First Look - Elyse on Survivor: South Pacific

Elyse Umemoto

Elyse Umemoto is a 27 year old Dance Team Manager from Las Vegas, Nevada. She talks really fast, so do I. I think I am in love.

All kidding aside given her former beauty pageant background I have a feeling that she is definitley among the "here to be famous" crowd. But I sense she might be another Parvati and hiding some cunning play under there.

She says everyone loves to hate her or hates to love her. A common way people describe themselves when they have a habit of ticking people off. She also list "pretty girls wearing ugly shoes" in her pet peeves. What the hell?

She says she is quirky, goofy and outspoken. For the record, outspoken is usually how people describe themselves when they are rude and don't care.

I have a feeling Elyse will become the pretty girl who rubs some of the other girls the wrong way. She is my bet to become one of the villains of this season.

I think she will go far. She seems like the type who will make enough friends early on to secure an alliance spot. And the kind who people will want to keep around because they will think they can beat her.

I think she has a good chance at making it to the final four, and as mentioned earlier I do get a Parvati vibe from her. She might be underestimated right up until she is being awarded the one million dollar check.

Here is her interview from CBS's YouTube Channel



ELYSE'S BIO ON CBS.COM

First Look - Edna of Survivor: South Pacific

Edna Ma

Edna Ma is a 35 year old Anesthesiologist (I admit, I cut and paste that word) from Denver, Colorado who now lives in Los Angeles, Ca. Being this is Survivor I tend to assume anyone listed as being from California, especially LA is an aspiring actress.

But she claims she left behind her Anesthesiologist job and a start up company behind to play Survivor. So it is possible this time it's a coincidence. But I'm watching you Edna! She gave short answers on her CBS profile. Which lends itself to the theory she is mostly there to be on television.

She makes a point of saying how people will ask her if she is old enough to be an Anesthesiologist the implication being she looks too young. Which is wierd beacause she could pass for younger than 35 but doesn't look THAY young. Which means it may all be in her head, or she wants to brag about how she looks young.

In her interview she says she is a bad liar and she can be too much of a leader sometimes. She says people may perceive it as bossy. Got news for Edna, if she is being perceived as bossy she is probably being bossy.

I don't get a good vibe from this one. I have a feeling she will rub people the wrong way and be out real fast. Barring her tribe going on an early winning streak, I am looking for this one to be out within the first four votes. And I don't get a sense she can run the gauntlet on Redemption Island.

I sense by the end of the season I will have forgotten who she even was.

Here is her interview from CBS's YouTube channel.



EDNA'S BIO ON CBS.COM

First Look - Dawn of Survivor: South Pacific

Dawn Meehan

Dawn Meehan is a 41 year old English Professor from South Jordan, Utah.

She has adopted six kids, which is admirable if not a bit crazy. Of course I say that as someone who isn't admirable.

She says she is tough but I am not going to share the example she gave, watch the video below with caution.

She is a college professor, so the fact she will likely be around younger people a lot of the time might not be as big of a handicap. She would theoretically have already learned some ways to identify with younger people for her job. Although she teaches at BYU and considering the type that is prone to play in Survivor, it may not be the same type of young people as a college full or Mormon's has running around it's campus.

She comes off as really nice so I think she could go far so long as she doesn't prove to be a liability in challenges. Or fall prey to a youth centric alliance.

Although like Christine, she has the fact that an "older woman" hasn't won Survivor since season 2.

Here is her video from CBS's YouTube channel below.



DAWN'S CBS.COM PROFILE

First Look - "Coach" of Survivor: South Pacific

Benjamin "Coach" Wade

Benjamin "Coach" Wade is a 19 year old coach and professional Suviror player. He was previously on "Survivor: Tochantis" and "Survivor: Heroes vs Villians".

He is very wierd, and was able to tone it down some in Heroes vs Villians but wasn't able to secure himself a big enough spot in the tribe to make the merge.

He is claiming he will put his "sensitive side" aside. Boy I hope so, it sure never does him any good.

Coach is claiming he will be playing differently and applying what he has learned the last two times. Which are all good things if he does them. However, he is also acknowledging that he thinks when he comes off it will be very polarizing with who wants to play with him and who doesn't. Which isn't a good way to start if you don't have more of the former than the later.

