Survivor: Tocantins

ugh...its a recap show

CBS 'Survivor' Cast Member's Pre-TV Survival Story Detailed in New Book Gripping Account of World's Longest One-Man Kayaking Trip


Denver, CO and Janesville, CA (PRWEB) March 25, 2009 -- Before he became this year's hot contestant on CBS's hit "Survivor: Tocantins" reality series, Benjamin "Coach" Wade made waves for a different reason: breaking the world one-man kayaking record. Now, his harrowing real-life survival story is being told in A Voyage Beyond Reason: An Epic of Survival Based on the Original Journals of Benjamin Wade, the new book from author Tom Gauthier.

This gripping account, available now through Outskirts Press (www.outskirtspress.com), is based on the personal journals Wade kept during the 6,000-mile and 6 months-long kayaking endurance test beginning in 1996.

Today, Wade's tremendous sense of drive is evident not only in his appearance on "Survivor," but also his successful gigs as Missouri Southwest Baptist University's women's soccer coach and the conductor of the Susanville Symphony Orchestra in Susanville, Calif.

But it wasn't always that way. As the only slightly fictionalized story opens, readers find quite a different Wade from confident hunk watched by millions of fans. At 24, his dreams are at a dead end, his life nowhere near where he'd planned it would be. Finally, he's driven to a singular, spectacular, survival-driven quest. It will become his path to redirecting his life, his values, his spiritual beliefs, and his will to go it alone that is, if he lives through it.

Armed with an 18-foot kayak, Wade takes off from San Felipe, Baja California on the Sea of Cortez, in hopes of reaching the shores of Colombia, South America. Naiveté and youthful exuberance rule his efforts; mistakes are made, and assumptions are wildly off their marks. As he battles throbbing fatigue and menacing swells, Wade quickly wonders if his effort is a ticket to disaster. But superficial fear is not enough to deter him from his single-focused quest... Does he have what it takes?

Through it all, author Tom Gauthier writes from a unique perspective on human motivation as he weaves the threads of adventure, geography, and deep psychological challenges. Three decades of teaching and consulting on behavior and motivation, covering four continents in his travels, have shaped his perspectives of both a sense of place and the human condition that drive the core of this story of true-life survival.

A Voyage Beyond Reason: An Epic of Survival Based on the Original Journals of Benjamin Wade is now available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and the online bookstore of Outskirts Press, at outskirtspress.com/store.php.

Survivor Samoa? Is Survivor About To Be Filmed in New Zealand?

The 19th series of Survivor is about to be filmed this summer and the show never reveals where the filming of the next installment will take place until the finale of the season before. The details of the next season of the hit CBS show however has been leaked out via internet messageboards as vacationers were told they had to cancel bookings to Aggie Grey’s Lagoon Resort in Apia so it could house the crew for the American reality show Survivor.


Aggie Grey’s Lagoon Resort in Apia, which is a top Samoan resort, is apparently closing during part of its June to September peak season to accommodate production staff for the CBS show.

The resort has offered to accomodate affected guests at the old Aggie Grey’s Resort and bus them to the new hotel’s amenities, but many are furious their holidays will be wrecked.

One woman, has had to relocate 50 guests for her wedding as a result of the cancellation.

“Although the hotel is offering to relocate my guests and allow me to get married at the Lagoon, it is disheartening that all my plans have altered tremendously,” she said. “I can’t believe that they think it is so easy to ask more than 50 people to reorganise their lives.”

A spokeswoman for a travel agency, Marie Pilkington told the New Zealand herald that they were trying to relocate vacationers to other islands and many were rebooking for Australia.

“We had no warning, but we do understand the situation Aggie Greys has been put in and we’re trying to sort it out as best we can for everyone.”

Another agent had tried to book customers into resorts in Fiji and the Cook Islands.

“There aren’t many alternative options in Samoa so we’re trying to secure places on other islands. Understandably, many aren’t happy because they wanted to travel to Samoa specifically.”

My boss was actually telling me about this slot machine in his travels. They have it at one of our sister tracks, Harrahs Chester, so I thought I would look for it. He actually played it and said it was alot of fun.


