Photo: Nicola Barts

Can you be a felon and be on Survivor?

“If you have a criminal record, it's OK,” he said. “Just put it down on the application and give us a little synopsis. If you've paid your debt to society it's all good. Some of the best people I've met have criminal histories pages long.”

sandiegouniontribune.com - Note to 'Survivor' contestants: Be exciting, but no skits, please

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It was a room full of extroverts all trying to outdo each other. Some were there for a chance at the $1 million first-place prize, while others said they wanted to become a reality television star. Still others said they simply want to push themselves as far as they can. The CBS television show “Survivor,” which pits contestants against each other in exotic, isolated wilderness locations around the world, held an open casting call yesterday at the Pala Casino that attracted roughly 1,000 people. “Don’t chew gum, don’t sing, this is not ‘American Idol,’ ” Mike Maas, an executive producer of promotion for CBS, said to the throng of “Survivor” wannabes, each of whom would be given a two-minute audition before a camera. “Don’t dance. Do not do a rehearsed skit, a skit you’ve prepared at home, or a poem. Do not do that. What the casting company is looking for is fun, exciting, dynamic people. If you are not fun or dynamic, try to be.”

Many of the potential contestants waited up to 10 hours to audition.

People like Marc Perlman, 55, an unemployed sound editor from Los Angeles who said he planned on telling the show’s producers, “I want a million bucks, and I’ll do anything they want.” There was James Kingston, 39, of Temecula, a mechanical engineer who said his girlfriend has been pushing him to try out for a long time. “I can do it,” Kingston said. “I’m always looking for challenges in my life.” He said it’s not the money that attracted him, but the public exposure. “I’ve been on a reality dating show on the radio and in a magazine for a photo shoot with my car,” he said. “I like doing different things all the time. I like doing things that take me out of my comfort zone.” Jody Soto, 49, of Hemet said she’s been a fan of the show since the beginning. A fifth-grade teacher, she said she was a little intimidated by the large number of young, attractive women at the casting call. “I’m feeling older and duller and flatter by the second,” she said, laughing. “My pitch is that I’m fun and adventurous and that I’ll have a good time and that looks are deceiving. I’m going to fly in under the radar and sneak up on them at the last minute.”

For Steve Lowenstein, 44, it was about the cash.

“It’s all about getting a million dollars and taking that money and trying to find a cure for rheumatoid arthritis, which is the disease my daughter has,” he said. Lowenstein brought a didgeridoo, a wind instrument used by Australian aborigines, but he said the producers made it clear that props were not welcome. Several people got up and left when Maas told the crowd they had to be U.S. citizens to qualify.

But convicted felons were no problem.

“If you have a criminal record, it’s OK,” he said. “Just put it down on the application and give us a little synopsis. If you’ve paid your debt to society it’s all good. Some of the best people I’ve met have criminal histories pages long.”

J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com

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