Well , Oprah was not carried by my cable today ,I think the Pres interfered..anyway heres an article~
'Survivor' head dangles Cdn. carrot again
By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun
Is Survivor ever coming to Canada? Depends on whom you ask.
Creator/executive producer Mark Burnett -- who has dangled this carrot before -- suggested again at Tuesday night's CBS press tour party here in Universal City that Canada was on the radar for future editions of the ever-popular reality show.
The devastating tsunami that ripped through southern India and Asia may also force Burnett and his associates to look beyond the usual tropical Survivor settings.
"We spent quite a bit of money and effort looking into the Indian Ocean (area)," Burnett told the Sun Tuesday night. "We scouted Sri Lanka and were in negotiations with southern India."
One scouting mission took place just prior to the terrible storm. At least two island groups hit by the tsunami were serious contenders for the next Survivor, Burnett said.
He had already ruled out others: "We did not scout Indonesia, I did not feel that area was safe," he said. He also had ruled out Sumatra, where they had "already destroyed the rainforest by burning the whole thing down" before the tsunami struck.
Neither Burnett nor show-runner Tom Shelly, who was also at the party, would say it out loud, but the idea of returning anywhere near these regions to shoot a game called Survivor would be unacceptable in light of the thousands of lives lost.
Shelly said that Canada was absolutely on their radar and part of their ongoing discussions. He said to dismiss it would be inaccurate.
Still, Canadians shouldn't get too excited. Burnett said he's also scouting in South and Central America.
The problem is in finding an exotic-looking Canadian locale, one that is far from prying media and Internet snoopers. Sure, there's Baffin Island, but bikini season is on a Thursday. From noon to 1 p.m.
When and if it happens, Burnett hinted that it will likely be somewhere in the mountains of British Columbia. He's interested in an ice cap area as a winter version, he said. "I know every inch of that place. My Eco-Challenge crew lived there."
He added that the game would be shot "in your summer -- it looks like winter."
Burnett was at Whistler for New Year's. He's now a snowboarding convert, as is his gal pal, former Touched By An Angel star Roma Downey. "We love Whistler."
The former paratrooper pretends to be a rough and tumble Brit, but he has totally gone Hollywood. He traded back slaps at the party with CBS's new Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson. "We're from the same background," said Ferguson, "hard-scrabble working class boys."
Burnett visited the Oprah show this week and spilled the beans about Downey and him. "She's so charismatic and so engaging," he said of the daytime talk show diva. "I've learned enough just to be totally open to Oprah."
Survivor: Palau starts Feb. 17 (Global/CBS). Twenty players take part this time. There are rumours that several get tossed straight away.
Shelly, who's a little more guarded than Burnett, allowed that the buzz word for this game is unpredictable, both in "the way we present the game to them and the way they play the game."
The phrase that was repeated over and over again in Palau is "we've never seen that before," said Shelly.
Despite all the lush scenery and babes in bikini fun, there are no plans to shoot Survivor in high definition. It's one of CBS's few hits not to have made the switch.
"Too expensive," dismissed Burnett. Odd, since he practically pioneered the HDTV upgrade on Eco-Challenge.
As for Survivor winner Richard Hatch (recently in the news for pleading guilty to income tax evasion after failing to report the most public million-dollar win in TV history), Burnett said he's known about his problems for a while. "The tax guys talked to me about it," said Burnett with a shake of his head. "I've long stopped being amazed at the behaviour of former Survivor winners."
source~
http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2005/01/20/904649.html
