Fairbanksan hopes to win ‘Survivor Philippines’
Published Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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FAIRBANKS — Amanda Coolley spent a good part of her summer on an island in the South Pacific, but it was no vacation for the 25-year-old Fairbanksan.
The West Valley High School graduate was a castaway for 39 days on “Survivor Philippines,” a cousin of the popular show that has aired in the United States for the past decade. Along with 15 other contestants, she lived on the island nation of Palau, where they scavenged for food, faced daily physical challenges and tried to outwit back-stabbing teammates.
Coolley said she can’t divulge details of the most recent episodes of the show, since not all of them have aired yet, but she confirmed that it wasn’t easy.
“It was the real thing,” she said with a laugh.
The live season finale is on Nov. 13, when the champion will be revealed. The winner of “Survivor Philippines” gets 3 million pesos — the equivalent of about $63,000.
“It’s not $1 million, but it’s a lot of money,” Coolley said.
Countries around the world have created their own versions of “Survivor,” which maroons a cast of competitors in a remote location. A different character is eliminated each week by a series of contests and votes from other contestants.
Coolley said she was only vaguely familiar with the show before being cast and said her appearance was mostly a result of chance. She happened to be visiting the Philippines with her mother, Arceli, during auditions.
She decided to apply and made her way through six rounds of auditions and thousands of potential candidates to be selected for the show.
Coolley said there was plenty that set her apart.
She works as a construction laborer, which is a taboo profession for a woman in the Philippines. Her mother is from the Philippines, but Coolley has an American father and doesn’t look especially Filipino. She lived in the Philippines until age 16 and speaks a rural dialect of Tagalog, but has lived in Alaska since her family moved in 2000.
Coolley said that unusual background earned her a nickname on the show that translates as “half-breed country girl.”
“I stuck out like a sore thumb,” she said. “They said, ‘You’re sure you’re Filipino?’ I have freckles and everything.”
Coolley said she wasn’t sure if the show would be a challenge or whether most of the difficult moments were created in the editing room. After spending more than a month foraging for crabs, clams and coconuts — and unsuccessfully using her earrings as fishing lures — she can verify that the hardships are authentic. Coolley was already slender but managed to lose 13 pounds in Palau.
“They give you a little bit of rice so you don’t die,” she said.
The low point might have been a challenge to eat a pair of boiled fruit bats. Coolley said she immediately pulled the heads off so they wouldn’t be as identifiable.
“It looked like a little dog looking back at me,” she said. “That was pretty gnarly.”
Despite the queasy moments, Amanda’s father, Lloyd Coolley, said the experience has been a thrill for his family. Her parents and two brothers, Bolton and Ashton Ballew, have been keeping up with the show by watching online.
Lloyd Coolley said Amanda has always had a daring streak and that her emergence as a Filipino reality-TV star isn’t a shock.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Lloyd Coolley said. “My daughter is quite a character.”
Coolley was surrounded by 15 other colorful contestants on the show. The descriptions on the show’s Web site include a “Sexy Chef,” “Brainy Model,” “Terror Teacher,” “Model Hunk” and “Chickboy I.T. Professional.”
Transcripts of the show and cast biographies are available in English at www.survivorphilippines.com, although the translation can be a little awkward. The site warns that “one will do an outrage” and “one will do the baby cry” in episode 45, “The Conspiracy of Fools: Failed Alliance.”
Win or lose, Coolley wants to make her trip back to the Philippines worthwhile. After seeing online videos of the destruction caused by flooding in Manila in September, she’s collected more than $1,000 from friends and relatives to take to a relief shelter there.
“I just wanted to give a little help from Alaska, show that we do care,” she said.
Community Discussion
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Fairbanksan? Is that a common word? Really? So are there Hopeans, Chickenans and Barrowans?
Or my favorite, the Tokens...
Anyone that knows Amanda will be surprised if she does not win - she is a very impressive young lady. Way-to-go Amanda!! :)
Hope you had fun and kicked butt!
Right on! I bet it was an awesome experience.
they should make a survivor fairbanks. it would be so cool....
P3T.....that would be Tokites ! Lived there long enough to know !
NEWS FLASH:
The next season of "Survivor" is going to be filmed in North Pole. Contestants will drive around town in pink Subaru wagons with bumper stickers that say, "I'm gay, I voted for Obama, and I'm here to take away your guns."
(OK, I stole that joke, it was originally set in Texas, but you gotta love the concept.)
TAC,
They wouldn't have a chance! Gun control means hittin' what you're aimin' at!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2syY12OPk...
TAc did you watch the Top Gear crew when they drove though the south? :P
Underwater - apparently you missed the pun...
Thanks for just focusing on her participation as a contestant, which is not what she wanted.
Surely it's Tokers . . . .
Slow news day, DNM? Giving press about a contestant on a reality show that we will never see in the U.S.? I know someone from Fairbanks who was an extra on "My Name is Earl". Shall we do a news story on him as well?
It's pretty sad what passes for "celebrity" with the DNM.
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