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Edgge Interviews Local Survivor Star
Kelly Czarnecki

WRITTEN BY JEANNE AGUIRRE

PHOTOS BY LESLIE LIPPS

Having recently returned from filming the seventeenth season of SURVIVOR, Kelly Czarnecki is casually dressed in a t-shirt and skin-fitted jeans. With her long blonde hair pulled back and her face made up, she is ready for whatever is coming next. Survivor's revisit to Africa this summer landed the players in Gabon - "Last Garden of Eden." Already, reputations are being forged and the rumors and leaks are flowing.

She's the girl who may be this year's hottie, dumb blond, or, in her mind even worse, cheerleader, of the hit television reality show. She may even be voted the girl you love to hate. But Kelly is gearing up to embrace these monikers.
It's actually a 21st-century fairy tale. But instead of the hometown-girl-gets-discovered-at-a-corner-soda-shop-and-sent-off-to-model-the-runways-of-Paris-and-Milan scenario, Kelly is a 22-year-old college student from Buffalo Grove whose MySpace photo was discovered by a show researcher. After a battery of interviews and periods of solitary confinement, she is whisked off to battle the elements of Africa and her 17 fellow contestants.
Kelly described to Edgge how it all started. "Saturday, on my (22nd) birthday weekend, I was looking at my horoscope, which said 'The entertainment business is high. Take a risk'. On Monday, a woman contacted me through email and said I have a good look for the show; if I am interested to give her a call. I, like, didn't believe she was for real at first, but my brother told me I should just go for it."

And so she did.

She put together an on-the-spot video audition, filled out a lengthy application and sent them both off to Los Angeles. After obtaining the initial nod from CBS and unable to tell anyone other than her boss and her parents, she flew out to California on the network's dime. She interviewed for several days - watching as hundreds of other applicants got tossed out and sent home. She was to have no communications with the other hopefuls. When they were finished, with no knowledge of where she stood in the process, they flew her back home to wait.

Two weeks later, the agent called Kelly at her workplace to congratulate her. "I couldn't tell anyone at the store. I worked all day and didn't tell a soul. I can keep a secret!" She didn't need to for long as she soon found herself on a plane with other aspirants flying to Paris. "We couldn't talk to one another, but we recognized each other. All we could do was visually size each other up and think about what was to come." They quietly hooked up with other contestants in France and flew on to Gabon.

They had been instructed to pack what they like, but were restricted at some point as to what they could actually bring. Each contestant chose three luxury items, from which the producers allowed one. Kelly's item - her glow-in-the-dark body paint - made the cut.
Anything that happened to Kelly from this point until her return to the suburban comforts of Buffalo Grove is covered under a restrictive contract. She cannot say a word of what went on the two months she spent in Africa for fear of a lawsuit.

After reading Jeff Probst's (the show's host) take on her as "being from the Text Message Generation, and she speaks that way, she'll say, 'OMG' for 'Oh, my God'." I was already rolling my eyes. I was expecting to meet some vacuous bimbo - sentences heavily loaded with "JK's" and "LOL's". However, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to see this Survivor candidate was just as sweet and courteous as the crimson-cloaked girl who set off to bring Granny her basket of goodies. She made it clear that there was no diva here and that she was willing to get to work.
Kelly comes from a fairly testosterone run family. Daughter of a Hoffman Estates fire fighter, she has three brothers who, she claims, helped raise her. "My parents weren't very good at raising girls - so they said yes to me all the time." While she was "daddy's girl", her brothers took it upon themselves to put her in her place. They were quick to teach her how to be independent and pull her own weight. She credits her mother completely for her work ethic. It's a culmination of these skills that she claims prepared her for Survivor.

But Gabon, Africa is no Buffalo Grove - big brothers or not.

And sometimes cyber gossip can be crueler than wild animals.
We asked Kelly if she is strong enough to endure the endless blogs and websites that may pigeon-hole her into that dumb-blond role. Her reply was "Absolutely. Bring it on!" Kelly is confident that she is strong and has a true sense of self. She is well aware that the editing floor is a slippery one. Being definitely okay with the "hot" label, Kelly takes serious umbrage to the cheerleader shot. She strongly declares that she was a cheerleader for only one year, while for eight she was an avid softball player and active in many other sports through the park district. She understands Survivor is a reality game show and to play the game sometimes you have to play a part. Manipulation is a critical element of this game for the contestants and producers, and reality is not always portrayed in a show.

However, after spending some time with Kelly, I find her alarmingly vulnerable and naïve. She clearly wants to make a good impression. As we are meeting before the first episode airs, I warn her that this is the proverbial calm before the storm. Though she is truly convinced she has an invincible support system and she believes she is a force to be reckoned with, her soft eyes and that determined-to-be-strong attitude betray her. She seems to be trying to convince herself more than anyone. She tries to talk a tough talk. But truthfully, her walk is pretty gentle.

Bottom line about Kelly Czarnecki is that you end up wanting to take care of her. She seems so sweet and innocent. She envisions herself opening up a denim boutique with her mom. Yet, with this recent brush with fame, those "other" opportunities may present themselves. She would consider doing a photo shoot for Maxim or a fitness magazine, though she adamantly refuses that she would bare all. Still, when pressed if she would answer Hugh Hefner's call - she smiles with a little tortured, half-longing, half-absolutely-NOT look and coyly says, "Maybe…"

Perhaps she does know how to play this game.

For someone who has never seen an entire season of SURVIVOR, Kelly certainly took on a challenge. Not knowing the ins and outs of such terms as "alliance", "immunity idol" and "Exile Island" may have been a disadvantage - or it may have given her the benefit of being innocent of what to fear. Regardless, Kelly took the dare and made it hers. If the camera only catches her when she's checking out her nails or claiming who's her "BFF" on the island, she's OK with that. She is young and she owns it. You may laugh at her vernacular, but she's the one who got the ride of a lifetime. Oh, and the last thing she'd like to tell Mr. Probst…

"PS, I never said 'OMG'."