Survival Of The Richest

Yeon Jin Moon (Note about Yeon Jin Moon's relation to the Unification Church)
April 1, 2006

On April 1, 2006, Yeon Jin "Kat" Moon is the next to youngest child of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han. Yeon Jin (Kat) was a contestant on a Warner Brothers Network reality show titled, "Survival of the Richest." She was voted off at the end of the first show. Here are some articles and reviews of the show and of Yeon Jin herself.

Survival of the Richest
By Laura Fries
(Series -- WB, Fri. March 31, 8 p.m.)
Date in print: Thurs., Mar. 30, 2006, Los Angeles

Filmed on location in Los Angeles by RDF MediaRDF Media. Executive producers, Joe Houlihan, Stuart Krasnow, Zad Rogers, Seven; co-executive producers, Harlan Freedman; producer, Hal Sparks; director, Sheldon Erickson.

Host Hal Sparks

For a show that purportedly explores value and class, "Survival of the Richest" displays a remarkable lack of both. Latest reality entry from the WB the WB presents itself as a social experiment, pitting hard-working blue-collar kids in debt up to their eyeballs against spoiled heiresses and playboys who've never clipped their miniature dog's toenails. In theory, show evokes the base appeal of realty TV -- to watch the deserving be generously rewarded or revel while the unworthy get their comeuppance. "Survival" tries to do it all at once and comes up short on both counts.

Gist of the game, as host Hal Sparks explains, is for the rich to learn what it means to actually work for a living, while those less well off get a chance for some big cash.

Over six episodes, seven wealthy kids, worth a cool $3 billion combined, are paired off with an equal number of blue-collar kids with a collective debt of $150,000. The challenges, beyond finding a way to coexist peacefully in a huge mansion, consist of hard-labor gigs such as waiting tables at Medieval Times and cleaning public bathrooms.

Each week, one team is eliminated until the last pair remains and is rewarded with $100,000 each. Obviously, the inherent problem here is motivation. When told of the "prize," Dutch aristocrat Hunter scoffs, "That's dinner."

Everyone appears far too prepared to play a part, and any self-realization comes far too fast without any real transformation. Either producers picked a bunch of duds to participate or else the editing team was so hopped up on caffeine they cut out the juicy parts.

A few brief moments of actual humanity seep in from, of all people, Kat, the sullen daughter of Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Despite boasting a fortune of roughly $989 million, she's surprisingly grounded and sensitive. Naturally, the other rich kids hate her. Similarly, Sam the Afghani princess has some sweet moments with her partner Jacob, the redneck fighting to pay back $35,000 in debt, but again, these moments are too few…

Class warfare, with no class
Tom Jicha
Published by Sun-Sentinel.com
March 30, 2006

Survival of the Richest is probably the last reality show ever to be introduced on the soon-to-disappear WB. Just as well. Whoever comes up with the ideas for these sorts of shows at the network has obviously run out of original thoughts. Survival of the Richest is Beauty & the Geek with money substituted for looks.

Beauty and the Geek at least provides eye candy. There is nothing pleasant about Survival of the Richest. There are a few participants who aren't hard to look at -- this is the WB -- but so many are ugly underneath.

The concept is right out of a political playbook -- class warfare. Vilify the rich and pander to the working class because there are far more of them, especially in the WB audience. Seven rich kids, with a combined net worth in the area of $3 billion, share living quarters and work assignments with an equal number of blue-collar types, who supposedly have racked up about $150,000 in debt among them.

Based on their performance doing tasks such as waiting tables and picking crops, one rich and one poor player are eliminated at the end of each episode. The last twosome left standing will split $200,000, a life-changing windfall to one, a pittance to the other.

The priority apparently was finding only detestable children of privilege, then presenting them as if they symbolize all people of means. The possibility that anyone achieved wealth through hard work and ingenuity, and shares their good fortune with society's economically disadvantaged, is not offered as even a possibility. These rich kids are spoiled rotten.

Elizabeth, an heiress to the Yellow Pages fortune, boasts, "I could probably buy your town."

Sammy, who comes from Afghan royalty, refuses to share a room with someone she considers beneath her.

Kat, a daughter of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, agreed to play to relieve her "chronic boredom."

Hunter, who sees himself as "the total package," brags that he likes to give waitresses a hard time until they cry, then see if he can get them to sleep with him.

They're an easy group to despise when pitted against Johanna, a single mother who has to make ends meet on $400 a week; Marcus, who had his lights and water shut off for non-payment of bills; and Tracy, who did volunteer missionary work in Ethiopia.

It's easier still to ignore them and spare yourself this hour of audience manipulation.

Tom Jicha can be reached at tjicha@sun-sentinel.com

Rich man, poor man 'Survival Of The Richest is either a terrific social experiment or a total sham'
By Bill Brioux
March 31, 2006
Toronto Sun

When it comes to reality shows, casting is everything.

The best editions of Survivor, American Idol, The Apprentice and The Amazing Race are the ones that had the most memorable characters.

Imagine the latest Race, for example, without those hilarious Hippies.

Which brings us to Survival Of The Richest tonight at 8 p.m. on The WB.

This new reality series, hosted by Hal Sparks (Queer As Folk), pits seven rich kids worth over three billion dollars against seven blue collar kids who have racked up over $150,000 in debt.

The two groups have to team up on several tasks -- like cleaning up after a horse race or serving 1,100 customers at Medieval Times --for a shot at winning $200,000.

For the obnoxious rich kids, this is, as one of them puts it, "lunch money."

For the poor players, this is a king's ransom.

Trouble is, for every rich kid voted out by the others at the end of each episode, he or she takes a poor partner with him.