There is a new slot machine in
casinos. It is a Survivor Slot machine that has 5 video reels. There
are various symbols on the machine that pays off winners at various
rates. It has the survivor logo with outwit outlast outplay on it.
The game has a feature that automatically re-spins the reels if you
have a winning combination. As long as you match the symbols on the
machine pay line and add a new one wherever that symbol may be, the
machine continues to spin. The more spins the more you win.
Here's the good part, or bad depending upon your point of view.
There are only 3 Survivor players on the reels.
Rudy Boesch, Rupert Boneham and Jerri Manthey.
No winners, No Jeff, Nobody but Rudy, Rupert, & Jerri.

The recap from what I saw basically shows Debbie wanting Tyson badly and JT and Joe hitting rocks and one nearly hits Taj as she is sitting in the water

Did you not see the Goddess starting the fire?! Even Stephen agrees with me that she is a goddess. :D

Oh Colton!

I.AM.PISSED.





Best Survivor in Tocantins <3

Colton? The tribe has spoken....

Exclusive: Sydney Wheeler talks about her time on 'Survivor: Tocantins'

Sydney Wheeler had been told repeatedly that she had nothing to worry about regarding Jalapao's upcoming Tribal Council session.

However all that seemed to change once James "JT" Thomas Jr. discovered that Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George had found the hidden Immunity Idol and was added JT to her alliance with Stephen Fishbach. Suddenly Sydney found herself on the outside of the tribe's strongest alliance, and led to her becoming the sixth castaway to be eliminated from the CBS reality series.

On Friday, Sydney spoke to Reality TV World about when she learned that she would be going home instead of Taj, whether or not she thought Joe Dowdle was lying to her when he promised she would be safe, and why she didn't like claims that she flirted her way to as far as she made it in the competition.

Reality TV World: It seemed like you were pretty sure you would be safe from elimination pretty much all the way until the Tribal Council vote. Was that accurate or was it just the show's editing?

Sydney: No, I think it was pretty accurate.

That morning before the challenge JT and I walked to a place together and he told me "Taj, tonight for sure if we lose." We ended up losing, and about two hours before Tribal Council I see JT, Stephen and Taj talking and I'm wondering what's going on so I take JT to the side and he tells me that it's actually now me and [he] doesn't know who's gonna be better at the merge.

And at this point we don't know when we're merging, but we know it's coming and we need numbers on our side and we need someone who's going to fare better with the other tribe. And obviously Taj had more experience with the other tribe.

So, I mean at that point there was no pleading for my life for me. I knew it was time.

Reality TV World: What were you thinking when [Joe Dowdle] told you that you weren't really in danger of being eliminated? He really didn't even address the possibility that you could be on the chopping block.

Sydney: Yeah, well he had just come back from Exile, and he didn't really know what was going on. And at that point I should've never let Joe be the middle man between JT, Stephen and I. I should've just allowed myself to figure out what was going on. I didn't really understand what Joe meant, but I think he was just trying to make me feel comfortable about it.

Reality TV World: So you think he was being truthful just miscalculated what was going on? There wasn't any gameplay?

Sydney: Yeah, I don't think he did maliciously. Towards the end once we were going to Tribal Council he was like "I'm staying true to Taj, voting for Taj, voting for Taj," so he made me feel comfortable enough to tell me it was gonna be Taj all the way.

But I think he just didn't know. I think, if anything he was blindsided more than anyone.

Reality TV World: Can you explain what your Tribal Council point about how you wouldn't have any prior relationships with Timbera once the merge came was supposed to be all about? Because even if you guys had a loyal foursome, you would have to get someone else to flip so you could have numbers.

Sydney: Oh, exactly. You know, we're going into a merge without numbers, and we would need someone who just has more experience with Timbira, like Taj. Whether or not it's good experience? What I meant was loyalty and how I wouldn't flip necessarily to the other tribe, where Taj might have more of a reason because she'd made better relationships with them.

Reality TV World: In your exit statement you said that you "really see anyone from Timbira switching over, but they might try to do something." Does that mean that you didn't have any idea about any of the cross-tribal alliances that were being formed away at Exile?

Sydney: Oh yeah. Every time Taj would come back it would be 'Oh, I didn't learn much.' Taj didn't have much to say about Exile except about how horrible the conditions were. So I thought she was playing a totally different game than what actually was going on, and the whole [cross-tribe] thing is brilliant. She's really smart for doing it.

Reality TV World: You and Joe were obviously allied together, did he make any mention of, well, what turned out to be that fake Immunity Idol he found before Tribal Council as a possible way to save you if you were up for elimination?

