The Washington Post reports that Survivor: Pulau Tiga contestant Colleen Haskell is pursuing a new career as an entry-level associate producer of ... a reality-TV show. Colleen, who attempted an acting career but gave up after her role as Rob Schneider's love interest in The Animal, has signed on with former Survivor: Pulau Tiga line producer Kevin Greene, who is now the executive producer of E!'s upcoming The Michael Essany Show (Michael Essany is little more than a real-life Wayne from Wayne's World, hosting his own cable-access talk show from his parents' home -- except in Indiana, not neighboring Illinois; the show is an Osbournes-style look at his life and TV show.)
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In the article, Colleen discusses the attitude of the original Survivor crew, especially her happy-go-lucky Pagong tribe. She notes that the tribe members were even less focused than they appeared on the show, pulling such stunts as writing host Jeff Probst's name on all the ballots during tribal council and forcing endless retakes. In fact, in her opinion, few of the contestants other than Richard Hatch, the ultimate winner, even cared about the million dollars; they were more focused on mud fights and silly games. "I wonder if the people who are going through this now saw us and thought we were so serious," she states. No wonder Jeff and Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett were reputed to hate Pagong.
One thing that Pagong didn't have, though, was sex. Colleen felt that the producers had placed herself and Greg in the same tribe in an effort to build a romance, and she was apparently a little irritated about it, so she was sarcastic with the producers when they asked her about Greg during confessionals. Her comments that the relationship between herself and Greg was "all about sex" and that they were having "a really passionate affair" were such remarks -- but Colleen then learned about the power of editing, when most of America thought that she and Greg really had an affair during filming.
Colleen notes that chances of success for the first Survivor were considered so remote that all of the contestants were requested to sign waivers acknowledging that the show might never air. The only people from the show that she remains in touch with are Kevin, her boss, and Jenna Lewis, the New Hampshire single mom who was her best friend in Pagong.
In a follow-up Web chat, Post writer Liza Mundy, who wrote the Colleen-Michael Essany article, adds that Colleen says she has no interest in the upcoming All-Star Survivor and hadn't been asked to participate. Probably just as well, since it might be rough on one's ego to be "Pagonged" twice.