Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Andrew Fiala Jason Siska, a senior history major, walks on slackline. Siska will appear on the upcoming season of "Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites."

Media Credit: Andrew Fiala Jason Siska, a "Survivor" contestant and an ISU senior history major, enjoys a day out on the Quad.

Many students attend ISU looking to gain experience and knowledge for the real world. However, one student is taking his knowledge and experience above and beyond the working world. Jason Siska, a 22-year-old ISU student, is a contestant on the upcoming season of CBS's recurring reality show, "Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites," giving a Midwestern flavor to the show.

This edition of the show, which was pre-recorded in the fall, premieres on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. with a different twist. This season pits 10 former "Survivor" contestants against 10 of its most knowledgeable fans in the Rock Islands of Palau, Micronesia. While the contestant composition has changed for this season, the main feel of the show has stayed the same. The strategy of outwit, outplay and outlast is still applied and all of the castaways will participate in challenges that determine who stays and goes from the island.

It turns out that the 22-year-old student/teacher that hails from Fox River Grove, Ill. was exactly the kind of person CBS was searching for in a contestant.

"We were looking for people who knew the show really well that would be excited to come out," Lynne Spillman, casting director for "Survivor," said. "We look for outgoing personalities. People who are relatable, people that you would want to hang out with, people that are athletic and can actually do [the challenges]."

While Siska was not available for interview due to regulations set by CBS, his friend and camping partner Andrew Fiala was able to add to the reasons why Siska was chosen as a castaway for the show.

"The kid's a fighter, he really loves any opportunity to prove himself. Because of who he is, ['Survivor'] is the ultimate challenge for him to prove that he can do something," the senior geology major said of Siska. "I honestly can't think of anyone else better suited to go on that show."

While one of the qualifications to make the show was to be familiar with previous seasons and characters of the series, this only helped Siska's quest to be a contestant. He has been described as a die-hard "Survivor" fan since day one of the series. He has also shared his "Survivor" obsession with several friends, viewing episodes together for the last few seasons.

According to Fiala, Siska's knowledge and expertise from watching the show added some intrigue to his experience, as one of his favorite previous contestants was a fellow castaway on the current season.

"He described it being like little kids who watch professional baseball for their entire lives that grow up and end up playing with Roger Clemens. It's the opportunity of a lifetime," Fiala said.

Siska's past also aided in his selection and possibly gave him an advantage over other contestants competing on the show. He was born and spent several years living in the Virgin Islands, which made the trip to the Palau Islands more of a vacation rather than the complete challenge as it was to rival contestants.

"All these contestants are picking up and moving from the city or wherever else to go out to this island to survive, while for Jason it was like taking a vacation," Fiala added. "On the island, he was up before everyone else on a regularly routine basis and would walk down to the beach and watch the sunrise almost everyday. That's how he finds peace during the whole chaos of trying to find food and make a shelter."

"He said that there were people on the island that clearly shouldn't have been there, that don't know what they're doing out in the nature."

Besides his islander roots, Siska naturally has a Man vs. Wild mentality that has aided him on camping and rock climbing excursions in the past and translate into skills necessary for surviving on an island. Fiala described camping trips they had taken in the past that involved setting up camp fires and taking long night hikes with torches that they made out of torn up shirts.

That is not saying that there were no aspects of survival that Siska struggled with. Fiala emphasized the fact that Siska had issues with creating a waterproof shelter on the island. He experienced several sleepless nights on the island due to rain dripping into his shelter.

Siska's application for the show came at a great risk. One month into his student teaching session, he had an early tryout and a callback for the show, and had to drop out of student teaching for the semester to take the callback, which he described as "the risk of a lifetime."

Because of the secrecy of the show, most of his friends were left in the dark about his acceptance until after he returned from filming. Fiala, as well as others, were told that Siska never got a callback, which Fiala thought was confusing.

"When he originally said he never got called back, we were really bummed and thought, 'of all people, Jason should be on "Survivor," and he never even got a call back,'" Fiala said.

Even though the season has already been filmed, the contestants are sworn to secrecy on how they each did individually.

Fiala, however, was extremely optimistic about his friend's chances for the season.

"I don't know how he did, but knowing Jason and his personality, I'd have to assume he did very well. I'd be a little surprised if he didn't."

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools