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"Survivor" has special interest for area mother

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By CAITLIN RYAN-
Popular CBS television show "Survivor: Samoa" has a local draw this season with
contestant Marisa Calihan, a 27-year-old student from Cincinnati.

Calihan was raised in Oxford and Hamilton in southwest Ohio.  Her mother, Liz Doss, is currently employed with local company Donald E. Fender Realtors at its Lake Waynoka office. Calihan's mother has been working in real estate in the Lake Waynoka area in Brown County for 15 years.

Calihan was raised as the second youngest of nine children.  Doss says that her daughter has always been "scrappy and independent" and determined to do things for herself.
 
"She got her 'Survivor' skills from her dad, but her drive from her mom," said Doss.

Doss said that Calihan, who has worked with children living on the streets of El Salvador in the past, is hoping to open a center for disadvantaged youth in the Northside Cincinnati area with the money she earns from her stint on a'Survivor."

Calihan encourages viewers to vote for her as a fan favorite on the CBS "Survivor" Web site to give her the opportunity to win $100,000 for the center.

Gary Gleason, director and owner of the Miller Gallery in Cincinnati where Calihan is employed, calls her "a joy to be around" and praises her talents in art, singing, songwriting, and designing hairpiece jewelry.

According to Doss, her daughter has always followed her dreams; she performed with the Cincinnati Pops and the Cincinnati Ballet and appeared on KFC commercials and in radio spots in her youth. 
 
She is currently a student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.

"SheÕs a really hard worker," said Gleason.  "She does a lot of
different things... She's always busy."

Gleason said that Calihan told her employers at the Miller Gallery that she had the opportunity to work as an apprentice on a movie set in California, her cover for being on the top-secret reality show.

Gleason said that despite pressure from her co-workers and guests at the art gallery, Calihan has been "great" at guarding the secrets of the show. Doss adds that she is "thrilled" and proud of her daughter's desire to win the show without compromising her own morals and is "not one little bit" surprised that Calihan chose to go on the show.
 
"She's stubborn and motivated," said Doss.  "She has been able to sell herself since she was three years old."
 
"Survivor," which enters its 19th season this year, premieres Thursday, Sept, 17, at 8 p.m. on CBS.[[In-content Ad]]

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