“It was late at night when we got the call,” said Joanne Olson, the mother of Mitchell Olson, the Union City resident chosen to be in the upcoming season of CBS’s reality show Survivor. “We are really excited for him. We knew he would relate to people. So we said, ‘Go for it.'”
Residents of Union City were excited as well two weeks ago when they found out that a young man who recently moved to town would be one of 16 cast members on the popular show.
The second season of the show, which was filmed in the Australian outback, will premiere on Jan. 28 after the Superbowl. The first season, which aired this past summer, allowed viewers to follow the weekly exploits of a group of Americans who endured physical challenges on an island and routinely voted each other off. The last remaining cast member received a million dollars. But who is going to win is always a guarded secret until the show airs.
Mitchell Olson, 23, is not allowed to speak to the press until he gets voted off the island, a CBS spokeswoman said last week. This has not stopped the press and local groups from trying to contact him. One representative of the Friends of the Union City Library said recently that they are trying to locate him so they can invite him to speak at the library.
Olson’s mother, reached at her home in the farm town of Vermillion, S.D., spoke at length about her seven-foot-tall son last week.
“The first time we saw [the cast] on television, it was on the morning show and their faces were blacked-out,” said Olson. “But we could spot him right away. He is easy to pick out; he is seven feet tall.”
Olson is currently working for Entertainment Weekly, a job that he got through a temporary agency, and is an aspiring singer and songwriter. Publicity from the show will undoubtedly help, as it has with past survivors of reality programs.
“He is very talented and he has a great voice,” said his mother.
Olson graduated from South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Music Performance. He is a member of the National Academy of Popular Music for singers and songwriters.
Already a survivor
Olson tried out for the show to fulfill number 16 on his “Things to do before I die” list that he started when he was 12 years old. This also led him to try out for the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and to become a contestant on The Price is Right game show.
“He had a lot of dreams and was pretty determined to fulfill them,” said JoAnne. “And he still is.”
However, Olson’s biggest challenge was moving from his small farm town to the New York area in pursuit of his music career.
Olson first lived in Hoboken before moving to his current residence about a year ago in Union City.
“It is really, really special to go there,” said Joanne about visiting her son. “But we are just not used to all those people. We come from a small town. We kind of know everyone in the town.”
Joanne Olson said that it is her son’s humor that will help him on the show.
“He is a fun, crazy guy to be around,” said Joanne.
Star status
It is no secret that once on the show, Olson will pretty much be catapulted into the spotlight, whether he wants to be or not.
“We have pretty much been bombarded with phone calls,” said Olson.
Mitchell, who has a completed a music CD and written a play, seems to be ready for his turn in the spotlight.
“Ooh, yeah,” said Mrs. Olson when asked if she thought her son was ready for the shove into stardom. With an open invitation to sing on Scott and Todd’s Morning Show on WPLJ 95.5 FM made by the DJs on Wednesday, Mitchell’s opportunities to sing appear to have started early.