TRAVERSE CITY -- Four down; 11 more to go.
That's how many contestants Michael "Frosti" Zernow now has to survive to win the $1 million prize on "Survivor: China."
After Thursday's show, Zernow was one of 12 contestants remaining of the original 16 battling it out against the elements and each other for survival on two remote islands in China's Jiangxi Province. With his even temper and level head, the 20-year-old Traverse City native is slowly emerging as a leader for the Zhan Hu tribe, despite his standing as the TV reality show's youngest contestant.
It's a prediction his mother made before the Sept. 20 show premiere.
"Michael is more mature than people older in years," Merilyn Ueno said. "He's smart, he's creative, he's funny and he can read people. He's not an expert, but he's very mature for his age."
So far Zernow has survived 12 of the game's 39 days. Nevertheless, his Zhan Hu tribe suffered several setbacks on Thursday's show, including the discovery that their supply of rice was infected with mold.
They also lost two more challenges -- a race to drop fireballs into woks using giant chopsticks and a game in which contestants dressed in Chinese armor tried to smash a series of porcelain vases using meteor hammers -- two weights connected by a rope -- and bamboo poles to block their opponents' throws.
The fourth contestant to be eliminated from the show was Dave Cruser, a 37-year-old former model from Simi Valley, Calif.
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