Old Sabrina Interview

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

I found this interview with Sabrina that was shortly before the E1 finale aired. Every time I find old interviews I like to repost them on here in case the site they're on gets taken down.
Question: What has your semester been like? Have you been quizzed a lot about the show by your friends and classmates? Teased?

Sabrina: No, I didn't get teased. People were like, 'Hey, saw your show.' Or I'd walk by and someone would say, 'Hey, there's that girl on the TV show.' So people know I am. It's kind of weird.

Q: It's sort of neat, isn't it?

A: Yeah, I think it's cool.

Q: As every week passed and your team continued to make it, was it harder to deal with your classmates and friends?

A: Yeah, everybody's like, 'Did you win, just tell me!' and I'm like, 'Nope.'

Q: How have you been able not to tell everyone about it?

A: It's been hard. If I do tell, they can sue me.

Q: Was making the show as fun as it appeared, or was it fun and scary?

A: I think the show was more fun than they (the filmmakers) made it seem. Sometimes, it makes it seem like people didn't get along, but at night pretty much everyone forgot about the game and had fun. But it was very scary at the Temple of Fate. That was like the scariest moment of my life. Every time.

Q: At the Temple of Fate, each team plays a version of rock-paper-scissors. That amounts to a guess, doesn't it?

A: Yeah, there's no strategy involved or anything.

Q: Is that a good or bad thing?

A: I think it's a bad thing. It should have something to do with strength or skill. Instead it relies on plain luck.

Q: How was your relationship with Jon?

A: We were good friends, so it helped us. (They didn't know each other until they met on the show.) Trevor and Lana (another team) didn't like each other at all, and I think it held them back from going as far as we did.

Q: Was there any challenge you thought was outrageous?

A: Yes. It was a puzzle, where you had to fit the pieces in the puzzle and make a pyramid. I thought that was the hardest one.

Q: What about physical challenges?

A: The bucket game, where we had to run to the beach and run back, 'cause they made us wear knee pads. I have skinny legs, and they ran out of knee pads so they put elbow pads on my legs. I couldn't bend them and run fast and it hurt every time I was running, and I was running back and forth to the beach to get water. That was pretty hard.

Q: You aspire to be an actress. There's so much reality TV today. What do you think about that?

A: I think it's entertaining. I'm hooked on all of them. But it's kind of a drag for the other actors and actresses out there because there's not as much work because there's so many reality shows.

Q: Do you feel guilty about that?

A: No, I don't feel guilty. I'm glad I was in one. (She giggles.)

Q: Were you happy with the way you looked in most of the shows?

A: I knew I was going to look like the manipulative one. I don't have a problem with it, but I know a lot of other people have been on my back, online, talking about how I'm a liar. But it was just how I played the game on the show.

Q: It was the way the show was edited?

A: Definitely. They can make anyone seem any way they wanted to. When I auditioned, they asked me what my strategy would be, and I told them I would try to manipulate people into doing what I wanted them to do so I could get farther along in the game.

Q: Is more TV in your future?

A: I want to be an actress. I have acting and modeling agents, so I'm going to keep on trying. I want to have my own TV show one day.

Q: Has there been response to your appearances on the show from people in the biz?

A: Yeah, there have been agencies in L.A. and Miami that are interested. But we can't really do anything because I don't live there. It's kind of hard to get jobs.

Q: What do you anticipate happening?

A: I might go to Miami and L.A. over the summer. (The agency in Miami is interested in print and TV ads.)

[multiyapples]

I wonder what she thinks of the show and how she played the game as time has passed.

[amplify26]

May 16, 2020 18:36:28 GMT -5 multiyapples said:

I wonder what she thinks of the show and how she played the game as time has passed.

I assume she would've been a bit ashamed of what she's done? I don't think I've heard of her much on the internet and her modeling career didn't really take off.
But this interview is quite curious; it shows how Sabrina is handling school life and all.

