Realitywanted.net » Jeff Probst Talks Survivor China and Takes Us On a Behind The Scenes Look At Basecamp

Jeff Probst Talks Survivor China and Takes Us On a Behind The Scenes Look At Basecamp

Posted on September 13th, 2007 by Mark
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Jeff Probst sat down with reporters yesterday to talk about Survivor China. Jeff weighed in on the new cast, how Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” comes into play and how, for the first time, they sought out cast members for the show.

Q. Reporter: You have been doing Survivor so long is there anything now that shocks you or have you seen it all?

A. Jeff Probst: I am reaching out now and for several seasons to find someone to root for. Sometimes you get it sometimes you don’t. Conflict is central to this type of show. We need our good stories and good villains. People you will root for and people who stay deep into this show.

Q. Reporter: What kind of difficulty did China offer to contestants?

A. Jeff Probst: During the beginning of the season it was very difficult. It rained a lot and it was very muddy. In the second episode one of the tribes returns to camp to find it flooded out. The first six to seven days are the hardest on the cast. I tried to remind them that they had stepped into a real life major adventure. This show got off to a hard start and people stressed out very early. It was raining a lot and blistering hot outside. I took a camera and video taped myself walking to a challenge, you can see how hot it was.

Q. Reporter: What kind of culture will Survivor China bring to viewers?

A. Jeff Probst: It brought us a new cultural point of view and a new visual pallet to work with. This culture dates back 5,000 years and Survivor looks different again. Viewers will see “The Great Wall Of China” and go to a thousand year old village. In addition to a fun show and adventure you get some culture on China.

Q. Reporter: On past editions of Survivor you incorporated some of the locals, were you able to bring in many Chinese locals within the show?

A. Jeff Probst: We did have a local family come and teach teams how to fish, sent the cast to the Great Wall Of China for the night, and they made a visit the Shaolin Temple.

Q. Reporter: One of the things that interested me the most was the fact that a copy of Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” was passed out to all the cast members.

A. Jeff Probst: After selecting China as the location we found that Survivor has many common themes found in “The Art Of War”. The philosophy is very similar. You need to know your opponents and how to get along with others. We also included little phrases from within the book. I was surprised at one of the tribal councils when a cast member mentioned one of the leaders wasn’t very good based upon what they read in the book.

Q. Reporter:Do you or any of the production personnel place bets or pools on who will win or who will be voted off at tribal council?

A. Jeff Probst: We used to do pools during the first season but haven’t since. , I still pick the people I hope will win on my own. For example, I really wanted Rudy to win season one,. but Richard Hatch turned out to be one of the most notorious winners. . I always want to see a likable person win the game.

Q. Reporter:Another new twist this season has to do with kidnapping. Tell us a little bit about that.

A. Jeff Probst: Kidnapping takes a person from one tribe and forces them to work with another. They have the opportunity to spy on the other tribe or be spied upon . The kidnapped tribe member may slip out and provide the kidnappers with valuable information.

Q. Reporter:Were the tribes provided with rice again?

A. Jeff Probst: Yes, you always give them rice they wouldn’t make it without rice. The difficulty is that rice is not enough; We have strong guys and girls who need a lot of calories.

Q. Reporter:Did you see any of the cast try new tactics?

A. Jeff Probst: We had one guy who came into the game planning on getting everyone to dislike him at first and then get them to like him. I talked to our physiatrist who said that it is true if you don’t like someone at first and then like them you end up with a stronger bond.

Q. Reporter: This season you brought in people who have some notoriety. Survivor is very popular already. Was there a reason you brought in professional poker play Jean Robert and professional WWE wrestler Ashley Massaro?

A. Jeff Probst: For some it was just a coincidence. During the last few seasons we started looking for people as much as we took applications. Sometimes you will see someone like John Robert who would probably not otherwise apply. It will be exciting season.

Survivor China - A Tour Of Base Camp

About Survivor China:

SURVIVOR: CHINA will feature a cast of 16 Americans who will begin the series amid the bustle of downtown Shanghai before moving to HuangPu Mountain’s Mi Tuo Temple for a Buddhist ceremony where they will be instructed to leave all of their worldly possessions behind. The castaways will then be marooned with the clothes on their back at two separate islands on Zhelin Lake (translation: the Land of 1,000 Lakes) located in the Jiangxi Province. They will split into two tribes, Fei Long (translation: Flying Dragon) and Zhan Hu (translation: Fighting Tiger), and will each be given a copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War for tribe motivation and assistance throughout the game.

SURVIVOR: CHINA will once again afford each tribe the opportunity to obtain a Hidden Immunity Idol which may save someone from elimination at a future Tribal Council. This time, two Hidden Immunity Idols will be in plain sight (one at each camp), although the castaways will not realize this at the start of the game. Each week, the winning tribe of the Reward Challenge will be allowed to kidnap someone from the losing tribe. The person who is kidnapped will receive a note from host Jeff Probst before departing for the enemy camp and will be instructed to give it to one member of the enemy tribe (the kidnapped victim will decide who receives it) in private. The clue will inform this person of the Hidden Immunity Idol located somewhere at their camp. This person must then decide if they wish to share the information with their tribe or keep it to themselves. The kidnapped victim will return to their original tribe at the following Immunity Challenge.

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Find additional Survivor China links on sirlinksalot.net

Survivor China