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Survivor: Cook Island Finale Where Contestants Were Divided By Race

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 02:29:08 PM EST
Tags: Survivor, Cook Islands (all tags)
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I criticized Survivor: Cook Islands a few months ago when it was announced the teams would be segregated by race.

Since Desperate Housewives was a repeat last night, I watched the two hour finale and was surprised how into it I got. (I even bought a coconut to eat, story of how abysmal that turned out here.) The four finalists were all minorities. It was a great show.

After Yul won (I would have picked Ozzy)all the contestants were brought out and there was a discussion of the racial division theme. Almost all said they played the game based on loyalty to individual members they bonded with, rather than on their ethnic backgrounds.

Yul is a Stanford and Harvard law graduate who once worked as a legislative aide to Sen. Joe Lieberman. Ozzy is a 25 year old waiter and surfer.

So, back to the original question, was Survivor's initial race-division theme terrible?

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    Survivor: Cook Island Finale Where Contestants Were Divided By Race | 7 comments (7 topical)

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    Small correction (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Angrybat on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 02:34:10 PM EST
    The winner's name was "Yul," not "Kyl."

    And I never thought the racial theme was intrinsically offensive, probably because it was such an obvious attempt to get buzz for an ailing franchise.  The racial division only lasted, what, like 3 episodes?

    Thanks, I'll Correct It (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 02:37:32 PM EST
    Much appreciated.

    Parent
    I agree with Angrybat (none / 0) (#3)
    by Maggie Mae on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 04:17:53 PM EST
    It was planned, obsolescent, hype.  Since the entire show was already finished, taped and in the can, before it even aired, and the fact that they knew the segregation was only going to last 2 or 3 episodes, it was just hype to get people to talk about and watch the show.  Frankly, I was more offended that they knew it was going to end quickly, yet still promoted it like it would continue throughout the season, than I was that they did it, in the first place.  

    Survivor (none / 0) (#4)
    by Kewalo on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 06:25:37 PM EST
    We've been a "Survivor" family from the first episode. I didn't consider this years program at all racist. Isn't it a fact of life that usually people of the same race hang together? So, I thought the interaction and the way it finally turned out was a great! We were rooting for Yul.

    I didn't like the new ending having three contestants rather then two. I thought it was humiliating for the third person and completely unnecessary as it was obvious that one of the men would win.

    Racial angle (none / 0) (#5)
    by Pancho on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 06:43:43 PM EST
    Almost all said they played the game based on loyalty to individual members they bonded with, rather than on their ethnic backgrounds.

    During the final four Sandra made a comment about "black, brown and yellow" when referencing her desire to vote out the white guy.

    I'm not a huge survivor fan (none / 0) (#6)
    by