Survivor: V-Necks Ahoy

[Locals on Reality TV] Survivor: Toncantins premiered on CBS last night, and guess what? The Utah guy isn't the most annoying contestant! (That would be "Coach.") Lindon's Tyson Apostol does, however, have a penchant for V-neck shirts which is either 1. a clever ruse to hide his true he-man abilities, or 2. just plain disturbing. Meet Tyson:





(Bill Frost)

That Zion Connection

[Media] Here at Salt Blog, we love, love, love tenuous local connections to national stories. So imagine the fun when a press release for orato.com landed in my e-mail box today, citing not one but two of its top 10 citizen-journalist stories of 2007 with a link to Zion.

Number 3 story on orato's list is a first-person story by Duane "Dog" Chapman, of A&E's Bounty Hunter fame. But that's not a local story, you say. Ha. City Weekly's Ted McDonough was the first to reveal that a Salt Lake City female bounty hunter is on the short list to replace Dog in a pilot that may pass as a replacement for BH. Hence, the Utah angle! Careful readers will know that Chapman was called out last fall for a racist rant against his son's girlfriend, caught on audiotape, and has been in the doghouse ever since.

But wait, there's more. Orato's sixth story of the year is by Pleasant Grove's own Todd Herzog, winner of last season's Survivor China. City Weekly's Bill Frost has kept the laser beam on this story--reminding the free world (when other Utah media wouldn't) that Herzog is yup, a gay Mormon.

(Holly Mullen)

Todd Herzog: Survivor!

[TV] Utah's own Todd Herzog won Survivor: China Sunday--now the local media has to cover a gay Mormon! You'd at least expect 'em to cover it accurately: Last night, KUTV 2's Brian Mullahy was taken aback by Herzog's admittance to having lied and cheated to win, which pretty much says Mullahy's never seen two seconds of Survivor. Today, The Deseret Morning News reported that, on Herzog being a gay Mormon, "neither topic came up even once during ... the series—at least not in anything that was seen by viewers at home." Also bullshit, as seen in this clip from Episode 7:



(Bill Frost)

Utah vs. Reality

[Local TV] Salt Lake City ABC affiliate ABC 4 has no problem (over) reporting Marie Osmond's progress on Dancing With the Stars--which airs tonight on, of course, ABC 4--but why aren't the other local TV news stations keeping us in-step with one of Utah's Own? You'd think KSL 5 would be all over this ... oh yeah, Dancing With the Stars isn't on NBC. They'll let you know when she's on The Singing Bee or The Biggest Loser.

Meanwhile, CBS affiliate KUTV 2 is conspicuously silent about Survivor: China contestant Todd Herzog, the Pleasant Grove playa who's kicking some ass and fast becoming a favorite to win America's favorite reality-TV competition that involves no karaoke. Usually, this would lead the newscasts ahead of war, weather and high school football. Is it because he's, I dunno, a gay Mormon? Or a flight attendant? Hell, even the Deseret Morning News at least mentioned Herzog last month before washing their hands furiously. What's the local media going to do if he ultimately takes the tiki torch? Go, Todd! (Bill Frost)