…and he shall redeem us, Amreeka.

As many of you may recall from the “Aviyal” post, I am fascinated by Facebook, and once again, I must insist that it’s not for the usual reasons (though I do enjoy throwing sheep at several of you). No, when I’m not discovering groups which specifically support inter-religious, inter-regional desi relationships, I’m reading this about Giuliani or planning to restock my iPod with these choons. I’m also discovering potential reality TV stars, via my News “feed”:

The show that Sam is auditioning for is called Tontine (Achtung! Pseudo-mystical yodeling awaits you, if you click that link…and you wonder why I went with wiki…wiki is silent AND it lets me copy text…take that official site!):

A combination of Survivor and The Amazing Race, Tontine follows 15 contestants as they travel to all seven continents and contend for the $10 million prize. Contestants each begin with a key, the final contestant who posses all 15 keys unlocks the prize. The show is hosted by “Boston Rob” Mariano, who was a contestant on both Survivor and The Amazing Race before signing on for Tontine. [wiki]

Doesn’t that sound like something our Abhi should have done? :D

Here’s what the show’s casting director wrote in an email to Sam (and perhaps a few others):

I’m excited that for this show, I’m going to have the public helping me choose some of 15 contestants selected for Tontine! So, if you’ve been asked to submit a personal video to YouTube, that means that we like you and want to get to know you better, while giving you the opportunity to demonstrate to us that the public likes you too.

Go Sam! I thought he was just randomly auditioning; I didn’t realize he’d survived a “first cull” and been asked to participate in a nearly-impossible popularity contest. ;) Hmmm…maybe I’m being harsh about that last part.

The focus of the contest seems to be on the video’s ratings and comments, so you’d be helping me out by leaving them. You may need to register to do that, but it only takes 30 seconds. [link]

Nope, YouTube popularity contest it is. Well, for those of you who want to see more brownz on the teevee…we can either wait for everyone to get roles as terrorists/cabbies/cornershop staff or we can stuff the ballot box and invade Hollywood via reality television. Which would you rather do? Check yes or no and pass it back.

Samir’s story is cute:

Somehow, I’ve found myself somewhere in the second round of the casting process for a new network reality show called Tontine. By chance I stumbled upon their casting setup in NYC when I visited in June. After I told the casting director, Tad, that the premise of the show was morally ambigious (he told me the goal may be to win a kitty comprised of the contestants’ bank accounts) and that I wasn’t sure that I was comfortable with it, he told me that he hadn’t heard that from anyone before and that he thought I’d go to the next round. Irony. [link]

Oh, that alone got my vote. Good luck, Sam. And if you don’t win this thing, save your energy for a bigger challenge— run for office. I’ll vote for you (and blog about you) then, too.