Survivor events

One of the items in Lindsey's auction lot was this cute little box. She chose an appropriate place to write her very first, and most embarrassing, quotation from Survivor Africa!

At the clubhouse, we found a long row of golf carts awaiting us. That's Clarence and Big Tom with their backs to the camera on the left, and Gina walking in the center of the photo

I was able to locate the golf cart assigned to me by this placard, which also announced that Tina was to be my playing partner. The Survivors switched to another foursome every 3 holes

On the fourth hole, the Survivors rotated foursomes and I was joined by Alicia. There is a company called "Calloway" that makes golf balls, so we thought it would be cute to have ours signed by a "Calaway"

The third Survivor to join my foursome was Rodger, shown here with Kimmi prior to our round of golf. After playing a couple holes with Rodger, my group abandoned golf to simply tour the course and see all the Survivors we could find. The souvenir shirt Kimmi is wearing is mentioned again below

After the dinner which followed our golfing, Kimmi and Debb somehow missed their transportation back to the headquarters hotel so I let them ride in my car...the maroon Olds seen in the photo. On the left is Kimmi's boyfriend and on the right is Crystal, my date for the event. Kimmi had changed clothes for dinner and I later found she had left the gray souvenir tee shirt in my car. When I returned home, I mailed it to her

Shown above are the envelope from CBS which contained my tickets to the live telecast of the Finale of Survivor Amazon, one of the actual tickets and the wrist-band I was given at the door. Originally scheduled for an outdoor stage in Central Park, threatening weather caused the event to be moved into the Ed Sullivan Theater which is now the home of Letterman's "Late Show".

Long before the Finale, I had become acquainted with several of the cast, one of whom told me that CBS was housing them at the Plaza Hotel (above) located at 5th Avenue and 59th St. Also, that they would arrive Saturday and depart Tuesday. I booked a room for that same period and was in the lobby as they began to arrive. All of the photos I took and autographs I obtained from Amazon castaways were here in the Plaza Hotel...the final ones were done Tuesday morning as they were leaving for home.

Castaways from the first 5 seasons, not permitted to see the Amazon cast before the Finale, were housed 3 long blocks away at the Park Central Hotel on 7th Avenue. Since they had to pick up their tickets in the lobby of this hotel on Sunday afternoon, I walked over and met most of them as I claimed my own tickets. All the photos and autographs I obtained from S1 to S5 castaways were done there in the lobby...most on Sunday, but a few on Saturday and Monday.

The 2003 version of SurvivorFest was a scaled back version. Eva Payne, founder and president of Camp Kindle, is shown above. For my support the previous year, she sent me this ticket to attend the private party for sponsors. Also shown are the wristband and name tag I had to wear. Together with 15 Survivor castaways, we partied with a handful of players from other reality TV shows.

Saturday morning's event was a bowling party. Fans bid on eBay for the right to bowl with each celebrity. I won 4 auctions and my bowling partners, shown above, were among the cutest present: Jenna Lewis, Christy Smith, Kathy O'Brien and Amber Brkich. We bowled two games and I have no idea what our scores were!

The main event Saturday night was casino fun with play money. A few items were auctioned live, but most of the items brought by the celebs were sold at silent auction. I bought the lots donated by Amber and Mitchell of Survivor Outback. But mainly, we just used the evening to get better acquainted with our castaway friends and take more photos. My ticket to the event and the official program are shown above.

Above, Amber is holding a journal book similar to the one she used in the Outback. She had signed it's first page. In addition, her lot included an orange Outback tee shirt signed by all but one of the celebs present. Mitchell's lot consisted of a Planet Hollywood tee shirt signed by several of the castaways who had attended the Amazon Finale. It also included the Entertainment Weekly magazine with Rich Hatch on the cover which Rich immediately signed for me. Finally, there was the US Weekly magazine with the Outback cast on the cover, which had been signed by every cast member except Jerri. I subsequently got her to sign it in Omaha. Both magazines are displayed elsewhere on this site.

My young Canadian friend, Ashley, made this poster for me using some of the photos I had taken at the event. She is very talented and I love it.

The Festival began with a Go Tribal party Friday night. The castaways, grouped by seasons, entered in single file led by Sonja of Survivor I. The first couple hours were spent just mingling, taking photos and obtaining autographs. Shown above are scenes of their entrance and the wristband I was issued at the door.

