Jeff Probst previews Survivor: Fiji.
One of the much-hyped twists on CBS' Survivor: Fiji, which kicks off tonight at 8 pm/ET, is having one group of contestants lounge in the lap of luxury while another is left with the bare minimum of supplies and no food. Cool concept, but it sounds oddly familiar, because, say, The Apprentice: Los Angeles is employing a similar idea this season. And both shows share Mark Burnett as an executive producer. Just a coinkidink? Survivor host Jeff Probst insists that that is absolutely the case. "Mark runs his shows very independently," he tells TVGuide.com. "I can tell you that this was an idea that was born organically from us, because I was sitting there as we discussed it and decided to do it
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Yul Kwon, Survivor: Cook Islands
On Sunday night's nail-biting Survivor: Cook Islands finale, Yul Kwon narrowly beat out tough competitor Ozzy by one vote to emerge as champion. The Stanford and Yale grad, who was often called "the puppet master" or "Godfather" by fellow players, was happy that his strategic game paid off and that he was able to pocket the million-dollar check. TVGuide.com spoke to Yul in the wee hours of the morning after his big win to find out how he's planning on spending his winnings, and why he looked so shell-shocked after being announced the sole survivor.
TVGuide.com: Good morning, how are you doing? Yul Kwon: Good. I'm still sleep-deprived, but I'm living the dream.
TVGuide.com: You looked stunned throughout th
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It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was a season that certainly had it’s ups and downs, but if Survivor:Cook Islands were a movie, it would be up for an Oscar.Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration, I present the best of Cook Islands.The Best Challenges:Sure, we had a few recycled challenges, but someone on that staff got a shot of creativity that brought us some truly innovative, interesting and challenging competitions.These last two immunity challenges had me literally on the edge of my seat. Squarely in Aitu’s corner, it was near torture seeing Adam as a real threat to an all-Aitu final four.Ozzy’s come-from-behind win in the spider web/puzzle challenge was reality television at its best. It wasn’t his physical prowess that amazed me the most this time — I didn’t even know he had a brain until he wowed me by solving that compass-rose puzzle.Then there was the final immunity challenge. I loved that vanishing platform. How ...
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For some reason I really thought Parvati would end up in the finals. Not due to any true game play on her part, but merely out of some cosmic irony. Rarely have I seen a castaway who has done as little as she. I was wrong. Even with the seismic tremors at Aitu — Becky and Sundra maneuvering to oust Ozzy — the easily influenced Yul pulled his strings and chose Adam as the Raro member most worthy of staying.As much as Yul denies it, he is the top dog on the island, and he wears the Puppet Master title well. The thing is, even though he is the whole Survivor package — smart, strong, has ripped abs — he thinks too much and that overactive brain may just knock him out of the game. In case you hadn't noticed because you were distracted by Yul's mud-caked torso, there will be five people in the finals! Five relatively strong competitors. Seriously, who thought Sundra would last this long? After the first merge, Flicka was in a better position than the alliance-free ...
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And now we know why Parvati doesn't do any work at camp. It's just not safe. The girl nearly sliced her thumb off trying to open a coconut. Tragic as that may have been, Parvati's mishap allowed us another glimpse of that cute Aussie doctor from last season. Her sacrifice will not go unnoticed in my book. This week was the family visits. Sundra's heartfelt weeping at the sight of her mother had me wondering if she'd be able to actually perform in the reward challenge of throwing water from one bucket into another while blindfolded. I’m still not sure. Mom wasn’t catching much water and Sundra was all over the place. While Jonathan and his wife were well-matched — both competitive and innovative — it was the injured Parvati and her father who won the challenge and chose Sundra and Adam to join in the reward.What happened next is why I think Cook Islands is clearly among the best Survivors we've seen. While the winners were feasting and Jonathan was at Exile Isla...
