Congratulations to Survivor: China castaways, Jaime Dugan & Erik Huffman!! They are now engaged to be married! I guess being stranded for a month in an isolated part of the world leads to romance after all. (Hey, they’ve already seen each other at their very worst, right?)

[Photo: courtesy of Jaime Dugan]

Here’s a request from Jaime for our help for them to win their dream wedding:

We need your help to win the wedding of our dreams. We both want to go home to good ol SC for our wedding. As most of you know, Charleston is my favorite place in the entire world. We had a few people mention the “Charleston Wedding Giveaway” to us and we decided to send in a tape. IT WAS HILARIOUS so I hope the judges will like it.

They pick the finalists in a few weeks. So keep your fingers crossed! Until then, we are asking friends to go on the site and post on the wall. “Vote for Jaime and Erik” or anything you would like. It would be a HUGE HELP!

A week ago I was watching the finale of Survivor: Micronesia Fans vs. Favorites in a screening room at CBS Blackrock in New York City. With me were two former castaways from Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: China, media representatives from Canada and media reps from California. This last week has flown by and I have written five or six posts about that night. This final post will be a wrap up of the evening and will include a sneak peak at where you can see some of your favorite Survivor castaways in the future.

First, I have to say thank you to Lynn DeVries and B5Media who allowed me to cover the Survivor: Micronesia press event in Lynn’s absence. I know Lynn wishes she could have been there to experience it all for herself, but next time she will, I’m sure! I hope that the posts I have contributed have met your expectations – and if they have, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to be a guest correspondent one day again!

I had a blast! What better way can I say it? It was exciting, overwhelming, tiring and totally worth the blisters I got standing in those heels all night long! I would have to say that my only disappointment was that I didn’t get a chance to see or meet Jeff Probst, even though we were told we’d have that opportunity. I had lots of questions prepared for him, so I was pretty bummed about that! But…that was the only disappointment of the night because in the end I got to be my own part of Survivor history!

As I previously reported, I got to meet one of my all-time favorite castaways, Ozzy Lusth, I flirted with James Clement (yes, I admit it!), I stood next to Survivor: China winner Todd Herzog (HUGE surprise!), I interviewed and developed a new respect for this year’s winner Parvati Shallow, and I got to meet Amanda Kimmel, who is such a sweetie!

Now here’s a bit of a wrap up of who else I saw and got to meet!
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I was rooting for Amanda Kimmel. I thought for sure she’d be the final Survivor on Survivor: Micronesia Fans vs. Favorites. What’s the saying…”Always a bridesmaid…”? It was disappointing that Amanda didn’t win the top prize, but she did just fine. Amanda placed third in Survivor: China, and was the runner up for Survivor: Micronesia. She snagged her own hottie, Ozzy, out on the island, she won a good amount of cash, twice, and she’s going to be in a movie. I think she did alright!

When Amanda joined her fellow castaways for the Red Carpet Interviews after the Survivor: Micronesia finale in New York, I was immediately struck by her beauty. As pretty in person as she was on the island, it’s easy to see why Amanda has been a model. But I think Amanda’s true beauty is in who she is outside of the game.

Amanda Kimmel & Betsy Hijazi
[Photo: Betsy Hijazi]

I watched Amanda be interviewed by both Dennis Luciano (Average Joe fame) and Survivor: China million-dollar winner Todd Herzog. As Amanda spoke with Dennis, she was bubbly, sweet and full of smiles. And when Amanda moved over to Todd, she was like someone who had not seen her best friend for a year. I don’t know who squealed louder, Amanda or Todd! They hugged for what seemed like an eternity and Todd told her how disappointed he was that she didn’t win. She, too, expressed her own disappointment with a big pouty face!
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We’ve come to the end of another year of reality TV and it’s been a very eventful one, to be sure. Reality TV has been one shock after another. I’ve been thinking about my favorite and most frustrating moments in reality TV this year and thought that this might be the best time to share them with you. After all, we are about to start another new year of reality moments.

• Evel Dick dumped a glass of iced tea on the head of the Ice Queen, Jen on Big Brother 8.
• Survivor: Fiji contestant, Yau-Man gave away a $50,000 truck to a fellow Survivor, Dreamz, with the expectation that Dreamz would take him to the final three…bad news for Yau-Man!
• Danny Bonaduce put that creep, Jonny Fairplay in his place and in the ER at the Reality Awards ceremony
• The final four chefs on Top Chef 2 got drunk and started shaving heads. Unfortunately, Cliff had to leave because he tried to force Maurice to shave his Bozo the Clown hair.
• James was voted off of Survivor: China while holding both of the immunity idols
• Eric Stein, aka America’s Player, mirrored Evel Dick’s crazy breakfast and spitting antics on Big Brother 8
• Jack left Project Runway 4 voluntarily in order take care of his health. What loss, he is a very talented designer!
• Jen broke the food restrictions on Big Brother 8 and was given the first penalty vote in BB history
• A coal miner and his wife became popular across America with their big hearts and warm ways on The Amazing Race
• Seemingly unstoppable team, Rob & Amber were eliminated fourth in the Amazing Race All-Stars
• Identical twin brothers won the top two prizes for weight loss on The Biggest Loser

And these are just the most obvious ones. There were so many memorable moments in reality TV during 2007, it’s hard to narrow it to just a few.

