Author: JustSkipIt
Rating: NC-17
Feedback: Please leave feedback on the Survivor - Ash Island thread on the Kitten Board.
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters nor do I own Survivor. And believe it or not, I also don't own any small islands. On the other hand, this island is fictional so let's say I own it. I'm making no money from this fiction and intend no copyright infringement.
Disclaimer 2 - I’m not a journalist. I’ve never taken a journalism class or read a book on it or written an article. Etc. and use your imagination for this disclaimer.
Note - Thanks Watson for the loan.

The Early Show
Willow stands by Harry on the Early Show Survivor set. She is wearing a pair of slacks and a silk blouse. Tied around her throat is the same choker with the rainbow colored beads that she wore on the first Survivor episode. She glances sidewise and smiles in that direction as Harry announces, "And in a minute, we’ll have Willow Rosenberg, the most recent castaway voted off Survivor - Ash Island." The show cuts to commercial.

When the show comes back, Willow is sitting in a chair across from Harry.

Show Clip - Willow directs the Akathla team to place the beams on the stands for the first challenge.

"Welcome, Willow."

"Thanks, Harry," Willow says, "I’m happy to be here."

"Well, not happy. You were voted off last night and I can’t imagine that you were happy about that."

She smiles. "You know it was hard watching that episode but it has been a while and I really accepted it a long time ago."

"You made it very far into the game."

Show Clip - Willow screams as she startles a frog. When everyone comes running she explains her fear of frogs and they all question her for going on the show.

"You went on this game even though you had never been camping nor done any survival activities didn’t you?"

Willow chuckles. "A friend dared me and it was something I’d never done. I really never thought I’d make it onto the show let alone make it 33 days. You know this game is something different than anyone watching at home can imagine. It’s fascinating and exhilarating and exhausting."

Show Clip - Willow directing Faith and Kendra to put down the squares in the 5x5 puzzle.

"Your puzzle solving ability really came in handy for you and your teams in this game. On this game you really made a difference."

"As Faith would say, it was five by five. Seriously though, I have always been good at puzzles. That’s a big part of why I got a degree in applied mathematics and why I work in computers. It’s all about solving puzzles."

Show Clip - Willow solving the puzzle to win the reward challenge and the car. She jumps up and hugs Jeff after winning.

"In fact, your puzzle solving ability is what allowed you to win the car reward challenge."

"Knowing that the final step in that challenge was a puzzle, I just really wanted to stay close. When I got to the puzzle and no one else was very far along yet, I knew I had a chance."

Show Clip - Willow commenting to Amy and Buffy that she likes "the shy ones." Willow and Tara holding hands as they watch the waves come in.

"Now when you won that challenge, you chose Tara to go with you and she won a vehicle also."

Willow smiles widely. "I chose Tara because she was the player I most wanted to spend time with. The fact that she won a truck too was just icing on the cake."

Harry glances over Willow’s head off screen for a moment. "While on the island you and Tara seemed to grow quite close. Is that something that has continued since you left the island?"

Willow looks puzzled at the commentator for a moment. "Tara and I had no contact for the first few months after the game ended. Then I called her and it was like we’d never been apart."

"Has that been difficult?" Harry asks.

"The relationship? Or people’s reaction to it?"

"The reaction."

"If you let them," Willow says, "people can be pretty cool. We’ve found fans coming out the woodwork and 9 out of 10 say how impressed they are with us and how happy we seem."

"You just missed being in the final four," Harry says, "but Tara is in it. How does that feel?"

"Tara and I were playing different games. By the time I left the island I knew what I was getting out of the experience and it was all I could ever hope for in life."

"Well, Congratulations," Harry says. He turns to the camera and says, "That’s Willow Rosenberg, the latest person voted off Survivor - Ash Island. We’ll see her and the other castaways this Sunday night at 10, 9 Central for the Survivor reunion show following the special two-hour Survivor finale."

Live with Regis and Kelly

Regis and Kelly are schmoozing as they drink their coffee. "You know who else is on?" Regis asks. "Willow," he tells Kelly without waiting for her to answer.

"Oh," Kelly says, "from Survivor."

Show Clip - Willow and Tara are retrieving the tree mail. Wondering if she will be voted off, the redhead leans forward and kisses Tara.

Willow comes out to applause and shakes Regis and Kelly’s hands before taking a seat. "Welcome, Willow," Regis says, "you just were voted off Survivor - Ash Island last night."

Show Clip - Jeff reading the final vote and announcing that Willow is the 12th person voted off and the fifth jury member.

"That must have been pretty hard?" Kelly says.

"It’s always hard to put so much into anything, but I had 33 pretty incredible days on the island and it was one of the best experiences of my life."

