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A visit with Susan, Kelly, Rudy,
Richard ... hey, where's Moishe?

MICHAEL ELKIN

The Jewish Exponent

Top to bottom:

Where are we again?• Sean,
Susan and Stacey consult a map.

Is this pareve?• Left to right,
B.B., Gervase, Colleen and
Gretchen check out the
local specialties.

Smiles everyone: "Survivor"
Gervasejoins Jenna, center,
and Colleen on Pulau Tiga as
a cameraman records it all
for posterity.

ITN

8/18

2000

8

o, where are the Jewish survivors?
We're talking CBS here, not World
War II.
There they've been, stuck on an
island more than a three-hour tour away from
civilization: a multi-ethnic, motley melange of
teachers and tyros, geeks and gods, brains and
brawn. And at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23,
America will finally find out which of them
will emerge the winner — and walk away
with a million bucks = on the last install-
ment of Survivor, America's most popular TV
show. It's the only one to beat Who Wants To
Be a Millionaire in the ratings this summer.
We've watched a woman who has her water
wings but got flooded out in competition
with a non-swimmer; a dairy farmer who
couldn't count on the milk of human kind-
ness of his companions to excuse his laziness;
and a Navy SEAL whose bark is bigger than
his bite.
And no Jews. Yes, folks, not one of the
original band of island icons is Jewish.
Of course, talk to the network, which I
did, and they don't like to get into this topic.
No choice was made according to religion,
says network spokesmanChris Ender.
After all, on the application form each sur-
vivor-wannabe was asked to fill out, religion
was not a question.
Bus just look at this group. Do any of
them look like they've thrown a bar mitzvah
recently?
Maybe I'm wrong. There's Susan,
Gretchen, Richard ... hey, where's Moishe? No
Jews in the group ... it's an island, for heaven's
sake! What are the odds?
What's the matter? Rats aren't kosher?
Coconuts don't get a better reception than a
cell phone? No good Chinese food off the
coast of the South China Sea?

How did the Lost Tribe of Israel get lost
among the remnants of the Tagi and Pagong
tribes who make up Survivor? What, they could-
n't find one Jew who could hammer a nail?
Wait a minute. On second thought,
maybe not.
Antisemitism? No. I was actually on hand
at the CBS tryouts for survivors in January in
California, and there was no such evil, inex-
cusable process in play. (I am sure Leslie
Moonves, CBS president, who is Jewish,
would have something to say about that if
there were — and there was not.)
Indeed, I could have tried out myself, and
was cajoled to by the network — ah, finally,
somebody noticed my Nautilus workouts —
but, alas, the auditions interfered with my
beach time.
Whatever, this can't be good for the Jews.

Editor's note:

For thoSe of you who
might be wondering,
we, too, presumed that
Stacey Stillman, one of
the original 16 sur-
vivors, might be Jewish.
The Detroit Jewish
News contacted CBS
when Survivor first
•
aired to obtain an
interview. We. were
informed we'd have to
wait until when and if
Stillman, 27, a laWyer
f rom San Francisco
who grew up on Long
Island and attended the
State University of
New York at
Binghamton and New
York University School
of Law, was no longer
appearing on the show.
When, in the third
episode, Stillman was
voted off the island`
essentiallf.nissed
from the group far
whining' 'too
• uch,
said the other yerr
wcteti
— we again
mist
cont an,
who
view bey
heist:

Dzversity Discussion

He's never seen the show but he's heard
about it, and when told there are no Jews
on the program, Barry Morrison, Eastern -
Pennsylvania regional director of the Anti-
Defamation League, doesn't see the true lack
of Survivor diversity — surely they could
have found a Jew someplace, somewhere,
willing to give up a time share for some
time on a rat-infested tropical paradise — as
a necessary evil.
"I am not so sure diversity has to be a good
thing, in this case," said Morrison.
No Jews is good news? "You have to be
careful with that and not get carried away"
with diversity, which could smack of quotas
and subvert the intent of a program such as
Survivor, responded Morrison.
And, besides, he asks, how many survivors
were placed on the island? One Jew out of 16
— about 6 percent — still would have been

Michael Elkin is entertainment editor of the
Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia.

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