Do you have what it takes to endure?

A boy I went to school with was once on reality tv.

I've never been a big fan of Survivor. I can't watch people eat bugs without losing my own stomach. It makes me nervous that they are sleeping on the ground in the middle of some random jungle. The idea of the show just isn't really interesting to me.

But I have watched and liked Discovery Kids' Survior knockoff, Endurance. For the most part, the shows are very similar. A group of kids get together at a different exotic location, they participate in challenges and try to make it to the end without getting voted out. There are some differences, though. For example, the kids are split up into two-person teams, and every week two teams get sent to "temple," where they compete for the right to stay. The challenges they take part in are not as extreme as Survivor, but they are difficult nonetheless.

I found the season Edurance: Fiji especially interesting because Ben Scheuer, who was a freshman at my high school at that time, was one of the shows participants. He and his partner Jordan actually ended up winning! He was a celebrity in our small town, and it was so cool to see him on screen. Some of his good friends even made shirts that read (Ben)durance. To be honest, I stopped watching the show after Ben's season, but during that time I felt special by association.

Another note: I think Endurance has a lot of great qualities Survivor doesn't. The show teaches teens how to work together and as part of a team. The challenges helps them discover how strong they really are and how much they can do when they try. These kids all become such great friends.

I'm not sure if Endurance is still on the air, but I think it had a lot of redeeming qualities, even though it was (is) a reality tv show.

Love isn't always blind

There is a show that plays on ABC called "Dating in the Dark," and it is actually pretty interesting. Not really the show itself, but what it says about society today.

For those of you who have no experience with this show, I shall explain: Three men and three women move into two seperate wings of a house for a week. Durring the week, they go up into the "dark room," where they get to know eachother and a group. Each person is eventually paired up with another, and they go on multiple dates in the dark room, where they talk about who they are as a person, what they do for a living, what they are looking for in a relationahip but never what they look like. One activity also takes place during the week. Sometimes, a sketch artist is brought in and draws the faces of each house guest according to what their significant other can explain about them (sometimes, these a scary accurate). On another episode, they got to go through a bin of clothes and guess, really, what their significant other's style was according to what they knew of them (never quite accruate).

At the end of the week, they decide if they want to see the other person in the light. With the couple standing opposite eachother, a light descends on them one at a time (while the other is still under the cover of darkness, so their reaction is not known to the now visible person.) They then finally decide if they want to continue their relationship.

This entire show is based off the idea that looks really matter in a realationship. I agree that looks do play a significant role in any relationship, but they should not be as important as society does. I have seen couples many times that have totally hit it off in the dark room personality-wise. They are close in age, similar in personality looking for all the same things in life. They seem to genuinely like eachother. Oh, but then one doesn't live up to the beautiful #10 they had pictured in their mind and the whole thing is called off. It is sad to see how many people are rejected just because of their looks. I don't know why anyone would go on this show and willingly subject themselves to that kind of hurt and humiliation. But it is so interesting to see how as a society, we really do value looks more than personality.