Survivor events

As one of the event sponsors, I wore the above ID badge at each of the functions. Shown with it is a photo of me with Tasha, the event organizer.

About half the Reality celebs arrived on Thursday for a spaghetti dinner and fun evening at Westy's Pub. The first photo above shows some of us arriving in a limo. After a few hours of mingling and celebs taking turns at karioke, they gathered in front of the pub about midnight for the second photo.

The preparty from 7 to 9 pm Friday night was held at Jillian's club across the river in Kentucky. Celebs from Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Mole, Average Joe, Starting Over and Who Wants to Marry My Dad gathered to meet with the event staffers and sponsors. At 9 pm, the public was admitted for an intimate meet-and-greet. A few scenes from the party are shown above.

Saturday morning, everyone gathered outside at Deer Park High School for games with the younger fans. Above are a number of scenes from the event, including the pizza lunch served to the celebs in rotating groups. The weather was pleasant but not hot, so no water fights were seen this time!

Saturday afternoon was devoted to a public autograph signing at a nearby bowling alley, followed by a charity "fans bowling with celebs" party. Scenes from the afternoon's activities are shown above.

The main event Saturday night was a "talent show" followed by a live auction of memorabilia donated by the Reality TV celebs. Performers included Mitchell Olson (Survivor), Brad Holcman and Dennis Luciani (Average Joe), Brennan Swain, Andrew Hyde and Al Rios (Amazing Race) and Amy Crews (Big Brother). Sandra and Christa of Survivor Pearl Islands then performed a skit about "Who Threw Out the Fish" which ended with each lady getting a pie in the face from the other. Above is my ticket and official program for the event.

Scenes from the evening's activities shown above are Brennan playing guitar and singing, Christa and Sandra arguing over who threw out the fish and group scenes of all the celebs taken as the event ended.

The final event, culminating 3 evenings of fun with our friends from Reality TV, was a live auction which raised over $4,000 for diabetes. Shown above is my bidding card, signed by Christa Hastie (Survivor 7) and Michelle Maradie (Big Brother 4) whose lots I bought. At the right is Michelle's lot, the little duck that she used in a contest on her show. I also bought several items that Amy Crews (Big Brother 3) had worn on her show.

The Finale and Reunion show for Survivor: All Stars was held May 9, 2004 at Madison Square Garden (above) in New York City. No tickets were issued, only names on a guest list. When you checked in, you were issued a colored wrist band which designated the seating area assigned to you. Above is my black band which entitled me to a seat in the area reserved for the non-all star castaways and their guests, one of whom had invited me.

The night before the Finale, an unofficial party was held at the Plaid, a nightclub in lower Manhattan. While none of the 18 All Stars were allowed to attend, all other castaways and various RealityTV celebs were invited. Many of my best photos were taken here, including the pose of Lindsey and Jessie shown above.

Most of the ex-castaways who came to the Finale were housed at the Marriott Marquis and gathered in it's lounge around 5 pm Sunday. It was there I first met Brian and his wife. Around 6:30, everyone headed for Madison Square Garden; some opted to walk, some took cabs but about 7 of us hired a stretch limo for the short ride. I took the above photos inside the limo!

The official afterparty was held at the Crobar club on West 28th Street. While consisting of several rooms and levels, by midnight the club was severely overcrowded. The All Stars appeared very late and were quickly swallowed up in the crowd. But I was able to greet most of the castaways that I had not seen the previous night, and take a few photos. Our party passes were randomly decorated with the image of one of the 18 All Stars; shown above is my pass depicting Richard Hatch, who signed it for me.

About 3 hours after the party ended, I went to the Early Show since it would be the first photo opportunity with the All Stars as a group. The Survivor segments were all staged outdoors in front of the CBS studio, with perhaps 100 fans in attendance. Shown above are some of the photos I took from my seat in the audience. After the show ended, I was able to corral Jeff Probst for the photo on my home page!

At this annual charity event, celebrities from various fields are paired with touring golf pros for two days of fun to raise money to build a children's hospital in the Shreveport area. Clay Jordan, who lives a couple hours away, was invited to play...together with Tanya, Erin and Penny, all of Survivor Thailand. I also live nearby so Clay invited me to tag along with them.

The principal organizers of the event are pro golfers Hal Sutton and David Toms, both of whom live in the Shreveport area. I met Clay and Linda Jordan plus Tanya and her fiancee, Bill, at the golf course Sunday afternoon. Shown above is Tanya posing with co-host David Toms.

The first competition of the event was a 7 hole Celebrity Shoot Out. Clay was edged out for 2nd place by Steve Hegg, Olympic gold medalist bicycle racer. Steve joined our table for the banquet that evening; he is shown with Clay above.

Penny, her husband Matt and Erin with her boyfriend Darren, arrived later Sunday afternoon and joined us for the event's banquet at the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, La. Above are some photos taken at our table.

Never one to pass up Survivor memorabilia, I retrieved our table number from the floral centerpiece and asked Tanya, Erin, Penny and Clay to sign it for me.

The 18th annual Fashion Cares Gala benefitting the AIDS Committee of Toronto brought out over 4000 guests at the Saturday evening event. Two of the celebrity guests were Jenna Morasca and Ethan Zohn; I shared their table for the big banquet, seated at Jenna's left. Above is the laminated credential issued to me and the table number which was mounted on our centerpiece. Jenna and Ethan signed both items for me.

