December 5, 2010

Jeff Probst accuses 2 contestants of breaching the implied "Survivor" contract.

Okay... but, of course, there is a written contract. What's in it? The idea of an implied contract is nothing but a figure of speech for Jeff here as he's exacting what is probably the only power he has to impose a penalty: bad-mouthing the quitters.

22 comments:

Bender said...

Survivor.

Is that still on?

That said, quitters should be condemned. They took a slot away from a lot of other people who would never quit. The only thing they deserve is distain.

Joe said...

Isn't this an indictment of Probst and the CBS screeners?

Moreover, if a contestant realizes they aren't going to win, but will still be able to judge, why go through the nonsense? That seems like a brilliant strategy and Probst is simply pissed that he wasn't smart enough to think of it.

Joe said...

BTW, from an executive producer standpoint, this was great! The point of the show isn't the game, it's getting ratings and selling advertising. I'm surprised they haven't found someone already that they knew would quit and stuck them in the show.

T J Sawyer said...

After Naonka's behavior to this point, the fact that she can still walk is no doubt due to the contract clause about "no beating the crap out of any other contestant."

Sharc 65 said...

"Quitters should be condemned"? Is this another roundabout Palin post? Maybe she's just reloading.

WV: labler

madAsHell said...

Oh...Pleeeease! Survivor is so 15 minutes ago!

All the kewl kids are watching Dancing with the Stars.

There are no quitters on DWTS!!

.....just losers!

w/v: catesse - dancing with a cougar!

Unknown said...

Never having seen the show (thank God), I can only say that this is one of those things that's going to happen. Somebody realizes that eating dead (or, in some cases, not dead) fauna you wouldn't touch to save your life or something equally revolting because the host (who doesn't have to) wants to see the look on your face isn't worth it for a possible million you have no chance of winning.

It's called coming to your senses.

PS Agree with Joe and Bender

William said...

I don't follow the show, but quitting does give the game some authenticity. An endurance contest that no one ever quits is not really an endurance contest....Actually, the quitting shows some character. The contestants thought that a good meal was worth more than another week of fame. Quitting might be part of their maturation process.

Bender said...

You wish that Sarah Palin had quit. Instead, she's kicking ass everywhere she goes, leaving you all to cry and whine.

R.L. Hunter said...

I've never watched the show nor do I care to, unless they use my idea, put them on Komodo island and see if they can survive the Dragons.

BJM said...

They should have offered two jury members the chance to return by drawing lots, if Brenda & Marty had gone back they would have changed up the game.

Top Chef has done so and while it usually backfires on the re-entering contestant; it does make for some entertaining whining and scrambling.

Sharc 65 said...

Easy there, Bender. I'm a believer (though I prefer she just keeps kicking ass rather than tamping down the GOP field for 2012). Just pumping up the meme.

mariner said...

Probst applauds treachery by the contestants against each other, but he's upset when he's the treacheree.

Hoist by his own petard.

Unknown said...

Survivor needs to do a Cuba edition.... and the goal would be to get voted OFF the island.

Drew said...

There have been a few quitters before, and Jeff Probst gets really pissy and shows complete disdain for them. As Bender says above, a lot of people want to play Survivor, and these quitters took that slot from them. Jeff takes a very sour attitude toward quitters.

However, I believe this is the first time anyone's quit this far in the game -- so that the quitters will still be hanging around on the "jury." (EDIT: No, I guess there was one other. I don't recall that and I watched that season. Did Janu quit or did she just say "Please everyone vote me out?")

Anyway, even an uninteresting season like this one is still more interesting that "Dancing With the Stars."

Drew said...

Re: Naonka's behavior. I was shocked they didn't vote her out when she stole "Fabio's" socks, and when he said "Uh, hey I think those are my socks you're wearing" she got all indignant. "Yeah? So? I stole your socks. Shut up." I was shocked when they didn't vote her out after she stole food and hid it in the jungle. Her attitude toward the girl with the prosthetic leg was unbelievable. What more horrible thing she would have had to do to get voted out?

My wife was constantly muttering "And this woman is a teacher?"

Phil 314 said...

Professor;
If you keep posting on issues surrounding reality shows interspersed with political postings, at some point you will lose track...

(well, maybe that's already happened)

Original Mike said...

I am not at all convinced by the "precedent" argument.

George said...

Survivor gets thousands of applicants, does hundreds of interviews and leaves a bunch of hopeful alternates at a hotel in LA when they go to film. If I was a producer of the show I'd be pretty pissed at quitters as when when I'm thinking of the dozen or so other people on my short list who would love to have had the chance just to compete but who got bumped for the quitter.

Fen said...

I think its all scripted.

"Need ratings. What haven't we done yet? Whats that? Two quitters at once?"

Leland said...

I agree with Jeff to a point. But I think he is taking the show more seriously than the game it is. Both of the women made value judgements and determined the reward wasn't worth the cost. If they were really surviving, then their loss of life probably would have been more significant than the pain. If they really thought they would win the million, then the reward may have been more significant than the pain.

Unfortunately, both quitters decided they weren't going to get a million. So they weighed the reward for playing another week (probably a few thousand $ at best) versus calling it quits early. If you don't want them quitting, make the pain worse.

Until you do that, then make a big deal out of it, so people will come back and watch the show again.

Original Mike said...

"If they were really surviving, then their loss of life probably would have been more significant than the pain."

If they really were surviving, then their loss of life would mean feasting for the rest.