pop culture

I was a total fan of Survivor I and I can unequivocally say that NOBODY has written a book about this series as good as THE STINGRAY, Lethal Tactics of The Sole Survivor by Peter Lance. Not Richard Hatch or even Mark Burnett. Lance, who's an investigative reporter who once worked for ABC News is the only one to step back and take any kind of honest objective look at this media phenomenon called "reality" TV. For the few people alive who DIDN'T see SRUVIVOR I it's a great play by play. For those devoted fans of the series like me, there are dozens of inside, behind the scenes scraps of info, like how the producers chose Sean and Jenna as the ambassadors over Kelly and Greg and how Stacey tried to organize the castaways in a summer "alliance" to boycott the Finale reunion show, only to have Richard Hatch break the "alliance" and run back to CBS with word. This resulted in everybody doing the show for $10,000 even though CBS got something like $12 million. What's really interesting is that on Lance's website www. thestingray.net, he's got a source working on the crew of SURVIVOR II. I also see on his website that he is signing his book all over the United States. I'm hoping that Peter Lance writes a book about SURVIVOR II because if it's anything like THE STINGRAY it's sure to be a non stop page turning read.

During the summer, Survivor became the runaway hit TV show with Richard Hatch becoming a bit more than just a fifteen-minute sensation. Best selling author Peter Lance (see FIRST-DEGREE BURN) contends that he bet on Hatch and they agreed to co-author a book based on the former?s survivor experience. The rest is history as Hatch won, the co-authored book never occurred, but this expose is released instead.

STINGRAY: LETHAL TACTICS OF THE SOLE SURVIVOR provides an insider?s look at the winner, the TV show, and the reality behind the alleged reality. Fans and not-fans of the series will enjoy the ?inside story of how the castaways were controlled on the island and beyond? because Mr. Lance is a talented author who makes his printed word at least as exciting as watching the TV show. Mr. Lance strips bare the participants and their show as no one has done so far. Anyone wanting more information than that already packed in the book on what happened on Pulau Tiga and what is occurring in the Outback can go to Mr. Lance?s homepage at www.stingray.net. Meanwhile, I?ll avoid worms and torn underwear while surviving the parent, child, grandchildren and extended family reality shows through insights like Mr. Lance?s book. Perhaps, next he can look at recent Florida election processes better known as Rubik?s Cube for that state will have hatched the winner in true survival mode.

Harriet Klausner

survivor, the first reality show, and still the best.
go behind the island, to find out never before known, stuff about richard, Kelly, Susan, Rudy, and the whole cast, plus tons of other info, we weren't supposed to know about. See how Rich, had the game wrapped up, even before getting on the island. I won't tell too much more, you'll have to read it yourself.