Today, I interviewed Louie Frase, whom you might remember from CBS's Pirate Master. The network pulled the show off the air in July and has been burning the remaining episodes off every Tuesday on CBS.com.
On this past Tuesday's show, Frase was "cut adrift" after his challenge partner, Ben, threw the competition so his allies Christa and Jay would win.
Check out the audio interview here.
According to TMZ.com, Pirate Master contestant Cheryl Kosewicz was found dead on Friday. Reports are that it might have been suicide, but the death is still under investigation.
That's horrible. You'll hear no snark from me.
I guess Pirate Master was doing pretty darned badly in the ratings -- I was getting ready to watch it at 10, saw it wasn't scheduled, and when I checked CBS.com, it appears the show will be airing only online from here on out. Ouch.
They're posting the new episodes each Tuesday.
I just watched the newest one. The big twist was that there were no longer officers, so that disbanded "the Triad" alliance. Then during the challenge, the red crew won and chose Christa as the new captain. Then yet another twist showed up -- the captain got 100 percent of the treasure. (She ended up dividing it up equally, though.)
Now only two pirates are "marked" with the black spot for possible elimination, and Christa chose Kendra and Azmyth. Everyone must have felt it was the last chance to get rid of their strongest competition because it was unanimous, and Azmyth was out.
Local competitor Louie Frase is still hanging in there. With Azmyth out, maybe he will make some more waves.
In case anyone is still wondering, Fishing Creek, Md.'s Louie Frase is still safe on Pirate Master. I only saw a bit of it, but he wasn't even nominated (or "marked with the black spot" or whatever the lingo is). Since Azmyth is still captain, I guess Louie's team lost the expedition again. But he is still in it!
It was a close call for Maryland contestant Louie Frase on last night's Pirate Master. As the black crew, led by weirdo captain Azmyth and his two alliance members, continued to dominate, when it came time for pirate's court, the remaining men were in danger.
Louie and Joe Don, the only guys left outside the "triad" (why do people feel the need to name their alliance?) both found themselves on the block. Nessa was there, too, but everyone knew she was going to win the power of veto/writ of appeal/whatever the heck the overwrought name is they came up with for the "free pass."
At first, it seemed that Louie, who is well liked, but not super fast in competitions was going to be sacrificed so that Joe Don could stick around. But in the end, Joe Don was out, and Louie was safe to play pirate another week.
It was an eventful episode of Pirate Master this evening.
During the challenge, the red crew discovered the treasure before the black crew did, meaning that sometimes-accented captain Azmyth was unseated. The winning red crew unanimously elected local contestant Louie Frase the new captain, but he wasn't that excited about it.
However, he did make it his mission to get rid of the first captain, Joe Don, who angered him with his unequal treatment and division of money. But there was a twist: a pardon that could be won in a secret auction and save the winner. Joe Don won it but didn't need it -- his right-hand woman Cheryl was "cut adrift" instead.
I think a lot of people like Louie but weren't charmed by his vendetta. If he loses his captain's hat, I don't think he'll be too upset about it, but if he upsets too many people, he could be at risk for getting sent home.
Dear Mark Burnett,
I'm a fan of Survivor, and yes, it's true, you have a very successful formula with that show: part adventure, part social experiment, part game show. Against all odds, it's still working even though it seems like it should have gotten boring a long, long time ago.
But the formula is not fool-proof. Take a look at your new show, Pirate Master. On the surface, it looks very much like Survivor. People live in tough, bizarre surroundings; they compete in complicated challenges that must require a boat-load of set designers; there's scheming and backstabbing. Sheesh, even the credits and the interview segments are put together the same.
But Pirate Master is not Survivor. It's missing a few important components, the most important being a sense of humor. Survivor host Jeff Probst seems very haughty and self-important, but the more I see Pirate host Cameron Daddo, the more I realize that Probst is actually looking at everything with a kind of winking acknowledgment of the absurdities being perpetrated.
Daddo acts as if he's actually walking among modern-day pirates. He is walking among a group of adults who are PLAYING A GAME OF MAKE-BELIEVE. However fake and formulated the surroundings are on Survivor, it turns out the contestants really are trying to survive, to some extent. The Pirate contestants are playing pretend, and they are all being dead serious about it.