Following a VIP reception complete with gogo dancers performing on a dozen stages, we gathered in a huge banquet hall at Metro Toronto Convention Centre featuring over 400 tables for 10. The above photo shows Ethan and Jenna seated at my table just before the dinner and live auction began.

Jenna and Ethan had their dinner interrupted many times by fans asking for photos and autographs. The two cuties shown with Jenna above were seated at my left at our table, but stood behind her for this photo.

Hosted by Mike Skupin, the event kicked off Sunday morning with several castaways speaking at a local church. Shown above are those who attended, posing with a young fan. This was Stephanie's first time at such an event, but the other 5 shared their spiritual lessons learned from being on Survivor.

Sunday afternoon, the 6 castaways held an autograph session at the Baymont Inns. Seen above are Rodger, Helen, Vee, Jake, Mike and Stephanie. Paschal also attended the Golf event, but his plane arrived later Sunday evening.

The golf tournament was staged at the Elks Club Highlands Course. Six of the 7 castaways present posed above in front of the clubhouse just before tee off time. Then they went out on the course and joined random foursomes; my group played a few holes with Stephanie and a few more with Jake. For the scramble format, we shot 75 for the round, easily avoiding winning the autographed toilet seat awarded to the last place foursome (who shot 86)!

Following golf, the castaways gathered in the Elks Lodge bowling lanes where fans had signed up to challenge them. I was content to simply watch and take a few photos of the action; I have no idea whether the Survivors or the fans won! Paschal had to catch a plane during the bowling session so I never caught him in a photo. Above, Jake, Vee and Stephanie try their luck.

Rodger also had to leave Monday afternoon, but the 5 remaining castaways joined us for dinner and the VIP afterparty. At the live auction, Jake sold the shirt off his back to an admiring lady fan! All took their turns singing karioke, some solo and others in a group. Several fans joined in, including Amy and Jennifer...the cuties for whom I added a special page on this site. It was perhaps the most intimate and fun afterparty at any event I've attended, with a small but lively group of Survivors and fans.

The 3rd annual fund-raiser for Camp Kindle began with a VIP preparty at the Nico Club in Omaha on Friday night. The group of photos above are scenes from this party, but it was too crowded and too noisy to actually meet and greet anyone. Most attendees appeared to have come to drink and dance and the celebs did not mingle in any event.

On Saturday, two autograph-signing events here held; the first in Omaha. They then drove to Lincoln and staged the second. Five of the 8 celebs took part, with Anna Nicole Smith, Jon Kelley and John Carroll absent. The two events were small enough to allow unlimited chat and photo opportunities as seen in the collage above.

The main event Saturday night was a live auction and celebrity karioke at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln. Shown above is the VIP pass and ticket which entitled me to a table for 4 on the front row center of the VIP level; Tasha and her mom were my guests at the table. Although she had recently broken two ribs, Anna Nicole Smith was assisted to the stage where she took a turn singing karioke for us. During the course of the evening, I got all the celebs except Jon Kelley to sign my VIP pass. In addition, Anna Nicole signed her cover issue of FHM magazine for me.

As shown in the group of photos above, access to the celebs was possible and I managed to pose with all the castaways as a group and separately with Hilarie Burton and Anna Nicole Smith. Following a fun evening, a handful of us rejoined all the celebs for an impromptu party at the Q Club in downtown Lincoln until the wee hours. There was a bit of smooching done, but you know the rule....what happens at these events stays at these events!

I again was a sponsor for the 3rd edition of Reality4diabetes in Cincinnati. The guest list was shorter than before, but this time I had all six Survivors who came sign my ID badge for me. Also shown above is a small copy of the drawing by Hailey from Starting Over which I bought at the live auction.

A few of the celebs arrived on Thursday for an intimate meet and greet at Westy's Pub. The above scenes are from this party where I first met 3 of the Starting Over girls plus Rochelle from Average Joe 3.

Jillian's Club was the setting for the Friday night Sponsor Party. Following a couple hours with the celebs all to ourselves, the public was admitted for a meet and greet. At midnight, the celebs went upstairs to the disco and danced until the wee hours. Scenes from the entire evening are shown above.

Saturday afternoon found us at Strikes and Spares, where the celebs held a public autograph signing. Immediately following, a number of fans had paid to bowl with their favorites. This year, I was assigned to the lane with Kate of the Mole, Lynnell of Starting Over, Dennis of Amazing Race and Rochelle of Average Joe. The collage above shows the celebs getting ready to sign autographs.

Everyone returned to the bowling lanes Saturday night for the final event. The video from the March event was shown, followed by both a silent and live auction of mostly RealityTV memorabilia donated by the celebs. Fans also challenged the celebs in darts and other games. Scenes from the auction are shown above, including Hailey posing with me after I bought her drawing...the item that drew the largest bids of the evening. That's Hannah of Starting Over on the right in the other photos...she was our auctioneer!

Tanya Vance works with abused children at the Children's Advocacy Center in Kingsport, Tn. Her agency held a golf fundraiser on July 12 and she invited Big Tom, Gabe and Tina to join her (they all live in that area). Fans bid on eBay for the chance to ride in the cart with one of these 4 Survivors. Shown above is the sign on my golf cart, corrected to show that it was Tanya who drove it. I had all the castaways sign it for me.