It is the kind of crass, lowest-common denominator concept that the Fox network usually inflicts on viewers. Yet it works here because the casting is exactly right.

Imagine feeling sorry for a rich princess whose net worth is pegged at $986 million.

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Moon (daughter of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon), who says she joined the show just to try to shake her "chronic boredom," manages to alienate all but two of the players by the end of the first hour.

Yet watch tonight's opener and tell me you don't feel some sympathy toward her by the show's end.

Audiences have shown in the past that they just can't get enough of stupid rich people behaving badly. The Osbournes and Paris Hilton have milked this for millions.

Here the "stars" are Nick, a 24-year-old self-proclaimed socialite who quickly emerges as one to hoot. Haughty and homophobic, he is naturally paired with a gay contestant who is $40,000 in debt.

Hunter, who claims to be of aristocratic Dutch ancestry, is a total dick. "I'm good looking, I'm young I'm rich," he brags. "I think we can all agree that I'm the total package." His hobbies, we are told, include making waitresses cry and then sleeping with them.

There is one clown prince: T.R., basically Chris Farley with a better haircut, who is the go-to guy for laffs.

Nostrils stuffed with wads of toilet paper, he compared cleaning up a washroom stall to getting "punched in the face with stink."

On the other side of the wealth spectrum, token black dude Marcus, an unemployed 23-year-old, proves himself both resourceful (no Gucci shades for him, he shops at the Dollar Store) and rude (guzzling the drinks he's supposed to be serving; hitting on dog-clutching token blonde Liz).

The fascinating thing about Survival Of The Richest is that you don't have to be rich or poor to indulge in morally bankrupt, boorish behaviour. Both sides can be catty and small and both can also rise to the occasion.

Survival Of The Richest is either a terrific social experiment or a total sham.

Not sure which but it is slickly produced and fun to watch.

TV critic's choice for the weekend: Blue money
Neal Justin
March 30, 2006 – 2:00 PM

In "Survival of the Richest" (7 p.m. today, KMWB, Ch. 23), the world's most annoying rich kids, including the daughter of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, give up a weekend at the Hamptons to compete alongside young people in serious debt. It's never fully explained why the wealthy would participate in a show where their prize only goes up to $100,000. Maybe they're just trying to impress Paris Hilton…

Reality Check - Ex-PDX-er lives it up with rich bitches and other a-holes.
By Byron Beck bbeck at wweek.com
April 6, 2006

Reality TV has hit a new all-time low.

WB's Survival of the Richest, which premiered Friday, is a contest to see if seven poor schmucks can live with seven rich assholes without igniting a class war. Think of it as The Real World meets The Fountainhead.

Hosted by Queer as Folk's Hal Sparks, the show also stars Michael Wayne Keck, a 27-year-old former Portlander, as one of the po' folk. Keck, who's gay and unemployed, lives in L.A. That's where he was when I talked to him about fame, fortune (the winner splits $200,000) and what it was like to live with Rev. Sun Myung Moon's freaky daughter…

Did you get paid to do the show?

We definitely got paid. The reality of "reality TV" is it's not real. The (producers) had me walk into the mansion 10 different times acting like I had never seen it before. But at the same time, it was very real. They didn't show this, but Nick [Keck's teammate] was blatantly homophobic. He refused to sleep in a room with a gay guy.

Why did you agree to be on this show?

They fucking set me up. Because they were like, "Have you ever been in a limo? Do you like to go shopping?" I thought I was going to live like a Hilton. Then I got there and I was like, "Why am I cleaning toilets? This is bullshit."

What was it like living with Kat Moon [Rev. Moon's mega-wealthy daughter]?

She never talks about her dad, or her money. But she was freaking out her parents were going to cut her off and disown her for doing the show.

So what'd you get out of the experience?

I was surprised they cast me. I thought the WB hated gays. But all I'm trying to do now is enjoy my two minutes of fame…

Ask The Reality TV Expert
Gael Fashingbaur Cooper and Andy Dehnart
April 10, 2006
MSNBC

... Q: I am looking for a show I caught last week and now can’t remember the name or the channel. It was about a bunch of poor young adults being paired with millionaires, and each week a pair gets voted off.       —Cathy

A: Sounds like you mean "Survival of the Richest," which airs on the WB Fridays at 8 p.m. ET, hosted by Hal Sparks, of "Queer As Folk" and eight zillion "I Love the Whatevers" shows on VH1.

Think "Beauty and the Geek" only with poor and rich instead of geeky/smart and beautiful/dumb.  Seven young people, worth from $15 million to $1 billion, and seven others, with debts ranging from $30,000 to $1200, are thrown together to live in a mansion, perform challenges, and see one pair sent home every week. The winning pair splits a $200,000 prize, which means a heck of a lot to the poor kids, but next to nothing to the others. ("Oh! Dinner." sneered a richie on the premiere.)

Warning: Unless you're in the Paris Hilton monetary class, the show is likely to have you throwing things at your TV in frustration at the inequality of income in the world. Kids who can barely pay rent and hold down multiple jobs find themselves living with people who wear $30,000 watches and wash their hair with Evian water. Is there a law now in the higher income circles that you can't teach your children humility and manners?

The rich kids were obviously chosen for their giant egos as much as their bank balances, with one exception. (Although at least one of the rich kids, T.R., told his hometown paper that "we were all definitely hamming it up.") Sadly, the most down-to-earth rich kid, Kat Moon (daughter of Sun Myung Moon), worth an estimated $989 million, was voted off at the end of the first episode.  - G.F.C...

Note:

On December 22, 2009 Yeon Jin Moon wanted it known that:

"Kat Moon (and / or Kat Yeon-Jin Moon) is not affiliated with the Unification Church."