And let's be frank: The captain's hat and the officers' jackets just amp up the the make-believe factor. (Not to mention the fact that the hat seemed to give new captain Azmyth a mysterious and inconsistent semi-British accent last night, but that's a whole other post.)
So Mr. Burnett, here is hoping that you will realize that a couple of tweaks on the formula won't give you the same result.
And by the way, I'm very upset you've put me in a position of defending twerpy Jeff Probst, but this is what it's come to.
Sincerely,
Sarah
We're keeping close watch over Maryland Pirate Master contestant Louie Frase. Thus far, he seems to be the only one on the show with a sense of humor about the proceedings. Hello, other contestants: the phrase is "Jolly Roger"!
Joe Don the "captain" starts out the second episode being just as self-serious and arrogant as last time, assigning duties to everyone -- first Sean (the bartender) as cook and Jay as "chief mate." Jay's all excited about how he's playing both sides, but U.S. district attorney Cheryl has his number. I'm sure he'll talk in interviews a few more times about how much smarter he is than everyone else before he figures out the leaders don't trust him.
Fashion publicist Alexist whines about how awful the gruel that the crew has to eat is. Then she interviews: "I'm kind of a whiner." At least she's self-aware. Meanwhile, the captain gets eggs, bacon and rum for breakfast.
Louie interviews about all the work they have to do on the ship (however, even though he's complaining about it, he looks to be enjoying it), ending with "... if you're a crew member."
Joe Don thinks it's hilarious that he has so much food and the crew is starving. What a prize he is.
Louie: "The captain doesn't do any work, so when the time for expedition comes, the captain's bright and bushy-tailed. The rest of us will be tired, and it's hard."
Speaking of expedition time, here it is. Kendra unlocks the second compartment to the "CHEST OF ZANZIBAR!!!!1!!11!!" There are two maps, so again there will be two crews searching for treasure. This time, though, the captain and his two mates will lead the black crew, and the red crew will oppose them in the search for the gold. If the red crew wins, it will choose a new captain. Louie, by the way, is on the black crew.
The pirates have to swim to shore, hike to a possible sabotage point, run to a snake pit, where snakes guard the tools needed to find the treasure. The black crew is in the lead, mostly due to Kendra's slow swimming. Black hits the sabotage point first and leaves a thorny gate blocking the red crew's path. Then they start the uphill run.
Louie interviews that it's relentlessly uphill, and, "just when you thought it was getting OK and you could take it, it got a little steeper." But they get to the snake pit and try to figure out who's going in there to search for the tools. Nessa decides it's her, and Azmyth follows.
On the red crew, they're having issues. Christian (ex-linebacker) is strong but slow, and then Joy falls and bangs up her knee.
Azmyth finds the compass plate. Louie: "Azmyth was the man. ... That Azmyth is a rock n roll pirate. And the captain did nothing."
On the black crew, they read the clue, and find the "altar" they have to put the compass plate on. And "ex-military" Christa has swimsuit issues to the point that she is basically blurred every time she's on screen during the expedition. Oops.
Red crew gets in view of black crew and sees they don't have the treasure. They jump in the snake put to look for the tools, but before they find that, black crew finds the treasure. Or rather, Azmyth does.
Sean interviews that they lost because of Joy, or because of Joy's injury.
The black crew counts the money, and this time it's $45,000. Joe Don gets $22,500. He's told he can keep his two officers or replace them with two new officers. He keeps them. Ben and Cheryl split $11,250.
Louie: "The captain had an opportunity to change his officers, which he won't do because those officers are true to him. So they're sitting in there thinking they're going to get fat for weeks. I'd like to cut all three of them adrift at once, and I want them to see the inside of a shark's belly."
The rest of the crew gets $2,250 each.
Cheryl interviews that her strategy is to go with the flow.
Joe Don attempts to make a peace offering by giving some of the crew and additional $200 each. They're not exactly overwhelmed with gratitude. Then he gives "chief mate" Jay $2,000 behind closed doors. Jay says, "He says it wasn't a bribe; it's a bribe."