"While on the island," Regis says, "you seemed to have a little of a flirtation going on with Tara."

"More than a flirtation I’d say," Kelly chimes in.

"I didn’t make any secret of my interest in her even when I was on the other team."

"Did you worry that you’d be seen as a weak link and voted off for it?"

"You know, I really didn’t. Maybe I was naive or maybe I got lucky but I really thought that everyone would see it as being outside the game. What you don’t realize until you do something like this that nothing is outside the game."

"You know," Regis says, "it’s hard to tell from watching the show whether you and Tara are really interested in each other or if that’s part of the game too. I mean maybe she just wants you in her alliance and maybe you just want to ride her bond with Faith and Kendra to the final four. The viewer couldn’t tell."

"Especially since she voted you off last night," Kelly adds. "That makes it seem like she was just using you for the extra vote all along."

"Everyone plays their game on the island," Willow concedes, "but I know how Tara feels about me and I know why she did what she did."

"In fact," Kelly says, "you are currently in a relationship. Is that right?"

Willow smiles at the two hosts. "Yes."

"Although you live in Atlanta and she lives in Ohio," Regis prompts next. "So you’re in a long distance relationship?"

"We’re coordinating our visits pretty carefully, but our priorities are Tara’s daughter and spending as much time together as we can."

"Now you’re on this jury," Regis says, "can you tell us if you were able to vote for Tara to win the million dollars."

Willow chuckles. "In order to do that, I’d have to say if she made the final two which I can’t do."

"Well, everyone can find out who wins the million dollars this Sunday night. Thanks for coming to visit with us, Willow." Regis shakes her hand followed by Kelly and Willow leaves the set after waving to the audience.

Family Corner: More than a Game by Pepper Watson
Well, those who watch television and count the number of gay characters on both reality and scripted television had a new set of characters to watch this season on Survivor - Ash Island. The eleventh incarnation of this former television phenomenon, reduced to "what else is on?" status in recent seasons, has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity and it’s due in no small part to the developing relationship between two of the contestants.

Like Rob and Amber’s (from Survivor - All Stars for those of you who didn’t watch Survivor - All Stars, The Amazing Race 7, or Rob & Amber get Married and have been living under rocks for the past few months), this relationship has blossomed under the intense scrutiny of a nation of reality TV fans as well as the other competitors on the show.

CBS has been hesitant to focus on this developing relationship. Why you ask? Because the people in the relationship are two women: Willow Rosenberg, a software mogul and self-identified single lesbian from Atlanta, GA and Tara Maclay, a single mother from Columbus, OH. While Rosenberg’s online bio and three minute submission tape practically screams: Atlanta’s hottest love-em-and-leave-em family member, Tara’s makes no mention of her sexual preference. While she repeatedly refers to herself as a "single mother" she makes no other reference to any relationship history (causing some fans to speculate that the adorable "Ariel" is the product of an immaculate conception).

We must give points to CBS for showing the relationship at all. Certainly they have plenty of footage to edit into forty-four minutes each week without even letting us know that Tara and Willow exist. (Look how long silent Jen stayed silent on Survivor 10). Instead they’ve shown us a few sweet kisses and a "what happened when the light went out?" reward outing.

But we want to know.

What happened when the lights went out?

In the beginning, this relationship seemed to be all Willow. The first episode found her wearing a rainbow colored choker and confiding in her new tribe mates that she "liked the shy ones." Their blasé acceptance of her coming out seemed a good sign for her future in the game (if anything ever was). And besides, she and her tribe mates were clearly in the process of "meat marketing" the opposition rather than discussing lasting relationships. Or perhaps everyone but Willow was doing that.

Later installments saw the quick-witted redhead flirting with the object of her affection, solving puzzle challenges seemingly single-handed for her team, and showing shock at the revelation that Tara had a child. Her shock at the revelation of Tara’s status as mother was short-lived as the redhead ascertained that Tara did not have a husband waiting at home.

While some seemed to doubt Tara’s interest in a relationship, Willow was not one of them. She continued her pursuit of the blonde, intentionally forgoing a steak dinner for fish to share her company and making no secret of her interests. When a surprise twist in the game brought Willow to Tara’s MFashnek tribe, their contact increased.

Given CBS’s editorial policies last year concerning the lesbian kisses shared by Ami and her partner and Scout and her partner respectively, we might have expected the network to similarly omit the sweet and impulsive kiss shared by our heroines while retrieving tree mail. Subsequent episodes showed a surprising lack of interest by the other competitors in the emerging relationship and perhaps alliance. While Tara was already in a strong alliance, Willow appeared ready to ride the blonde’s coat tails to success. Tara was seen by some as crafty for bringing the super-smart Willow in for an easy vote as a mini-alliance member.

