Since it’s been a while since I last wrote anything, I’m going to simply write a bunch of things to try and catch up

RIP to Hayden Panettiere (1989 – 2026), Dolly Parton (1946 – 2026), and Tim Curry (1946-2026). All three contributed their talents to this world in Television, Music, and Film, and will be deeply missed.

From the TV show “Heroes” to all-time classics “9 to 5” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, they all had memorable appearances that will be remembered fondly

And let’s not forget the music career of Dolly Parton, which spanned 50 years, and produced major hit songs like “9 to 5” and “Jolene”

Really enjoying Jia Jiangs’ new book “Easy Discipline”, the follow-up to his 1st book “Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection”. I have been following him since his video series titled 100 Days of Rejection Therapy, which went viral on social media. He really does care about helping people to find their story and embrace it no matter what others may think. One time, after posting on one of his blogs, he replied and even spent some time with me on a Zoom Call, and talked about doing what makes you happy.

Saw that the musician Passenger has a new album coming out in November. The 1st songe released, “It was Gonna Be You,” is really good, and looking forward to hearing some new music from him.

Big Brother celebrates its 1000 epesode tonight. Scary to think that I most likely have seen every one of them, meaning I have spent around 42 days of my life watching a bunch of people argue and play crazy games while stuck in a made-up house. I guess the upside is that I still find it interesting and entertaining. I have enjoyed this season, and looking forward to seeing if the Icons (Dee, Rick, and Angela) can figure a way to make it to the end

In Survivor news, a few things

Got my Free Tickets to “Survivor Island” at the American Dreams Mall (In New Jersey) on Saturday, September 19th. Looking forward to seeing what they have in store for the fans before Season 51 premieres on Wednesday, September 23rd.

I did watch the 1st few minutes of the “Meet the Survivor 51 Castaways!” video on the SurvivorOnCBS YouTube page. I really enjoyed seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff with Jeff Probst. But once they started to show the Season 1 castaways, I turned it off, as I like to be a suprised as possible when watching Survivor. Once again, I will be very careful when checking a lot of the entertainment websites the next few weeks.

Here are the Survivor Casting Directors I saw on Instagram

@JesseTannenbaum #JesseTannenbaum
@pennilaneclifton #pennilaneclifton
@chrisecasting #chrisecasting
@heidihillcasting #heidihillcasting
@andysloantv #andysloantv

Hopefully one of them will see my audition video, or read this blog, and reach out and give me a chance to show what I can bring to a future season of Survivor

#NeverTooOldForSurvivor
#GiveMeAChance

I did come across jwayiv on Instagram who decided to post a video every day until he gets cast on Survivor. He is currently up to 112 days. Reminds me of @ImSurvivorRalph on X, who did the same thing, tweeting every day for over 450 days. (He stopped posting in 2022, and I did get this result when asking AI about him

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Survivor Ralph (@ImSurvivorRalph) posted over 450 times on X asking to be chosen as a contestant on the reality show Survivor before stopping in September 2022. Was he ever cast, or did he stop for another reason

The user running the @ImSurvivorRalph account on X was never cast on Survivor, and they stopped posting primarily because the production team behind Survivor completely overhauled their casting process, making the user’s aggressive, automated public-tagging strategy completely obsolete

This specific account was a dedicated super-fan (not the actual contestant Ralph Kiser) who tried to use sheer volume to get noticed by casting directors.

Why They Stopped Posting

The account went completely dark in late 2022 due to a combination of shifting realities in how the show finds its contestants:

The 50% Diversity Mandate: In late 2020, CBS instituted a strict policy requiring all unscripted shows to ensure that at least 50% of their casts are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). For many older, recurring applicants who didn’t fit the specific demographic casting puzzles for upcoming seasons, the odds changed drastically, prompting many to stop repetitive campaigns.

The Move to Digital Casting & Active Scouting: Survivor casting directors, led by Jesse Tannenbaum, completely shifted away from looking at public social media spam or unsolicited tags. Instead, casting focused heavily on a modernized Survivor Casting Website and active scouting on TikTok and Instagram for unique personalities

Burnout and Platform Fatigue: After tweeting nearly 500 times with no response or engagement from network executives, the applicant likely realized the automated public strategy was ineffective and simply gave up on the account.

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It will be interesting to see what happens with jwayiv – He checks some social media boxes (Unique / Instagram) but not others (social media spam or unsolicited tags).

He did mention that he was in his 40’s and was excited because two of the contestants in Season 51 were in their 40s. That is a good thing, but what about us in our 50s or 60s? They did cast LaTrice Verrett, who is 57 years old (And who happens to be from Maplewood, NJ- big shout-out to the town I grew up in). I know the two shows are different, but age should not be a major consideration when casting. Both Dee and Rick Devins have even said that Big Brother is harder mentally than Survivor.

Have my Fantasy Football draft later this evening, so need to wrap things up. Crazy to think that it’s almost football season (There are actually some college games this evening, and Lehigh opens its 2026 season Saturday at 3:30 PM against Holy Cross as they attempt to repeat as Patriot League Championships

And finally, shout out to Micky Gasper of the Boston Red Sox. He is the son of somebody I went to high school with, and it has been really exciting for her and her family to get to see him do well in the Major Leagues

AverageAndy Out

#PEACE

#Marillion – A Better Way of Life