Fed: Celebrity no shield for these survivors

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2006
Fed: Celebrity no shield for these survivors

By Erin McWhirter, TV Writer

SYDNEY, Aug 11 AAP - Being famous did nothing to protect the contestants on Celebrity
Survivor from the hardships of hunger, sickness and discomfort.

Dropped on a tropical island in Vanuatu for 25 days, the 12 so-called celebrities were
shocked by the reality of their situation.

It was no tropical paradise, and that was even before the bitchy behaviour began.

"It was hardly paradise," 48-year-old NSW state politician David Oldfield said of the
island on which the Seven Network set its new reality TV series Celebrity Survivor.

"We shared a beach with thousands of hermit and land crabs. There was no sand, it was
all broken coral and hard ground to sleep on.

"For the audience there is heaps of treachery, lies and deceit.

"Hunger makes people stupid because they aren't getting enough sugar and you see them
get stressed with the politics and mind games."

Celebrity Survivor, hosted by Ian "Dicko" Dickson, hopes to emulate the success of
the long-running US version of Survivor, shown in Australia on the Nine Network, and which
recently completed its 12th season.

And it'll be hoping to avoid the fate of Nine's Australian Survivor in 2002, which was a flop.

As well as the scenery and the battle against the elements, the success of the Survivor
concept often depends on how well, or badly, the rival contestants get on.

"This show definitely brings out the best and worst in people," said entertainment
reporter Amber Petty, better known to many as Princess Mary's bridesmaid.

Other contestants include model Imogen Bailey, white witch Fiona Horne, former motorcycle
world champion Wayne Gardner, model Gabrielle "The Pleasure Machine" Richens, ironman
Guy Leech, actor Justin Melvey, retired rugby union star Elton Flatley and dancer Kym
Johnson.

"The general consensus was if you have celebrities going on (the island) they are going
to make the journey easier (than what they would for regular punters)," said 42-year-old
Leech.

"I made sure when I signed on it was going to be the real deal because I am a huge
fan of the American show.

"But other people turned up not really gauging how hard it would be and not knowing
there would be no help along the way."

The real deal meant no camping equipment, food, water or medication were provided.

Not even a bout of food poisoning, infected coral cuts or one contestant's infected
eye was enough to bring in the medical crew.

Gardner says he wanted to quit after the first night, when he injured an eye groping
around in the dark for firewood.

"I thought I had done a lot of damage," recalls the 46-year-old.

"My eye was filled with wood and the first night I lay in so much pain it gave me a
migraine. The doctors wouldn't help me because you are in the show of `Survivor'.

"On the second night I was in such bad pain with the migraines and my head was so bad
... I said I needed it fixed or I was leaving the show.

"Finally I got help ... that was the only time when I wanted to go home, otherwise
I loved the experience."

On their second night on the island, near Havana Harbour on Vanuatu's Efate island,
the contestants encountered torrential rain.

Soaked from head to toe, cold, hungry and with no shelter, emotions ran high.

"Dealing with not having enough sleep, not getting enough food ... you are constantly
fighting that little person inside who is saying `I really want to go home now'," said
29-year-old Bailey.

Split into male and female groups, the contestants were forced to band together and
use their collective wit to survive without any mod-cons.

"This is real survival. We're not going to feed these people. It's do or die but it's
also an exploration of personal politics, power and manipulation," said Dickson.

In Survivor, the winners of daily physical challenges are rewarded with food, implements,
or protection from expulsion.

Losers must go to tribal council and vote off a team member.

The winners of American Survivor win $US1 million.

The victor in Australia's Celebrity Survivor get to donate $100,000 to a charity of their choice.

"Whoever thought up Survivor and the way it stretches someone one way, stretches them
the other and pulls them around so they aren't doing what they normally do, is a genius,"

said Leech.

Some admit it added clarity and direction to their lives.

"I call it a cleansing of all the body because you are detoxing from lack of food and
secondly it's a real cleansing of the mind because you are locked away from the rest of
the world in a closed environment, I found it exhilarating," said Gardner.

"It gave me a new found confidence."



** Celebrity Survivor premieres on August 17 on the Seven Network at 8.30pm (AEST).

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