The second half of the party was a live auction of memorabilia donated by the castaways. Shown above is Penny wearing a replica of her cowgirl hat which was signed by all the Survivors present. Oh, I'm in the photo too because I bought it!

A few fans attended a charity luncheon Saturday where we were joined by the six castaways shown above. There were just three tables and I sat with Christy and Jenna plus four other fans and Christy's interpretor. It was an intimate and fun couple hours!

In this photo from the luncheon, Ethan and T-Bird posed with 5 well-known "spoilers" who regularly post on the Sucks Forum. For their privacy, I won't put names with faces but I later joined them and three other Sucks posters for dinner at a restaurant in Omaha. The festival was actually held at Harrah's Casino across the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

All the Festival events Saturday were held outdoors behind the hotel/casino. The castaways rotated between the various events that had been set up for fans. The final event was on a stage where we were allowed to ask questions and then watch the "odds" compete against the "evens" in challenge-type games. The "odds" (seasons 1, 3 and 5) were declared the winners. Additional memorabilia was auctioned and I bought Heidi's lot: The Playboy magazine she is holding in the photo above. She and Jenna then signed it for me.

This was the first-ever charity event which featured players from the four top TV Reality shows: Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race and The Mole. As it's principal financial sponsor, I wore the badge shown above for admittance to each function. Similar badges, a different color for each reality show, were worn by all the celebrities...I designed and assembled each of them.

The opening event was Thursday night at Westy's Pub, where Nicole Nilson of Big Brother 2 cooked a prime rib dinner for fans and a few reality celebs who had arrived early. She is shown above with me during the party which followed the dinner.

Friday night was the sponsor's preparty at the Silverton Cafe. Virtually all the invited celebrities were present for an evening of mingling with a handful of fans. A number of attendees sang karioke for us, including the group shown above: Amber Brkich, Sarah Jones, Jenna Morasca and Jenna Lewis of Survivor plus Danielle Reyes of BB3.

Saturday morning found the celebs at Deer Park High School for challenges and games with young fans. But before the planned events began, there was time to pose for photographs and obtain autographs. Shown above is Lisa Donahue, winner of BB3, with Nicole Nilson of BB2.

As the outdoor games wound down, a number of the Survivors began a water fight with each other. It progressed from squirt guns and water balloons to buckets full poured over their heads at close range. Shown above is Jenna Morasca with her shirt and shorts completely drenched!

In groups of 15, the celebs took a break from the games to enjoy pizza in the school cafeteria...compliments of Domino's Pizza. Shown above are Big Brother houseguests Chiara Berti and Sheryl Braxton as they dined.

The highlight of Saturday night's main event at the Cincinnati Convention Center was the auction of memorabilia donated by the celebs. Above, Rob Cesternino of Survivor Amazon offers a signed duplicate of his magic 8-ball, the original having been melted in the fire during the show.

Other scenes at the main event include the ever-lovely Heidi Strobel from Survivor Amazon; the awesome duo of Ghandia Johnson of Survivor Thailand and JoAnna Ward of Survivor Amazon; and the donors of the evening's most expensive item: John Vito and Jill of Amazing Race 3. The original gold and red route marker flag they brought sold for $1000. Thank you Greg Brown of Wisconsin!

Even as the show was airing, I had gotten to know Nicole Delma after I purchased her blue dress. When the Pearl Islands Finale was moved from Panama to Los Angeles and the cast given extra guest tickets, Nicole invited me and one guest to attend with her family. I asked my friend, Tasha in Cincinnati, to come with me. We stayed at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles where the Morgan Tribe was housed. On Sunday morning, a limo came to take them to the CBS studios. Family and friends gathered in the lobby as they left and the above photo shows the Morgan Tribe just before they boarded their limo.

For reasons not explained to me, as family and friends of the cast gathered to board the bus to the CBS Studio, I was told by their representative that they had removed my name from the guest list even over Nicole's protest. After speaking with another CBS supervisor, Tasha was permitted to attend the Finale telecast and afterparty with her mother. So my only memorabilia of the event are the passes which I later had signed by Michelle, Sandra, Christa, Darrah and Rupert