As last season showed, having played the game multiple times can be a huge advantage when playing against a cast of mostly newbies. So he has that going for him. If he truly has learned where he messed up and can adjust his game accordingly he may just shock the world as he won't be the threat Ozzy will initially come off as.

But honestly, he is just so weird and I am not sure he can reign that in. I am predicting he might be in for yet another early departure.

Here is Coach's interview from CBS's YouTube channel.



COACH'S BIO ON CBS.COM

First Look - Christine of Survivor: South Pacific

Christine Shields
Markoski

Christine Shields Markoski is 39 year old teacher from Merrick, New York. And boy is she proud of being from New York.

She teaches English to those who don't speak it as a first language, kindergarten, and those with special needs she says. This would definitley imply she has a boatload of patience which is definitley a good trait to have on Survivor.

She talks in her interview about how she dislikes laziness and people with a diva attitude. I REALLY hope she can keep that to herself. Because the whole "hard workers" vs "lazy people" story line that pops up on almost every season is one I am so over. I can see why it is an issue out there, but I am just tired of hearing about it come up every time.

She says she is confident she is going to win, speaking as if it is a done deal as far as she is concerned. So she will probably go home within the first three.

She says she is good with directions and instructions. But then says she is a born leader. Those two things seem somewhat contradictory.

Her age could be an issue. Unless I am forgetting someone the last time I remember an "older woman" winning Survivor was Tina Wesson all the way back in season 2. Nothing saying she couldn't be the next one to win. But statistics are not on her side.

She strikes me as someone who will have a superior attitude and that combined with the reasons above leave me believing she won't last long. I have a feeling that she will likely be the first or second to go home from her tribe.

Redemption Island might help her. But if some big all around athlete comes on early like Matt did last season it may not give her much reprieve.

On the up side, she is cute. Sp as someone only a few years younger that Christine it's always nice to have age appropriate eye candy.

Here is Christine's interview from CBS's YouTube Channel.



CHRISTINE'S CBS.COM BIO

A Quick Look At The Cast

I will be giving my rundown and opinions of each of the contestants soon. But here is a quick look at the new cast (minus Coach and Ozzie) via CBS'S YouTube channel.

First Look - Albert of Survivor: South Pacific

Albert Destrade

Albert Destrade is a 21 year old Baseball/Dating coach. At least that is how CBS.COM listed it. Not sure if that means he coaches basketball and dating, or is a baseball player and a dating coach. Probably the latter. He is from Plantation, FL.

He seems charismatic and likeable enough in his pre-season interview. I am not sure how one becomes a dating coach, I mean what kind of resume gets you a job like that? Still, it would imply an understanding of how people interact and relate to each other. Which could all be good attributes for a game like Survivor.

His athletic skills will likely make him invaluable in the pre-merge stage. And he seems like someone who could take on a leadership role. But athleticism and leadership can be the kiss of death post-merge if you don't have really good numbers going in.

He implies in his pre-interview he is willing to be ruthless, so given his dating coach job he may be good at getting in good with the ladies, but if he falls into the showmance trap it could be the beginning of the end for him.

I don't give him good odds in winning. He seems to not be shy of a lack of confidence, but the big athletic hunks usually don't fare well as far as winning the game goes. They just become too much of a threat once it becomes an individual game.

Of course, unlike most seasons in the past there will be a Redemption Island in play. So that could be his saving grace and give him a chance to last longer.

OFFICIAL SITE'S BIO

Welcome To My Corner Of The Web

Greetings all. And welcome to my little blogging corner of the web.

I won't bore you guys with too much detail. But I thought for my first post I would share a little bit about myself with you guys.

My name is Dan, I am 35 years old, and I have been a fan of survivor since literally season 1. Catching every season with the exception of Tocantins. Which I missed the entire season because of a family emergency. Ironic since Coach will be back with the first season I plan to start blogging about.

I have always enjoyed analyzing and commenting on the game with friends, family, and at times on message boards. So, I decided why not write them down and share them with the internet? And so this blog was born.

This blog will be mostly for my reviews of the Survivor episodes as they air. But I will also chime in from time to time with my thoughts on the show, either with the current season, past seasons, or just thoughts in general. Hopefully some of you guys will find them entertaining.

Obviously the real fun on this blog won't start until the new season of Survivor begins on September 14th. But look for my look at the new cast in a day to two from now. Which will feature my first impressions, likely all of which will prove to be wrong as those preview interviews and videos are always misleading.