An entertainment story about the TV show "Survivor: Philippines" is titled "Lisa Whelchel ‘hit rock bottom’ on ‘Survivor,’ brother reportedly says".

I have watched only one season of that show, and that was a long time ago. So, I haven't kept up with it. Thus, I have a question.

Is "Survivor" now the last resort of washed-up has-been TV stars?

When "Survivor" debuted, it featured contestants who were ordinary Americans, not celebrities.

So,what happened? Why is the show now featuring people whose 15 minutes of fame were up more than two decades ago?

Never watched it never will and thought it was off the air years ago.

It was a bogus show before. It is a bogus show now. I tried to watch it but the "contests" were more of a cult of personality thing rather than people facing real world survival situations.

Personally I would like to throw the producers on an Island I know of with one bottle of water and a knife along them all and tell them "good luck azzholes!"

Real survival is about team work. Not who is the best at manipulating others.

In a REAL survival situation I would not put up with smartazzes or manipulators at all. Guess who get's "Point" on scouting missions. I don't really need a knife per say as long as I can get myself a nice decent sized pointy stick. A long pointy stick actually gives you half a chance facing lions and other predators. If oour forefathers could face bears with a spear so can I (BUT ONLY IF I REALLY HAD TO. I AM NOT STUPID ENOUGH TO TEST MY LUCK WITH A BEAR!!!)

Most of the contestants on these shows don't have a clue what to do in a bad situation. At least I know the rule of three, 1) Water, 2) Food, 3) Shelter, in that order. It is the order of how long you can survive at all without each. Considering the best a human can survive without water is three days drinkable water is number 1. You will die in 30 days (unless you are some real super fat azz!) without food and the real suffering comes in one week. By week two the debilitation sets in. By week three the body turns on itself. By week four you start to loose it completely and by this rate even getting food may not save you! Even then you will not have the strength to do squat. You can survive without shelter but frankly being in the cold or the sun sucks. EVERYTHING COMES after this!

I would love to see an episode of this done on Komodo Island. Why?


It is home to the worlds other recognized Poisonous Lizard Species, And yes these have been proven to pack a venom in their saliva, a pretty wicked blood clotting agent actually...



A Lizard you say? And why do I have to be scared of a lizard???



Well, here is a good reason to be scared of a 13 foot long poisonous lizard... they hunt deer, buffalo, and even people. Not even Salt Water Crocodiles really mess with these much considering their bite is poisonous. They run in sprints capable of outrunning most animals and they are persistent if anything. All they do is bite and follow until the prey drops and start eating!

And then there is Survivor Africa. Lets see how people unfamiliar with the terrain do when facing Hyenas, Lions, Leopards, CAPE BUFFALO (Second rank man killer only to the Hippopotamus!), Elephants, and African Wild Dogs. That does not count four flavors of poisonous snake, baboons, and the local diseases!

When these reality shows become more real they might be watchable!

Even that guy "Survivor man" is a clown who takes unnecessary chances and does everything the hard way!

I never liked survivor; they can take it off the air!

I'm a longtime fan of Survivor, and this season is one of the best in a long time. Yes they've been doing stunt casting for a while, but Lisa Whelchel is one of the few celebrities to actually play the game well. She moans a lot about going against her morals, but she's hardly the first to do that. Apparently she applied to get on just like everybody else.

Andy, Survivor Africa was the third season and they did have to deal with lions and elephants. But the point of the game isn't really the physical survival aspects. It's a social game and the camping out part is really just for atmosphere, IMO--also it gives them an excuse to have the people half-naked for the entire time (and occasionally fully naked, I wish they wouldn't blur those). I started watching it to learn some social skills, and it really does showcase those. You're right that real survival is about teamwork. But only one person can win the million dollars at the end. I like to watch to see how different people balance those two needs.

Survivor has done lots of different things over the years, trying to stay interesting. Some have worked and some haven't. This season, for example, three players were brought back who were medevacked out of their previous seasons. Jeff Kent (baseball player) and Lisa Whelchel really aren't the big story. In fact, most of the other contestants didn't know who either of them were. They did know who the returnees were, though, and all of them had big targets on their backs.

If she is going to complain about morals, then I'd like for her to explain the reason for her divorce from her husband just before she joined the "Survivor" cast.*




The lack of recognition must have stung.


[*Whelchel makes her religious beliefs a big issue. I want to know how divorce is compatible to her religious beliefs.]

when was it ever anything else?

Well, originally, the cast members of "Survivor" were people seeking their 15 minutes of fame. Whelchel had hers a long time ago. So, why is she on the show? Couldn't she get a spot on "Hollywood Squares"?

She says she really loves the show and wanted to play it. Also, if I remember correctly, she said she blew all the money she made from her career.

Dodo, are you saying a religious person should never get divorced? She resisted talking about it on the show, but apparently it was pretty traumatic for her. I'm not interested enough in celebrity lifestyles to bother investigating any further.

Jeff Kent seemed to be fine with not being recognized. While he was still in the game, he wanted it to be a secret because if people had known how rich he was, they would have had a good excuse to get rid of him. However, even at Loser Lodge he apparently didn't tell anybody (at least, not in any clip that I saw).

A lot of people do go on Survivor for their 15 minutes. A lot go on because they actually want the money. The smallest percentage seems to be those who want a survival experience, and those ones don't really do very well because they don't usually understand the "game" aspect (Ozzy being the prime example).

I did not say that. However, Whelchel should explain the justification for her divorce if she is going to complain about a lack of morals in others. Some people consider divorce to be immoral if it takes place for the wrong reason.