As you very possibly know M-Net recently
announced the news that the coveted role of hosting South Africa’s Survivor Panama has gone to Capetonian
Mark Bayly.
The filming for the show is over, the final two are sitting at Tribal Council waiting for us to see the show before they know who’s won and Mark is back home in Cape Town popping in at his regular job in between chatting to the press.
I was very tickled by the idea of getting as much juice as I could for us when I met him for cappucino’s at the Radisson Hotel in Green Point last Thursday.
Taking the part of Jeff - who I’ve lurved for forever - is a very tall order by way of expectation, so I was especially quizzy to see whether Mark could finish me up in similar ways.
I sat across the couch from him and within moments of staring into his blue eyes, listening to his slurpy voice and hearing about how he’s resigning from his full-time job at ForwardSlash – an internet outsourcing company – I was mesmerised.
Here’s what I managed to work out he was saying in between:
Tashi: If you were to give me the lowdown on who the contestants are – what would your punishment be?
Mark: I don’t know what the official punishment from M-Net would be, but for me it would be spoilng tactics if I told you something - for the people who love the show it would ruin it to reveal secrets. I think it would be lousy for anybody who’s involved in the show to divulge any of the twists or who makes it to the final two because nobody knows who actually won. I don’t know.
Tashi: So you actually auditioned to be a contestant for Survivor but then they asked you to be the host instead?
Mark: It’s actually a bit of a misconception – what really happened was, being a fan of the American show I’d always thought the only way I could get onto it was if they opened up the casting process around the world. So when I heard South Africa was doing it I immediately entered online as a contestant – that was my gut reaction.
Then I thought: “Well, it’s a South African show, they’re gonna have to have a South African presenter – what the hell, let me try for it. I’ve never been a presenter before but I’m sure they’re looking for a new face and I kinda feel like an expert ‘cos I’ve watched it so much.”
I contacted my agent, who I hadn’t used in about three years, and said: “Whatever you can do I want to cast for this.” She called me back and told me nobody in Cape Town knew anything about it. She called all the casting agencies and there was no word about it.
I asked her to do what she could. She emailed Endemol and M-Net and tried to stir up a bit of fuss and the next day she called me back and said they were casting in Cape Town – which was the first sign that it was meant to be.
I went to the casting and it seemed to go fairly well. Then they flew me up to Johannesburg where I went to the second casting and there were all these really well-known people there.
Tashi: Like who?
Mark: I don’t want anybody to be exposed for trying and not making it, unless they want to.
Tashi: Hehe, the losers.
Mark: They were just too well-known. That’s where I knew I had the advantage in that I was unknown. I didn’t feel that comfortable in that casting – the ad lib at end I felt good about – so I left with mixed feelings about how I did. It was probably close on a week later of sleepless nights that I got the call saying the part was mine. Then in what was less than two weeks I was on a plane going over there.
I had no presenting practice or rehearsals or anything. The first time I did anything was to the camera on the day. I know I’m gonna be in for some harsh comparison with Jeff Probst because he’s so brilliant and in the first couple of episodes I’m finding my feet, so I won’t be surprised if people are a bit negative.
But I’m sure they’ll carry on watching because there are very good-looking contestants. I hope people will warm up to me as I warmed up to the show.
Tashi: Everybody’s going to feel that they want you to be Jeff but they also don’t want you to be him. How did you handle this while you were presenting? Were you conscious of this?
Mark: It’s a tricky balance – I didn’t want to come across as trying to be Jeff. He has a certain style and area that he places himself in: with not being too jokey, not being too familiar and not being too stern.
Where he’s got that right is where I’ve tried to emulate it as well ‘cos I think it’s a good balance – you have a bit of authority but you also have to have hints of compassion so you’re not like the headmaster at a really strict school.
I took his cues as to where he places himself in his relationship with the contestants – for the rest of it was very much trying to let my personality come through. I think that subliminally he was kind of always there because he’s been my frame of reference for so long.
Tashi: Yes, he’s God.
Mark: Ja, so subliminally I’ve probably got his style in my head – I mean I haven’t seen any of the footage. I didn’t want to watch it and see myself do something that I thought: “Argh jeez that looks so bad,” and then be conscious of it and try to avoid it and then not be natural.
I thought: Let me just do what I’m doing, the director can tell me if I’m doing something he thinks really jars and the rest of the people on the crew could say: “Try not to do that, “ and that didn’t happen so I just tried to be myself as much as possible.
Tashi: Were you free to say whatever you wanted to?
Mark: Yes, largely. There were scripts that were written for describing the games and some of the background to them – I had fantastic support in that I could change wording to make it my own so that it flowed easily and I wrote some of my own so it was really a collaborative thing, which was great ‘cos it’s one of the things I was concerned about.
When you watch the American show it’s like Jeff has designed the games himself and he’s got such ownership of it – I was concerned I was gonna be given a script and then need to present it - and that’s not what the show’s about. It’s about being yourself and knowing what the show is and I hope that that comes through ‘cos I definitely felt it.
Tashi: Who was the first person you told when you got the gig and what did they say?
Mark: My girlfriend and she screamed. She went through the whole roller-coaster ride of getting there with me. Then my parents as well. Neither of them have been big Survivor fans so I think the scale of it was possibly lost on them, but they’ve been really supportive.
Then it was just a case of keeping it as quiet as possible and not letting the news spread. It must be incredibly difficult for the contestants – you’re gone from work for five weeks, you get back and you’re tanned and scrawny – ‘cos they lost a lot of weight – how do you answer the questions when there’s a buzz of Survivor in the air?
