Survivor's ten worst players
For every Richard Hatch there's an Osten Taylor. For every Brian Heidik there's a Gabriel Cade. 'Survivor' has seen its fair share of winners and losers throughout its many seasons.
How do you distinguish a genuine loser from just a brainless goof-up though? In coming up with the list below, I culled all of the players who didn't have a chance to really play the game. People like the Peter Harkeys, Ryan Aikens and Jim Lynches of the world. You are forgiven if you don't remember them. Who would? Then, I had to calculate the severity and stupidity of the blunders that were made. For example, committing an idiotic tactical error while in the final three is undoubtedly more grievous than someone getting lynched in the fifth episode.
Although when we spoke to him, Jeff Probst didn't agree with our number one choice, after hours and hours of contemplation (and outright laughter), we present to you the ten worst competitors to ever play 'Survivor'.
10. Jamie Newton: 'Survivor Guatemala'
Jamie should have gone far. He was a card-carrying member of the dominant alliance on 'Guatemala' and did very well for himself at the challenges. Then, he had to go and ruin it all by becoming as paranoid as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Subsequently, the 'Axis of Evil' Alliance stopped steamrolling over the competition for one vote just to kick out the annoying Jamie.
9. Lex van den Berge: 'Survivor Africa' and 'Survivor: All-Stars'
Another strong player and all around nice guy who let the game get to him...twice! Fretting over who threw him ONE measly vote in 'Africa' (Count it. O-N-E vote!), Lex stabbed ally Kelly Goldsmith in the back. Lex had it all wrong. It was Teresa 'T-Bird' Cooper who was the culprit. Poor Kelly. When 'All-Stars' rolled around it was quite clear that Lex hadn't learned anything from his experience in 'Africa'. He shanghaied his friends once again when he targeted Jerri and Ethan, two of his pals outside of the game. To top it all off, Lex wailed like a banshee when Rob Mariano did the same thing to him.
8. Rafe Judkins: 'Survivor Guatemala'
An entry that is on both the best and worst 'Survivor' lists. Why, you ask? Simple. He was a brilliant strategist and a serious challenge threat on 'Guatemala'. By all rights, it was his game to lose and boy, did he blow it. Stephenie LaGrossa claimed he had a "martyr complex" and she was dead on. Seeing Steph bawl after losing the final Immunity Challenge, Rafe let his heart rule his head and absolved Danni Boatman of her final two promise to him thus setting the stage for her to walk away with the million dollar cheque. It is true that Danni might have just gone ahead and picked Steph any way even if Rafe didn't make the move but he still looks like a moron for putting his own neck on the guillotine after playing such a magnificent game. He isn't as nearly as bad as our next lunkhead though.
7. Ian Rosenberger: 'Survivor Palau'
It is uncanny really. Ian's gameplay mirrored that of Rafe's in almost every detail. He was cunning and he was strong...until the final phase when dolphin boy's brains turned to cottage cheese. Overwhelmed with guilt for daring to "submarine" eventual winner Tom Westman and not taking his other friend - Katie Gallagher - on a Reward trip, Ian offered Tom a deal during the final Immunity Challenge. If Tom agreed to take Katie to the finals, he'd throw in the towel. Tom accepted and Jeff Probst doesn't even waste time holding a Tribal Council vote. Ian was booted right on the Challenge site. Talk about embarrassing. The fact is dolphin boy had nothing to feel bad about. It was smart strategy to lobby against Tom as he was the toughest and most popular player on 'Palau' and he didn't owe Katie a darn thing. Katie owed them as she rode their coattails all the way to the finals. Even Flipper or Shamu would've known that.
6. Colby Donaldson: 'Survivor Australia' and 'Survivor All-Stars'
Good old Colby would've been a millionaire at the end of the second season of 'Survivor' if he had done just one itty-bitty thing. Having won the final Immunity Challenge, all he had to do was pick the less popular Keith Famie and Mark Burnett might as well of handed him the cheque right there in the Outback. Instead, Colby let Tina Wesson work her mother figure mojo on him and the rest is history. Hey, at least she followed through with her promise to buy him a Harley.
