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S I G H T S
Spoiled Rotten?
“Well geez, hope all this isn’t true. LOL. Then we’ve really spoiled an entire season.”
Thanks to a fan who apparently happened to be in the right place at the right time, online Survivor junkies may have unraveled many of this season’s Amazonian mysteries — including identities of the show’s final four castaways — long before the revealing episodes are shown on CBS. Somewhere Mark Burnett, Survivor’s executive producer, may be stewing. Though its viewership remains high — between 20 and 22 million people still tune in each Thursday, keeping it competitive with NBC’s Friends – Survivor has cooled as a cultural phenomenon. Its online fan base, however, remains strong, with multiple spoiler, news and message board sites drawing thousands of online posters each day who debate the intricacies of each episode. Some of the most popular sites include Surviiivor.com, Survivor-Central.com, SurvivorNews.net, SurvivorMaps, SurvivorFever.net, AcmeBrainTrust.com, Survivor Intelligence Agency ” well, you get the picture. The granddaddy of these sites, however, is SurvivorSucks. Most of SurvivorSucks’ members have one goal: Spoil Survivor by figuring out what will happen in advance. They do so by examining video footage of upcoming episodes, seeking editing patterns in the show, and reading into every word uttered in media interviews by the host and participants. Each season also finds a flurry of suspicious posts by alleged insiders - most notably, two years ago, someone claimed to be the nephew of a Survivor: The Australian Outback cameraman. This poster successfully predicted several ousters in a row, but failed thereafter.
Despite countless bits of misguided speculation and hoaxes both convincing and absurd, the Survivor fan base has landed decent spoilers in the past: Fan Dan Bollinger at SurvivorMaps regularly figures out filming locations well in advance; there was word early on that Elizabeth Filarski, Tom Buchanan and ‘the older people” reached the final fours of their respective shows, Australian Outback, Africa and Thailand; and a photo of the final contestants who made the jury (see above) surfaced late in the Australian proceedings. Never, however, had any site been known to have struck the mother lode: a source who could convincingly claim to have inside information on the entire run of a season before it had begun to air. Until now.
The Chilling Effect
On Jan. 9, someone calling himself ChillOne posted to SurvivorSucks: “Greetings. I have just returned from Brazil and a trip to the Amazon.” So began what may prove to be the greatest spoiler ever told. ChillOne (like many people who venture online, SurvivorSucks posters go by anonymous aliases) claimed that long before CBS had announced that Survivor 6 would take place near the Ariau Amazon Towers hotel in Brazil, he had scheduled a vacation there that happened to occur just after filming wrapped. ChillOne provided elaborate descriptions of the setting of Survivor: The Amazon and photographs of a plaque left behind by the Survivor crew and what looked to be remnants of challenges and Tribal Council. He then dropped a bombshell: He said he had spoken with a native Brazilian who had helped with the Survivor shoot and had gleaned the following information: One of the female contestants was deaf, and the tribes would be divided by gender. ChillOne also provided the names of several castaways, including Joanna, Daniel, Brian and “Jana or Jenna.” Furthermore, ‘the women dominate in the beginning and it causes great tension amongst the male tribe members,” he wrote. “The first two voted off are men.” Within two days, the names of the contestants were released by CBS.com and TV Guide, and ChillOne was batting 1,000: The show featured gender-split tribes including people named Joanna, Daniel, Jenna, Ryan (not Brian) and deaf contestant Christy. (Meanwhile, two other posters scooped CBS by naming Heidi Strobel and Butch Lockley as contestants long before the official announcement.) ChillOne upped the ante Jan. 11, when he posted the names of the first four people he claimed would be voted off. He wrote: “Most of the ages of these contestants were based on visual guesses by my sources. They may be [plus or minus] a few years. Pecking order: With the honor of being voted off first (drum roll please) … Daniel. Followed by: Ryan (not Brian), Joanna (African-American contestant), and “Another lady, around 30.”" Even more astounding, ChillOne then described the final four contestants, according to his source. All this, more than a month before the season premiere. For inquiring minds, these and a summary of