You can't phone it in

CBS hears grumblings from some Survivor fans for not allowing telephone voting in a contest to award another $1-million to an All-Star.

News that CBS will accept only text messages and Internet votes for its latest Survivor contest - in which the public votes to hand another $1-million prize to one of the contestants from its All-Stars competition - hasn't pleased some fans of the show.

Jean Horne, 69, of St. Petersburg, is an avid Survivor viewer who doesn't own a cell phone for text messaging or a computer for Internet access. She had hoped to vote for Survivor: Pearl Islands alum Rupert Boneham, but she said network staffers were less than receptive when she called to complain.

Of the major networks, CBS traditionally has had the greatest share of older viewers, but that apparently isn't enough reason for it to allow viewers to use good old-fashioned telephones for the contest.

"It's modern technology," said CBS spokeswoman Colleen Sullivan when asked why the network didn't provide call-in numbers for conventional telephones.

"There's isn't a person in theory who can't get to a computer at a library or copy center. To take phone-in calls is a bit antiquated."

Host Jeff Probst announced details for Survivor: America's Tribal Council during the All-Stars finale Sunday, revealing that the show would hand a second $1-million prize to a contestant chosen by the public. Pennsylvania resident Amber Brkich had already been chosen as the All-Stars winner, earning a $1-million pot.

CBS reported that an average 24.8-million viewers tuned in to the 135-minute Survivor season finale Sunday and the 45-minute live reunion special that followed it in New York City. Locally, about 14 percent of the 1.6-million households with TVs tuned in the finale, or 21 percent of those with TVs turned on.

There may be one less local viewer when CBS unveils the winner of America's Tribal Council at 8 p.m. Thursday on WTSP-Ch. 10. "If I can't vote and be fair about it, maybe I should just stop watching," Horne said. "Why go where you're not wanted?"

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