[endurancefan101]

I was just stalking her fb yesterday! lol and I saw an interview w Aaron from E1

[fanofe2]

Trevor and Lana (another team) didn't like each other at all, and I think it held them back from going as far as we did.

This just might be the understatement of the year.

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

Here's an old Jonna interview too. It doesn't really tell much, except that Jonna/Aaron went to the Amazon in March (very random, what about school??). Which means the E1 reunion was sometime after March, and it means Max/Jenna probably didn't have much notice before being told they were gonna be on E2.
--
When Jonna Mannion of Chandler was cast on the Discovery Kids reality show "Endurance," she told her mother that she was going to win.

"But 14-year-olds tell you a lot of things," Yvonne Mannion said. "I knew that she was awfully cute and awfully smart, but when it came to physical strength, I wasn’t sure if she had it."

Jonna proved that she had both brains and brawn when she and teammate Aaron Thornburg beat out nine other boy-girl teams in the "Survivor"-style tests of speed, strength and smarts. For winning "Endurance," Jonna will leave March 22 for a trip to the Amazon.

"My partner was very strong and he was taller than me, so he was very good in the physical challenges," Jonna said. "My strength was in the mental games. You needed both strength and intelligence to win the game and our partnership had both."

But nothing could prepare Jonna for the emotional mind games the other teams played.

"The hardest part about the whole experience was just staying in the game," Jonna said. "There were a lot of people who had different strategies and you had to decide whom you could trust and when you needed to make it on your own."

So how was she able to steer clear of the lying and back stabbing that is a staple of reality TV?

"I did not make any promises that I couldn’t keep," she said.

For that, her mother is grateful.

"Some kids chose not to play the game with integrity and they lied and were very hurtful," Yvonne Mannion said. "But Jonna never stooped to that level. She played with total heart and integrity. She never never once compromised who she was."

Now, Jonna hopes her "Endurance" win leads to more time in front of the camera, either acting or modeling. But whatever comes from her reality TV stardom, she is thankful for the experience she said changed her forever.

"I learned that I can deal with things better than I thought," she said. "Before, I would look at some things and say, ‘That’s too hard. I don’t even want to try.’ Now, I have a lot more confidence and believe I can do anything I put my mind to."

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

And here comes an old Aaron interview!
After months of anticipation, faithful viewers of the television show “Endurance” now know that a Bozeman boy took home the grand prize.

Aaron Thornburg, 16, had to keep his championship of the “Survivor”-type reality show for teenagers a secret from even his closest friends. The Discovery Kids Network threatened to sue Thornburg’s family if the outcome of the show was revealed before the final episode aired Feb. 22.

“We weren’t suppose to tell anyone,” said Aaron’s mom, Jenny Thornburg. “The people who knew us knew we were gone three weeks and that Aaron came back very happy.”

But a lot of his classmates at Bozeman High School said they were shocked he won.

“They said I had hidden it so well that nobody knew, even my teachers and stuff,” Aaron said.

As grand-prize winner, Aaron and his teammate on the show won a trip on an Amazon River cruise.

He and his dad have been preparing for their trip by getting their passports and the various shots they need to travel in the South American rain forest.

“We start in Peru and we float up the Amazon River for nine days,” Aaron said. “I’m very excited. I can’t wait.”

During the show, which was filmed last June on the undeveloped side of Catalina Island off the California coast, teams were given the opportunity to chose from the prize trips to various locations.

“You got a chance at some point to trade your trip,” Jenny Thornburg said. “Where Aaron really wanted to go was Australia. They never got the chance to choose that, so South America.”

Aaron and his dad leave for South America on March 22. They will meet up with his partner from the show and her older sister as traveling companions.

“I’m relieved that I don’t have to keep it from people anymore,” Aaron said. “And I’m glad that I’m going to the Amazon. It’s going to be so much fun.”

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

And an old interview with some E1 contestants
f you've caught "Endurance," NBC's new Saturday morning reality show, it's easy to think that going to a sunny, isolated island with 20 other kids, no parents and the cameras rolling is all fun and games.

