Next Thursday a new group of Survivors will enter my home via the television. I will spend roughly 20 hours with them and their witty host this spring.The show, which will begin its 12th season, originated on a Borneo beach in 1999. Borneo, as seen on my television, was a beautiful untouched island out in the middle of the ocean. It was the perfect place for a honeymoon, except there weren’t any resorts, and shelters were not provided.This show that I stumbled on while trying to find something interesting to watch was an instant hit, both in my mind and in the minds of over 20 million regular viewers.During the past six years, it has remained a hit for CBS. In fact, last fall’s show, "Survivor: Guatemala," finished its season with a bang, setting ratings highs with each of its final four broadcasts. The finale delivered the CBS reality series its best finale ratings since May 2004's "Survivor: All-Stars."The show consistently finishes in the top five on the Nielsen ratings.This season the survivors are stranded on an island off the coast of Panama. This time, the castaways will begin their competition as four tribes: older men, older women, younger men and younger women. At least one survivor each week will be banished to a separate island miles away from camp.Why do I watch the show, and furthermore why am I wasting news space on it?Well, I LOVE the show. I have watched every episode at least once and am fueled by the relationships unfolding on the television. I think it is extremely exciting to try to guess who will be voted off and who will align with whom. I am a people person and this show is all about people. I would much rather watch it than scripted sitcoms or dramas – I just think it is more exciting.When I lived in Texas, nearly 1,000 miles from my family, we used "Survivor" as a way of staying in touch.Every Thursday night, I knew where my mother, father and brother were sitting and what they were doing. Just as they knew what I was doing. We were all watching the same television show.After five seasons, I decided to make our watching more interesting by starting the Survivor Pick ’em Contest. I invite family and friends to pick the three survivors they think might make the finals. The goal is to have one of the three be the final survivor.Each season, pick ’em players are allowed to watch the first episode and visit www.cbs.com/survivor before making their selections. I figure this gives everyone a chance to make an educated guess. The Web site gives background and profile information on all of the survivors and the first episode offers clues to those with keen eyes.Each Thursday I send out an e-mail letting my contest players know who was eliminated last week and which picks are still eligible for the big prize.This brings me back to why I am telling you about it – because I want to invite you to join my Survivor Pick ’em Contest.This season, I am opening it up to Crescent readers. If I get any takers, I will publish their picks in the paper each week and together we can see who in the community is a good judge of character, as presented by the producers at CBS.Nearly every season, one of the pick ’em players manages to pick the million-dollar winner. Of course, they never win anything, just bragging rights of knowing they are the supreme "Survivor" watcher.If you are interested in playing the new version of Crescent "Survivor" Pick’’em, please call or e-mail me with your three picks before the airing of the second episode on Feb. 9. Any picks placed after Feb. 9 will not count.Remember, the objective is not to pick the top three, but to pick the winner. And who knows, maybe this time there will be a prize.E-mail "Survivor" picks to Lexi Moore at lexim@star-herald.com or call Lexi at 962-3561 or 283-2333.
