end when one of the groups win.

Is this even legal?

Fury said:

I bet you $20 that half way through the show, the white team gets sick of their ocean front land and starts to gentrify the land of the other teams, forcing them deeper into the jungle.
[Edited 8/23/06 18:28pm]

Fury said:

JasmineFire said:

i hope nobody on the white team forgets that it's just a game and start killing off the minorities in the name of manifest destiny :cough: christophercolumbus&pilgrims: cough: (

coolcat said:

Theyre trying to justify it by calling it a social experiment.

dumb as hell.

Glad i wont be seeing it