CBS's Survivor 13: Castaways Divided by Race

Is CBS rocking the boat that marooned a group of castaways on the Cook Islands?

Dubbed by show host Jeff Probst as the biggest social experiment to date, the 13th season of the hit reality series Survivor has divided contestants into four teams of five - based on ethnicity.

Rob Cesternino, 27 who made the final three in Survivor: Amazon (season five) and returned for Survivor All-Stars, was dubbed by host Probst as the “best player never to win.” Cesternino has become a reality expert of sorts, covering the genre through his latest endeavor Zabberbox.com, a website with original video-on-demand programming. Last week, Zabberbox launched “Tribal Counseling,” a biweekly show on Survivor. 

“I thought it was a great idea. I had hoped they'd do something like this for a while. I think what's refreshing is that you have more people of different races. I applaud Survivor for having more racial diversity, as opposed to other seasons,” he said.

Jeff Reichl, 28 of East Stroudsburg, Pa. has been a Survivor faithful since early on—even having a seasonal Survivor pool.

“I think it’s a neat idea. I said years ago that it would be neat if they had 16 people that all spoke a different language and had to learn to communicate and survive,” he said, adding that he is excited to see the season play out.

Cesternino and Reichl both say critics—who are calling the show racist—have the wrong idea.

“I think a lot of people just like to talk about controversy for the sake of being heard…. They like to have airtime, and with a 24-hour a day news footage, they get it. I don't know how many people were really upset by what a reality show is doing,” said Cesternino.

Contrary to what critics believed, the first show did not contain an inkling of racism (unless you count one Asian making fun of himself), although Cesternino jokes that he wanted some drama.

“I had blood thirst for something like an episode of the Jerry Springer Show… but they found some really balanced people on the show,” he said.