So there is this new program out there that joins the other clones of "Who wants to (insert verb here) a millionaire?". It's called Survival, and it seems to bring out every bad trait of humans and turns their values into those of a common sewer rat. In other words, it's extremely entertaining to a cynical gal like myself.

On the first episode they bring two teams (or tribes) of eight individuals (ranging from 25 to older than god) onto a boat, drive it out in the middle of the ocean where the teams then throw a raft and everything that they want from the boat (supplies, etc.) onto that raft and then swim to an island off the coast of Malaysia. They have to build a shelter, kill their own food, find water, make tribal jewelry - all the necessary things to survive in a jungle. From there, they play the sub-game of "I want to be the leader" - and here is where you the viewer can play at home.

You see, every couple of days, one of the tribes has to vote one of their members off the island. The last remaining person is the one that wins the money while everyone else has to make their money off of their own tv series, book, or playboy pictorial. I like to watch it just for that purpose and try to guess which poor sole has pissed off the most people.

Challenges with the other tribe happen every couple of days. The prizes are much like the ones you would find if you were in prison - simple yet needed but nothing you would fight for if you were in a normal situation (like a much coveted pack of matches). It also determines which tribe will be voting a member off the island.

So far, they have voted off the poor 72 year old cancer patient - because she made the tribe lose a challenge with the other tribe. This particual voting was easy to determine - her only talent she brought to the party was the fact that she could play the guitar - her physical strength and endurance left a lot to be desired.

The other one was not as easy to pick - they were choosing between the crotchety old man that liked to tell the others what to do (I think it was a requirement to have a stuffy old guy over 70 on each team - just for the laugh factor alone) and a girl that was having trouble adjusting to her suroundings (I am being kind here - all this woman did was throw up after each meal and lay around all day - a complete waste of space). The old guy was so horrible that they kept the weak link in the tribe just so they could end the "when you get to be my age..." stories. I can't say I blame them, but I would have thrown the bulemic off in a heartbeat - you could always vote the old guy out in the next round.

It's a lot like "The Real World" but with no planned trips or the cool beach house and slacking is frowned upon. They have some action take place (like when one of the crotchety old men washed his socks in the tribe's depleting fresh water supply) and then they have the tribe members comment about it by themselves with the cameraman when no one is looking. As this show was taped in advance - all the team members will find out who really was their friend and who was out for blood.

So far we are finding out that everyone wants to be the leader, you can trust no one but yourself, and that this game would be a lot cooler if everybody had a gun and followed the applicable laws in Malaysia (like there are any). I bet there would be a lot of "disappearances" - but then the show would probably be over in about three days with the winner having a severe limp.