Time for Pirate Court nominations. (It's like Night Court! Or Divorce Court! Or something!) Kendra, Christian and Joy get "black spots." They aren't happy. And Kendra thinks it's because the captain doesn't like her, but the officers claim it was all about who was weak.
Louie walks around telling everyone that he's ready for mutiny. The he reveals he has an alliance of sorts with Christian.
At court, Joe Don says Kendra revealed she wasn't strong in the water during the challenge, that Christian's size worked against him in the challenge, and that Joy injured herself. Kendra says she had a hiccup in the water, but that "once I hit land, I didn't stop." Joy says her knee is doing better, that she was even able to raise the anchor that morning. Christian says the captain needs to make the crew happy, and that if he is chosen as captain, he won't take 50, 40 or 30 percent. Joe Don says Christian is digging his own hole.
Joe Don says the crew knows how they feel about him and "how I roll," and that he thinks they are happy, and he's good with that. Louie says before the court that they aren't getting paid enough or getting enough food. He says he has about $4,400 in his pockets, but Joe Don has about $40,000. Joe Don says it's less than that because "I've shared money with my [unintelligble]." Based on the look on Jay's face and the rest of the crew, I'm going with "first mate." Jay says Joe Don gave him $1,000, which is half-true. Alexis says she would have preferred not to get the $200 because, "I found it a little offensive coming out of a pocket with 40 grand in it."
It's overwrought ballot time! Stare meaningfully at the captain! Smash those cards over the dagger!
Despite all the staring, no one voted for Joe Don. I'm so confused by these people! Anyway, Joy is safe, as is Kendra. And Christian is out, which upsets Louie greatly.
Joe Don cuts Christian adrift. And we're stuck with arrogant Joe Don another week. But if people don't mutiny, I don't feel that bad for them.
(Photo by Monty Brinton/CBS)
Today, the paper had a brief chat with Louie Frase, the Marylander who's competing on CBS's Pirate Masters, which starts now and is about people living like pirates. How long will it take before we hear 1) "Arrrr!" 2) "The pirate's life for me!" or 3) "Shiver me timbers!"? Let's see ...
The contestants row up to a ship and are welcomed by their host, who assures them it won't be "a pleasure cruise," instructs people to hold certain ropes, and they pull up a treasure chest and get going.
Louie gets the first interview of the season, in which he declares how amazing it was to see the treasure: "You know what? [Cackle.] I think I want me some of that!"
The host says this is the "Chest of Zanzibar, which confirms the legend of Capt. Henry Steel." It's a long story-time, kids, but the jist of it is, the treasure has been divided into 14 equal parts and buried, and there are two maps to each location.
Contestant Jay says he's kind of a pirate every day because he's "in sales." Way to give your profession a good name, dude.
Host goes on to say the combined treasure is worth $1 million, and that people find is theirs to keep when their "journey" ends. Which brings him to the part where they will be voting people off.
The contestants, who have been trained to sail (whew), get going and start getting to know one another. We meet Christian, an ex-linebacker; John, who is doing a bad impression of Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and whose caption says "Scientist/Exotic Dancer"; and deputy district attorney Cheryl, who is opting to keep her profession secret.
Louie wakes everyone the next morning to start their sail.
Bartender Sean says he grew up on boats and near the ocean, so he's ready.
Receptionist Joy, on the other hand, is having seasickness issues, which some of the other contestants aren't too sympathetic about.
Firefighter Joe Don was in the Navy, so he thinks he's ready to lead.
The host opens the first compartment, which has the first two maps, and the contestants draw to find out how they will be divide into two teams.
The teams' first task is to paddle up the Indian River, then find on land three keys to unlock yet another map. The Red Crew goes awry pretty quickly, forgetting about its boat's rudder. Thus, the Black Crew hits land first, but Ben loses his shoe in the muck, and it's tied up again. John (Black Crew) figures out the three-part lock. The new map directs them to keep heading up river, and they learn they can sabotage the other team (tricksy!) by releasing an obstacle.
Black Crew gets to the sabotage point first and makes it to Croc's Lair, where the treasure is. Red Crew hits the obstacle and can see the other team, but they make it through and catch up, where Black Crew is still trying to get the treasure.
