While Danny Gokey supporters around Milwaukee feverishly vote for their favorite singer to advance on "American Idol," fans of the area's "other" reality contestant of the moment are hoping that she doesn't get "voted off the island."

Erinn Lobdell, a 27-year-old Waukesha native who works as a hairstylist and makeup artist at Glow Salon and Spa Downtown, has made it through the first five "tribal council meetings" on "Survivor: Tocantins," which is the 18th installment of the popular CBS series.

Lobdell is competing on the Timbira tribe, which includes her on-air nemesis, "Coach" (Ben), Tyson, Brendon, Sierra and Debbie. The other tribe, Jalapao, features Stephan, Joe, JT, Taj and Sydney.

The episode Wednesday night was a "highlight" show, so none of the competitors saw his or her torch extinguished. A new episode is slated to air next Thursday.

Because of confidentiality agreements, Lobdell and other contestants are prohibited from talking (especially to the media) about the on-going competition until they are either voted off the show or win the $1 million grand prize.

OnMilwaukee.com did catch up with Lobdell about 10 hours before the show's season premiere on Feb. 12. Here is a snapshot of that conversation, which took place while Lobdell was picking up snacks for a viewing party at her parents' home:

OnMilwaukee.com: You are entering your last few hours of anonymity. In a few hours, you'll be famous and your name will forever be changed to "Erinn from Survivor."

Erinn Lobdell: That's true. This is the last time I'll be able to get away with going out and not wearing any makeup.

OMC: But, there wasn't any makeup in the jungle ...

EL: Definitely not. I was probably uglier on the show than I ever will be in real life. I'm a little nervous about that, especially because it's in HD this year. To see myself in HD with all my bug bites will be a little weird.

OMC: Just how rough was it out there? Are we talking about using leaves for toilet paper? Is it extreme camping?

EL: It was bad. You really don't have anything. The only thing you are supplied with is a machete. Everything you do, you do on your own. If you can't come up with it, you don't have it.

The conditions were harsh, harsh, harsh -- 120 degrees during the day was typical. It would get hotter than that some days. It would get down to 50s and 60s at night and we would be freezing. Then, rainy season started. so, you would have days and days of rain or five days where it was super, super dry.

The conditions were crazy whether you were in the game or out. if you're voted out, you stay the whole time. Even when you had the plush base camp, it was still harsh, harsh weather.

OMC: The people at "Survivor" are pretty good at keeping secrets. How many people could you tell that you were doing the show?

EL: I definitely had ... you can get clearance for some people to know. I have to tell my mom where I'm going, or she is going to flip out. My family knew. My boyfriend knew. There were definitely a few friends that knew where I was.

OMC: What about work?

EL: I had moved away. I was living in Louisville for a year. I had just moved back and i was leaving again to go and do the show. I couldn't say, like, "I'm going on vacation." I was trying to keep clients.

We had to make it something where they knew I was definitely coming back. At work, we told everybody I was doing a reality show. We just didn't say anything about which show it was. A lot of people thought I was doing that haircutting show.

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3 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by FunkyBrewster on March 27, 2009 at 8:06 a.m. (report)

Tocantins has been beautiful but boring so far.

Posted by High_Life_Man on March 26, 2009 at 3:01 p.m. (report)

Here's an important question: Why the extra n?

Posted by alba on March 26, 2009 at 1:52 p.m. (report)

So if she knows even the plush base camp was harsh, she must have been voted off.