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“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.”~~Oscar Wilde
“Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious...”~~Michael Stipe
“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”~~Douglas H. Everett
“Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one”~~Albert Einstein
“The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say.”~~Kahlil Gibran
"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."~~Jane Wagner |
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It can be said that one man's fantasy is another man's reality....or...that one man's reality is another man's fantasy. Since the very first season of 'Survivor,' I have wanted to be on the show. I even made the video and sent it in and was called in for interviews. Would I look good running around in next to nothing? Heck no!!! But I've lived through hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, forest fires, earthquakes, marriages, divorces, children and grandchildren, brown recluse spider bites, the military and where I currently work. I figured I had it covered. Then my Mother passed away and I missed the next set of interviews. So a dream goes on hold and is lived vicariously from season to season.
I was so excited to learn that someone from my town was going to to be on the show last season. Someone from tiny Pinckney, Michigan...four miles from Hell...and nowhere near much of anything. The fantasy reasserted itself. Now the vicariousness of my dream seemed closer. Last season this armchair watcher of the show was even more into it than ever before. It brought the whole town together. People came in to my store talking about the show, dissecting every move, every nuance, every person on it. Everyone was talking about it. People who had smirked and thought the show was just so much blooey were now watching it. There were 'Erik' sightings.
Now 'Erik Reichenbach' is a twenty-two year old student at Eastern Michigan University. He's a runner, an artist, a writer and he works summers at 'Screamers' which is an ice cream store in Hell, Michigan. He's a real, nonpretentious, down-to-earth kid with an intelligent head on his shoulders. I was thrilled when he agreed to an interview.
Reality show in a fantasy newsletter. Why not? Aren't they pretty much intertwined? One cannot have one without the other. To live on a deserted island is a fantasy we all have in one shape or another at some point in our lives. The reality of cut throated, mean spirited, do what one needs to do is extenuated a bit beyond the normal day to day world, but it is a microcosm of the reality we all experience day to day...just dirtier...pun intended!
I interviewed Erik while he was at work. He dished up ice cream and signed autographs. He was nice to everyone. Patient as he answered the same questions and heard the same comments over and over and over again. He hasn't let the experience go to head. As he says, 'he's just regular people. People think celebrities are made of gold. They aren't.'
The focus for me with the interview was to talk about things that hadn't been covered in the plethora of articles already out. We talked about editing and behind the scenes. He told me how three days are edited down to forty minutes. How the reality of what actually happened is often lost in the editing. Which makes sense, of course, it is TV after all. We talked about the ever present cameras--how there was no talking allowed between the contestants and the camera men. For the first few days it was 'weird' and he said that he 'pretty much stayed quiet.' After about the fourth day it was if 'they disappeared. You just didn't even notice them any more.'
His trip that he won as part of a reward challenge was to a small island a days flight away. The islanders on Yap were celebrating a national holiday. While there are 'modern conveniences' on this island, these particular tribes people have chosen to stick with the older ways. He was shown a dance which tells the story of the island's involvement with WWII. Good TV of course, but more, as it was an experience he'll never forget, and an opportunity to see another way of life.
We talked about how difficult it was to make shelters. 'We really sucked at it. Our shelter was terrible. Fire. Fire was so hard. We tried for hours and hours to make fire.' On TV, we see them standing around in the rain. The reality was 'eight hours of pouring rain, in the dark, hearing the rats.' Then, due to the cliffs rising directly behind them and their being on the west side of the island, the sun 'didn't get over the cliff until almost noon. It took forever for everything to dry out enough to even try to light a fire.'
The worst parts of the experience were 'in the beginning, learning to be dirty. It was like hell week, Later on, at the end, the paranoia--the stress of it all--the anxiety. It killed me. I'd never been in that stressful of a situation.'
Erik says that he'll 'never take food for granted again. You can't imagine just how hungry you get. Everything is taken away. Your entire life is taken away. You have nothing.' Now, he has 'I have a new respect for everything. Family, friends, his bed.'
'Perspectives change out there. Everything is different.' And his perspectives are still different:' I wouldn't think twice now about picking something up off the floor and eating it.'
It seems everyone asks him the 'why did you give up immunity' question. This is his response. 'There's no one answer for why I gave up Immunity. I thought it would have worked because it was in Cirie and Natalie's best interests. I thought we could make final three if they helped me vote out Parv or Amanda who both said they were going to the end together no matter what.
'They played the hell out of me and I bought it. Survivor is a tough game, everyone sitting on their couch watching has no idea just how hard it is.'
How has life changed for him since returning from the show? 'It's changed. It will never be the way it was...I've spoken at a few high schools and middle schools and literally been mobbed by fans. Its the closest I think I will ever get to being attacked by zombies; a hundred hands and autograph papers being pushed at you. It's pretty intimidating, but awesome to see.'
He's had opportunities he never would have had before and met folks he wouldn't have met otherwise. He's learned and is learning a lot about people in general. From media types to charity organizers, from excited fans to couch-potato-know-it-alls, from money grabbing types to eternally optimistic cancer kids, his journey is just beginning.
'It is still a thrill to be recognized as such but there also times it grows very annoying; especially the repetitive questions, "Will you ever trust women again?", "Why did you do that??!?", and my favorite, "Did you have to eat gross things?". It isn't your fault if you find yourself asking me this question sometime in the future, they're good questions! I wouldn't have signed up for Survivor if I wouldn't have known this kind of thing was going to happen. In fact, when I first did apply for the show I wanted the attention that comes with it, and if I were asked to go again I would in a heartbeat despite all the drawbacks.
'I dunno, I guess I thought being somewhat famous would be like some kind of giant payoff without all the responsibilities. There are still great rewards that come from the show, but alongside them are even greater responsibilities both to myself and to my fans. I don't want to say, "Fame isn't all that great" because it is! It's a fantastic feeling to be loved by strangers when you go places.There are just a lot more complications that come with it that take some getting used to.'
One thing that will get him far is his sense of humor. That and his ability to keep things in 'their proper perspective.
'On another note, one of the most fun things to watch is the spoiler forums. Before I applied for the show I went on a lot of fan forums myself, and tried to predict how the seasons would play out. Now, being on the inside, its very fun to watch the forums try and put the pieces together from the season. I feel a bit like God watching his children discover things for the first time and make mistakes for the first time. It makes me laugh.'
One of my favorite moments in the show was when he came up with their new tribe name: 'Dabu! Means good in Micronesian.' No, it didn't, ('There is no Micronesian language.') but now we have a new word! And spending time with Erik from Survivor was just that...plain, good dabu!
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Reality TV shows, and those of some other reality...all fantasy after all!
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Fantasy: August 27, 2008 Issue [#2578]
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