Somehow We Survived Survivor 2

May 4, 2001 5:53 AM

Somehow We Survived Survivor 2 "Sunshine" Tina wins, for those who care and for those who don't. Poor Bryant Gumbel... I can't believe he got conned into hosting last night's "special." And we'll never understand why Colby didn't pick Keith to go up against in the final vote, which would've all but guaranteed his own win of the $1 million grand prize. And now, back to your regularly scheduled summer reruns...
posted by yarf (30 comments total)

Some countries haven't yet viewed the ending. Thanks for ruining it for me, buddy.

/me takes yarf off his christmas card list
posted by holloway at 6:02 AM on May 4, 2001

Yeah, thanks a million.
posted by lucien at 6:07 AM on May 4, 2001

I don't know for certain why Colby picked Tina, but I've got a couple of guesses that I'm really quite suprised no one else seems to have thought of.

1) Colby and Tina spent 42 freakin' days dying slowly and became really good friends, and he's just as happy to see her win as he himself.

2) Colby thought Tina played a damn good game and felt she deserved to win.

3) Colby thought Tina played a damn good game and wanted external validation that he played a better game.

The three options aren't mutually exclusive, either.

I really am truly suprised that no one could see them as real people who developed a relationship and could actually be happy for each other. A million bucks is a lot of money, and would make a heck of a lot easier, but a good friend? There's no comparison.
posted by cCranium at 6:46 AM on May 4, 2001

Meanwhile, in France, they're going coucou over "Loft Story," a big-brother-type show. Already somebody's had steamy sex in the bathroom, somebody else left of his own will after five days, and you can see people's naked bodies in the shower on the web site feed.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:10 AM on May 4, 2001

You know, its funny. Every single Survivor hater always says that it's crap because it's all about greed and deception. Then the person who could have easily won the game, gives it away. An act of charity!

Sometimes the cynicism on this site nauseates me.
posted by jasonepowell at 7:45 AM on May 4, 2001

Every single Survivor hater always says that it's crap because it's all about greed and deception.

Naaah, I just think its an inane waste of time.
posted by hijinx at 7:47 AM on May 4, 2001

The battle between Kelley and Richard Hatch last year was greed versus caring. Kelly cared about people; Richard argued he was a better competitor. Richard won.

This year it was the battle of Humble Pie. It was who didn't want it most. It was who had more charity to the other, and who would spend the million on something useful.

My speculation is that this year's winner, unlike the last, new that they were going to be a national star. Therefore Colby would not pick Kieth because he knew that he would be cast as a politico and a scheemer. So he picked Tina and rolled the dice. If he won, he would have had the money and been a hero.
posted by brucec at 7:51 AM on May 4, 2001

Proud to say I only watched one episode of survivor, and only because the woman I was dating at the time wanted to (and I wanted to sleep with her). And then we broke up anyway.

Survivor III is supposed to be in Africa. I hope it gets really controversial: these decadent white people playing pseudo-survival games, with all the Mayhem going on around them. Maybe AIDS play a part in III? Sorry.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:03 AM on May 4, 2001

I noticed last night, as the episode began airing on the west coast (7PM), the front page of CNN.com announced the winner in a large red block. Nice.
posted by pnevares at 8:08 AM on May 4, 2001

Yeah. Watchin' Survivor gets you the women.
posted by sonofsamiam at 8:15 AM on May 4, 2001

Or as my conspiracy theory goes, Tina and Colby agreed to split the million regardless of who won...
posted by fusinski at 8:15 AM on May 4, 2001

But why couldn't we have had Tennessee beat Texas in that other vote rather than the Survivor2 vote?
posted by andrewraff at 8:16 AM on May 4, 2001

The mish-mash of all these survivor type shows just confuses me (channel surfer waiting for the Daily Show or Simpsons to start). The snippets I've seen look no different than the parody commercials in Robocop and the press these shows get is just surreal. I like to think mass-hypnotization has been perfected and that I don't want long enough to get hooked.
posted by skallas at 8:17 AM on May 4, 2001

Does anyone know the French show Fort Boyard? I think it was the original game-type reality show. Takes place in a Napoleonic prision off the coast of France. Originally, back in the early 1990's, it was kind of fun.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:43 AM on May 4, 2001

fusinski -- they're not allowed to share the money w/ other contestants.
posted by palegirl at 8:51 AM on May 4, 2001

Like that would stop anyone? There are ways of getting around these "rules".
posted by fusinski at 8:56 AM on May 4, 2001

Say what you will about Survivor, but it makes for really entertaining TV. I am constantly amazed how Mark Burnett and his team of video wizards are capable of manipulating reality into an unpredictable, suspenseful game show drama.

Adam Sternberg, co-founder of fametracker.com, has some interesting thoughts about what makes Survivor (and other reality shows) so compelling in Act 2 of the April 13, 2001 episode of This American Life (RealAudio, one hour).
posted by waxpancake at 9:06 AM on May 4, 2001

Yeah, that Sternberg piece was excellent. It was in a show devoted entirely to what makes people cringe. Excellent.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:12 AM on May 4, 2001

And now, back to your regularly scheduled summer reruns...

