Survivor

The 17th season of Survivor, Survivor: Gabon, is amping up to start filming in the west African nation in June, but CBS is already begun casting for Survivor 18, which is set to air beginning in January of 2009.  Open casting calls around the country began last weekend, and will continue for the next few weeks.  As they prepare for season 18 of the long-running reality series, CBS has made one major change to the application process: they've lowered the age requirement from 21 to 18.  This is big news for 18, 19, and 20-year old Survivor fanatics around the country and a move by CBS that will, presumably, lead to a bigger talent pool for the network to work with and inject more youth into Survivor 18. 

There have been mild criticisms over the years that Survivor has tended to cast younger and younger as the seasons move along.  I have no problem with casting younger contestants, and I have no problem with Survivor sprinkling some older ones in as well.  I do have an issue with reality shows casting good-looking people for the sake of having good-looking people.  I'm not advocating the inclusion of more ugly people.  On the contrary, all I really care about (and I assume it's the same for most Survivor fans) is having interesting and dynamic characters.  Young, old, good-looking or not, just give us some solid characters. 

This might have a little something to do with the fact that Survivor 17 and 18 will be the first ever seasons filmed in high-definition.  Younger people tend to be better suited for HD, and it's possible that Mark Burnett and company are being forced to disregard possible Survivor contestants who, in the past, would be considered for casting but now aren't pretty enough for those pesky HD cameras. 

For information on upcoming open casting calls, go here to the official CBS page.  You can also simply send in an application for Survivor 18 at this time.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: RealityTV World
(Image Courtesy of CBS)