11 ‘Survivor’ Alums With Surprising Second Acts
Some Survivor contestants have already made names for themselves by the time they are “cast away” on the CBS reality competition. Think: NFL star Brad Culpepper or Hollywood screenwriter Mike White. Others, however, use Survivor as a stepping stone to other professional pursuits.
Below, we present a list of Survivor alums with surprising second acts, including a Riverdale actor, a country music star, and even a Mike Pence opponent. Oh, and Prime Video’s buzzy TV show The Wheel of Time? You have a former contestant to thank for that, too.
We’ll start, though, with perhaps the most famous former Survivor.…
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
For a decade following her appearance on Survivor: The Australian Outback, Hasselbeck cohosted The View, memorably clashing with Barbara Walters and Rosie O’Donnell. She later had a two-year stint on another morning show, Fox News’ Fox & Friends.
Tammy Leitner
As a journalist for CBS 5 in Phoenix, this Survivor: Marquesas alum won a Peabody Award for her series of reports about barrels of Agent Orange buried on a South Korean U.S. Army base and the chemicals’ impact on U.S. military members and Korean children.
Rupert Boneham
In 2012, this four-time Survivor contestant ran for governor of Indiana on the Libertarian ticket, but he lost to future vice president Mike Pence.
Julie Berry
Berry, who briefly dated Survivor host Jeff Probst after competing on the show’s Vanuatu season, set a Guinness World Record alongside The Bachelorette’s Kasey Stewart in 2018 when the duo visited all seven continents in just 3 days, 20 hours, 4 minutes, and 19 seconds.
Rafe Judkins
After coming in third during Survivor: Guatemala, Judkins moved to Hollywood and wrote for the TV shows Chuck, Hemlock Grove, and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now he’s the showrunner for Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time and the co-screenwriter of the upcoming film Uncharted.
Yul Kwon
This Survivor: Cook Islands victor and Survivor: Winners at War contestant scored a job as deputy chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in 2009, and in 2012, he hosted the PBS series America Revealed.
Earl Cole
After winning Survivor: Fiji, Cole cofounded the SMART Tire Company, a venture that uses NASA technology to make puncture-proof tires, according to TechCrunch.
Chase Rice
This Survivor: Nicaragua contestant has broken out on the country music scene, with six of his songs hitting the Billboard Hot 100 and his 2014 album, Ignite the Night, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
Wyatt Nash
Appearing on Survivor: Redemption Island under his birth name, Matt Elrod, this former reality star has booked recurring gigs on both Riverdale and Dear White People, appearing in more than a dozen episodes of each.
John Cochran
After competing in Survivor: South Pacific and winning Survivor: Caramoan, Cochran became a TV writer, with credits including The Millers, Kevin Can Wait, and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Tyler Fredrickson
This Survivor: Worlds Apart competitor told Entertainment Weekly last year that he was running The Kissing Booth star Joey King’s production company.
