'Survivor 13' Contestants Announced!

[itsmejean]

Well, I am very squeamish about this division by ethnicity. As a person married to a person of another ethnicity, I am the mother of two biethnic children--both teens. They both are also very offended by this idea and think, beyond the insults bound to happen down the road, it is just a stupid idea. What I read was that the contestants were not aware when they were being cast that this was going to be a year of the "racial divide", but were told before signing contracts. Many of the contestants were "leery" but signed anyway. I assume once you get through the casting and beat out all those other hopefuls you are reluctant to give up the "gift" of having been cast. I don't plan to watch a single show of this season --- just voting with my feet. Even after the tribes merge, which we all know that they will---probably sooner this year than most--I will also not watch as I feel this will still be lending acceptibility to a concept that I, personally, find repulsive, regressive and just insulting. Just my never to be humble opinion....

[JR.]

I must be the crazy one here, but the race splits don't bother me at all (I'm half Puerto Rican for informational purposes). Is it really that much worse than splitting things by age and gender?

[DarKensoul7]

I must be the crazy one here, but the race splits don't bother me at all (I'm half Puerto Rican for informational purposes). Is it really that much worse than splitting things by age and gender?

Hey JR, I also agree with you. (Im asian american) I think this is just interesting and it definitely caught my attention, which what CBS wants.

[realityfan25]

i think this is interesting. cant wait to see how this plays out.

[Leo]

I'm not impressed with this whole racial tribes idea. It sounds like a recipe for an epidemic of foot-in-mouth disease. The best thing you can say is it'll make for interesting TV, but there are so many other ways that could have been done.

The other upside is it gives us a pretty diverse cast, but wasn't there any way to do that without resorting to this nonsense?

[Anemic Dog]

I'm guessing that it's fairly likely they'll rig the competitions to ensure that no group gets eliminated quickly. Because that would be a PR disaster.

[Jedi_Janey]

I may miss Survivor this season. I signed my daughters up for gymnastics and the only slots available at 8:15-9:15.

maybe I should invest in Tivo...

[MHcarrollton]

Well they pretty much eliminated a lot of people from being eligible. Anyone bi-racial would have been left out.

It doesn't bother me anymore than the ageism last season, but I just don't see the point of it. Is there supposed to be differences between races in this kind of contest? What are they trying to prove that one race is superior.

[MamaC]

They (CBS, Burnette, etc.) could have still played the diversity issue by having one Asian, one Hispanic, one White and one Black on each of the four teams.

No one would have been crying racism then and I bet a lot of people would have thought it a brilliant move to show how diverse we really are. JMHO

I'm still going to watch it and, like many others have said, I really don't see what the big deal is. These teams will be switched around and/or merged soon enough.

[jasmar]

The issue of race is much more volatile than age or gender – that's why this one bugs me where the others did not. And race is nothing but an illusion, anyway. Human beings are certainly biologically diverse, but there are no ontological differences between us, the way there would be between a donkey and a porpoise, for example.

It seems like a cheap way to try to stir up controversy in order to attract viewers.

Now if they'd divided them as California versus the rest of the world, that I'd watch.