Survivor Samoa Spoiler And Speculation

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The comerical Survivor Samoa

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Kelly survivorfever

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Second comerical, slightly differant

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survivorphoenix


The yellow Tribe " FoaFoa" - the trumpet shell
The Purple Tribe "Galu" - to be rough, to break heavily on the reef

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Foa Foa tribe survivorphoenix

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Galu tribe survivorphoenix

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Jeff Probst interview

August 26, 2009 - The 19th installment of reality heavyweight Survivor is coming, with the September 16th debut of Survivor: Samoa. I recently had the chance to chat with the Emmy-winning host of that series, Jeff Probst, about this coming season, along with a look back at some other recent Survivor editions.

Next spring will see the show celebrate its 10th anniversary and its 20th season, and thanks to the magic of public court records, we know an attempt was made to bring original winner Richard Hatch back for what is widely assumed to be some sort of All-Stars season. While everyone involved in Survivor is being tightlipped on the exact plans for Season 20, I also try to get Probst to give me some hints as to what fans might expect.




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IGN TV: What can you say about Survivor: Samoa?

Jeff Probst: A very aggressive season from the participants and from Samoa. We lost a couple of people to evacuations and we emerged with, I think, one of the most notorious villains. When you think about how many years we've been on, to break into that ranking… you gotta play. And this person said from day one, "I'm coming here to tear it up and either go home early or I'm gonna be here late, but nowhere in between." And they lived up to their word!

IGN: It's always funny seeing who is designated a hero or villain, since to do well in the game, you almost always have to manipulate to some extent. Yau-Man for instance was a manipulator of sorts, but we all loved him. Does it have a lot to do with what persona you put behind that manipulation?

Probst: Yeah. I think it's a really tough challenge. How do you play a game in which you have to vote people out, which is really annoying to that person, and then get them to give you a million dollars? How do you do that? And it's tough for a villain to do that, because people get pissed off, and the game doesn't have enough space between the time you're voted out and when you vote [for the winner]. It happens very quickly, so you're still mad. I think if we voted six months later, we'd have different results. I think people would watch the show and go, "You know what? He was kind of a chump, but man did he play me and I respect him." What happens often in the show is you vote for the person who you hate the least.

IGN: What did you think about this past season? I think most of us thought JT would win, but did you see his sweep coming?

Probst: No. Although I knew he was going to win when Stephen set him up when [Stephen's] question was, "Would you have taken JT to the end?" and he said no. And JT did one of the greatest acting performances, acting hurt. Later he told me, "I knew he wasn't going to take me. That didn't affect me. He'd be crazy to take me. I made the jury feel like it was a betrayal of epic proportions."

IGN: You have a situation like JT and Stephen where they are still great friends, and left all of that in the game. But then you have someone like Lex who felt so personally betrayed by Rob and basically wouldn't talk to him afterwards because of something that happened in the game. Is it funny for you to see how differently people react?

Probst: Most people keep the game the game. I think Lex is more the exception to the rule. Lex got played and if he read that he would get annoyed with me again. He got played! That's it. And enough time has gone by where you have to say, "I fell for it. F**k, I'm pissed! I wish I hadn't, but I did." Because I usually say to people out there that the truth of what tends to happen is that you think you've made a friendship out here and you don't want to hurt their feelings. Meanwhile, they're going to stab you in the back.

When it's all said and done, pretty much everybody gets along. So stab when you need to stab. Pull the knife out and stab them! That's the game. And everybody gets over it. They go to these fundraisers, have a couple of beers and they go, "F**k, I still like you." People have lost out at having a shot at the million dollars because they say things like, "I can't do it! He's my friend!"

He's not your friend! What are you, nuts?

IGN: When you have a guy like Coach, you must know that whatever you personally feel like him…

Probst: …Gold!

IGN: [Laughs] Gold, yeah.

Probst: Absolute gold. And I knew… In the casting room, you knew Coach was gold. All you hope is that he lasts long enough to give you dividends on that. All those guys… Tyson. All the memorable people are memorable because they're compelling. They're the person that will say something at tribal council.