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This show is so good I am almost moved to write poetry, and yet there are no words to express how much I'm enjoying Survivor: Cook Islands. Alas, I will attempt to recap the happenings at the Aitutonga tribe. In the aftermath of Nate's departure, Parvati was outspoken about her disappointment in Jonathan. She was so upset with him that she could vomit on his face. Now, she's billed as a boxer. Would a right cross not suffice? Parvati did make me laugh — when Jonathan flat-out told her that "Yul does have the idol," and she still did not believe him. Hilarious. Perhaps, Nate should have left his glasses behind. Like I should talk. For weeks now I've watched the rat footage and mused as to why the show always cut to Jonathan afterward. Perhaps Burnett is trying to tell us something? Um, yeah. If you come away with anything from this episode, it's that everyone thinks Jonathan is a rat. He may very well be, but I'm thinking this rat's going to come out on top — at the end ...
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I hate to say I told you so…but Nate perhaps you should have worn your glasses to tribal because you should have seen your ouster coming. Though it is clear from your parting words – Jonathan you can kiss my ass. You're a dirty, stanky, whack, fruitcake who sold me out, who sold out our tribe when we brought you in. You trading bastard. So kiss my ass Jonathan – that you were somewhat surprised and upset. On the other hand I don't know if anything could have saved Nate. His strategizing has been off for the whole season and he never saw how out there he was so it really was just a matter of time.Tonight's show was nowhere near as exciting as last week's but it does rate up there as one of the season's best episodes. For the most part it was all about strategizing and deciding on the best move. They teased us a lot about the personal immunity idol. I expected that the idol would finally be used this week but, alas, Yul managed to stage a coup with only the mere threa...
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Jenny Guzon-Bae and Rebecca Borman, Survivor: Cook Islands
On last week's Survivor: Cook Islands (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET on CBS), Jeff Probst threw in another big twist: The tribe that lost the immunity challenge had to send one person home, and also got a message in a bottle to be opened only after the vote. The Raro tribe lost — again (do we sense a theme?) — and sent New York native Rebecca Borman packing, then hoped that their note said the teams were merging. Unfortunately, they were wrong, and they had to vote off another tribe member, on the spot and with no discussion. Real-estate agent Jenny Guzon-Bae was taken completely by surprise when she discovered she was the next to have her torch sn
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I love, love, love this show! It has excitement; it has conflict; it has betrayal; it has underdogs; it even has new verbs. Where else would you hear about octopussing? And Rebecca, if you chose only to speak one word during this week's show, I'm glad it was that one. Let's see, it is day 22, and over the course of the next three days Aitu pulled out another two challenge wins — making it a four-challenge sweep since the infamous mutiny. I'm so pleased for this underdog team, and who says that dog can't hold a grudge? They sent Candice to do yet another stint on Exile Island. And to display the workings of their well-oiled machine, Aitu members all chimed in together to call her name. Aww. For whatever reason, Jonathan is bearing none of the brunt of the mutiny from his former 'mates. If he makes it to the merge, we'll see if all is forgiven. But Raro is going to have to start winning some immunity challenges. I mean, they have double the numbers, you'd think that would count ...
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Well, well, well. The show is getting interesting again. The Mutiny on the Bounty theme added a much-needed jolt to the Cook Islands Survivor. Jeff tossed out this new twist just before the reward challenge and, through the magic of editing, just after Jonathan and Candice chatted about breaking up their alliance of six. The offer? Mutiny. With ten seconds to decide, castaways could switch tribes. The only takers? Candice and Jonathan — thus leaving Aitu shorthanded with only four members to Raro's now eight.Not only did this move piss Aitu off, but it also lit a fire under them. With half the numbers, Aitu went on to win both reward and immunity challenges, forcing Raro to tribal council. Aitu expressed its displeasure clearly by sending mutineer No. 1, Candice, to Exile Island. Jonathan worked his mojo as Raro's newest member by talking up Adam and doing all of the grunt work. While his new tribe relaxed to the sound of his working, Jonathan's former tribe bonded as if they...
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