Volume 1, No. 10. June 15, 2001
Survivor III: The midway
When the folks at Paramount Parks'
Design and Entertainment Group were cooking up a traveling show for their chain
of theme parks, they picked the hottest phenomenon in America that would require
the least amount of talent to stage: Survivor II: The Australian Outback,
the hit reality TV game show by CBS, a brother company to Paramount Parks in
the Viacom family.
The stage game show, "Survivor Reward Challenge," debuted last Saturday at Paramount's
Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, the park closest to Paramount Parks'
corporate headquarters and a park which had successfully pulled off a week-long,
full-fledged Survivor contest with a radio station last year. This season's
version lasts less than an hour and uses members of the audience who volunteer
to compete in one of two daily shows.
The eight contestants are divided into the two named tribes of the Outback Survivor
series, the Kucha and Ogakor. They endure a series of challenges reminiscent
of those in the show, with a few changes befitting the venue. Instead of slingshotting
stones at china plates, for instance, they shoot rubber balls at plastic plates.
Other contests include balancing an egg or coconut on a spoon while walking
a balance beam (a few inches above the stage) and unscrambling puzzles as a
team. At the end of each challenge the winning team votes a member off each
tribe, a process repeated after the second round. After the third round, the
losing pair is kicked off the stage and the two winning teammates then face
off for the final challenge. Winners receive a Survivor bag, shirt and keychain.
And, yes, there is a food challenge. Contestants spin a wheel bearing the choices:
sardines, pig's feet, limburger cheese, onion, larvettes and a candy bar. "It's
probably everybody's favorite part," said Scott Anderson, public relations assistant
manager at the park. The food challenge was the final competition in a show
Wednesday when the big wheel seemed fixed against one player, who started the
final round by spinning for his food: the limburger. He barely got that down.
Meanwhile his rival landed on an onion, which he gobbled up. Then the cheese
eater's second spin landed on larvette which, in the wake of the cheese still
churning in his stomach, he refused to eat. The onion eater's second spin got
him sardines, which he swallowed. Final spin landed on pigs feet, which the
cheese-belly refused. His rival ate and emerged the victor.
With two real Survivor competitors, personal trainer Alicia Calaway and
internet project manager Jeff Varner, on hand for the show's premiere, huge
crowds spilled out from the park's Marketplace theater. Even without the stars,
and on rainy days that depressed the front gate, the small theater overflowed
with about 100 spectators per show, Anderson said. After a two-week run "Survivor
Reward Challenge" will move on to another Paramount park.
©2001, Minton Enterprises LLC
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