Social - May 2002

‘Bad Girl’ deemed ultimate survivor

By JACQUELINE CASEY, LTN Staff Writer

May 24, 2002 - When Lincolnton’s Barbi Martin learned she had been selected to spend eight days competing in Survive Our Island 2002 — Charlotte radio station KISS95.1’s take-off on the popular “Survivor” TV show — she opted for a simple strategy: be herself.

“I planned on being nice, staying out of the drama — which is what I did.”

The plan worked.

After one week of sleeping outdoors under a tarp, acing physical challenges, downing disgusting concoctions and avoiding being voted off of Carowinds’ Smurf Island, co-castaways unanimously named the 23-year-old furniture plant worker winner of the first-place $5,000 cash prize.

It all began with a last minute e-mail to the Ace & TJ Show — a quick single paragraph submitted hours before the entry deadline. Martin wrote that she has a tattoo, drives a 1999 Black Mustang with the license plate “Bad Girl” and works at Ethan Allen in Maiden where she drives a tow motor.

“I told them I actually spend more time running into aisles and people than actually driving.”

Hours later a phone call informed her she’d been selected for an interview. The same afternoon, a Friday, she was told to be at the radio station Wednesday for her eight day adventure.

She called her boss over the weekend.

“He was like, ‘Girl, if you can win $5,000, go for it.’”

So Barbi did. She turned up on April 17 with the one item she was allowed to bring, baby wipes.

“It was the closest thing I was going to get to a bath because we couldn’t brush our teeth, we couldn’t shave, we could not take a bath — nothing.”

The radio station provided a pillow, a sleeping bag, food — peanut butter and jelly, white powdered doughnuts, chicken salad and tuna — and water. The ten castaways crossed the dock to Smurf Island, were divided into two tribes of five and told to scavenge the island for supplies to build a shelter. Thanks to one of her teammates bringing a tarp and finding wire and rope, Barbi’s tribe came up with a decent shelter.

And then the competition was on.

Each morning during the  show’s 6 to 10 broadcast, the castaways spoke on the air and participated in challenges. The first morning it was drinking a pureed breakfast drink of pancakes, eggs, grits bacon, orange and grape juices, tater tots, sausage and french toast.

“When they poured it into my cup, if I would turn it over, it would not move,” Martin says.

Barbi, quickly tagged Bad Girl Barbi for her license plate, kept a low profile, refusing to get involved in insulting other contestants on broadcasts.

She and two fellow tribe members agreed early on to support each other.

“Me, Honeymoon Holly and Navy Seal Joe, we made a pact kind of from the beginning. We were like the most physically fit. We didn’t talk about it. It was like nobody knew about it but us three. We knew what we were going to do. We didn’t talk about anybody.”

The hours after the radio show were worse than the challenges, Martin says.

“After 10, we all just lay around under the tarp. I didn’t think I would make it through  the weekend, I was so bored.”

At home, Martin’s parents Nancy and Bobby Martin listened to the radio, proud of their daughter’s perseverance.

“We were confident in Barbi,” said Nancy Martin.

The days passed with different contestants voted off. The final challenge came down to a race through Carowinds back to the island.

The three remaining contestants were blindfolded, driven into the park, and told to make their way back from a men’s restroom near the Vortex.

After a slow start, Barbi gained her bearings and raced across the bridge to Smurf Island, coming in second and placing her in a final two-way vote to determine the winner.

Back at home, Barbi is awaiting her payoff check — she plans to buy new rims for her Mustang — and enjoying her fame.

The days of celebrity may not be over. Bad Girl Barbi recently interviewed to appear on  NBC’s “Fear Factor,” a show pitting contestants against their phobias in a bid to win money. Given the chance, Barbi Martin is confident she can collect.

“That’s $50,000 right there, and I’ll eat whatever it takes.”

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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