Jeff Kent of Texas has seen his fair share of competition over the years while playing baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. But despite his experience, this retired 44-year-old athlete couldn't prevent his tribe mates from voting him off the island during the CBS hit reality show, 'Survivor.' 

Kent started the season on the Kalabaw tribe which was able to avoid tribal council until the teams merged. During this week's episode, returning player Jonathan Penner won individual immunity, protecting him from being voted off. Contestants also learned that both Malcolm and Abi-Maria had hidden immunity idols in their possession which quickly left the remaining players scrambling to determine who among them should be sent home. The team eventually decided the athletic and competitive Kent should exit the game. I recently spoke with Kent who now becomes the second member of the jury on Survivor: Philippines. Here's what he had to say. 

Instructor donates attendance fee to the hungry

HAMPDEN - Attending Yoga in Hampden can benefit more than your physical and mental health. It can also help the Hampden Food Cupboard. Instructor Julie Morse has been charging participants $1 per class, an incremental amount by many people's standards, but one that can make a huge difference when it comes to collecting non-perishables for area food cupboards.

"I make $8, $10, $12 a class. I can't make money off of it, it wouldn't be right. That's not why I'm teaching yoga," explained Morse. "When I started doing yoga on a daily basis, the physical and emotional changes were amazing and allowed me to see the pain of the world differently. It made me want to change what I do on a daily basis."

BANGOR - Spring break is months away, but that didn't stop a small group of New England School of Communications seniors from boarding a cruise ship last month and rubbing elbows with some of country music's biggest stars.

"It was the Blake Shelton cruise, and it was a big event," said Eric Ferguson, interim director of audio engineering and live sound at the Bangor school. "Some of the kids [that went] had never been on an airplane before, and others had never left Maine before."

HOPE - Two ladies who just moved to the town of Hope are turning quite a few heads. These circus performers, known as Rosie and Opal, have traded in their showbiz life in exchange for a quiet retirement in Knox county with another former circus worker, Dr. Jim Laurita.

"I've known Rosie and Opal for 37 years," said Laurita.

Paper mill jobs are becoming a popular occupation for females

BANGOR - Finding work is still a struggle for many Americans, but a small group of Maine women has found employment in what some would consider the most unlikely of places: the state's paper mills. Over the years, many of these mills have been at risk of closing and some have even shut down for good like the Eastern Fine paper mill in Brewer that is now home to Cianbro. But despite these economic challenges, these steel-boot, hard-hat-wearing females have not only remained fiercely focused but held onto their jobs too.

Proceeds benefit Lafayette cancer center

BREWER - L Factor salon owner and hair stylist Gina Leonard has seen, in more ways than one, the effects cancer can have on the human body.

"I'm shaving heads and I'm touched by cancer all the time. We just lost one of my employee's mothers to cancer," explained Leonard. "My mom is a cancer survivor, and I lost an aunt to cancer; losing her is what catapulted me. I just try and turn it into a positive."

A fruity business with sweet profits 

STETSON - Growing grapes in Maine is something many people thought was impossible, but a couple from Stetson is proving that it can be done - and that producing the fruit can create some sweet profits.

"Everything we've made so far has gone over really well," said Treena Nadeau, co-owner of Dragonfly Farm & Winery.

Shelter needs Facebook votes to win

BANGOR - The Bangor Humane Society has just one more week to try and win the ASPCA Rachel Ray $100K Challenge. Since Aug. 1, the staff at the Bangor shelter have been feverishly working to find forever homes for 300 or more animals than the amount of animals they adopted out from August through October, 2011. They're just one of 50 shelters across the country in the competition.

"We've already saved 142 more lives than last year," said Stacey Coventry, Bangor Humane Society public relations manager. "Our numbers have slowed a bit, but we are hoping things will pick up as we get close to the end."

New gym opens on Columbia Street

BANGOR - A personal trainer from Hermon has decided to stretch his muscles and open his very own studio in Bangor called LA Training. Louie Morrison said being a business owner is something he never envisioned when he entered the physical fitness industry, but when the opportunity presented itself it was something he couldn't resist. 

"I had plenty of business where I was at but saw a lot of people who wanted to be trained and weren't comfortable in a big gym environment, so I found a way to expand by downsizing," Morrison explained.

With only two contestants left on the Matsing tribe, the producers of Survivor: Philippines had no other alternative than to split the two players up and place each of them on one of the remaining tribes. So, Malcolm and Denise drew buffs to reveal which tribe would be their new "family." Malcolm selected Tandang's color, while Denise drew Kalabaw red.

With the tribes evenly matched - seven verses seven, they were given their first reward challenge, which Tandang won. Shortly after returning to their respective camps, the rain set in and Kalabaw's Dana Lambert continued to fall ill as the hours passed by. The show's medical team was brought in but didn't deem her condition life threatening. However, the 32-year-old spit fire from South Carolina felt she was just too sick to continue on and opted to leave the game.