5. Lillian Morris: 'Survivor Pearl Islands'
Even before sitting down at the Final Tribal Council, Lillian had already raised the white flag. Believing nobody would vote for her just because she was allowed to return to play the game as a member of the 'Ghost Tribe', Lillian didn't even put up a fight in front of the jury. As Probst proved on the reunion show, Lillian would've won if she had just brought along Jonnie 'Fairplay' Dalton instead of Sandra Diaz-Twine. An awful and pathetic end to one of the best 'Survivor' seasons ever. Speaking of pathetic...
4. Gabriel Cade: 'Survivor Marquesas'
This Christopher Atkins wannabe committed one of the biggest 'Survivor' blunders ever. He admitted to his tribemates that he had no intention of ever trying to win the money or play the game. He was just on the show for the "experience". What he failed to mention is that he was an aspiring model looking for some face-time on national television as well. Naturally, the Rotu Tribe did the honourable thing and immediately rubbed him out. What a waste of space.
3. Shawna Mitchell: 'Survivor Amazon'
Apparently, she thought 'Survivor' was some kind of dating show as all she did was drape herself over Alex Bell. You know, the dude who hit himself in the head with a machete when he was chopping wood. She pleaded to be voted out again and again because the whiner found the actual surviving to be too hard. In the end, she got her wish. Memo to the 'Survivor' casting crew: Leave the rats at the mall where they belong. This isn't 'Big Brother'.
2. Osten Taylor: 'Survivor Pearl Islands'
The body was strong but the heart was weak...very weak. Claiming to be totally out of his element and that his health was more important to him than a million dollars, Osten quit the game in the most brutal 'Survivor' exit barring Michael Skupin's face plant in the fire during the Australian season. Probst listened to Osten plead his case, grilling him all the while like a T-bone steak. Disgusted, Probst didn't even waste ink on Osten. He held a verbal vote, snuffed his torch and laid it on the ground. Dismayed by Osten's decision to basically walk out on the series, the producers didn't even air his final words. All that was shown was Osten's snuffed torch as the credits rolled. For being so weak of will at the time, Osten deserved all of the scorn because he had so much potential. He had the ability to go really far in the game if he had just believed in himself. What's worse than making a shameful strategic blunder? Not having the heart to play the game at all. While we are on the subject of not playing at all...
1. Janu Tornell: 'Survivor Palau'
She laid around in a hammock for almost her entire stint on 'Palau' and then asked to be sent home after some controversial prompting by Jeff Probst at Tribal Council. It is not an exaggeration to say that the palm trees and rocks played a better game than her. The only spark she showed was when she was exiled to live on an island for one night. Probably a fascinating and lively person outside of the game but added very little drama to the 'Palau' instalment.
Dishonourable Mentions
Travis: 'Survivor Vanuatu'.
Clarence: 'Survivor Africa'.
Shii-Ann: 'Survivor Thailand', 'Survivor All-Stars'.
B.B.: 'Survivor Borneo'.
Judd: 'Survivor Guatemala'.
Stephenie: 'Survivor Guatemala', 'Survivor Palau'.
Ryan S.: 'Survivor Pearl Islands'.
Nicole: 'Survivor Pearl Islands'.
Joel: 'Survivor Borneo'.
Lisa: 'Survivor Vanuatu'.
Sirius Canada adds Howard Stern
TORONTO (CP) - The self-proclaimed King of All Media will be heard via satellite radio in Canada after all, starting Monday morning.
Sirius Canada has confirmed that controversial U.S. radio host Howard Stern will be included as part of the company's 100-channel lineup. Stern debuted on Sirius in the U.S. on Jan. 9 but was not initially included in the Canadian lineup. Sirius Canada launched its subscription service in early December.
