Local woman airs on Survivor: Edge of Extinction
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A local woman is having her debut
in one of the most widely watched series
on television.
Victoria Baamonde, who resides
in Country Club, is a cast member on
CBS’s Survivor: Edge of Extinction,
Season 38, which premiers on Wednesday,
February 20 at 8 p.m. on the network
for being the ‘Sole Survivor.’
Baamonde is one of 18 castaways
marooned on a tropical island in the
competitive reality television show,
with one of the contestants winning a
$1,000,000 prize at the end of the season.
She told the Bronx Times she’s been
a fan of the show ever since she and her
parents watched the fi rst season back
in 2000 when she was a child, and she
dreamt of becoming a cast member for
a long time.
“I’ve always loved the show every
since it fi rst came out,” said Baamonde.
“In the beginning it was a really cool adventure
show that was fun to watch.”
As she continued watching, she said
she came to see the show as a microcosm
of the real world, where the challenges
of the real world are heightened.
“I wanted to be able to test myself.
They travel to such cool places and I
wanted to go where they go and experience
Baamonde (c.) and the other members of her team on the television series.
Photo courtesy of CBS
challenges you wouldn’t in everyday
life,” she said.
The show places a group of people
who don’t know each other on an isolated
island, where, like castaways,
they have to provide food and shelter for
themselves.
She said that the show pits the castaways
into two teams or tribes and has
them compete against each other in
adventurous physical or mental challenges
and win each other’s trust.
After each challenge, the losing
team votes someone out of the competition,
and those that are voted out by a
‘tribal council’ go on to become judges
for the rest of the series, she said.
Baamonde said that she fi rst applied
to become a cast member online about a
year and a half before the producers of
Survivor contacted her.
After receiving an email out of the
blue stating she was moving on to the
next step, she had a phone interview,
completed a very detailed application,
and then attended three interviews in
Los Angeles, where she could have been
cut at any time.
She was thrilled when she found out
that she was going to be on the show.
“They get thousands of applications
a year, and it was a life long dream.
To think someone over there thought
there was something special in the little
30 second video that I sent in is something
I am still trying to wrap my head
Victoria Baamonde of Country Club is part
of the competition on Survivor: Edge of Extinction
when the series returns Wednesday,
February 20. Photo courtesy of CBS
around,” said Baamonde.
Baamonde told the Bronx Times
that she had a rather typical upbringing
in Country Club, attending P.S. 71
and M.S. 101.
Her grandmother lived down the
street from where she grew up, and she
played softball with the Pelham Bay
Belles.
On the day the episode debuts, Baamonde
is planning to have premiere
party with friends and family.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 8 EBRUARY 22-28, 2019 BTR