Ex-Utahn moves to 'Eden'

Eleven people are headed for an Eden, and one of them is a former Salt Laker.

Mary — Fox isn't telling us last names — is one of 11 non-actors (or, at least, non-professional actors) Fox has chosen to star in "Forever Eden," which the network is billing as a "reality soap opera." It's sort of a cross between "The Real World" and "Survivor" — and sort of a sequel to last year's "Paradise Hotel," which was brought to us by the same production team.

"Forever Eden," which just went into production last week, takes 11 mostly sexy singles and "strands" them in the Caribbean, where they can live an idyllic life. If not for the fact that each person has to deal with the other 10.

"We're looking for drama of all kinds," said executive producer Tom Gutteridge. Because, after all, what would a soap opera be without drama?

He first became aware of the power of the format when his wife was shopping in a trendy part of L.A. and discovered that the employees at several boutiques were getting together on Wednesday nights to watch "Paradise Hotel."

"They couldn't care less who gets voted off or who wins the prize on most reality shows. They're the kind who like 'Sex and the City' and like characters and plot and drama. That's what we hope to give them."

It's an unscripted show, sort of. Gutteridge said he and a team of writers have story meetings every day to plot things out — present various challenges and situations for the "characters" to interact.

"Alliances were being formed the very first day," he said. "Four days into filming, we already have love relationships and hate relationships."

And the writers will react to what the "characters" do.

"We've already had one major, major thing that we didn't see coming," Gutteridge said. "We were up all night rewriting after that."

There will be both heroes and villains. After all, what would "Dallas" be without J.R. Ewing or "All My Children" without Erica Kane?

How all of this works is a bit vague — they want to keep us in suspense — but one inhabitant will be evicted from "Eden" each week. It's not a game show like "Survivor," but much of the tension comes from who will stay and who will go.

There's no million-dollar prize, but contestants will accumulate money and prizes each week — and, possibly, lose some in various challenges. They get to keep what they make, unless they quit and go home, in which case they forfeit their cash.

As for how long they can stay, "That's indefinite," Gutteridge said. "Hopefully, we're going to be on a long time."