There's always a couple of people where at the first tribal council, I'll ask them a question and they'll say, "Gee, I don't know, Jeff" – which is kind of telling me, "I'm not going to say anything." To which I usually reply, "'I don't know' ain't gonna cut it. Listen, if you want to lie to me, go ahead. But 'I don't know' won't work." And then the other thing you do is say, "Fine, I won't ask you anything. I don't know why you signed up on a TV show if you don't want to talk." And man, that gets them raising their hands.

A guy like Coach, he knows, "If I give you something, you'll come to me. The more you come to me, the more I'm on the show." One hand feeds the other.

IGN: There are some strong rumors, to say the least, about next spring's installment – including Richard Hatch and his non-involvement. Can you comment on that at all?

Probst: Well, Hatch would be great to have. I mean, if Survivor is a car, he's our hood ornament. But if you're a judge, are you going to let a guy who owes the country half a million dollars flee the country to go be on a game show… and maybe never come back? I think it's a long shot for him. But in terms of something on our 10th anniversary, we gotta do something different. It's our 20th season! And there's a lot of ideas floating out there, but we settled on one and we're very happy with it. We're excited to get on it.



- CBSIGN: I was a big fan of Survivor: Micronesia. It seemed at the beginning that it was going to just be so lopsided, with the favorites so much better than the fans. Were you happy with how that played out, especially with those amazing blindsides, one after the other?

Probst: I love that season. And I gotta say, Parvati… She earned it! Parvati engineered an amazing game. And kind of like Amber, it's a little easy to dismiss the really hot girl as getting lucky. But she played a good game. I was impressed. And yeah, from a storytelling point of view, having all those blindsides, and the fake idol… "This isn't an idol, it's a stick!"

IGN: I love how candid you are in your blogs, but as a longtime fan, I have to ask – why are you so tough on Survivor: Fiji? Personally, I feel like that season started bad, but then the second half, with Dreamz and Yau-Man, really got fun.

Probst: You know, it's really just a personal preference. I didn't like Fiji. I didn't like where we were. I didn't like the way it played. I remember when Dreamz made the decision to keep the car, I thought, man… I wanted to get in his ear and say, "You're making the most short sighted move of your life." And my feeling was, "I really don't like this season." Earl's a nice guy, but not a great winner. He's not a memorable winner. Yau-Man is incredible… I didn't really like Survivor: Thailand either. I thought Brian was probably our worst winner, just because he was really kind of slimy.

IGN: I'm with you on that one.

Probst: And then I used to say I didn't like [Survivor] Africa - the first Africa season, in Kenya. And then I meet people who are like, "Are you kidding?! That's one of my favorite seasons! Big Tom and Ethan!" It's personal… But I still don't like Fiji!

IGN: So, how would you rank Samoa?

Probst: Well, here's the thing. After [Survivor:] Gabon and [Survivor] Tocantins, I thought Tocantins would be one of our most favorite and Gabon would be an also-ran. It turned out the audience really liked Gabon and I think they thought Tocantins was okay. So I might be done predicting! Because I'm not right very often! I can say about Samoa that there are some extremely memorable moments. I can think of four right off the top of my head where when it's over, you'll go, "Yep, yep, yep, yep!" And one of our most compelling characters, out of 300 some people that have played. So that's what I would say.

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From CBS Cast Announcement Press Release

From the start of the game, Survivor embraces this Samoan culture by incorporating an ancient tradition of electing an individual leader of the village. Without speaking, both tribes must immediately choose one member of their group to become their sole decision maker, their chief. How important will the role of tribal chief be in determining the fate of each tribe?

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Mike Borassi was a contestant in Brazil, but he was removed from the game for medical reasons and replaced by Spencer Duhm the day before the game started.

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Originally Posted by pawpaw

From CBS Cast Announcement Press Release

From the start of the game, Survivor embraces this Samoan culture by incorporating an ancient tradition of electing an individual leader of the village. Without speaking, both tribes must immediately choose one member of their group to become their sole decision maker, their chief. How important will the role of tribal chief be in determining the fate of each tribe?

Looks like Russell has a necklace on--Galu chief?