Turns out reality must come before ‘reality TV’

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- He’s a survivor.

At least the producers of the hit TV program “Survivor” thought so.

Oscar Santoyo, the affable director of the Save Our Youth after-school

program, said he made the final cut in the program’s highly selective

castaway casting process.

“In my last interview, they were asking me if I would be ready to get

inoculations and could eat only rice,” he said. “I was getting both

physically and mentally prepared.”

In March, producers of the show stranded 16 people on a charmless

Pacific island with only their clothes and one luxury item each.

On the show -- which airs on CBS -- the castaways are subjected to

challenges during their stay. They raced through obstacle courses and

munched on barbecued rat. And each week, the castaways are required to

banish one of their comrades from the island. The last one wins $1

million.

“I could do that, no problem,” Santoyo said. “Except for the water

challenges, that is. I can’t swim. But I told the producers I would learn

how to.”

Santoyo said he heard about the casting while driving to work in

December. He sent a three-minute videotape audition and got a call a few

weeks later. The casting agents scheduled an interview with him at the

Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Los Angeles.

An anxious Santoyo figured that as a cast member struggling though

challenges and surviving on rice and rats, he could serve as an example

for the children at his after-school program.

“If I could survive on an island without anything, then they could do

anything,” he said. “They can go to college and get jobs.”

But two days before his interview, Santoyo’s wife told him she was

pregnant. The excitement of knowing he would soon have a son, Nicholas

Alexander, diluted some of his enthusiasm.

“I knew that being a father would be my biggest challenge,” he said.

“I think I won already.”

Santoyo said he’s been too busy working at the Save Our Youth center

to follow the plight of the castaways. But he said he might audition

again in the future.

The big question, of course, is how would he spend the money?

“I’d definitely give some to the center,” he said. “Then I’d put some

money aside for my son, pay off a lot of bills. Or maybe I’d do the Elvis

thing and buy everyone cars.”