Uh-uh. We talked to five contestants, including three Chicago kids, to find out what it was like to make this action-packed survival show, in which teams compete for a trip anywhere in the world with their families. It was an incredible experience, they said, but also "exhausting" and "intense."

Here's the LD from Jenna Jimenez, 14, Lana Neiman, 14, and Trevor Wilkins, 12, all from Chicago, and Christian Justice, 15, of San Clemente, Calif., and Jonna Mannion, 13, of Chandler, Ariz. And no, none of them knows who won, or can tell us how long they stayed on the island.

First off, days were long; the show shot for nine or 10 hours a day, Trevor says. There was major rejection to deal with for the kids who didn't make the cut--especially bad for the six who endured a frigid, five-hour boat ride, only to be sent right back, Lana says.

And creature comforts were nonexistent. Anyone who's ever gone to camp knows you have to rough it a little. But CD players and Game Boys are usually allowed, and sometimes you can even sneak in a cell phone. Not in reel life. "We were told to leave everything electronic at home," says Jenna.

Then there were the accommodations. "The cabins only had really hard wooden bunks with nothing but thin sleeping bags," Trevor says. Plus "it was really cold at night," Christian adds. "We piled on the layers to keep warm, but there was nothing we could do about the spiders. They were all over the place at night," Jenna says.

The kids were cold during the day too. "We thought it would be warm because we were right off the coast of California. But it was . . . always kind of cold, but sunny, so we kept forgetting to reapply sunscreen. Some people got really bad burns," Jonna explains.

The washroom arrangements were the worst. "You had to use [portable toilets] that were about a block away from the cabins and smelled awful," Jenna says.

And they all had to forget about grooming, which is ironic considering this was their big chance to be on TV. No makeup, and no time or place for hairbrushing. Plus the portable showers were "like melted ice. The ocean was warmer," Jonna says. Adds Jenna: "Sometimes we ran out of water and couldn't shower."

They couldn't dress the way they wanted either. "We had to wear clothes they gave us that were our team colors," Jenna says.

But the toughest part was the games. Everyone was divided into teams of two, and they didn't get to pick their own partners. "The games were much more physically demanding than they look on TV, and you really had to work well with your partner and depend on them. But some people were paired with partners they didn't get along with," Jenna says. Jonna thinks producers "purposely picked different kinds of people to see what kind of conflicts would come up or what good would come out of it."

Staying on the show also was pretty tricky. "It wasn't about who was the most qualified or won all the games. It was more about who was prettier or had more friends. . . . If you had more friends, you stayed on longer," Lana says. "If you lost [but] were on someone's good side, you could stay on the island longer," Christian notes.

So did only the most qualified survive? No way. But was it worth it? Yep. It was the time of their lives, these kids say.

[Cruise meerkat Youssy]

A lil Brandon interview
randon Hendrix is no Boy Scout.

That isn't to say the Orlando teenager isn't a good kid.

It's just that Brandon isn't fond of snakes and spiders, nor does he have a clue about tying knots or summoning fires with mere twigs. When it comes to survival skills, Brandon is more Gilligan than he is the Professor.

Good thing the producers of the new Saturday morning teenage reality-TV series Endurance were less interested in how contestants foraged for food than in how they handled grueling events that tested their skill, speed, smarts and strength.

Endurance (think Survivor meets Saved by the Bell) is part of the new Discovery Kids programming block on NBC. It debuts Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on WESH-Channel 2.

Brandon, 15, was one of 20 teenagers from around the United States who boarded an 82-foot schooner in June and were deposited for 2 1/2 weeks on Catalina Island off the coast of California. There, the show's producers say, contestants were placed in situations "that bring out their best (and sometimes their worst)."

The object of Endurance is to be the first team to collect pyramid pieces representing 10 characteristics: strength, heart, courage, perseverance, luck, trust, leadership, discipline, knowledge, and commitment. A prize obliquely described by the producers as the "trip of a lifetime" awaits the winning team.

