Survivor Taps Runway Sis
For last season's Survivor, CBS opted for the "no such thing as bad publicity" route. This season, the Eye net is heralding the new slate of contestants with a slightly more watercooler-friendly talking point.
The network announced on Friday the 19 castaways trying to outwit, outplay, outlast and out-backstab each other on Survivor: Fiji, among them a bartender, a cheerleading coach and the second member of a burgeoning reality-show dynasty.
Rita Verreos, the older sister of Project Runway season-two finalist and Santino straight man Nick Verreos, is one of the million-dollar hopefuls taking part in Survivor's 14th installment.
The 38-year-old former ballerina and single mother told People that she didn't want viewers to see her casting as the product of reality-show nepotism, but rather in a more positive—and possibly even lucrative—way.
"Maybe the Verreoses can be like the Osbournes, or people will want the Nick and Rita Show!" she joked to the mag.
Verreos, a model and former Miss Venezuela, also said she decided not to ask her designing brother for advice before her reality show began production last October, but that he nevertheless told her "to just be myself."
Guess "make it work" was already taken.
As for the rest of the contestants, Verreos may feel slightly at home with at least one of them: Among her fellow competitors is a 27-year-old fashion stylist.
Other odd-jobbed contestants include a 32-year-old expert-witness locator, a 55-year-old school-bus driver and a 25-year-old cheerleading coach. Ten of the 19 castaways hail from California.
As for the game itself, each challenge, just as in the past two seasons, will be followed by a tribe member's banishment to Exile Island, where they will again be given clues to locate a hidden immunity idol—which, in a twist, there will be two of.
While CBS touts this season's cast as "diverse," the network is wisely staying away from the debacle that was last season's racially segregated teams, this time splitting groups into just two tribes.
The difference this year will be in the provisions afforded to each team. The tribe that wins the initial immunity challenge will be sent to a camp that's fully stocked with survival resources, while the losing tribe will be sent on its way with just one pot, one machete and a single water source.
Survivor: Fiji, which managed to complete its shooting without any ill effects from a coup in the island nation, kicks off Feb. 8 on CBS with Jeff Probst returning as host. Here's a complete list of contestants:
- Alex Angarita, 28, attorney (Los Angeles)
- Kenward "Boo" Bernis, 34, construction worker (Lafayette, Lousiana)
- Yau-Man Chan, 54, computer engineer (Martinez, California)
- Earl Cole, 35, advertising executive (Santa Monica, California)
- Jessica deBen, 27, fashion stylist (Los Angeles)
- Erica Durousseau, 27, nonprofit fundraiser (Lake Charles, Louisiana)
- Cassandra Franklin, 42, civil engineer manager (Los Angeles)
- Liliana Gomez, 25, loan officer (Oxnard, California)
- Andria "Dre" Herd, 25, cheerleading coach (Wilmington, North Carolina)
- Stacy Kimball, 27, interactive Internet producer (Boulder, Colorado)
- Sylvia Kwan, 52, architect (Ross, California)
- Mookie Lee, 25, loan manager (Wheeling, Illinois)
- Lisette "Lisi" Linares, 36, customer service representative (Los Angeles)
- James Reid, 28, bartender (Los Angeles)
- Edgardo Rivera, 28, advertising executive (Miami Beach)
- Anthony Robinson, 32, expert witness locator (Compton, California)
- Gary Stritesky, 55, school bus driver (Ramsey, Minnesota)
- Rita Verreos, 38, single mom (San Antonio)
- Michell Yi, 23, student (Cincinnati)
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