Sorry looks like we are not out of the water yet! Plus, I'm sure we will get to see the Survivors guest star on every show on CBS in the upcoming episodes. (Hopefully it will wait until next season) One thing I wouldn't mind seeing is a little more of the chicks, ala what Kimmi did (warning: Link MAY be considered nudity) for a radio show here in New York. Mmmm..."Mad Dog" Maralyn in that....yummy! *smirk*

Personally, I may be addicted to these damn reality shows (Yes I am a mere Sheep) but I am sick of the politics that are involved in the voting. What they need to do is get a less subjective way of eliminating contestants. I liked the way that The Mole did it, with a test and the one with the lowest score was booted. I can't even tell you how much more I enjoyed that show than either Survivor or any of its clones. I highly recommend it next time around.
posted by stew560 at 9:17 AM on May 4, 2001

Fusinskis right. Ive never seen the show. is it good? dont waiver Mr. F, there are ways around sharing the loot. Kuddos to whom ever ruined the plot. DONT WE HAVE ENOUGH CIRCUS. peanut?
posted by clavdivs at 9:35 AM on May 4, 2001

Does anyone know the French show Fort Boyard?

Yeah. I watched it when I was in Russia (in Russian (which I sorta speak) dubbed over French (which I don't speak at all). It was great because it not only made no sense but also had tigers and midgets for no apparent reason.

ok, This is an explanation of the show in English, albeit concerning the British version. a page in French (from Canada) if that's your bag, baby.
posted by andrewraff at 10:13 AM on May 4, 2001

With regards to Colby: My roommate was yelling at the TV watching this, declaring Colby the stupidest MF ever. I think what he did was honorable and classy and it kinda sucks that he lost, even though I was pulling for Tina since week 4 or so. He voted out Keith because Keith was the weakest participant left out of the three and I think in doing so he played it right. And you can see by the reaction he had when Tina won that he was more psyched for his friend than disappointed about losing. Plus, he walked away with 100 grand anyway, although I hear he might owe that to the Aussies for removing their coral.
posted by whoshotwho at 10:23 AM on May 4, 2001

The Daily Show ran a "spoiler" back when the show first started that Tina was the winner. They were completely pulling it out of their ass, but they turned out to be right. Another Peabody award for those guys...
posted by kindall at 10:25 AM on May 4, 2001

My theory:
Colby disliked Keith enough that he would rather take 2nd place than give him a single shot (no matter how small) at the million. Plus, he probably felt close enough to Tina that he could accept her winning the game over him.
posted by Dirjy at 10:35 AM on May 4, 2001

fametracker has produced a fantastic survivor galexy of fame. don't miss it.
posted by palegirl at 11:00 AM on May 4, 2001

Dirjy's got it 100% spot on. I think Colby even said as much last night on the live show. He would have won a million, but Keith would have gotten one hundred thousand. I understand his reasoning completely, but he threw away a sure win by selecting to go up against Tina.
posted by skitchen at 11:22 AM on May 4, 2001

Given the way Colby came out of this looking, I'd say he stands to earn well over a million dollars from the publicity. He deserves it.
posted by anapestic at 12:39 PM on May 4, 2001

Dirjy's got it 100% spot on. I think Colby even said as much last night on the live show. He would have won a million, but Keith would have gotten one hundred thousand. I understand his reasoning completely, but he threw away a sure win by selecting to go up against Tina.

It's just another nail in the coffin of economic determinism, or the idea that economic factors control our decisions.

Human beings aren't always rational actors. Colby threw away a great chance of winning a million bucks, but balancing out the million bucks were the other factors: he'd have to spend a night and a day with Keith, he'd be guaranteeing that Keith would get at least $100,000, he liked Tina much more than Keith, he wanted to appear heroic, and so on.
posted by Tin Man at 12:52 PM on May 4, 2001

Yup, I think it's clear that the second crew knew that they would have more opportunities to earn money than just the reward. Colby could afford to be generous. I have to say I was shocked that he stuck with Tina: I'd been conned by the editing to believe that Tina and Keith were a closer pair, but they really were just playing him the whole time. In that sense, the two of them together acted strategically -- though not as obviously as it would have been had either of them screwed the other. It might have been different had Colby not won all those immunities, though!

I have no idea, with the internet and all, how any network would believe that they could do anything but run this show simultaneously in all markets, and the ending live. That's just nuts. On the other hand, I have no problem with bad stuff happening to California. :-S

Last night was astonishing for how different both of them looked six months later. Colby had filled out to a younger version of William Petersen (Gil Grissom on CSI), and Tina had ... well, let's guess some botox treatments around the eyes. (You wouldn't believe how badly she got savaged for her looks in some of the fan venues, people routinely guessing she's 15 years older than she is.)

And Bryant? I think Bryant is doing penance for murder in a past life or something. I liked the "Fun with Real Audio" segment on SNL that had him chatting away with Survivor contestants as he repeatedly committed suicide.
posted by dhartung at 12:58 PM on May 4, 2001

Bryant Gumbel is truly insufferable, but, I have to admit, I loved the moment at the end of the reunion show when he said something (I'm paraphrasing) like, "The fact that these 16 people came out of this with their dignity intact is truly amazing."

Um - good point, Bryant.
posted by varmint at 2:20 PM on May 4, 2001