Then it's just a free for all, but John (the scientist/exotic dancer/Deppian dude) finds the treasure and Black Crew wins. The treasure chest is full of gold pieces and crabs. They count the gold, and it's $40,000. The host tells them to elect a captain. They pick Joe Don (a.k.a. J.D.), but you can tell John is not amused. In an interview, he calls his teammates lemmings. After the captain is chosen, the host tells them the captain is entitled to half the treasure and can gift it, make deals with or keep it. Joe Don is told to pick two officers, and he chooses Cheryl and Ben, who split half of the remainder ($5,000 apiece). The rest split the rest ($2,000 apiece). Then, they are told that they are demoted, that the Black Crew no longer exists and that they are to obey Joe Don's orders. (So this is where the "mutiny" aspect might come in to play.)
The captain and officers are given their uniforms and shown to the captain's quarters. This elicits the same "Oh my God" exclamations as you hear on every reality show in which there is a place for people to live.
Louie on the new situation: "Once he put on that captain hat, Joe Don went into another world, and he thinks he is the boss and he likes that 50 percent pay."
Joe Don decides to institute some order on the ship. Cheryl tells the rest of the ship that people will have tasks that they have to perform or else.
Louie: "Joe Don cannot [unintelligible ... hire maybe?] me by making me do any chore on that ship because I do whatever needs to be done; I don't care what needs to be done. I got news for him: His days are definitely numbered if I have any say in it." He talks trash on deck of the ship about how he's going to "get him" one day. Back in the interview: "Any day of the week, I would rather stand with the crew than the captain, and if he thinks he's going to get 50 percent of the treasure every time we go on a treasure hunt, he's got another thing coming."
I think our local pirate might want to keep this stuff out of the ears of the officers since someone is getting sent home, and we don't yet know how that is decided.
Hey, here's the host to tell us how. The captain will mark three of the crew for "pirate's court," at which point those so marked will have a chance to defend themselves, and one of those three will be "cut adrift." But if all the crew and the two officers "rise up against" the captain, he will be cut adrift instead.
"Very well," says Joe Don, who is taking this realllllly seriously.
He interviews that he wants John out. He also picks Louie, and Ben tells Joe Don he heard him talking mutiny on deck. (See?) They also choose Joy as the "sheep," who they hope won't get sent home. But their major target is John.
(By the way: Someone has brought eyeliner, and is sharing it.)
Louie interviews about getting chosen, about how he and Joe Don don't get along, so he's not surprised. And, he adds: "I think it wise not to bad-mouth the captain anymore."
Joy is very emotional about being chosen.
John takes a different tack and steals both the compasses so he will have control over navigation and persuade everyone to mutiny. Sneaky. He's creepy, but that is sneaky.
At pirate's court, Louie is up first. "The crew, my sisters at sea, you know I love you, and I know you love me. If you cut me adrift, I'll miss you as much as you miss me. As a worthy seaman, I don't mind being a swab, a swab is a strong man. All I want is pay for a job well done."
Joy says she is not ready to go and that they aren't ready for her to go, either.
John says he knows he is on the block because he didn't vote for Joe Don for captain. He tells them they should keep him because he has the compasses. "If I go, they go." He says they should take aim at Joe Don, who took $20,000 and gave everyone more responsibility but "zero dollars."
Joe Don references the North Star at night and checking a shadow in the day time to see which direction to go. "I don't need your compasses, and I don't need you." John: "J.D., which way is north?" He can't figure it out, but says in the day time it's a piece of cake. Not so convincing.
Joy is told to rejoin the crew. Louie, too. The host says the vote was unanimous, and John looks awfully proud of himself. Not so much so when he learns he's voted off. Whoops.
Bye, John.
I can't close this entry without noting our man Louie's resemblance to former Survivor fan favorite Rupert Boneham:
(CBS photo)
Am I right, or what? Looks like Louie will be sticking around for a while. Not sure what I think about the show. It's awfully self-important and doesn't really have the charm or wit of, say, Pirates of the Caribbean, whose popularity probably spawned this show. It seems like some of the people are having fun, but we mostly got screenfuls of blather. No "Shiver me timbers," though.
(And wow, in retrospect, this is an awfully long entry. I don't think I'll always be covering this in so much detail, but I wanted to cover Louie's debut pretty thoroughly.)
