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“Bet on Black”

Survivor: Marquesas

Last November, I questioned whether it was coincidence or a sign of prejudice that blacks and members of other racial minorities had never fared well at Survivor. How things have changed. On the current Survivor: Marquesas, both African-American contestants have reached the final six.

Things were much different a season ago on Survivor: Africa, where, by random chance or collective subconscious calculation, both African-American contestants were voted out less than halfway through the game. It was the starkest example of what had become a worrisome trend: Until this season, no black (or other minority) male had survived past the final seven contestants; worse yet, no black woman had made it past the final nine.

The trend has been noted in occasional items in the media — on this site and, for example, on BET’s (Black Entertainment Television) Web site. In March, BET.com staff writer James Hill kicked off a discussion when he wrote:

“We don’t want to beat a dead horse, but it seems clear that black contestants on Survivor have little to no chance of winning. But why? Are we really as “lazy” and “confrontational” as some of the past contestants have been labeled? Or is there a bigger reason at hand? … Given that only two black folks can be on the show at once, a pattern seen in almost all reality programming, there is no chance for a black alliance. And since many of the past white contestants have worked off negative stereotypes, chances for black survival are slim. So are we just being paranoid or does Survivor begin to resemble the black man’s plight in America: stranded without trust or a reasonable amount of allies?”

All good questions lacking simple answers. But there’s little to worry about on the current Survivor. Thanks to their underdog alliance with Kathy, Paschal and Neleh, Survivor: Marquesas’ black contestants — Vecepia, 36, a former U.S. Air Force member who now works as an office manager in Haywood, Calif., and Sean, 30, a Harlem native who teachers junior high in South Central L.A. — are in the final six. At least one of the two should reach the final four, who will do battle in the season finale.

Furthermore, Sean has been a consistently central character this season. Up until now, many minority members have been peripheral players, with Palau Tiga’s Gervase (Season 1) and Australia’s Alicia (Season 2) the possible exceptions. But even they were never leading figures in their respective ensemble casts. Sean, however, has received huge amounts of screen time (certainly due at least in part to his frequent wry comments about the proceedings). Of the remaining contestants, we may know him best.

Sean has been aware of his role on the show — and its implications — from the beginning. “Sometimes the game isn’t necessarily fair,” he said in a confessional chat with the cameras in Episode 2, “because me and [Vecepia], we’re playing a whole other mental game that [the other contestants] don’t even know.

“When you’re a person of color and you’re the only one, you have to play. And that’s something they don’t even have to worry about. [They] can just be themselves. We have to just be ourselves, but then hold back a little bit.”

This may be the most self-aware any African-American contestant has gotten when it comes to race (or, at least, they’re the most strident comments that have made it through the editing process).

Sean’s racial consciousness has permeated the show at other times as well, sometimes humorously. Take, for example, Episode 8’s coconut challenge (only regarding Survivor would you hear the words “coconut” and “pivotal” in the same sentence). Every time a castaway correctly answered a survival-related question, he or she cut down another contestant’s coconuts; the last person with coconuts remaining won temporary immunity from being voted off the island.

Sean and Vecepia were the first two to be eliminated, leaving seven white people doing the coconut chop. Though they were targeted because they were not part of the dominant four-person clique, Sean took note. “There’s a conspiracy going on, y”all!” he announced. “Where’s Johnny Cochran? I want him on the phone right now!”

As it happened, the arrogance of the faction sparked a backlash, resulting in the dismissal of the group’s leader, John. This out-of-nowhere “coup” put Sean in the driver’s seat and spurred a friendship with a conservative Southern judge, 57-year-old Paschal English, who previously had said that Sean winning would be an ‘embarrassment” — a comment seemingly tinged with prejudice. (Two years ago English, of Georgia, was accused of being biased against rap music when he ruled to shut down a local dance club because it allowed teens to “booty dance.”)

After they won a reward challenge together, Sean and Paschal hugged and fell on top of each other in the sand; later, holding hands, they talked about coming together despite their starkly different ages and cultural backgrounds.

Fewer Black Viewers

Now that a black contestant has assumed a more prominent role, will black audiences take notice and tune in? The second season, Survivor: The Australian Outback, ranked first among whites and 17th among blacks (and was consistently No. 1 in total viewers each week), according to a TV viewing study that tracked programs in the last quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001.

However, while the third season, Survivor: Africa, placed in the top 20 shows watched by whites during the fourth quarter of 2001, it didn’t make the top 20 in black households. Was the relative lack of interest simply a reflection of the overall drop in the ratings last season? Or did it have to do with the early eviction of the only African-American contestants? 

Survivor is clearly more popular with white audiences. And much of that probably results from the “casting” of the show. Reality TV shows have long been criticized for including one or two ‘token” minority characters per show, and male contestants in particular have tended to represent the worst cultural stereotypes — at least in terms of the way they are edited. 

On Survivor, for example, previous black contestants like Gervase and Nick were both portrayed as lazy, while Gervase also acquired a reputation for being misogynistic. Survivor: Africa’s Clarence, accused of eating a precious can of beans while his tribe was out getting water, was labeled an untrustworthy thief.

Black women have faired slightly better, particularly Alicia, the bodybuilder from Season 2, who has gone on to do Reebok commercials. Viewers might remember her best, however, for her confrontational finger-wagging and dressing down of a meeker contestant.

Obviously, many of the white contestants on Survivor are also portrayed negatively. But for every Machiavellian Richard, there’s a cute Colleen, and for every bitchy Jerri, there’s a saintly Rodger. With the African-American contestants, it’s a different story. There’s hardly a bevy of positive portrayals, and therefore not much incentive for black audiences to tune in if they’re searching for lead characters to identify with.

That seems to be key. Law & Order’s black viewership, for example, shot up after African-American actor Jesse Martin joined the cast, according to the latest study, which was released in April and covered the fourth quarter of 2001. Seven  programs made the top 20 lists for both black and white households during that period, all of which had a multi-ethnic cast. (Sports programs ranked high in both black and white households, but the top non-sports programs watched in black households were shows with nearly all-black casts — and most didn’t make the top 100 in white households.) 

It will be interesting to see how Survivor: Marquesas winds up rating among African-American households. Will Vecepia and Sean’s success — and the latter’s dominating presence in the show’s narrative — result in a ratings bump? Or is it too late — are audiences too used to seeing blacks as ‘token” players?

Win or lose, Sean and Vecepia have at the very least dampened the perception that African-Americans can’t do well at this game. Sean perhaps said it best as he voted off John: “Anytime you go to Vegas, bet on black.”

Related Sites:
Read all Survivor-related articles from PopPolitics. Missed the links to the TV studies? Here’s the 2000-2001 list of top-rated shows in black and white households. And here’s a Washington Post article on the most recent study of TV viewing habits.
For a full summary of the latest Survivor action, and to read up on the castaways, visit the official site. 
For updates and news stories, check out SurvivorNews.net, Survivorfever.net, or the SurvivorSucks message board. 
RealityBlurred.com does a nice job of staying on top of all “reality TV” programming.