After an opening round eliminates six competitors from the game, the remaining 14 players pair up into seven color-coded, coed teams that compete in physically challenging stunts that borrow elements from history, world culture, and mythology.

For example, in "Don't Drop the Ball," contestants are given the Atlas treatment: The team whose members can hoist what looks like a giant medicine ball over their heads for the longest time wins.

"Great Wall" challenges teams to re-create a portion of the Great Wall of China in the fastest time.

"The Giant Timeline" is the first challenge the kids face -- the one that immediately weeds out six of them. In "Timeline," contestants attempt to hang on gymnastics rings as bungee cords fastened to their ankles are wound tight in an effort to loosen their grip.

Every other week, a team is eliminated from the game, until one team is finally crowned Endurance champion.

Does Brandon make it to the finals?

Because of a contractual gag order, he is obliged to remain mum on his performance.

But there's no doubt the Colonial High School freshman had the right stuff to compete. An accomplished athlete, Brandon is a wiry, loose-limbed kid with runway looks and an easy smile that hints at self-confidence.

He wears a gumball-sized zircon in his left ear and a silver pendant with a basketball swishing through the net around his neck. He speaks in soft tones, and rarely do his brown eyes widen to more than slits until the chat shifts to hoops. Then his eyes flicker with excitement.

Brandon enjoys all sports -- but burns for basketball. . . . "Since he was a baby and could hold a ball," says Julie Hendrix, his mother.

Playing in the Maitland Parks and Recreation league, the 2000 Free-Throw Finalist discovered that he was good enough to show Shaquille O'Neal a thing or two. He discovered something else too: "I just don't like to lose."

Beyond that, Brandon finds it difficult to put his no-lose philosophy into words. Not that he has to. Twin plaques of Michael Jordan -- a player who seemingly had the ability to will his team to win -- hang on the family room walls and speak volumes about his competitive fire.

That edge is what he carried to the show's April casting call at Universal Studios Orlando. No stranger to the camera, Brandon appeared in It Only Takes a Minute, an American Red Cross pool safety video, when he was still in diapers.

He went on to appear as an extra in several TV shows, including ER and seaQuest DSV 2032, and on the silver screen as an airport passenger in Instinct, a film in which his father, Manwell, has a speaking part.

For his Endurance tryout, all Brandon had to do was complete a questionnaire and sit in front of a camera answering questions such as, "Do you like sports?" (Yes) and, "What's your favorite TV show?" (The Simpsons). In June, Brandon was cast as a castaway.

The section of the island where the competition raged was little more than grass, mountains and rocks. Competitors slept under the stars on cots. Cold showers and nightly cricket serenades took some adjusting to, Brandon says, but the sternest challenge he faced was relying on teammates.

"I'd rather do it myself," says this lone wolf. "I know what I can do, and I don't have to worry about somebody not being able to do something I can already do."

The stunts lived up to their billing and always left Brandon beating himself up over his performance.

"Every time I finished something, I thought I could do better," he says. "I was like, 'I should have done this,' but when I was doing [the events] I was supertired."

Brandon's hands hurt so much after "The Giant Timeline," he says, that he couldn't even open them.

But he didn't think about the pain. Instead, Brandon wondered how long it would take his rivals to toss in the towel.

"It was hurting really bad," he says, "but you just have to push through."

Being stranded on an island for a while often transforms the rescued in some profound way.

In Brandon's case, "I learned not to worry about if you win or lose . . ."

He pauses, abruptly. And almost without missing a beat, Brandon amends his statement.

"Still, I want to win," he says, his eyes widening, "but I have learned not to worry about it as much as I normally would."

[Mister Ham]

Wow I'm loving all these interviews!! Sabrina's actually surprised me the most and it was fun to see how she didn't take herself too seriously after the show. Without her S1 would have just been too plain! She definitely is becoming one of my favorite players because she was dynamic and did anything to win.