In Canada, Stern will be heard on Howard One, but a second channel the shock jock programs with other on-air personalities will not be available here.
Mark Redmond, Sirius Canada president and CEO, said Wednesday that Stern was clearly a powerful force in the entertainment world and that while "he's not to everybody's taste" it was time to add him to the lineup.
Declaring he was tired of censorship, Stern abandoned over-the-air radio to elude the scrutiny of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission which had come down hard on his brand of raunchy content.
Redmond plays down reports that because of the nearly one-month delay in launching Stern in Canada, his company may have lost thousands of potential subscribers to the grey market - consumers buying U.S.-made receivers and activating them with a fake U.S. address.
"I don't know how big the grey market is," he says. "I don't think anybody really knows.
"At this point we're more concerned with addressing future subscribers."
Redmond also dismisses suggestions that Stern's program will run afoul of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council or the CRTC, explaining that there are three levels of control. First, it's a pay service; second, there are parental controls on the receivers that can be used to block channels; and third, the service can be purchased with or without Sirius Canada's six channels of "mature" content, including Stern, with no change in price.
Ron Cohen, national chair of the broadcast standards council - the industry's voluntary watchdog agency - says he's not expecting to get many consumer complaints upon which to act.
Pay radio, like pay TV, will be held to more relaxed standards than over-the-air fare - but there will still be standards, says Cohen.
"Sirius is a member of the CBSC and if there are any complaints we will deal with those," he says, stressing that Stern will not have carte blanche when it comes to abusive comment.
Sirius Canada is co-owned by the U.S. Sirius satellite company, the CBC and Standard Radio.
A Sirius Canada spokesman says there had been some temporary shortages of receivers in some stores but that they are now readily available.
Stern has already had a checkered history on Canadian radio. Rock stations in Toronto and Montreal imported his syndicated show in the 1990s in a ratings-boosting effort. Complaints from the broadcast standards council, however, led to Stern's show being put on a tape delay with heavy censorship. Although he delivered on ratings initially, Stern was eventually dropped altogether by CHOM-FM in Montreal and Q-107 in Toronto.
Stern also levelled a few volleys at Canadian bureaucrats at the time.
"They're French," he once said. "And you know what happens when someone comes down on them. They run!"
Stephen Tapp, president of Sirius's competitor XM Canada, says Stern is already a proven failure in Canada, having been pulled off both radio and TV.
"We wouldn't want the future of our company resting on just one guy and one show, especially if he's got a track record like he has in Canada," says Tapp, who insists that's not just sour grapes.
He recalls when Stern's syndicated TV show aired on Citytv, the ratings started out OK, then died because people lost interest.
"If people didn't want to listen to him or watch him before in Canada, we don't think they're going to want to pay for him."
In the past, when asked why Sirius Canada didn't opt to carry Stern from the beginning, Redmond said only that they would be assessing the demand in the marketplace. "In the normal course of our business we will be continually reviewing our channel lineup."
MARISKA GETS SU ON 'SVU'
GLADIATOR co-star Connie Nielsen will replace Mariska Hargitay for six episodes on NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" while Hargitay goes on maternity leave.
The Dutch-born Nielsen, 40, will play a warrant detective who joins "SVU" while Hargitay's character, Detective Olivia Benson, is off on a "specific assignment," "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf told The Post.
"When we realized we weren't going to be able to get through the season without explaining [Hargitay's pregnancy] in some way, the best decision was to have her spelled, and Connie's name surfaced internally," Wolf said.
Nielsen played Lucilla in the 2000 Russell Crowe movie "Gladiator" and also co-starred on the big screen in "The Ice Harvest," which was released last year.
Hargitay, who's been on "SVU" since the show's 1999 premiere, is expecting her first child this spring.
CRTC demands more Canadian drama
Canada's television watchdog says the country's private TV networks should produce more English Canadian drama.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates TV and radio in Canada, has released a notice saying the country's three private broadcasters should spend nearly twice as much money on original, Canadian drama as they do now.
