Checking Out the Survivor Gabon Castaways: Part 2

Carrying on with what I started yesterday, I continue to explore the castaways we'll be seeing this Thursday when Survivor Gabon premieres. When you compare and contrast the casting between Big Brother and Survivor, you generally find folks with more stable careers on Survivor. I think that might have something to do with the time away from the job needed. Survivor is just over a month while BB is around three months. Oh sure, you still get the bartenders and the Hollywood wannabes represented on Survivor; that's the nature of the reality TV beast. Part 1 of my look at the Survivor Gabon cast can be found right here.


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Randy Bailey, age 49, Eagle Rock, Missouri
I don't know. I think I'm getting sappy as I age. He's 49, thus I want him to do well. Yeah, I know that's not a great reason, but there you go. He does seem capable enough on the mental level. But on a physical level for challenges, I'm not so sure. He's a wedding videographer, not generally an all too physically demanding job. In a bio segment elsewhere, he describes himself as a bully and a train wreck. Uh-oh. I'm not liking him so much now. But he does do marathons and such. He might have what it takes to make it to the end if he doesn't brush too many folks the wrong way.


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Paloma Soto-Castillo, age 24, Downey, California
Close your eyes as she talks and notice the Keesha-esque quality to her voice! Like, wow, like she should be blond. But this girl seems to have much loftier goals than Hooters. If she wins, she wants to build a school in Kenya for students with whom she previously worked. Yes, she works part-time as a waitress, but she is still a full-time college student with a B.A. already in pocket. She has experience living in Africa and I think she'll do very well in that aspect. If she can be cut-throat enough and think ahead, I think she could be a strong player.


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Michelle Chase, age 24, Los Angeles, California
Ohhh ... I like her and I don't. What I don't like is that she's very smug and arrogant. But that can play well in the game. She seems to have adopted the strategy of Dan the Man in BB -- she's very strong and plans to come off as weak as long as she can to stay in the game. She's spunky, has lots of personal survival skills, has been on her own since the age of 16, married and divorced by 19. Plus, she boxes and is into triathlons. She's going to be one to watch, methinks.


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Matty Whitmore, age 29, Pacific Palisades, California
Okay, I'm glad he's so proud of being self-sufficient and on his own at the age of 29. I guess it's a generational thing, but I was proud of the same things at the age of 17. Well, no dog, but I had a cat! It will be interesting to see if there is a showmance or a snake in his days in Africa. Heh. I'm tossing around with whether he'll do well or not. For some reason, I'm thinking not. But I can't tell you why. Maybe it's the young male physically fit bit. I'm thinking he might be an early target. I could be wrong, though.


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Marcus Lehman, age 28, Atlanta, Georgia
Is there a doctor in the tribe? Medic! Medic! Yep, we have an actual doctor in the cast and not too bad on the eyes either. In 2006, he was named Georgia's Hottest Bachelor by Cosmopolitan magazine. He went to Harvard. I liked him in his interview. I think I'm gah-gah goo-goo over this one. How well will he do? Well, he has both the mind and the physique to go far. I only worry about that target thing. I wouldn't mind watching him for most or all of the season. Yeah, I'm being shallow.


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Kelly Czarnecki, age 22, Buffalo Grove, Illinois
We're talking a self-proclaimed "denim expert" who, unless I'm hearing wrong, likes to "snooze" her customers to make them buy more. Um, that would be "schmooze." While I think she's probably got some good things going for her, I'm not all that sure she'll do too well. For some reason, I can see her coming on with MY doctor.

Stay tuned for part three. What can I say? It's a big cast.

Big Brother 10 Gag Reel

Thanks go out to commenter BJ for the link to this gag reel played at the BB10 wrap party!

Checking Out the Survivor Gabon Castaways: Part 1

Okay, now that we have Big Brother out of the way, it's time to think about Survivor! I'm going to give my own first glance opinion of the castaways based on what CBS is telling us about them right now along with a few other sources. Definitely jump in with your thoughts! Survivors ready?


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Jessica "Sugar" Kiper, age 29, Brooklyn, NY
Well, I'm not so sure about the crying. This isn't BB after all -- no Wahmbers welcome on Survivor! She's a pin-up model/actress/waitress currently living in Brooklyn, but has lived in both the South and the West, too. I just don't know. She seems a bit not cut out for living in the jungles of Africa for me. I do like her thoughts about using the show as a weight loss plan -- that's something with which I can identify!



