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Being
Selected
I had never watched Survivor prior to mailing in the application.
My office manager, Dawn, printed it off the Internet and I sent
it along with my 2 minute video, overnight delivery, to make the
midnight deadline.
I was one of
the 16 people chosen out of 55,000 applications. My video basically
said that dentist have the highest suicide and divorce rate of any
profession, and since I had not killed myself yet, and was happily
married for the last 21 years, that I could survive anything. I
also said you wanted a 3 minute video but you are getting a 2 minute
one and if you want higher ratings you will pick me otherwise FUHGEDABOUD
IT!! That's how I got chosen.
Getting There...
The 55,000 applicants are narrowed to 800 with interviews in different
cities and if chosen from that pool of applicants you are then flown
to LA for extensive and intensive interviews. Usually 50-60 people
are screened this way. The field is then narrowed to the final 16.
The 16 of us never met prior to leaving LA for Africa. We all were
flown into LA and then departed to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam we
were flown to Nairobi. Once in Nairobi 2 small planes took us to
an undisclosed Kenyan location. The game was played in the Shaba
National Reserve.
The People
The first time I saw all the contestants together was in Nairobi
and they all had their game faces on. I remembered seeing Frank
and thinking he was Joe Marine. Diane looked like a hippie chick
from the 60's and Silas looked like the All American Beefcake. We
were quite a collection of shapes and personalities.
The Game
The game is really 2 parts. Part 1 is competing against each tribe
until the merge. Part 2 is the merge with the dominant tribe picking
off the other tribe. Once this happens it's every man or woman on
their own.
The camera people are in your face 24/7! They don't give you water
or food. They don't even talk to you. The game is as real as it
can be!
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