Under current rules, the three private networks, Global, CTV and CHUM, spend about 3.3 per cent of their annual revenues on Canadian shows.
Over the next five years, they will have to increase spending on Canadian drama to six per cent of their revenue.
The networks will also have to meet rating targets for their domestically produced shows.
In an effort to prevent cheap Canadian productions being dumped into unpopular time slots, the regulator has set a target for the private networks. In five years, it wants 16.5 per cent of the networks' total drama viewership to be Canadian.
In 2003-2004, the industry average was 9.2 per cent, with CTV reporting that 10.5 per cent of its drama viewership was of Canadian shows. CHUM reported 9.1 per cent and Global 8.4 per cent.
The CRTC released the details of these new guidelines back in the summer to give the networks a chance to review them and make suggestions.
The networks have argued against the change, saying they're being asked to do too much, too soon. In their briefs to the commission, they argued that the targets have been set too high.
The regulator agreed in its ruling that the viewing targets "will be a challenge."
"However, [the CRTC] considers that the increase is achievable if the groups take advantage of the incentive program for the production of original Canadian drama," it said.
As an incentive, the private networks will be permitted more advertising during U.S.-made programming to help their bottom line.
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and the Canadian Film and Television Production Association have been critical of the private networks for failing to produce homemade drama.
In 1999, the CRTC began to include reality TV, documentaries and entertainment magazines in its definition of Canadian programming, which led to a dramatic fall in spending on Canadian drama, ACTRA said.
In a statement released Wednesday, ACTRA said the new rules don't go far enough. The CRTC should have asked for at least two hours of Canadian prime-time drama from each of the private networks every week, it said.
"It's time the CRTC got serious about being a regulator and imposed some requirements that actually have some teeth," Stephen Waddell, ACTRA executive director, said.
Sequel Has "Power of the Dark Crystal"
After two-and-a-half decades, Jim Henson's beloved family fantasy, The Dark Crystal, is getting a sequel, The Power of The Dark Crystal.
According to The Jim Henson Company, co-CEO Lisa Henson announced the news Wednesday, that Genndy Tartakovsky (Star Wars: Clone Wars) will direct the new film that will combine live-action animatronics with 3D animation.
Returning to the production will be Brian Froud, character designer of the original 1982 movie.
The story for the sequel will be set hundreds of years after events of the first film, when the crystal is once again split but this time by two young friends who want to save the planet by re-igniting the dying sun which exists at the planet's core.
Pretenders Plot Boxed Set, Brief Tour
The long-awaited career-spanning Pretenders boxed set, "Pirate Radio," will finally see the light of day March 14 via Rhino. The package features four audio CDs plus a DVD loaded with album tracks, rarities and 15 previously unreleased selections from the Chrissie Hynde-led group, which was inducted last year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"Pirate Radio" begins with a previously unreleased Regent Park demo of "Precious" from the band's classic 1980 self-titled debut. In addition to rarities like the U.K. single version of "Talk of the Town" and a demo of "Watching the Clothes," the first disc features favorites like "Stop Your Sobbing," "The Wait," "Brass in Pocket" and "Message of Love."
Disc two is highlighted by the previously unreleased tracks "Tequila," "Reconsider Me" and "Worlds Within Worlds" plus alternate versions of "Hold a Candle to This" and "When I Change My Life." Familiar singles abound, including "Back on the Chain Gang," "My City Was Gone," "Middle of the Road" and "Don't Get Me Wrong."
The third disc of the box sports live runs through "Private Life," "Lovers of Today," "Criminal," "Revolution" and Radiohead's "Creep," plus a demo of "Every Mother's Son" and the original version of the B-side "Angel of the Morning." A cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Bold As Love" from the tribute album "Stone Free" rounds out the track list.