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Ace Gordon, age 27, Naples, FL
He seems quite the character. The English accent comes from being raised in London although he was born in New York. He does definitely come across as arrogant. It's interesting that he mentions he might be portrayed as "evil" when this season is going to be a battle between good and evil, doesn't it? I have a strong feeling that I won't like him as a person, but he stands a chance to do very well in the game if he doesn't offend others too much.



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Corinne Kaplan, age 29, Los Angeles, CA
Okay, she's from New York, not California and she's yet another pharmaceutical sales rep. Why are so many of them on reality television shows? Don't they have to work for a living? But, besides that ... I like her views on showmances. However, something tells me we may see her in one if for no other reason than to get closer to the prize. After all, she seems in it to win it. She might be a strong competitor. I'm getting better surviving vibes from her than I did from Sugar.



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Ken Hoang, age 22, Westminster, CA
While I think he's young and a bit cocky, I think I'm going to like this kid. He's a professional gamer who will hopefully do a lot better than the last professional poker player. He seems intelligent and he is looking at the show as a game. He's probably going to try to think moves ahead and he just better be good at the puzzles, too! He also seems to be physically fit. Of the ones I've looked at so far, he's my favorite. Mind you, I have over a dozen more to look at.



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Susie Smith, age 47, Charles City, Iowa
You know, she might end up being my sentimental favorite. How well she'll do in the game, I don't know. I get the feeling that she might have to rely on others too much and could be weak in challenges. But then again, she grew up working as a crop field worker as a child with her Miexican immigrant parents. She's been through some rather tough things. I'm not all that positive she's going to see too many horses in Aftica, though. I predict no further than mid-season but I hope I'm wrong.



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Robert "Bob" Crowley, age 58, Portland, Maine
Oh my, he looks like Richard Belzer's older brother. You know, John Munch on L&O:SVU and Homicide: Life on the Streets. The shame of it is that I believe they're probably around the same age. A physics teacher, eh? My Survivor-sense is telling me he might be a competitor. But I think that he thinks the others will underestimate him. I think they're going to realize he's a threat. I'd say past mid-game for him.

Stay tuned for the next bunch!

Talking Bonnie Hunt

If I were in charge of programming and I had to come up with the absolutely perfect laidback talk show for folks to just sit back and enjoy the rapport ... I'd have an hour a day with Bonnie Hunt and David Letterman just chatting. But I'm not in charge of programming and I can't do that. Oh well, I now have the next best thing. I have my Dave (not really "my" Dave, but you know what I mean) and now I have Bonnie Hunt on her own show every weekday.

I've adored Bonnie's sense of humor, quick wit, and just a spiffy neat-o kind of personality on talk shows for years. I enjoyed her rather short-lived sitcoms, too. But I think Bonnie's real strength lies in her personality and that's not always easily conveyed in scripted shows. Now, I have my chance! Yay, I say.

If you're old enough to remember, and alas ... I am, the old Dean Martin show, she's built an homage to that set for her show. Yes, she has the pictures on the walls, the pole (not for pole dancing! I don't think so, anyway), and the door through which guests arrive. She doesn't have the martinis, the cigarettes, or Dean. Of course, if she had Dean, we'd be talking a totally different kind of show here. That would just be rather eerie, don't you think? But everybody loves somebody sometime, just not from the grave.

Teaming up with her long-time business writing and comedy partner Don Lake (Second City comedy troupe), Bonnie makes her new show a delightful and entertaining respite amongst the afternoon judge shows. Hey, I'm not knocking the judge shows per se, but the plethora of new ones this season is judicial overload! Instead, I'd rather watch Bonnie chat with her staff, the audience, her guests, and the occasional kid or two. Her guest list isn't quite the norm -- she gives two young guys, one of whom gave his kidney to save the other, as much time as the "name" guest star of the day. She talks about tidbits from her own life and makes me chuckle.

Now, I need a chuckle or two each day in my life. I've got my Bonnie and I hope the show sticks around for a long time to come. You can check out bits and pieces of the show at her website.

I'm going to leave this off with a YouTube video of Bonnie Hunt when she was one of the last guests on Tom Snyder's show. He was another person I admired in the talk show circuit and in this clip, he thinks she would be perfect for a talk show. Hey Tom, you're right!

Dan and Memphis on The Early Show Video

And here it is ...


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Jerry's interview with Gretchen is here -- they've disabled embedding. Ah, the kindness from Dan was saying goodnight every night.

Memphis interview.

Keesha interview.

April interview.

Libra interview.

Renny interview.

Michelle interview.

Steven interview.