Survivor’s Racial Divide

heidi_jenna000.jpg

One problem Mark Burnett has is to find ways to keep interest in his “reality” shows. Both Survivor and The Apprentice have pit men against women. This worked for Survivor in presenting one of the more memorable pair of women with Heidi Strobel and Jenna Lewis (above). Pitting those with college versus high school educations on The Apprentice was less successful, but not objectionable. Neither of next season’s ideas sound very good. The Apprentice moves from New York to Los Angles, but for me seeing the greatest city on earth is half the reason for watching the show. Even more objectionable is the plan for Survivor–to divide up by race.

Survivor will start with twenty contestants and divide up into four tribes: the White Tribe, the African-American Tribe, the Asian-American Tribe and the Hispanic Tribe. Jeff Probst justified this due to the “ethnic pride” expressed by the contestants. For an Italian, to give just one example, to show pride in their ethnic heritage is fine. For the same Italian to team up with other white guys to oppose the black guys sounds somewhat creepy.

1 Comment

  1. 1
    Dave from Princeton says:

    Yummy! If anyone is ever looking for a present to get me just gift wrap the blond above and send her over.

5 Trackbacks

Leave a comment