DC ExtraTime: Worlds Collide - Stranded Meets Survivor

Following is an excerpt from a DCBLOG post during Champs vs. Pros and following the Survivor: Game Changers earlier this year, reposted in the interest of our readers in the aftermath of the most recent season of Survivor: Heroes, Healers & Hustlers earlier this week.

#DCBLOG's BEST OF 2017
BY DC CUEVA                     
■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

The Stranded Final Four:
Alex, Makani, Cody & Gina
(IG/@AlexApple7)

And here, we have a follow-up to one of the big stories of these last nine months in the MTV world: nearly two months ago was the finale of one of the many series outside The Challenge & Real World system, and Are You The One?, that I have gotten to befriend with in this large MTV melting pot. And this past week, two of the key figures from the 21st series outside the Trifecta that I have either followed, watched and/or live tweeted got a chance to mingle with a member or two of the show that helped to inspire their show.
   Season 1 of Stranded with a Million Dollars saw ten adventurers being marooned in an island in Fiji with the assignment of having to spend 40 days in order to collect a potential seven-figure final payday with that pot being split among those who would go the distance. During this time, six players were not able to make it to the end when they flared up to announce their surrender, and in between we saw a lot of drama and interesting gameplay. In the end, those who watched and lived this experience left satisfied in the final result of the four players who left with a nearly $500,000 payday split four ways, though it's what happened with the two guys at the heart of this that might be the lasting image of this inaugural season of MTV's entry into survivalist reality competition shows.

First, there's Mr. Thrive, Cody. He was that Army Paratrooper who came onto this show in realizing a dream he had to making it onto an MTV reality show being a Real World/Challenge fan for over a decade. He developed a solid bond with New England beauty Makani and, after a couple of their alliance members departed, the two combined to dominate and sweep all the reward challenges that took place on that season and were worthy winners in the minds of many. And yes, there was what we saw from him in having to go pee, and then poo, in the water to try and take out his adversary and his partner which became one of the most intriguing and, shall we say, revealing things we've ever seen on an MTV show. No wonder why in its premiere episode wrap, MTV.com had Cody as the one fans would likely hate on the show and he lived up to that persona there in the islands... and last week, he got to meet a fellow reality TV villain who knows very well the feeling of being hated.

Cody with Russell Hantz.
Credit: IG/@CodyThrive

   While we covered Stranded on here (it aired after Invasion this season), we briefly profiled here one of the most famous and notorious players in the history of Survivor who also became an interested viewer of the show thanks to him joining me and others in live tweeting the episodes. Russell Hantz is arguably one of the show's biggest stars and greatest villains, having appeared on three of those seasons. And though he did not achieve the ultimate goal of winning $1,000,000, the way he played the game caught everyone's attention, going to two final tribal councils and earning a place in the show's Hall of Fame. It's helped to further propel a Hantz reality TV family tradition, which has seen him and other members of his family appear on Survivor, Big Brother and A&E, all the while maintaining an oil business outside of Houston and a bar next door in Louisiana.
   With both him and Cody sharing the same home state, it was inevitable that they would cross paths, and this past week that happened. In the caption for the picture above, Cody wrote, "There are a lot of fakes in reality tv. What keeps these shows thriving are real ass dudes like us. Keep hope alive. 🐐🐐 #MTVstranded #Survivor"

And second, there's Alex... the newsman. He came all the way from Vermont and took a leave from covering Sen. Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail to spend 40 days in Fiji and for the first half of the season controlled the financial part of a game where things we could buy at the local Wal-Mart for $5 or $40 cost $1,000 or even $30,000 in a tent. He led a group called the Core Four which also included San Diego bartender Gina, close friend Alonzo and now new mom Eilish… but after the ladder two flared, Alex & Gina were forced to have to deal with Cody & Makani until Day 40. And yes, they also had to put up with that Watergate situation which they survived somehow, as did them propelling down a waterfall to reach the final evacuation point in the finale. But we also can't forget what Alex did in Week 9 when he decided to take the money they have accumulated up to that point and put some of those bills into a campfire and tore some others.

IG/@AlexApple7

   With him having worked at WCAX-TV, Vermont's CBS affiliate, he used his contacts within the family of what's referred to in the business as The Tiffany Network to gain equal footing with his Texas nemesis, and perhaps making him even more jealous, by flying out to California to attend last week's live reunion for Survivor Game Changers. There, he sat near the front row on the CBS lot in Studio City watching the rest of the cast join Jeff Probst to crown the ultimate survivor last week and discuss everything that went down in Fiji - which also hosted that first season of Stranded.

   And he got to meet the queen of that season, Sarah Lacina, who was the last one standing on Season 34 of the Eye network's flagship reality show where she and 19 other fan favorites got a second chance at the million and was the worthy winner. Alex wrote of his fellow fan of the show, "I think I've got a new favorite survivor since @sarahlacina is also a Stranded fan. Congrats on a near perfect season of #Survivor #GameChangers! 🏝🎉"  Alex also got to meet fellow alum of the show, John Cochran and had his own starstruck moment in seeing pop royalty, for which he tweeted, "Found out today that I chatted up the singer Sia at the Survivor finale for 5-10 minutes and had no idea who she was sans wig."  Not only is CBS' Studio City facilities host to the Survivor finale, it is also home base for Entertainment Tonight, and Sia was one of the guests who made their way that day to that landmark of syndication and a staple of prime access (the term for the hour or half-hour before network primetime).

To put this into a financial perspective, in making the 40 days in Fiji, Cody, Alex, Makani and Gina all collected final paychecks of just around $125,000, which actually makes each of them the richest individuals of this Trifecta cycle, just getting by Ashley M. who had $121,250 for winning Invasion, and CT who won $112,500 on the guys' side. And if you're wondering about the ones who won AYTO Second Chances last week, Devin & Rashida won $170,000 and each get to split $85,000. Just behind those two is Hayden, who stole from Carolina $60,000 - making up for that collapse in the Caribbean back in March and no doubt will be enough for him & Gianna to buy themselves a boat for the summertime in the Midwest. And obviously, $50,000 is at stake each week on Fear Factor.
   Well, being able to pocket six figures is one thing to get through what we saw on the past few Challenges and on the AYTO spinoff, but pales in comparison to what we saw on Stranded with Team Makody and Team Algina both getting a cut of the cash in being able to get through the ultimate challenge: having to survive over a month in the wilderness on an island, being able to dominate as the first two did, and being able to get through the last week as the other two, makes this one of the big stories in the Trifecta that will sure be discussed on the Debrief later this month.

- I AM DC