CBS Stacked the Deck.

[Dirk]

TV Guide Interviewer: Did your singing do you in?
Wanda: No. I know that they tried to portray that, but that is because they didn't want it to come out that they stocked the show with young models. They did. Out of the 20 people that were originally cast, they cut seven and put pretty people from modeling agencies in instead, so that they would have the eye candy. We found that out while we were there [in Palau]. When we asked [each other], "What did you do for your audition tape?" some of the people would say, "Oh, well, I didn't really do an audition tape."

http://tvguide.com/news/insider/050223a.asp



What amazes me is CBS' belief that they have to stoop to this to get people to watch?

Maybe they don't understand their potential audience all that well. The first series was compelling viewing because they showed us a wide range of people dealing with the physical and political situation. Ever since then the people get more buffed and we get the political wrangling more than anything else. Sigh, boring. I just think they're missing the appeal.

[Mariner]

Okay, taking Wanda's statement at face value, the fact that they stacked the deck with models isn't what got her booted. Willard certainly isn't one of the models. I doubt Tom is either. The two of them looked like they wanted to throw her overboard the second she started launching into her songs. Oh well, I guess it makes her feel better to think that the reason she didn't get picked was because she wasn't one of the beautiful people. I think her problem was more that not everyone else was deaf.

[Lil_Cutie]

Mariner. Geez Wanda, bitter much? Get. Over. It. You were a scary looking chick who made English teachers look bad and you walked around in a slip. Sorry, is that too harsh? It's true.

Perhaps she's right about the eye candy but after the Vanuatu crapfest, I think we deserve having the eye candy making it a little longer. I still will never forgive the Fat 5 for ruining that season.

[Krom]

Amazingly enough, idiots don't usually KNOW they are idiots.

And they ALWAYS stack the decks with models. This season is actually one of the less modelly I can recall recently.

[Leo]

And this is news because...?

Wanda clearly had no idea what she was getting into.

[brusch]

I sure can't count 7 of them who were "models" who didn't apply to be on the show or didn't go to a casting call. After one episode I was more impressed with the game-play of some of these players than in the other premieres. That doesn't include Wanda.

Hand models maybe.

[karalott]

Okay, taking Wanda's statement at face value, the fact that they stacked the deck with models isn't what got her booted. Willard certainly isn't one of the models. I doubt Tom is either. The two of them looked like they wanted to throw her overboard the second she started launching into her songs. Oh well, I guess it makes her feel better to think that the reason she didn't get picked was because she wasn't one of the beautiful people. I think her problem was more that not everyone else was deaf.

So what's her reasoning that Willard got picked over young, buff Jonathan? I'm surprised she's not saying the tribal pick was fixed to keep all the young people in. The premiere had the highest ratings since Africa, so apparently having a bunch of eye candy around hasn't hurt it. Jeff said the challenges were going to be the most physical of any season this time, meaning it was smart to keep the strong around (translated-eye candy) and right before the premiere, critics talked about how having all the strong, good looking people being voted off first has ruined the show in the past and is what screwed Vanuatu. I'll admit that I didn't care much for the tribe pick 'em, but it's part of the game, and I still think she wouldn't have been picked even if she did get to compete in a challenge (since she claims if they had seen how strong she was, they would have picked her).

[fluff]

I think it's a shame if they did let people bypass the application system in the way Wanda claims.
It's not unheard of though, I doubt Rob and Amber did an audition tape for TAR 7.

It's pleasing to have attractive people to look at, but that doesn't make or break a season for me.
It's about the politics of the game, the strategizing, you don't have to be good-looking to do that.

[aname]

Quite frankly, I prefer looking at young, strong, attractive contestants. I stopped watching the last Survivor after they voted off all the male eye candy. I just didn't care because none of the remaining people were interesting in the least.

[karalott]

I think it's a shame if they did let people bypass the application system in the way Wanda claims.
It's not unheard of though, I doubt Rob and Amber did an audition tape for TAR 7.

It's pleasing to have attractive people to look at, but that doesn't make or break a season for me.
It's about the politics of the game, the strategizing, you don't have to be good-looking to do that.

That's one thing I don't understand (and probably never will) is with all the applications this show gets- I think around 60,000 or more- they feel the need to recruit. Don't they get any male and female eye candy that apply the normal way? Of course, I love my male eye candy, but all I care about is an interesting show. So if the people they recruit are interesting enough, that's fine. I just wonder if any of these people she's talking about maybe applied for a different show or were approached to do a different show and got on Survivor instead.