The year that former Tribune (and current Channel 5 reporter) reporter Tammy Leitner appeared on “Survivor,” I was assigned to do episode recaps for readers who … apparently were interested to find out whether Tammy was still on the show, but not interested enough to watch the show?

I’d never watched the show before so I got Survivor-ed out pretty quickly, but thought it could make a fun fashion spread, turning the Scottsdale life into a competition. (Our logo said: “Survivor spring fashion: Outshop, outspend, out on the town.”)

First we figured out what each competitor’s “luxury item” would be and split them onto Team Visa and Team MasterCard.

(Click on the thumbnail to see each large photo. Click on the model’s name to see her “luxury item” shot.

The first shoot was one of the most fun, too: The store Agata had recently opened up at Kierland Commons and I had done a profile of the owner, Agata Kennedy, and all the behind-the-scenes stuff it takes to plan and open your own store. This was one of my first shoots that used professional models: Danielle Dempsey and Erin Trigg from the Ford/Robert Black Agency in Scottsdale. Both girls were wearing dresses by Versus and Janice Zimolzak, who had come to the store from Saks Fifth Avenue, kept exhorting Danielle to look like she was tugging, without covering up the keyhole spot in the dress. When it came to the luxury items, Danielle got off easy: Her sunglasses were a one-shot. Poor Erin had to spritz perfume — and this was back when Gucci fragrances like Rush were brash and in-your-face — repeatedly before we got the right blast from the bottle. Did we give her baby wipes or a wet towel?

The original caption - “Physical challenge: The winner gets the jeans — and immunity! Danielle, left, and Erin flex their muscles in yellow, one of spring’s most fashionable colors. The object of their contention: A pair of glittery dark denim and Lurex jeans by Versace Jeans Couture.”

Up next: Our first “tribal council” shot. Tracey Kwietniak had modeled for us before and was happy to do this shoot at Jetz Americana up in Scottsdale. It all started with the butterflies on her sandals and went from there. My friends Karen Messick and Heather Turner were kind enough to be the other foot models — and no, they didn’t get to sit down during the shoot! Their feet had to be close enough to the door to be visible. In other tangential news, we “tuck” price tags as often as possible rather than removing and refastening them, but this time it didn’t work because of the white tag in white pants. The photographer snapped a shot of me with my hands down the back of Tracey’s pants, trying to unfasten the safety-pinned tag, and said, “You should send that to your parents.”

The original caption - “Meeting in the ladies room! In this tribe, someone’s got to go, and Tracey’s got a bad case of the butterflies — on her shoes as well as in her stomach. Let’s hope performing stall door duty for her teammates assures she’s not the one voted out.” (I remember being secretly thrilled about getting not only a reference to the Klymaxx song, but also the phrase “someone’s got to go” in a caption where ostensibly two women are sitting on toilets.)

The good news: Sarah Kirsch got her makeup done by Elizabeth Farrell-Carpenter, founder of Clarity Cosmetics, and got to wear rocks by Demirjian Jewelry by Design. The bad news: To pay homage to those choking-down-nasty-food moments on the show, we asked the folks at Sapporo in Scottsdale to conjure up some of the most frightening-looking items they could. She really did eat that, too.

The original caption - “Raw is war: Food can look beautiful but be a little scary at the same time. And Sarah, wearing a peasant blouse and spring makeup colors from Clarity Cosmetics, knows she’s got to sample to stay in the game, confronting a cocktail glass of idako (baby octopus) and a plate of aji (Spanish mackerel), amaebi (sweet shrimp) and tobiko (flying fish roe).”

Normally stores don’t like you to photograph inside their walls — I think part of it is they don’t want other stores catching a glimpse of their merchandising? — but Neiman Marcus agreed to open early to let us photograph this shot at the top of their escalator. I think it was because it was in the grand foyer, not among all the racks and shelves. Michelle Davis of the Ford agency pretended she had fallen because of her impractical footwear during a race, and we offered these three pairs of alternatives but now that I look back, I wouldn’t want to try to hoof it anywhere wearing any of them. (They were flats instead of heels, though.)

The original caption: “Down – and out. Michelle takes a spill during an important foot race — her sexy, strappy heels were made for strutting and sashaying, not sprinting! If you’ll be dashing from store to store, may we suggest some alternate footwear that’s still racy but lets you run, too?”

For our other Tribal Council photo, I used daughter and mother Colleen and Patty Murphy, who had gone through Sincerely Sanda, which is sort of a modern-day charm school in Chandler: Sandra Saoud teaches poise, camera-readiness, even how to put on makeup. Colleen and Patty made the trek all the way from the south East Valley up to the Four Seasons Resort at Troon North in Scottsdale for a decidedly more low-key shoot. At first we had considered shooting inside a steam room or sauna, but there were issues with (a) not disturbing other, actual paying guests, and (b) probably camera stress in such heat and/or humidity.

The original caption - “Visa tribal council: I sense an alliance brewing. . . . If you’ve got to decide which of your teammates is getting the boot, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re relaxed and focused. Patty and Colleen clear their minds by hanging out at one of the East Valley’s newest resort spas, the one at Four Seasons Resort at Troon North.” (Again with the puns: Brewing, iced tea … ah, you take it where you can get it.)

For the winner, I picked my friend Kelly Entreken (now married with a new last name), and actually this was probably more of the fun shoots. Her luxury item was weekly salon blowouts, and for the shot Rolf Lohse of Rolf’s salons actually did her hair. This was after he had “retired” from actually doing clients’ hair so he could focus on developing his chain of salons, and one woman nearby was shooting the evil eye at Kelly because she was lucky enough to get her hair done by Rolf. I heard the woman ask her stylist: “Who’s she that she’s so special?” (Rolf offered to also cut it for free but Kelly demurred because she had a holiday party that night; later she told me she had no idea how awesome of an offer that had been at the time and she wished she would have taken advantage of it.) As her “prize,” Kelly got to wear a $3.5 million necklace, with matching earrings, from Molina Fine Jewelers, who was happy to loan us the jewels … as long as their security guard Roy was on the premises (which in this case was Rolf’s at Gainey Village Shopping Center). Roy was a giant and had weaponry on him, which of course didn’t scare us at all and we posed for pictures with him. This is also when I learned (a) we shouldn’t shoot in midafternoon sunlight, and (b) most jewelry needs studio lighting to look really good.

The original caption - “To the victor go the spoils — and the Tribune won’t settle for a paltry $1 million. Kelly walks away a winner with a $3.5 million necklace — and earrings to match!”

This outtake photo was one of my favorite things during the whole shoot. Rolf used Velcro rollers and spray to give Kelly’s roots volume, and we sat and talked while everything “set.”

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