Sydney: No he didn't. He never told me that he found it, which I'm almost glad he didn't because it would have been an embarrassing thing on my part. But he never did, no.

Reality TV World: Stephen’s alliance with JT seemed pretty obvious based on what was shown on TV, but how obvious was Stephen and Taj's alliance while you were out there, did you know about it?

Sydney: That's a good question. You know, I always felt something. I even would call Stephen out on it because he was easier to call out than Taj was. Taj would get mad at me if I tried to call her out on anything and blow up at me. So I think with Stephen he would always play it down, 'Oh no, we don't have that. We're not that big.' He would always play up him and JT's friendship. So I would just believe him (Laughs), of course.

Reality TV World: Did you have any suspicions that Taj and Stephen -- and eventually JT by the end of last night's episode -- were sharing the hidden Immunity Idol?

Sydney: No. You know, I never really caught on that Taj had the Immunity Idol for some reason. I thought [Brendan Synnott] was smart enough to find it. I was stupid enough to think that there wouldn't be one at each camp, so I never even suspected it. But I knew there was an alliance going about an hour before when I saw them talking, which sucked. Because I knew it was me [going home].

Reality TV World: Do you think Taj's decision to bring JT in on her hidden Idol -- which she only did after Stephen told her he'd already found out about it -- was the deciding factor as to why you were voted off? Because based on what was shown last night, it looked like JT's belief that they were all kind of "sharing" the idol seemed to play a big role in his decision to vote for you.

Sydney: I definitely think it was the deciding factor. Why wouldn't you go with someone who has an Immunity Idol? Especially when they're willing enough to give it to someone else. And she was with Stephen but she gave it to Stephen. Why wouldn't you go with someone and blindside them later on, with possibly you getting [the Idol]. So I think it was a smart move on her part to tell him, and I think it was smart move to go along with it, which doesn't fare nicely from my side, but it's true.

Reality TV World: We saw Joe trying to sway JT and Stephen into keeping you but we didn't really see you do a lot of campaigning. Did you ever approach JT or Stephen yourself and try and sway one of them to your side?

Sydney: Yeah definitely. Like I said, the hour before Tribal Council I took JT aside and just kind of tried to pick his brain and see where he was, and he told me it was me or Taj but he was leaning towards me more because Taj had more of a pull. I definitely did a little pleading for my life and told him how I would be a little bit more loyal, I would definitely be able to pull some of the guys.

And with Stephen it was... (Pauses) Stephen always lied to my face.

Stephen told me straight up "Hey, we're voting for Taj." He never told me that he had any doubt that Taj wasn't going. So I had no reason to go to Stephen and plead for my life, in a way.

Reality TV World: Actually I'm not sure if it's what you were alluding to with the 'guys' thing you just said, but you seemed to catch some flack in the early rounds of the competition for flirting with some of the guys, especially Joe it seemed, to get some alliances going. What did you think of that?

Sydney: Well I just think it's funny because it's my nature, my personality, it's just me being friendly. And I do have flirtatious qualities, it's in my personality and I'm not ashamed of it or anything, but I just think it's funny the way it played up, and also that that's my only strategy and that's the only way I'm getting by in the game.

That's not what it was. I made these alliances with [Spencer Duhm] and Joe, that's as far as I got with Spencer, you know? And then with Joe, JT, Stephen and Taj we were all good buddies. I mean of course [Sandy Burgin] is gonna be next.

And then after that it's just like whittling them down. So it sucked to watch that edit, but whatever, that's what I signed up for.

Reality TV World: If it's any consolation, when we talked to Sandy she said she 'woulda done the same' if she had "the brawn and the brain and the body' that you did. Tell me about Spencer, you were also the one who seemed to be testing Spencer the most about his past relationships. When we talked to him, he told us he didn't tell anyone on the show he was gay but he thought you probably suspected it. Is that true?

Sydney: Oh yeah. From the first for hours of the truck where we met each other I picked up on it. It's a girl thing, 'gaydar,' whatever. I didn't wanna call him out on national TV, but I was trying to make him feel more comfortable by asking him what was his status and he still never came out, so I knew it was a touchy subject.

And the I even did ask the guys, JT and Joe, what they thought and if they thought he might be gay and they both said "No, he likes sports, he's a guy's guy. No way." So it was kinda funny to be right about it.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on the show?

