Just another Survivor

June Casagrande

NEW YORK -- Ousted “Survivor” Sarah Jones will come home to Newport

Beach today, minus the million-dollar prize but richer for her experience

on the reality show, she said Thursday.

She’ll live, at least for a while, with many lingering effects of

living in the public eye during the TV reality show’s latest go-round --

not the least of which is the fallout from images of Jones with an

American flag on the island.

In one segment, she was shown sitting on an American flag for an

interview. In another, she was seen using the flag as a blanket.

“As a veteran I was personally offended and I am sure other veterans

who have fought for Old Glory felt likewise,” Dennis Biennas wrote in an

e-mail to the Daily Pilot.

J.T. Tarwater, commander of American Legion Post 291 in Newport Beach,

said there had been no talk of the matter that he knew of at the post

Thursday but emphasized the importance of respecting the flag.

“These days, you see flags used for everything -- teddy bears,

bikinis. I think the intent is what’s most important,” he said. “This is

the flag of our country.”

Jones said she meant no disrespect, though decisions by the shows

producers may have made it seem otherwise.

“The flag belonged to Paschal -- it was his luxury item. He’s a

veteran,” Jones said in a telephone interview from New York. “When the

producer set it on the ground for me to sit on for an interview, I said,

‘I thought you weren’t supposed to put flags on the ground.’ He said

something like, ‘Well, you’re not supposed to have them here like this on

the island, either.”’

As for the shots of her using the flag for a blanket, she said, “All

five of us in the tribe slept under it. I don’t know why they only showed

me.”

At the time, she said, the image of five allies sleeping together

under the flag seemed moving and patriotic.

Jones said her experience on the show has had many long-lasting

benefits. For one, she has come to appreciate people in a way that never

before seemed possible.

“When you put 15 random people together like that, you learn that

everyone has a really fascinating story and everyone has something to

teach you,” she said. “I will definitely get to know people past first

impressions from now on.”

Also, the 24-year-old former account manager said, her lifelong fear

of sharks is a thing of the past. Toward the end of her time on the show,

she was trying to pet small sharks in the water.

“I don’t know what I’ll do when I get back, but after that I don’t

think I’ll ever be able to be locked up in an office all day,” she said.

When asked to share an exclusive scoop with readers of her hometown

paper, Jones had one.

“I kissed Rob,” she said. “I’m not sure why. He was my buddy. But,

yes, it was a romantic kiss.”

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .