CBS announced 50 Pittsburgh-region semifinalists for its upcoming reality series "Survivor" this week.
The show goes into production in March and will feature 16 people who form a tribal council when they're stranded for 49 days on a deserted island. At the end of every episode one or two of the group members will be voted off the island by the tribal council. Once the number of island inhabitants is down to two, the expelled council members will convene a vote on who gets the show's $1 million prize.
Semifinalists from the Pittsburgh region are from as far away as Florida, but those from the immediate area include Pittsburghers Brian Barrios, Jason Charney and Craig Totino. Jason Patrick Carney of Beaver Falls, Terry Lake of New Brighton, Bambi Lynn of Butler, Bruce Sykes of Brookville and Tom Wilson of Farrell are also semifinalists. Ohio semifinalists include Gerard Bean of Warren.
Producers will be in Pittsburgh at KDKA-TV Jan. 5 and 6 to interview regional semifinalists and select three finalists, who will be flown to Los Angeles in early February. CBS officials have said the network's goal is to choose one person from the region for "Survivor," which will be filmed on Pulau Tiga, a tropical island in the South China Sea just off the coast of Borneo in the Malaysian state of Sabah.
