Survivor starts TONIGHT, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 14TH!!!! SET YOUR VCRS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wink:

Early judgements based on the bio's: I like Rebecca (she rescues kitties, so of course!), JP, Jessica, Candice, Cowboy, Parvati, Sekou. There's one or two that look like I won't like them at all, but I'll reserve that judgement til after I see them on the show. The rest were kinda boring bio's so may be boring to watch, but remains to be seen. Some very animated ppls have had boring bio's in past.

From Survivorfever.net: Tribe names: The new teams of Survivor - The Aitutaki (Hispanic-American Tribe), the Raratonga (Caucasian-American Tribe), the Manihiki (African-American Tribe), the Puka Puka (Asian-American Tribe) Survivor Shocker! TV Guide Hardcopy - 8.28.06 by Shawna Malcom You won't believe the show's new rules! On a picturesque beach in the South Pacific, the 20 castaways of Survivor: Cook Islands are psyching themselves up for their first challenge. They stretch their muscles, shake off nervous energy and study the intricate obstacle course before them. But mostly, they check out the competition - and not just for the usual sizing up. Something strange and audacious is going on: The four five-member teams are grouped by race. Asian-American. African-American. Caucasian. Hispanic. As host Jeff Probst kicks the game into gear with his trademark opening line - "Survivors, ready!" - questions even more pressing than who will win come to mind. Like why did producers devise this decidedly un-PC approach? Will it attract or alienate viewers? And is CBS risking the future of its venerable reality franchise? Executive producer Mark Burnett has anticipated these questions. He insists the decision to split the tribes along ethnic lines grew not out of an effort to boost buzz for the aging show - which was down nearly 11 percent in viewer ship last season - but out of the desire to address a longtime criticism: That Survivor is too white. "I really wanted to have a lot more ethnic diversity," Burnett says. In fact, there are more Asian-Americans this season than in the previous 12 combined. Same with Hispanics. But why group them together? Says Probst, who is also a producer, "I'd be more worried about criticism if we grouped together one Asian-American, one African-American, one Caucasian and one Hispanic. Then you're saying, 'Get along.' Now we're saying we're gonna start this game without any constraints of society. It's an equal playing field. There's no reason you'd be voted out because you're a minority. Burnett is more blunt. "You'd be criticized in America if you were giving away money on a street corner," says the British producer. "They'd say you were taking away people's drive." To build the teams, casting director Lynn Spiegal Spillman scoured bars, clubs, professional association Web sites and even MySpace in an effort to recruit what Burnett dubs a group of wide-eyed adventure seekers. All submitted to lengthy interviews and were grilled on racial tolerance. Con-*test*-('")ants include cop Cristina Coria, Vietnam War refugee Anh-Tuan Bui, makeup artist Rebecca Borman and actor Jonathan Penner. Yul Kwon, a management consultant, was especially interested in Survivor's new game plan. "Growing up, I didn't see many positive Asian-American male role models in mainstream media," says Kwon, sitting on a the beach. "If I have an opportunity to help, I'm jumping at it." Will viewers respond in kind? "This could be the season steeped in questions about different ethnic backgrounds," Probst says. "Or by Day 3, no one could care and it's just normal Survivor - only with a much more colorful, interesting cast."