Unlike the Rob & Amber or Gregg & Jen relationships in recent seasons, no one really entertained the possibility that together these competitors formed too strong a pair. Perhaps that was because they were both women, perhaps because everyone assumed (incorrectly) that Willow would return to her alliance with former tribe mate Buffy, or perhaps because everyone assumed (correctly) that Tara would remain true to her original alliance, no one seemed to fear this couple. While suspicions and resentment festered for Buffy when Willow chose Tara to accompany her on an overnight reward challenge, the game’s other competitors viewed the relationship as an amusement or a game strategy but not a serious threat.

Given the events of this past Thursday, an episode which saw Willow voted off by a vote of 4-1 including a vote from her "girlfriend?", it would seem that those who doubted Tara’s feelings may have been right.

Or were they?

We had the opportunity to visit with Willow Rosenberg Friday afternoon.

Hi. Thanks for agreeing to talk with us.
No problem. You know I really like Pepper and Family Corner is my favorite feature. I especially loved your coverage of the Lovebirds in The Amazing Kitten Race.

I can’t imagine why.
(laughs)Right. I think that right now Ellen, Rosie, and I are the most out women in America.

Well there’s always Melissa Etheridge and Portia de Rossi too. Seriously, you were just voted off Survivor this week. That must have been hard.
Well you know, it was about seven months ago that it really happened so I’ve had quite a bit of time to get used to the thought.

Still you were voted off by a 4-1 vote. Even Tara, who I’m sure you thought you could trust voted you off the show
I knew I could trust Tara. That’s one of the reasons I knew I would be voted off. Tara joined an alliance on day two of this game and has never wavered from it. She told me straight out that she would be honoring her alliance. Neither of us was happy about the choice but that’s the way this game is played.

You sound pretty blasé for someone who just lost a chance at winning a million dollars.
Like I said earlier, for me it happened a long time ago. In terms of the game, I think I knew my time was limited from the time of the switch.

You’re talking about when Kendra reshuffled teams and brought you over to MFashnek?
Yes.

Now that move brought you closer to Tara. How did you feel about it at the time?
You know, my feelings were quite mixed at the time. On one hand, MFashnek was a much stronger team. They had food and a better shelter. On the other hand, I was pretty much going to be "odd man out."

But Tara was on MFashnek
Well, that was definitely the best part of my team switch.

You made no secret of your interest in Tara while in this game.
No. I didn’t.

Do you think that hurt you in the game?
I don’t think it affected my game in any way. The other competitors just wanted to win the game. I didn’t get voted off because I was in a relationship with Tara. I got voted off because I was on the outside of a strong alliance.

You just said something very telling. You said that you were in a relationship with Tara. Is that how you saw it at the time?
Yes.

Say a little more about that. I mean to the extent that you are comfortable talking about your relationship.
When I first saw Tara, I really thought she was very special. As soon as I’d spent a little time with her, I knew this was a person I wanted in my life. I wanted a relationship with her and that’s what developed on the island.

You’ve said that you don’t think the relationship with Tara hurt your game. Do you think the same can be said for Tara? Did the others in her alliance doubt her loyalty because of you?
I can’t really say what went on in other people’s heads.

Based on their actions in the game, do you think that others doubted Tara’s integrity in her relationship with you?
I can’t answer that question.

Now I don’t think that it’s the best kept secret in television that you and Tara have been seen publicly together since the show ended. An Atlanta newspaper ran a bit in a gossip column reporting on your having breakfast together and you appeared together to accept your vehicles. Tara even accompanied you on this trip to New York and to the CBS studio to tape your Early Show interview this morning.
Tara and I haven’t been trying to hide our relationship.

You and she are living together?
Not exactly living together. I spend about two weeks with her in Ohio and then two weeks in Atlanta.

Now, I’ve heard that when you returned from the Island, you had no contact with each other for over three months. Was there bad blood from your time on Island? Because Tara voted against you?
Quite the contrary. When I left the Island, we knew that we had a future together but we agreed that it would be best if we took a break so we could get back to our normal lives.

That sounds very hard if you knew you had a future together. Did you get to spend time together while sequestered?
I can’t answer that question.

We’re almost done. What do you have planned while in New York?
Tara is meeting her family at the airport right now. After they get in we are visiting the normal sights: The Empire State Building, visiting Ground Zero, seeing a baseball game, and then of course the show tomorrow night.

Thanks for taking the time to visit with us. Congratulations on your appearance on Survivor - Ash Island. I know that we have a lot of readers who are happy for you but disappointed that you’re off the market.
Thank you.

Author's note:
Pepper Magazine is a fictional (as in, Watson made the name up) weekly e-zine covering the quirky and the alternative, with a definite rainbow slant. Any similarities to actual or past magazines or publications are unintentional.