What were your favorite moments? What was the most shocking for you? Leave a comment to share your thoughts!

Reality TV, reality-tv, Television

Sunday night we got to see the season finale of Survivor: China and the cast looks much cleaner, well nourished and happier at the finale than when they were still in China. Here are some of them at the finale event held at CBS Studios in California.

(click on the thumbnails for the larger photos - lots more after the jump)
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Tonight the season finale of Survivor: China aired. I was a happy girl to find out that Todd was the winner. If hottie James couldn’t win, I had wanted Todd to win it. He was the most strategic player all season long.

It came down to Courtney, Amanda & Todd in the final three and the jury voted to give the million to Todd.

We found out that Erik & Jaime are now dating in real life. (He told Jeff that he’s still a virgin.)

James told how he helped a grieving family deal with their loved one’s funeral by letting them take pictures with him. He’s also been recognized on the street a lot and yes, girls, he’s getting a lot of attention from women. (Well, DUH!)

Denise went back home and didn’t get her job back as the lunch lady. Instead, she’s now a janitor and misses her old job.

Recently, CBS has had viewers vote for their favorite Survivor: China cast member. The three Survivors with the most votes were Denise, Peih-Gee and James. The viewers voted and awarded a $100,000 prize to James. I knew it would be him!

Just then, Mark Burnett himself told Denise that he would give her $50,000 to get her situation squared away properly. Great job, Mark Burnett!! I’m happy that Denise got that to help her family out.

All in all, this was a great season of Survivor! Now I’m looking forward to the next season which will pit seasoned Survivors against new contestants. I hope to see Yau-Man kick everyone’s butts!

_{Reality TV, reality-tv, Television, survivor, CBS Survivor, Survivor China, Amanda Kimmel, Courtney Yates, Denise Martin, Erik Huffman, Peih-Gee Law, Todd Herzog}

Tonight’s episode began with the remaining Survivors talking about the shocking elimination they managed to pull off. I’m still in shock that my favorite, James, was voted off. Now, I’m pulling for Todd. So let’s see how this week plays out.

The weather was miserable and the Survivors had to spend a lot of time huddling in mud holes to stay out of the rain. People were starting to get really homesick.

Todd said he was aligned with Courtney, Amanda & Denise and that they were all wanting to get rid of Erik and Peih-Gee. But even he knew that the others could turn on him at any time. This is the point in the game when things typically get cut-throat.

First, the castaways went to a reward challenge. They found out that each of them would be paired with a partner and would find their way blindfolded through a giant maze to win a reward. Then, Jeff broke the news to them that they would have a family member or loved one as their partner. The winning team would get a boat trip, a huge feast and a phone call from home.
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Once again, my friend, former Survivor, Bruce Kanegai (whom I owe a double shot of Jack Daniels’ next weekend at the Survivor charity event) has offered up his Survivor-eye view of the most recent episode. He even quotes the Chinese book The Art of War given to each tribe on scrolls at the beginning of the season. Enjoy:

Sorry for the late post, but I’m still in shock over the most stupid, idiotic, and lame strategy in the history of Tribal Council. I was speechless for days because I was hoping James would be in the Final Four. His 2 Hidden Immunity Idols were as valuable as tickets to the USA Basketball finals in the 1980 Olympics or a signed baseball from the 1994 World Series Baseball game. Worthless!

Instead of quoting the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden, James should have been quoting Sun Tzu. After all, everyone was told to read the book. Now, James will not taste the fruit, but six people will feast on the apple pie ala mode next week, thanks to James.

“IF IGNORANT BOTH OF YOUR ENEMY AND YOURSELF, YOU ARE CERTAIN TO BE IN PERIL.” ~ SUN TZU

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The show began where last tribal counsel left off. Jeff announced that they would not be heading right back to camp after voting off Frosti. He dismissed the jury members because he told them it didn’t involve them.

They all looked fearful that they would have a second elimination vote, but then Jeff told them the next reward challenge was going to happen right them.

He told them that the winner would be flown by private jet to a temple in the mountains that had been the birth place of kung fu. There would be a kung fu demonstration, a vegetarian meal and they would spend the night in the temple before returning the next day. The winner would get to choose two people to go with them. (Very cool!)
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Former Survivor and friend, Billy Garcia, is organizing a huge charity event to raise money for diabetes research. The event has many former Survivors from every season participating in a huge all-day charity Dodgeball Tournament.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am so excited that I will be there. (And don’t worry, I’ll be capturing as much as possible on video and photos to share with you here.)

The event will take place on Long Island, NY on December 8th. In order to get so many (and there are dozens of them!!) former Survivors there to participate, Billy is trying to get all of their expenses for travel taken care of by sponsors. He’s apparently got most of them covered, but there are still a few for which he needs your help. Here’s the message I just got from him:

Hey Lynn,

I’m still working hard on my charity reality dodgeball event. I’m putting the word out that we need sponsors for the following Survivors.

• Rory - Vanuatu
• James - Palau
• Boo - Fiji
• Ruth Marie - Exile
• Christa - Pearl Islands
• Daniel - Amazon

We have the hotel taken care of but not their flights. If you people that can help even just a little please put them in contact with me. It’s for a great cause.

Thank you for your help.
Billy
nycgarcia@msn.com

Survivor China, yau man survivor, yau-man, billy garcia, bruce kanegai, survivor all-stars