SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

It was so game on from the beginning when our own favorite Survivor, Yau Man Chan from Martinez, literally took down Jonny Fairplay to snag the immunity idol.

Immunity Idols love Yau Man, the guy who came up with both idols last time he played. When Fairplay stupidly found the first idol, on the wrong boat, he turned to correct his mistake. But a flying tackle send Fairplay into the side of the boat while Yau Man came up with the prize.

You go, Man.

We didn’t see much of Emeryville’s Mary Sartain, a real estate/financial company owner.

Although she did a Playboy-style pose for the publicity shots for “Survivor: Micronesia.”

Now, I have to be happy that Fairplay appears to be the guy everyone wants on their team. After all, who wouldn’t want to go up against him in the finals? I like having Fairplay in the running because he gives good game. OK, time to confess: I also have him in the department pool and I could really use some money.

Jonny Fairplay, the rat-faced weasel who made me lose the “Survivor: Micronesia” pool.

Wait, that was what Fairplay said about having a stable relationship and a baby on the way. But my favorite quote from him was when everyone was vying for his participation in their various alliances:

“I find it insane that there are nine of your favorite survivors of all time and they all believe what I say,” Fairplay tells the camera. “Have you not watched the show before?”

The favorites proved that experience pays off when it comes to working together to make camp. They have a great shelter, know how to get food and fire. But what they lack is the knack for winning challenges.

In the immunity challenge, which consisted of putting together puzzle pieces to make the wheels on a cart, then taking the cart through an obstacle course and finally putting the wheel pieces back in another puzzle, was won by the fans.

For a brief, shining moment, I thought that my man Fairplay was going to be in the game. Then, he went insane. He started telling people he wanted to go home to his pregnant girlfriend, to spend time with her and his baby. He wanted to be a good dad more than he wanted to play the game.

Fairplay and his fiance, Michelle Deighton, who was an America’s Next Top Model finalist, became parents on Jan. 16 when daughter, Piper Addison was born. Seems like Piper would have liked to have a little cash in the piggy bank instead of a legacy of having a dad who was a quitter.

Fairplay didn’t quit to be a good dad. What he wanted was to change his image to become more commercial. What he wanted to do was bail while he still could be seen as a nice guy, and not the weasel everyone remembers from his previous “Survivor” appearance.

What he wanted was to screw me out of the “Survivor” pool. Good riddance, JP. Now I’ll stick with the locals, Mary on the Fav side and Yau Man, who deserves more than anyone to win this time around.

My man Yau Man, with dirty skunk Fairplay slinking around the background in this shot from “Survivor: Micronesia.”

Here’s what we figure WON’T happen this time around: Yau-Man won’t be giving up a new truck on the promise that a guy named Dreamz won’t vote him out.

Yau-Man Chan, a computer engineer from Martinez

The fabulous Yau Man from Martinez isn’t the only Bay Area person representing on “Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites” when the 16th installment of the premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7 on CBS. On the fan side, Mary Sartain of Emeryville will be battling out.

Mary Sartain, a real estate/financial company owner from Emeryville

And she doesn’t have to deal with Jonny Fairplay on her team.

Cirie Fields, Jonathan Penner, Eliza Orlins, Amanda Kimmel, Jonny Fairplay, James Clement, Parvati Shallow, Ozzy and Yau-Man Chan are the 10 castaways from the Favorites tribe, set to compete in SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA – FANS VS. FAVORITES when the sixteenth installment of the Emmy Award-winning reality series premieres Thursday, Feb. 7 (8:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT) on CBS

In a “Survivor” first, 10 ultra-fans of the series will take on 10 former castaways to compete. The two tribes will be marooned amid the Rock Islands of Palau, Micronesia. The skills of the former castaways will be put to the test while the tribe of first-time competitors will see if their enthusiasm and passion for the game is enough to distinguish them as worthy competitors.

It sure helped superfan Todd win the last round.

Mary Sartain, Michael “Mikey B” Bortone, Tracy Hughes-Wolf, Chet Welch, Natalie Bolton, Joel Anderson, Kathleen Sleckman, Jason Siska, Erik Reichenbach, and Alexis Jones are the 10 castaways from the Fav’s tribe

Here are the competitors:

FAVORITES:

YAU-MAN CHAN

55

Martinez, Calif. (born in Hong Kong, raised in Borneo, Malaysia)

Computer Engineer

JAMES CLEMENT

30

Lafayette, La.

Grave Digger

AMI CUSACK

34 (35 on Jan. 25)

Denver

Nanny

JONNY FAIRPLAY

33

Danville, Va.

Professional Wrestler/Reality Star

CIRIE FIELDS

37

Norwalk, Conn. (originally from Jersey City, New Jersey)

O.R. Coordinating Nurse

AMANDA KIMMEL

23

Los Angeles (originally from Kalispell, Mont.)

Fashion Designer

OSCAR “OZZY” LUSTH

26

Venice, Calif. (originally from Mexico)

Freelance Photographer/Writer

ELIZA ORLINS

25

New York

Law School Student

JONATHAN PENNER

45

Los Angeles (originally from New York)

Writer/Producer

PARVATI SHALLOW

25

Los Angeles (originally from Vero Beach, Fla.)