his other spoilers applying to the remainder of the show — along with corroborating information provided by others (Survivor seems to be leaking like a sieve this season) — can be found below (don’t worry — you’ll have to highlight the text to view it). The SurvivorSucks board by now was going berserk, with some members thinking ChillOne was for real and other, more jaded posters wondering if it wasn’t just another grand prank, perhaps even propagated by none other than Mark Burnett and company, they of the infamous “Gervase X” and “fake final four” hoaxes from season one. “On the face of it, one could say that [Burnett] enlisted ChillOne for the purpose of fabricating a story for us,” wrote a board member, who goes by Scott, on Jan. 11. “This, in the hopes that it would attract enough credibility to be picked up by the media, ultimately found to be inaccurate, and thus vastly reduce the potential of this board to harm his ratings.” “But I don’t believe it,” Scott continued. “The problem is that ChillOne is too good with his responses [to questions from board members] ” One can recollect faster than one can fabricate and this guy has been responding quickly and in detail. The amount of preparation and rehearsal that would be required to create a false ChillOne is more than I believe [Burnett] would arrange.” Others were skeptical. “I find it very hard to believe they would boot the ” two strongest guys first,” wrote BMH69. “I just don’t believe that one for a second. I am not even 100 percent sure two men are going in a row. It’s just really hard to believe right now.”
“Curiosity Did Kill the Cat”
The number of naysayers skyrocketed once the show premiered and Ryan, not Daniel, became the first person voted off, followed by 47-year-old Janet -- not another man, as ChillOne predicted, and not someone who could easily be described as “about 30.” “This thread should have been thrown into the crapper once Episode 1 aired,” wrote one poster Feb. 22. “ChillOne has been 100 percent wrong from day one.” Others peppered ChillOne with questions, asking why he had dispensed his intelligence bit-by-bit in what one person later called an “informational strip-tease,” accusing him of having never been to the Amazon at all, and claiming he had doctored the photographs he had posted. It seemed only a small minority still had faith. “Paranoia reigns supreme,” wrote a board member known as black light poster, who was one of ChillOne’s few defenders in late February. “Creating complicated lies and then sustaining them for weeks under interrogation is very hard. [ChillOne's story is feasible], commonsense, and readily accounts for everything he’s written”. Whether due to [his sources having] incomplete memories, incomplete understanding of what was actually happening, translation problems, or maybe even just giving an answer when they didn’t even know or pulling his leg now and then, for whatever reason some of it is wrong. But no, it can’t be that easy. The whole thing has to be some grand conspiracy.” Eventually, ChillOne forwarded dozens of photos from his trip to the Web master of SurvivorNews.net, who promptly posted them on his site, including passport photos. Still, some had doubts — even after Daniel was voted off on Episode 3, followed by Joanna in Episode 4. But it seemed as if ChillOne was on a roll: The mathematical probability of getting three of the first “bootees’ correct, in any order, is minuscule. Then Episode 5 aired March 13 — and Jeanne, a 41-year-old woman, was evicted. A young-looking 41-year-old. One who could possibly pass for being in her early 30s. The fact that few at SurvivorSucks had seen her ouster coming — the ill Shawna and hyped-as-injured Alex had been the popular choices for that week — seemed to give even more credence to ChillOne’s story. Several posters concluded that his sources — who were likely unfamiliar with the game of Survivor until it was under way — had forgotten about the 47-year-old Janet and misremembered the order of Ryan’s, Dan’s, Joanna’s and Jeanne’s oustings when they recounted them more than a month later. As one member put it, “We started to doubt [ChillOne] and now we think he’s god of the boards.” Others, however, remained unsure. “If you went by [his information about the first four voted off] in making your picks, you’d be 0 for 4,” wrote Antithesys in response to questions this writer posed to the board. ” A lot of folks have spun [his] info into extremely ludicrous scenarios to make it fit.” So it has come to this: Most of ChillOne’s remaining “intell” concerns the final four, so it will be weeks before his story’s veracity is put to the ultimate test. Some fear he is a “plant,” ala