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 .
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