The final audio disc gathers previously unheard live takes of "The Homecoming," "Up the Neck" and "Fools Must Die" alongside covers of Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday" and Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Down." The tracks "Back Down" and "California" make their debuts here as well.
The visual element of "Pirate Radio" draws from 1979 through 1995, including early career performances on the BBC's "Top of the Pops," a 1984 appearance on NBC's "The New Show" and a cover of Hendrix's "Room Full of Mirrors" from the 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
As previously reported, the Pretenders will be the subject of a comprehensive interview March 17 at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, and will perform the next night at Stubb's BBQ. The group will then play its first series of live dates since 2003 on an eight-date West Coast swing that begins March 21-22 in Los Angeles. Appearances in New York, Atlantic City, N.J., and London will follow.
Split Enz Regroups For Aussie Arena Tour
They once sang history never repeats. But the members of Split Enz today (Feb. 1) announced they are reuniting for an Australian arena tour in June, 22 years after they broke up.
Melbourne-based Frontier Touring has booked the act for an initial five dates between June 7 to 16. The band still has an active fan club in Australia of 15,000, and the tour is expected to see them play to their largest crowds on the continent.
Group member Tim Finn said that while no further dates were planned, he would like to play shows in Los Angeles, New York and London. The run would most likely also include a run through Split Enz' New Zealand homeland.
Formed in New Zealand in 1972, Split Enz's eccentric theatre-pop flamboyance and pre-MTV innovative videos and artwork inspired the late 1970s British new wave as well as American bands like Pearl Jam.
The lineup that is reuniting (there were 13 member changes in the group's 12-year career) was its most successful. In 1980, Split Enz released its global breakthrough album, "True Colours," which spawned hits like "I Got You" and "I Hope I Never." Two years later, the album "Time And Tide" yielded "Six Months In A Leaky Boat" and "Dirty Creature."
Neil Finn says this lineup -- with Eddie Rayner (keyboards), Nigel Griggs (bass), Malcolm Green (drums) and Noel Crombie (percussion) -- was solid enough to cope with starving in London for three years and also cope with success. "This was the lineup that saw things through," Finn said. However, the band had a "let's wait and see" comment when asked if a new studio album would emerge from the reunion.
An Enz reunion tour has been rumored for two years. The clincher, Tim Finn says, was when the band reunited to play two shows when they were inducted at the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall Of Fame last June in Melbourne.
"There was an electricity there," Finn explains, adding that the only rehearsals they'd done for the show was a run-through at soundcheck.
At today's announcement at the masonic Ormond Hall in Melbourne where they'd played their first shows, the Enz entertained the media and fan club members with performances of "Poor Boy," "Message to My Girl," "Shark Attack" and a spoon solo from Crombie.
CBS White House correspondent John Roberts jumps to CNN
NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran CBS White House correspondent John Roberts, snubbed by his network during the long search for Dan Rather's successor, has jumped to CNN.
As a senior national correspondent based in Washington, Roberts will report for various CNN newscasts throughout the day, said Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S., on Wednesday. He starts on Feb. 20.
Roberts, 49, has been CBS News' chief White House correspondent for six years, and anchored the Sunday edition of the CBS Evening News for more than 10 years.
He was widely considered the top internal choice to succeed Dan Rather, who stepped down as evening news anchor last March. But as the months went on without CBS announcing a successor, and with patron CBS News President Andrew Heyward being forced out of his job, it became clear Roberts wasn't a favorite of CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves.
As Bob Schieffer has filled in on the evening news — boosting the show's ratings — CBS has courted NBC Today show host Katie Couric to become the new anchor. Couric's NBC contract expires in May.
New CBS News President Sean McManus said last month that even if Couric doesn't join CBS, the new evening news anchor wasn't likely to come from within the network's ranks. He indicated that CBS didn't have a stable of high-profile talent ready to take over the job.
Roberts joined CBS in 1992 and was a news anchor for CBS This Morning. He was also a New York-based correspondent for the evening news before heading to Washington.
