'Survivor' too cute for the room
Fans grumble contentants don't rep average people
When the 14 contestants were revealed in the media last week it was apparent that they all have something in common -- there is not an ugly mug among them.
In fact, five are current or former models while others are small-time actors or former beauty queens, leading some critics to call the show "C-List Celebrity Survivor."
The group is rounded out by successful professionals -- lawyers, marketing managers, photographers, restaurateurs and estate agents.
Even host Mark Bayly is a model and actor who entered to become a contestant but caught the eye of the selection committee, comprising representatives from paybox M-Net and production company Endemol.
Carl Fischer, M-Net head of local productions, called the candidates "the best 14 individuals to contest 'Survivor SA,' and ordinary people like you and me."
However, he also acknowledged on a live Internet chat forum that "looks was one of the criteria" used by the selection committee.
The contestants range in age from 23-year-old sports journalist Zayn Nabi to 54-year-old Don Soper, a businessman who was formerly in the navy and has completed the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
One of the more well-known "Survivors" is Gareth Tjasink, 26, a doctor and model who has become famous in the TV commercial for Archers Aqua cocktail. He appears in "Survivor" promos with his perfectly coiffed blond hair hanging artfully over his face.
Disappointed "Survivor" fans, who had been looking forward to the local version of the hit international reality show, are making their feelings known in the local media, with many telling newspapers and radio shows that they will boycott it.
"None of them are ordinary, plain, meat-braaing (barbequing), beer-drinking, rugby-watching South Africans," said one letter to a local newspaper.
"All these people are already full of money, famous and in the limelight. Why not give the ordinary okes a chance," asked another unhappy fan.
Time will tell if the show will win viewers over but, as one TV commentator said, "at least it could be entertaining to see how long the perfectly groomed models manage to keep their hair in place in the wilds of Panama."
