Is there life after All-Stars for Survivor? We'll find out tonight as 18 new castaways are tossed onto a remote South Pacific reef on Survivor: Vanuatu -- Islands Of Fire (8 p.m., Global/CBS).
Survivor opens its ninth game tonight with a good ol' tribal frat party. CBS is touting this as "shocking!" but it's just odd. The local chief puts the dudes through all these bizarre hazing rituals, like shinnying up a pole covered in pig guts. (We make the interns do the same thing here at The Sun).
There are a few other twists. The tribes are divided once again into men vs. women (Lopevi, the red tribe, vs. Yasur, yellow). One guy is missing a leg, a woman has an artificial knee. Several of the guys -- no brain.
One guy, pro wrestler Travis "Bubba" Simpson, stands out thanks to his bright orange Bob Barker T-shirt. CBS suck up, come on down!
Local Survivor expert Murtz Jaffer (check out his Web site InsidePulse.com) says Burnett has slammed the lid shut on spoilers after the all All-Star fiasco. Or maybe he didn't have to. "The interest among spoilers is dropping and when that happens, the show's in trouble," says Jaffer, who thinks CBS has to crack 22 million viewers tonight if there's going to be a Survivor 10.
He has heard some buzz, however. The players have been cast for confrontation, he says. Army drill sergeants are paired with flaming liberals. One player, Dolly Neely, is "a casting agent's dream: 25, blond, Republican and a goat farmer."
He worries that, like on the new Apprentice, there may be too many players. "Eighteen is fine for All-Stars because we recognize them all already." -- Bill Brioux