Roberts was CBS' most high-profile correspondent on the scene covering Hurricane Katrina last year. He made his last appearance for the network during Tuesday's coverage of President Bush's State of the Union address.
"Leaving CBS News will be difficult — no question," Roberts said in an e-mail to CBS colleagues Wednesday. "The ache of anxious anticipation has been gnawing away at me for some time now. It's not just the thought of leaving behind the comfort of familiar surroundings. It's about the many colleagues around the world whom I have come to call friends."
Disney to make Narnia 'Prince Caspian' for 2007
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co and Walden Media have started pre-production on a second film based on C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" children's books, a Disney spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The second film, "Prince Caspian," starring the same four child actors as "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," is expected to be released in 2007.
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," released December 9, has earned $634.4 million at box offices worldwide, according to online box office tracking site Box Office Mojo.
By domestic box office results, it is the 28th most-viewed film ever.
Disney and Walden split the profits equally from the "Narnia" films
Wanted: 007 Babe & Baddie
James Bond likes his women beautiful, his nemeses megalomaniacal and his martinis shaken, not stirred. These days he's drinking alone.
Filming on the new 007 adventure, Casino Royale, kicked off last Friday in the Czech capital of Prague with newcomer Daniel Craig taking over for Pierce Brosnan as the suave secret agent. But intelligence sources reveal Bond is currently sans babe and baddie.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, filmmakers made the decision to roll cameras on the long-delayed film in order to make a planned holiday release date--even though the two key components of a Bond film are notably missing in action.
For now, their absence is being handled by shooting around them. Crucial scenes featuring the would-be villain and Bond's latest paramour aren't scheduled to be filmed for at least a month, leaving coproducers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and director Martin Campbell a little wiggle room.
"They're talking to three to four girls right now," Casino scribe Paul Haggis, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Million Dollar Baby and is nominated again this year for writing and directing Crash, told the Reporter. "Every week I read there's a new Bond girl, and I call them and they say, 'No, you idiot.' "
The trade reports Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2) and Rachel McAdams (Red Eye and The Wedding Crashers) are the several high-profile actresses currently in the running to join the pantheon of Bond babe. (The sometime rumored likes of Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, however, are not serious contenders.)
As for the next bad guy, the Casino brain trust is reportedly much closer to cast that role than the love interest, but no names have specifically mentioned by reliable sources.
The announcement of Craig as the sixth actor to don the tuxedo was made with great fanfare at an October press conference. But because it took so long to cast the role, the production was delayed from November to January.
Campbell & Co. promised Casino Royale, the 21st installment in cinema's longest running and most successful series, would take the iconic character back to his roots. The film is said to feature a character-driven script exploring Bond's past and eschewing the big special-effects and gadgets that have come to define the later Bond flicks, particularly the ones starring Brosnan and Roger Moore.
The director, who also helmed GoldenEye, Brosnan's first outing as Bond, said Casino Royale will show 007 at age of 28, when he's just starting out on Her Majesty's Secret Service, and purportedly explain such mysteries as to why he likes his vodka martinis prepared incorrectly. It will also be the first Bond mission since Live and Let Die not to feature the character of Q, most recently played by John Cleese.
Neither the Bond production company, the U.K.-based Eon Productions, nor its U.S.-based studio, MGM, would comment on the casting situation.
However, one Hollywood agent with an inside track on Casino's casting told the Reporter that Sony, the film's distributor, will probably have to cough up a lot of dough to get the actors given the fact that shooting has already begun.
"To be that exposed is unheard of," the agent said. "[The actor or actress] can have them over a barrel. Not to have your two principal leads [by now] is awfully strange."
With the amount of money at stake, a tight deadline and the prestige of the franchise in the balance, producers are expected to be willing to spend as much as needed to secure the right actors.
After the Czech Republic, production moves to the Bahamas, Italy and Pinewood Studios near London. Casino Royale is being targeted for a Nov. 17, 2006 release.