KEY POINTS:
You must have a decent stamp collection. In your passport, that is.
I do. My passport expired last year and it was like saying goodbye to a really good friend. I just hated that I had to start over. You go through customs and wanna say, I really have travelled before, with lots of stamps.
Have you made it to New Zealand yet?
The closest I got was the Cook Islands which I loved. It was probably my favourite place in terms of island living and people.
How much do you see of each country?
We're pretty much stuck in the one place. Our show starts on day one and it doesn't stop for 39 days. That doesn't mean we don't have days off but it's hard to leave. You can take a car and maybe drive 45 minutes or you can take a boat to another island, but you couldn't leave from where we were, for instance, and go to Beijing for the day.
What obstacles did you encounter filming in a communist country?
The difficult part was getting in. The only real concession we had to make was allowing them a representative on location who could make sure we weren't portraying China in anything but a positive light. We only had one issue that came up when we told them we were going to do what we called our gross food-eating challenge. On reflection we might have positioned it a little differently. They said wait a minute, what do you mean? We said, "we're going to eat foods like baby turtles and Balut." They're these little embryos they eat off the street like we would eat a pretzel in America. So we had to work with them on that. It was a cultural thing. Other than that, the language barrier was a big problem. There's no faking Mandarin.
This is the 15th series. How long will the show continue?
Well it will definitely go through 16 and I have a feeling we'll do more after that. This last season we finished the 12th most watched show in America. That's pretty good for a show in its 15th season and we're still beating Ugly Betty.
Survivor is often blamed for kick-starting this slew of bad, reality TV. How does that sit with you?
I get it. But the sad truth is, if people weren't watching, it wouldn't be on the air. TV has its own weeding out system called ratings. Reality has reached such a low level of poor craftsmanship and loosely scripted baloney that in the end, it works to the advantage of a show like Survivor. We might be the granddaddy and we might not be on the cover of magazines anymore but we're still the real deal.
What have you learned about the nature of fame since you started on the show?
I'll tell ya, fame is a tricky, tricky world to walk in. It's compounded more on Survivor because we take normal people - a postman, a lunch lady, a garbage man - and put them on network television at prime time on one of the busiest nights, then send them through interviews. Suddenly, bless their hearts, they begin to think they are somehow more important or that their words mean more or that they should move to California because they're probably going to become a movie star. It's really hard to watch and yet, I can totally appreciate the excitement and the feeling of, maybe there's a better world out there.
You're famous too. How have you dealt with that?
I was slow to accept it ... I really don't feel like I have changed. I have the same friends and they're earnest, emotional people, they're not just interested in sports ... And I'm very much aware I will probably never get a show like this again. This is my show and when this is over, it will probably be a let down whatever I do.
Are people doing the show now for the same reasons as when it first started?
It varies. In the beginning you had a lot of pure adventurers. But by season three ... There's no denying it, we're a country of people who adore, in capital letters, fame. I also see a lot of reasons that really touch me ... We have a woman this season, Denise, that we call the Lunch Lady, one of the most charming women ever. She has a mullet haircut that is legendary. And she's easy to make fun of if you look at her. But when you talk to her and say, Denise, why do you have a mullet? It's the year 2007. She says, it's real simple Jeff. I work in the food industry so I need to keep my hair short. But I'm a woman and I have a husband and I want to be sexy for him, so I need a little length in the back. And suddenly, the mullet is the perfect haircut. She didn't come on the show to get famous, she came on the show to change her life.
What does it say about the American psyche that contestants feel they have to go to another country to prove their survival skills?
I think it illustrates that Americans don't get all we could out of our lives. We're a rich, powerful country and we're used to people coming to us and the action revolving around us. A lot of people would rather go to Walmart, eat toast and cupcakes and maple syrup. That's just America. When I was in China we hung out in Beijing and my brother and I slept on the Great Wall of China. We went to a Walmart and the first thing everybody commented on was how thin everybody in the Walmart was. If it was a Walmart in America, this many people couldn't fit in the Walmart.
How big is Survivor's carbon footprint?
We always have an agreement with the country to leave the land as good or better than how we found it. We recycle everything. Tribal council is a 30.5m tall temple. We not only tear it down, if there was any growth there, we'll put back five times what was there to make up for it. We almost never fail to build things for the community, we'll go into the neighbourhood, build a school or donate supplies. We're very much bonded with the community we're in.
How do we know the whole thing isn't produced on a soundstage in Hollywood?
I wish the thing were produced in my backyard. That would be the best. I'd roll out of bed - right, you ready? But no. Although I think you could shoot Survivor on a fictitious place called Survivor Island and just do the show there every year. It might not have the same allure as Africa or Peru but the star of Survivor is the format of the show.
Are you still dating Julie? [a contestant from Survivor: Vanuatu in 2004].
Yes. She's doing very well with her Masters programme. It's all about love. Julie is great.
Survivor: China. 8.30pm, tonight, TV3