Sydney: I was at a bar and was found by a casting director, and then she gave me her card. I was in college for the first time when they called, so I didn't go. The second time they called I was able to go in for an interview and did an on-camera interview and then had the final interview. So I guess, yeah, I was found at a bar. (Laughs)

Thanks Lorraine! <3

I thought you might like that Colton!

:) I think it's funny she knew Spencer was gay. I had a feeling she did. Spencer should've gotten together with Syd and Joe and forced a tie then Taj and Stephen would be gone instead of Spencer and Sydney. :(

'Survivor: Tocantins' Recap: The Ego Has Landed
Tyson and Coach talk a lot about how awesome they are, but an injury ruins their grand scheme—and saves Brendan from almost sure elimination. For now.

"I spent about 10 minutes in the water getting refocused and it was like, boom! And everything just clicked. This is about me now." —Coach
I'm not gonna lie: There are a lot of good parts to this quote. But the best is that it assumes it hasn't always been all about Coach. As if Coach has the capacity to ever make it about anyone else but him. He's probably the most egotistical Survivor contestant ever, just edging out Richard Hatch, Boston Rob, and Johnny Fairplay (although Fairplay's was more an act than anything else). But there has been a noticeable shift these past few weeks in the way that producers have been handling the fired soccer coach. At the beginning they were just showing him straight up, and, as a result, we all were pretty much despising him. Seriously, I cannot remember anyone getting universally hammered more than him on these here message boards. (Ya'll are cold.)

But now the editors are having fun at his expense. They mocked his weather prognosticating skills to hilarious effect, and then this week showed him doing his yoga-like meditation alongside booming orchestral music, and flashes of lighting and claps of thunder. In effect, they have made him a cartoon character. And now, instead of hating him, we're merely laughing at him. It's amazing, really. I feel little to no animosity towards Coach anymore, because he has simply become his own little self-contained sitcom. (Oh, look, here comes wacky neighbor Tyson over for a visit! What shenanigans could they be up to next?!) Of course, that could all change if he starts yelling at women again, but for now, producers have found their sweet spot with the Jedi wannabe.

Which brings us back to the latest episode. After completing his morning meditation, Coach went over to give Erinn a backrub. Watch out, Coach — you might catch cancer! She's in danger of infecting the tribe, remember? Over at Jalapao, meanwhile, the tribe was down to just four members. "We’re just Jala. We lost pao," joked Taj. And things looked to be getting worse. Joe's infected knee was starting to resemble a huge zit just waiting to be popped. Joe insisted it was looking better, although his power of positive thinking also probably had him making passionate love to Sydney underneath the Tree Mail statue and we saw how far that got him.

Speaking of tree mail, both tribes received a message alerting them of a feast. "I get excited when I hear anything that starts with an F," said Taj, and while that could be construed as being a bit on the dirty side, I have to heartily concur. Fudgesicles, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Fonzie, the criminally underrated Fletch Lives — they all make a strong case for the letter F being the mightiest of alphabetical properties. But the real letter in question was M, as in merge. Would they? They would! But we knew that already from last week's preview, so I don’t know why I just got so excited. However, it wasn't just any merge — it was a merge with superdope lime green buffs. They say it's not easy being green, but I beg to differ: Those things were stylin'. Coach, of course, put the merge into his own unique and somewhat skeezy terms, comparing it to getting a new girlfriend, because "there's all kinds of things to explore." It's times like this when you wish you kept a vomit bucket next to the couch — you know, just in case.

Erika! <3 Thanks for the vid!

Coach is growning on me! As much as I didn't want to see Brendan go home the thought of Coach leaving this early I didn't like either. I mean Coach is the type of character you love to hate on. He has the most outlandish stories and nobody has the balls to just call BS. How the hell did Coach not get sent packing over Brendan? These people are idiots and deserve to lose! The exile alliance should have been strong enough to save Brendan but it wasn't. So now Brendan is the 1st jury member.

Worst quote - "getting to an outcome at the end of the game which is going to satisfy me. If J.T. wins it, that's like me winning this game." That's all fine and dandy but how is somebody else winning a mil other than yourself winning it consider winning.

Coach and his story telling is just so outrageous it's funny. He says the craziest shit and NOBODY calls him on it furthermore nobody had the balls to vote him out.