Tashi: Did it all turn out to be as you imagined it would be?
Mark: The reality of reality programmes is gonna be a little different from what you witness when you just watch it. Obviously there’s a lot of editing to get a few days of footage down to an hour, so seeing all the other stuff was amazing and seeing how the production actually works.
One of the things about Survivor is that you never see the cameras - you know they’re there but it’s easy to put them out of your mind. But when you’re involved in the production you’re very aware of where the cameras are because that’s the side you’re working from.
So that kinda changed my perception a bit.
I think the production quality is gonna be on a par with the American one and I think people are gonna really enjoy seeing South Africans being put in those kinds of situations. The sets are great, the challenges are great – our people fought tooth and nail.
Tashi: Did they get vicious?
Mark: They fought tooth and nail for what they got. When you look at the different rewards they get, our guys had to fight a lot harder for a lot less in the rewards. There’s less pampering and generosity than in the US one and I think that makes it more gritty. They’re less spoilt – it’s tough.
Tashi: How did you know what was happening between them all the time? Did you sit on the sidelines? Did you watch the day's rushes?
Mark: The people who were filming would feed back storylines that were developing, so I wouldn’t get absolute specifics. In a way that made it more interesting when I was interviewing them at Tribal Council, when it was time to spill the dirt.
It was a case of me being aware that there was some friction happening and then I just started by leading the witness to some degree, saying: “So guys, how are you are getting along?” and left it up to them to either bring it up or not.
It wasn’t a case of: “You and you have been fighting, tell me about it.” It was more: “What’s the vibe like?” I’d be tempted to watch it all myself the second time. Really - the reason I didn’t is that I didn’t want to see myself.
Tashi: Did you find it easy to separate yourself emotionally from them? Were there those you liked and wanted to see win and those you loathed?
Mark: It’s gonna sound silly and like it’s rehearsed but I enjoyed everyone that was there. There are people who push other people’s buttons and might not have been that popular in their tribes, but they were amusing to me because I wasn’t living with them.
I didn’t have any favourites – even right down to who’s gonna win I really don’t mind ‘cos they’re such different personalities. It was just great to see the experiment unfold. I look at it as a Lord Of The Flies - without the violence.
It’s a journey all the people go on and it’s one of the things I found most rewarding. When you watch the American show and the people talk about how life changing it was – I’ve always gone: “Whatever, it’s 39 days.” When they get emotional about their family coming it’s like: “You’re gonna see them in a couple of days, what’s the big deal?”
When you’re there you realise how emotional that stuff really is and how those 29 days in those conditions are so abnormal and you see personal growth in the people. I know it sounds really Hallmark but it was very rewarding.
Tashi: When Survivors got voted off – did they stay where you were?
Mark: No they went to a separate place. I didn’t mix with them at all.
Tashi: What did you do in between the filming?
Mark: We were involved a lot more than the Survivors. I almost think there needs to be a million rand prize for someone in production because we’d arrive at locations a lot earlier than they would and there was a lot of setting up. I mean the camera and sound men work their butts off.
In those temperatures - it was close to 40 degrees with unbelievable humidity - and these guys are lugging serious equipment around, so a lot of the time was taken up with that.
I took books to read but I didn’t read a thing – when I wasn’t working I was trying to sleep. It really was go-go-go, far more than I thought. I thought we’d go out to the island, film for a couple of hours and the next day do a Tribal Council then go back to the pool to drink pina coladas. I thought it was gonna be a holiday with a ittle work thrown in, but it really wasn’t.
The fact that the guys are doing a double dose and filming Survivor Africa now – when they come back, besides needing medals for going above and beyond service, I hope they get some time to relax.
Tashi: With the show giving you a public profile what do you envisage happening for you in the future?
Mark: I would hope that there are gonna be lots more Survivors, I really do. It’s such a good recipe and it’s been a proven success around the world and I hope it has the longevity I would like it to have. To make a living out of entertainment in South Africa you can’t be too precious. You need to spread your net far and wide and I’ve got lots of interests.
I’d really be interested in doing lots of different things. I’d love to do radio and more TV - a major travel or adventure programme. I’ve been approached by a Swedish cameraman from the Swedish Survivor crew to do a nature programme, so we sent through a proposal which was enthusiastically received.
I’d love to do anything - so long as I’m on radio or TV I’m happy and if a film career comes along, great. I’d like to carry on doing commercials ‘cos they pay well – anything to supplement it- but I’d like avoid being in Corporate for the rest of my life if possible.
Tashi: Are you gonna say: “The tribe has spoken?”
Mark: Wait and see. With people saying they don’t want it to be a carbon copy of the American one, there are certain things people are going to expect to be there and they’d be disappointed if they they weren’t.
Tashi: So you’re saying that you do say it?
Mark: There are catch phrases that are important to the show and to not have them would be doing them a disservice. So you can read into that what you will.
It’s a fine line as to what to copy and what to change and you take your cues from other shows. The one that really comes to mind is The Weakest Link’s
Fiona Coyne ‘cos she does it fairly closely to the UK one. The UK woman is probably far bitchier but Fiona’s character’s gone that route with the wink at the end and all that kinda stuff now we haven’t gone that closely – probably because Jeff doesn’t wink or do anything that’s that particular as a mannerism.
There’s the arm movement for “Survivors go!” and stuff like that but we didn’t think it was necessary to copy it to that degree. The catch-phrases that people like are there – we’ve changed a couple because of them being American in terminology and I think some of it would be tacky if we kept everything. But the staples are there.
Ends