the aforementioned “Uncle Cameraman” spoiler, which was mostly right for a while but then veered off track. But it does seem that for an online community that thrives on solving Survivor’s mysteries much like amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher stalked Cabot Cove for clues on Murder, She Wrote, ChillOne’s info is a boon, correct or not. He has ‘revitalized a spoiling community that was hit pretty hard last season, both in performance and chutzpah,” Antithesys wrote. “And that’s a very good thing for us.” Other posters noted that the vagueness of ChillOne’s final four information — as many as 10 of the remaining contestants could fit his descriptions, though many members have narrowed that figure to five or six — is what keeps people coming back. “We get to play with all sort of scenarios,” wrote turkeylurkey, “which is what I think a lot of us like.” There’s also the chance that in the end, ChillOne will be plum wrong. Though some have been mildly upset at the prospect of a season ruined — "Curiosity did kill the cat," warned Elephant Shoe — the spoilers also have gotten some folks hooked on the show. “This is the first season I have watched the show religiously and I give [ChillOne] credit,” wrote Earthwoman in her first-ever post. “Thanks to [ChillOne], whoever you are, and whether or not the spoiler is accurate till the end doesn’t matter to me. This season is a lot of fun to watch and the ” spoilers make it that much more in my opinion.” Indeed, knowing how the story likely ends has in no way curtailed interest in the show — just the opposite, in fact. Antithesys perhaps put it best when he compared it to watching Episodes One and Two of Star Wars, featuring young Obi Wan and Anakin. “You know where all the characters end up,” he wrote, “but you still spend a month waiting in line to see it.” Maybe Mark Burnett isn’t stewing after all. P O P F O R U M Chris Wright, an editor and writer in the Washington, D.C., area, is pursuing a master’s degree in communication, culture and technology at Georgetown University. He previously wrote about the state of reality TV post-9/11 and the forthcoming American Candidate. He has reported extensively on Survivor. Related Sites Here’s a summary of information about upcoming events in Survivor: The Amazon, according to ChillOne, with additional information from SurvivorSucks members such as MilkShaky, PooPooMint and others. Some of it, depending on interpretation, may be contradictory. A good general summary of each castaway’s chances at winning can be found at SurvivorNews... ” A female contestant “frolics around topless,” ChillOne wrote. “I am told that this contestant was not “engaging” much in the episodes/filming (kinda taking a back seat)”. This contestant made some sort of "deal" where if "Person X" did not get voted off in the next tribal council, she would liven up. Apparently, things worked out, as her way of livening up involved nudity.” ” Shawna and Alex are now dating and most likely neither made the jury (that is, they probably are the next two voted out, as of this writing), according to various sources. ” According to photographic evidence, Rob loses quite a bit of weight and therefore may have lasted long. ” According to MilkShaky, who has connections to Heidi and scooped her inclusion on the show well before the official CBS announcement, she places sixth. ” According to ChillOne’s Brazilian sources, Christy comes in fourth. ” According to ChillOne, a man about 50 years of age places third. This could be either Roger or Butch. PooPooMint, a board member with connections to Butch who also scooped his casting, says he lost more than 30 pounds; another poster has claimed he made the final four. ” According to ChillOne, the final two contestants are a man and a woman. It is unknown which one won, although the female is described as having been “better liked.” The man is allegedly about 26, with a strong build, “and “BIG” in a muscular and tall kind of way. Possibly a tight haircut parted to one side.” SurvivorSucks members speculate that this is most likely Matt, or possibly Dave, Rob or Alex. The woman is around 23, and her name was given to ChillOne as “Jana” or “Jenna.” Most obviously, this could be Jenna, but due to translation or pronunciation problems, it could potentially be Shawna or even Deena (although Deena is much older than 23), board members have speculated (though Shawna has now been voted out). The female final two contestant is also rumored to have been “not the most attractive at the beginning of the show, but ends up being the hottest,” according to ChillOne’s sources.
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