Video links:
- Jimmy T's official CBS bio page for Survivor: Nicaragua
- Jimmy T's pre-game interview with EW's Dalton Ross
- Jimmy T's pre-game interview with fancast's Gordon Holmes
- Jimmy T's official CBS pre-game interview on YouTube
- James Tarantino's facebook
- "Vote Jimmy T to Survivor" online casting contest campaign facebook page
- Gloucester International Dory Racing page
Here's a gallery of various Jimmy T. pics from the press coverage of the Survivor: Nicaragua cast reveal, as well as the pre-Ep1 ads that CBS has aired:
After being scooped by SurvivorSucks, CBS today issued a press release confirming that Survivor: Nicaragua will indeed feature an "old vs. young" tribe breakdown (at least initially). In addition, @CBSTweet sent out this (mostly concealed) pre-game picture of the entire cast (for those scoring at home, taken 6/12, or two days before filming began; click the picture to enlarge):
Three Survivor: Nicaragua contestants were already known (Holly Hoffman, originally spoiled by Sabina Sperber at Sucks, online casting call winner 'Jimmy T' Tarantino, and former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson, spoiled by jackbauer1982 and later confirmed by missyae at Sucks, then by the mainstream sports press). But over a roughly 24-hour period (Saturday 7/24-Sunday 7/25), posters at SurvivorSucks identified (and missyae confirmed) all but one of the remaining 17 contestants: original spoiler thread here, contestant-specific threads are in the S21+ forum (until they're moved in a few weeks). The last, Jane Bright of the Espada tribe, was positively indentified today. See our Survivometer21 page for a summary.
Also, as had previously been speculated by smokeitgood, missyae confirmed that the "twist" for the season is that the tribes are initially divided by age: The La Flor (yellow) tribe is composed of contestants of age 30 or under, while all members of the Espada (blue) tribe are over 40.
Two weeks after filming for Survivor: Nicaragua started, reporter Nick Curcuru of the Gloucester Times, Jimmy's local newspaper, notes Jimmy's absence during this year's edition of a rowing event he won the previous year:
"[Winning rowing team] Kaos was also unsure if they would have engine room rower Mike Mitchell back, who is currently on leave from his tour of duty in Afghanistan. The champs also had to replace one of their top rowers, Jimmy Tarantino, who is out of town during Fiesta. Instead he was replaced by Len Robertson, who didn't skip a beat according to Novello."
Good Morning Gloucester, a local blog, interviews Jimmy about himself and what he likes most about Gloucester, MA. Follow the link for the full interview; we've included our favorite response below:
"Q: What is your favorite bar in Gloucester?
A:
All of 'em."
Reporter Nick Curcuru of the Gloucester Times, Jimmy's local newspaper, reports Jimmy's record-setting performance in solo dory rowing at the 2009 International Dory championship (which features rowers from Gloucester, MA taking on counterparts from Lunenberg, Nova Scotia). As flagged by GlostaGirl1216 at Sucks:
"The 2009 rowing season just went from great to spectacular for Jimmy Tarantino.
Tarantino already had the 2009 International Dory championship, his first in 27 years of rowing, and a men's senior seine boat championship with Kaos under his belt this summer. Saturday, Tarantino took home an individual honor as he won the Bank's Dory singles division in Saturday's Blackburn Challenge. To top it all off Tarantino set a new course-record with a time of 4:34:25, eight minutes ahead of New Jersey's Mick Cote.
'(Cote) pushed me the entire race,' said Tarantino, who's hands were riddled with blisters and calluses. 'That's why I was able to get such a good time. It's been an amazing year for me.'
Over 400 rowers participated in the 20-mile trek around Cape Ann in 29 different divisions."