Some of Coaches outrageous quotes -
"They tied me up and took turns beating me."
"If you do a Google search you won't find it. It's passed down orally."
"The 5, 6, 7, 8 life or death situations I've been through."
"They can not question my integrity, my honesty."
"(To Stephan) Be the wizard!"
"Like the Vikings had the 7 layers of Heaven."
"Brendan is the dragon and I am the dragon slayer."
"When I tell these stories I try to give the PG13 version."
"Sierra is the bowel movement that come out of the dragon."
"(To Stephan) The wizard is coming into the Man of the Mountain."
"I just can’t describe the feeling of being stalked by another human being"

...so umm yeah I'm on the Coach bandwagon!

Brendan giving away 50,000 burritos, but only until “amusing,” “harmless” Coach gets voted out

Bear Naked Granola founder Brendan Synnott, the entrepreneur/dragon who was voted out of Survivor Tocantins last night, has a new business venture coming, and he’s tied its early marketing to his slayer on the show, Benjamin “Coach” Wade.
His new company Evol Burritos is giving away 50,000 free burritos—you get a coupon for a free “all natural and organic, made from scratch” frozen burrito if you sign up on its web site. But the offer is only good until “Survivor 18 concludes, or when ‘Coach’ gets kicked off…whichever happens first,” as the site says.
As I told Brendan when we talked a few minutes ago and he mentioned his new venture, if I could eat 50,000 burritos to guarantee that Coach would be voted out, I would. Clearly, Brendan is a smart guy, capitalizing on the Coach-hate to bring attention to his new company.
Coach told me before the game that he would have Brendan “by the balls” because he knew about Brendan’s success and status as a multi-millionaire, but Brendan told me that while that may have affected how people voted at the end, it didn’t impact the game day to day. Brendan said “everybody knew from it being leaked” but “the impact your prior life has on the game isn’t as severe as I thought it would be.”
Regarding Coach, perhaps surprisingly, Brendan said, “I still like the guy” and called him “totally amusing” and “totally harmless.” Brendan said Coach is “a really smart guy” who “talks this big warrior game” but “what he said and his actions never really correlated.” Brendan also said, “I think he reads a lot of books, I think he reads a lot of fantasy,” and “they all tend to blur together.” That affects Coach’s “ability to differentiate himself from that and reality.”
And Brendan said that “the edit he’s getting, he completely deserves. He talks about himself incessantly, but he’s totally harmless, he’s not malicious.”
Regarding his game play, Brendan joked, “I’ve let down everybody” for not getting Coach out. Brendan said he was ultimately voted out because Timbira thought he had the immunity idol, and thus wanted him gone. And Jalapao’s diminished numbers meant they “were naturally inclined to do whatever” Timbira wanted.
The Exile alliance that got so much attention fell apart quickly because of that, and because, as we saw on TV, he and Taj decided to “keep this on the DL,” and so Brendan said he “removed myself and didn’t proactively spend” time with them after the merge. When he did finally start talking strategy with Taj and Stephen, it was “obviously too late,” he said.
Interestingly, Brendan told me that he and Taj created a system of hand signals to communicate at challenges, and were able to tell one another whether or not their alliance mates (Sierra and Stephen) were on board, and whether or not they’d found the idol back at their camps.
Sounds like the secret one-finger system I use to communicate with Coach while watching TV.

I can't freaking stand Tyson!!! So glad they FINALLY got rid of him!!!!

Why does the entire tribe hate Sierra so much?

Please let Debbie be next to go!!!!!!

TYSON GOING = A-MAZ-ING!

I despise the hideous troll. Now Roach is next followed by their dumb little whore. Then they need to get rid of the dumbass hick, the idiot, the dumbass who gave her Hidden Immunity Idol away to the idiot, and let Sierra beat the hag in the finals! <3

Tyson's boot was an excellent blindisde! I really enjoyed it.

Coach was somewhat entertaining for a while, but I'm tired of every story being a coach story.

There's so much else going on out there we don't get to see because they devote so much time to coach. Like Sierra for example. Why does everyone out there hate her with such a passion? We've seen the other HG's talk about it, but so far they haven't shown any of it. I wish prodcution would share the show a little more with the rest of the cast.

But anyway, here's a few chops/vids for Tocantins:

Coach fumes over Sierra:

This one I wasn't sure about posting here as it has a few very Sucks centric jokes like Silas. But the looping coach clips are pretty cool. Advance apologies if some of the digs are too Sucksish.