Ask some Tristate Survivor fans why the show is so popular here, and they may tell you: It's one for the money, and two for the show.

        Survivor betting pools are as common as NCAA basketball tournament pools in some places, Enquirer readerssay, explaining why Cincinnati is CBS' No. 1 market for Survivor.

        “I have three words for you: Survivor Office Pool,” says Tom Bier of Delhi Township. Sixteen workers at j&g advertising downtown paid $1 each to draw names out of a hat. Each participant pays another $1 each week his or her player isn't voted off the island.

        “I have Paschal. Go Pappy!” says Mr. Bier, referring to Paschal English, 57, the Georgia judge.

FINAL FIVE

Five players are still eligible for the $1 million Survivor: Marquesas prize as CBS' reality adventure game series enters the final week:     • Neleh Dennis, 21, a student from Layton, Utah.     • Paschal English, 57, a judge from Thomaston, Ga.     • Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, 47, a real estate agent from Burlington, Vt.     • Sean Rector, 30, a former Harlem school teacher now living in Los Angeles.     • Vecepia “Vee” Towery, 36, former office manager in Portland, Ore., now living in Hayward, Calif.     One more player will be eliminated Thursday (8 p.m., Channels 12, 7). Four will enter the two-hour finale on May 19.

FINALE NEXT SUNDAY

For the first time, Survivor will conclude with a Sunday telecast live from New York.     After drawing huge ratings on Thursdays, CBS has moved the finale to next Sunday (8 p.m. May 19, Channels 12, 7), in what will be one of the biggest nights of the TV season.     The Survivor: Marquesas conclusion will air opposite the series finale of The X-Files (8-10 p.m., Channels 19, 45), The Cosby Show: A Look Back (9-11 p.m., Channels 5, 22), and the two-part season finale of The Practice (9-11 p.m. Channels 9, 2).     Next Sunday, the final four Survivor contestants will gather at Donald Trump's Wollman Rink in Manhattan's Central Park for host Jeff Probst to read the ballots sealed on the 39th day of filming in the South Pacific.     Comedian Rosie O'Donnell will host the live Survivor: Marquesas reunion show (10 p.m.) immediately following the announcement of the winner. Contestants from previous Survivors, including Rodger Bingham of Crittenden, will attend the reunion show.     CBS will tape a fifth in the series, Survivor: Thailand, this summer on the island of Tarutao. It will air this fall.

        Sue Chow of Liberty Township says her sister, Beckey Molloy of Anderson Township, is so crazy about Survivor that she has organized two pools. Teachers at Sellman Middle School School in Madeira and Procter & Gamble engineers in St. Bernard also have Survivor office pools.

        “When the show first started (two) years ago, each Friday we would end up talking about it at lunch. So I decided the next time . . . we would make it a little more interesting (by) putting some money on the line,” says Erica Heskamp, a P&G employee living in Hyde Park.

Family fascination

        There's no money at stake for the Fahey family of North College Hill, but more than 25 people are involved in the elaborate Faheyvivor II “fantasy league” posted on the Internet (http://communities.msn.com/FaheyvivorII).

        “From my 5-year-old niece Caroline, to my 90+-year-old grandmother, there is a great love of family and Survivor,” says Brianne Fahey of Clifton, a University of Cincinnati senior majoring in mechanical engineering. After each episode she tabulates pool results to be discussed at Friday night family dinner.

        Brianne and sister Erin write the crazy questions. Such as: Who will be the hungriest? Will Jeff Probst wear a hat? Who will get the most camera time? Will the reward challenge involve drinking alcohol? Will contestant Sean Rector cry?

        And, of course, they ask: Who will win immunity? Who will be voted out of the game?

        “We all watch Survivor and then come together and laugh about it, fight over our favorite people . . . and discuss what might happen next week,” says Erin Fahey of Walnut Hills.

        “It's an escape, a reality show that isn't part of our reality — but in our wildest dreams we could be there, complete the challenge and get that $1 million,” Erin says.
       

Microcosm of behavior

        Polly Steinhauser of Fort Thomas agrees that escapism makes Survivor No. 1 here.

        “Survivor is so popular in Cincinnati because we are so darned conservative, and aren't able to live on "the edge' like those contestants on Survivor . . . The only thing that is extreme in our area is the weather,” she says.

        Says Melinda Smith of Winton Place: “Survivor appeals to Cincinnatians because we're just so darn normal in most ways. The idea of 16 average people plunked down in the middle of some God forsaken hole, who then try to climb their way to the top of the food chain — well, we just empathize, I guess,” she says.“As a microcosm of human behavior, Survivor can't be beat, with the back-biting, social maneuvering and egomaniacal displays.”

        Charles McKenzie of Withamsville suggests we relate to the reality adventure game show in other ways.

        “Survivor is so popular in the Tristate because of its uncanny resemblance to the citizens of Cincinnati,” he says. His list of “undeniable comparisons” includes “Lazy people lying around watching other people do all the work,” and “The most intelligent and productive leader being voted off the island by a bunch of idiots because they're intimidated by his education and leadership.”
       

Less painful than reality

        Survivor's continuing popularity here, despite not having a local contestant in the third (Africa) and fourth (Marquesas) versions, has Lydia Lewis pondering this question:

        “Is it because we, as a community, have been subjected to too much reality — with the backlash from the riots, the boycott and bickering — that we would rather watch someone else's reality?” she asks.

        Ms. Lewis watches Survivor because “it is less painful than watching outside my window at a once glorious city that is collapsing on itself.”

        Paula Toti, the Channel 12 weekend anchor who interviewed Survivor 2 contestant Rodger Bingham from Crittenden weekly last year, says Tristate residents like watching the “complexity of relationships” on TV.

        “We're all fighting for the approval of the tribe,” she says. “That may sound simple, but I'm not sure it's any more complicated than that.”
       

        Family friendly entertainment
       Laura Lawson of Covedale credits the Enquirer's coverage of the original Survivor — weekly stories in which readers predicted who would be voted off the island — with making this CBS' top market for the show.

        “Seeing your original stories on Survivor is what got me to watch that first episode, and your vignettes about each episode kept me hooked,” she says.

        Some like Survivor because it's a family show. Chris Lemmon of Milford watches with his sons (who play “Lunch Table Survivor” at Milford High School).

        Lora Helton of Miamisburg is hooked on Survivor because it has “no guns, no sex, no world problems, and it doesn't take as much brain power as Jeopardy.”

        “Look at the shows it is up against — smut and (bad language),” says B.J. Hrack of Newtown, no fan of Friends or Whose Line Is It Anyway? “Survivor is family-friendly entertainment compared to the other garbage on TV.”

        Holly Estham of Madison Place finds Survivor “a refreshing change from regular TV. All the other shows are basically the same as every other show we've seen over the years.”

        But Ms. Helton worries that Survivor has too become too predictable: “The cast of characters is the same. Just fill in a blank — the older woman, older man, gay, etc. I really wish they would divert from this some,” she says.
       

An alien view

        For Charlene Schumsky of Oakley, Survivor is just another reason why, after 30 years, she still feels like a “visitor from another planet” here.

        “To this alien's eye, Survivor is so popular in Cincinnati for the same reason that Jimmy Buffett concerts are so successful here,” she says.

        “Cincinnatians feel they can let go, and at the same time know that they are not really taking a chance on either getting carried away or having something really bad happen, because both Survivor and Jimmy Buffett concerts are controlled events,” Ms. Schumsky says.

        For the record, she doesn't like chili on hot dogs, either.

       E-mail: jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.
       

       

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