Non-Profit Organizer

FANS:

JOEL ANDERSON

32

Avondale, Ariz.

Firefighter

NATALIE BOLTON

32

Los Angeles (originally from Houston)

Bartender/Personal Trainer

MICHAEL “MIKEY B” BORTONE

34

Los Angeles (originally from Boston)

Aspiring Writer/Actor

TRACY HUGHES-WOLF

43

Fredericksburg, Va.

Commercial and Residential Builder

ALEXIS JONES

24

Los Angeles (originally from Austin, Texas)

Motivational Speaker

ERIK REICHENBACH

22

Pinckney, Mich.

Art Student

MARY SARTAIN

29

Emeryville, Calif.

Real Estate/Financial Company Owner

JASON SISKA

22

Fox River Grove, Ill. (originally from St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands)

Gymnastics Coach/Student

KATHLEEN SLECKMAN

45

Wheaton, Ill. (originally from Manitowoc, Wisc.)

Golf Course Vendor

CHET WELCH

48

Ford City, Penn.

Pharmacy Customer Service/Pageant Coach

Yau-Man Chan will go down in “Survivor” history as the man who gave away a $65,000 truck to a man who reneged on his promise to give Chan immunity.

Yau-Man Chan

The 54-year-old Martinez man who works as the Director of Information Systems for the College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley says as soon as the curtain dropped on the huge Ford truck, he knew he could never take it home.

“When they dropped the curtain, I knew that’s not my lifestyle. I own two hybrids. If I took it home, my wife would leave me and the children would have disowned me, but it was nice of Ford to donate the truck,” Yau-Man says the morning after the finale. “Now, if they would have donated a hybrid Escape, I wouldn’t be so quick to trade it off.”

Of course, that was also before he knew how much the truck was worth, joking that he would never have made it on “The Price is Right.”

So, does he have to pay taxes on the truck anyway?

“I didn’t touch it, the title never touched me,” Yau-Man says. “I’m in the clear.”

He says that he knew how much Dreamz wanted the truck and so he decided almost immediately to use it as a bargaining chip because he knew when it came down to the final four, either he or Dreamz would win the immunity challenge.

“Looking back, I may have overplayed (Dreamz honoring his promise),” Yau-Man says. “I can’t read people like Cassandra did. I found out I don’t have a talent for that. Dreamz really had no intention of living up to his word, and I thought that he would.”

The final four were Yau-Man, ad executive Earl Cole, college administrator Cassandra Franklin and cheerleading coach Andria “Dreamz” Herd.

EARL, CASSANDRA, DREAMZ

During Sunday night’s reunion show, Earl says the shocked look on his face when Dreamz backed out of his agreement with Yau-Man was that he just realized he’d won a million dollars. He knew up against Yau-Man, he probably would have lost.

That was borne out on Sunday when host Jeff Probst asked the jurors if they would have voted for Yau-Man to win the million.

In a show of hands, it was revealed that Yau-Man would have won the game.

“So Dreamz, who was never going to win the million because of what he had done during the course of the show, decided the outcome by not giving me the immunity he had promised,” Yau-Man says. “Earl won the million dollars, and because neither Dreamz nor Cassandra got a single vote, they tied for second and will get $100,000. Since I came in third, I will get $60,000. Although I havent’ checked the check yet.”

Dreamz, who has lived most of his life as a homeless young man, was all over the map making him very difficult to read at the best of times. He mentioned on the reunion show that he hoped to meet Oprah Winfrey.

Perhaps if he had honored his bargain, that might have happened.

As it is, Yau-Man says he doubts Oprah would “even allow him close to her
building.”

Yau-Man says Dreamz feels a lot more guilty over his decision than it would appear.

“Being nice to him was worse than being angry. He really wants me to be all over him about this, but I’m not going to give him the pleasure,” Yau-Man says. “Look, life is short. I don’t want to hold that anger or a grudge against him. He will have to deal with this for the rest of his life. He’s in bad shape, because he will have to do a lot of good deeds to offset that image. He committed a major moral infraction in front of millions of people.”

The funny thing is, Yau-Man says, is that Dreamz is telling everyone he’s going
to donate the truck to the charity that helped him when he was homeless.

“We all rolled our eyes and said please have a lot of television and newspaper coverage or else we won’t believe it,” Yau-Man says.

And Yau-Man admits he was a little disappointed that his pal Earl sided with Cassandra and Dreamz to vote him out.

“I was hoping he would vote for Cassandra so we could have a tie vote, but I understand that he felt he had a better chance at the final tribal council with Dreamz and Cassandra,” Yau-Man says. “I still think that if Dreamz hadn’t won the immunity, Earl would have voted him out instead.”

Yau-Man says that when he thought he might have a shot at winning the million, he thought about retiring. But now that’s not an option.

He says people are seeking him out for endorsements, but he says he thinks he’ll steer clear of commercial endorsements while doing what he can for charities.

“There’s a move on the Internet to get a million people to send in a dollar each so I can win the million,” Yau-Man says with a laugh. “I’m getting a lot more recognition on the street. I’m basically a shy person, so I’m trying to be more outgoing. It’s a new experience for me.”