CBS’s Survivor may finally have a little person competing on it, according to Internet rumors. Spoiler Castaway208 on Survivor Sucks has claimed that Leif Manson, a 27 year-old entertainer from San Diego, California, is among the cast of Survivor: One World, the twenty-fourth season of the popular reality show (kookyrules/Castaway208, Survivor Sucks, October 25, 2011).
While contestant identities remain unconfirmed by CBS, Castaway208’s other information, such as the season title, has been verified by external sources and detective work by Survivor Sucks posters. This means that Manson will be the first little person to compete on the series, which first debuted back in 2000.
Over the past 23 seasons, Survivor has featured numerous contestants who have overcome adversities in their lives. On Survivor: The Amazon, a deaf woman, Christy Smith finished sixth; Survivor: Vanuatu and Survivor: Nicaragua each featured an amputee; and the current season, Survivor: South Pacific features a man with a pacemaker due to a heart condition.
Little People on Other Reality TV Shows
CBS’s sister reality show The Amazing Race has featured a little person on two of its seasons. Charla Faddoul competed in Season 5 with her cousin Mirna Hindoyan; the pair was later invited back for The Amazing Race All-Stars, where they earned a third-place finish.
Another team, Mark and Michael Munoz, brothers and stunt performers who competed on Season 14, were both 4’9” but did not have Dwarfism. The Munoz Brothers wanted to show that “Big things come in small packages.” They finished in sixth place and received several penalties for breaking race rules.
The best known example of little people in reality television is the former TLC series Little People, Big World, which followed the Roloff Family’s daily life in Oregon. Like Faddoul on her two appearances of The Amazing Race, the Roloff family showed that little people are just as capable as average-height people.
How Leif Manson will fare on Survivor is an entirely different question, however. Will he be voted off due to a perceived weakness? Will he prove himself to his tribe but be voted off due to the sympathy factor? Will he end up on the wrong side of the numbers, or will he go on to become the Sole Survivor?
When to Watch
Survivor: One World will debut sometime in February 2012 on CBS. Until then, be sure to catch Survivor: South Pacific, airing Wednesdays at 8:00 pm on CBS.
Source:
- ‘castaway208’. S24 Hints and Clues, SurvivorSucks.com, October 2011.
Steven Fife - I am a fourth-year university student from Ontario, who has always had an interest in writing both fiction and non-fiction. I have written ...
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