Jackie Souter
jsouter@prensa.com
Translation: SurvivorWeb Monkeys

There is no doubt that Survivor Panama, or rather Survivor Pearl Islands, which will premiere in the US on September 18th, has created great expectation between fans of this successful reality show. In all the Web sites related to the program, people speculate on the beauty of the Pearl Islands archipelago, the place where the program was filmed, on which will be the contestants and on the details of the show, which has stayed a secret for several months.

The Press has been able to know some these details.

According to Colleen Sullivan, director of publicity of programming of CBS, television network that sponsors the show, the shooting already finished and the production equipment is retiring little by little. It is dismantling everything, confirms Dario Arwes, administrator of the metropolitan regional section of the National Authority of Ambiente (ANAM).

The producers of the program have been extremely happy with Panama and the aid it offered them, assures Sullivan. The production company will recommend Panama to other companies as a hospitable and comfortable country for productions of cinema and television, it assures.

According to Sullivan, the executive producer of Survivor, Mark Burnett, hopes that the program brings great benefits to Panamanian tourism. With a viewing audience of 20 million, it is definitively a great opportunity for our tourist industry.

For tranquillity of many, the production equipment has left the 14 islands they used (some state and other private), in perfect state. During the shooting, Survivor cleaned some beaches they used in production and it always received aid of the ANAM, it assures Sullivan. In addition all the leases will be returned to their original state and all the constructed structures will be removed appropriately, adds Sullivan.

The ANAM has confirmed this information. According to Arwes, they have been supervising all the shooting. "Civil employees have gone every 10 days to see that are being complied with the environmental rules," he assures. And it seems that the production equipment has complied with the rules.

The 18 of August definitively finish with all of the islands that were used in the production, among them Mogo Mogo, Saboga, Casaya and Ampón.

The Press also has also learned that the Island Bartholomew was chosen to be the set of Tribal Council, the site where every week a "jury" is carried out, eliminating the contestants one by one.

It seems that the visitors enjoyed Panama very much. According to the Web site survivorfever.net, one stayed at a resort property on the Island of San Jose, it served as a prize for a contestant who won a reward challenge that occurs every week in Survivor.

CBS on the other hand already announced that the program will be one of most important of its season of autumn. Shortly, they will begin to promote the show on American television, and the theme will be piracy. "The rich and diverse history of Piracy in Panama wil be very exciting for the audience", assures Sullivan.

The producers of Survivor emphasized elements of the culture and Panamanian history during the course of the program.

For that reason and by much more, the true winner of Survivor Pearl Islands will not be the contestant who gains a million dollars, but the Panamanian tourist industry.

Original Source: La Prensa