When I mentioned to my family it might be fun to try to get onto the Survivor TV show, I was surprised by their enthusiasm. Being contrarian in so many ways, they thought I could stand out amongst the thousands of others who apply. Generally, my girls no longer get too excited about my adventures in running. That’s good. If they hardly notice I’m training for a hundred mile trail race and things roll along reasonably smoothly for those occasional low budget trips, then it’s probably a good thing. Often it’s wise to keep your head down before the ax regularly flies on Survivor to avoid having one’s fire snuffed out. Often it seems better to be a subtle player most of the time and to be calm under pressure. Let others assume riskier leadership roles, avoid paranoia and attempt to be as productive as possible for the tribe. Would I let dominant players be a shield to get further in the game?

I dug around a bit to find out what CBS is looking for in contestants and found some reasonably good blogs and videos with insight that included a person who worked in casting for Survivor. Due to the plethora of reality TV shows, Survivor gets fewer applications in recent years than in years past.

Our goal when applying should be to build a case for why we can win! In the process, many people shoot themselves in the foot by inadvertently highlighting their failures while trying to build a case for why they need to win the money. So, my angle was to communicate why I think I can be the oldest winner ever. I’ll be 58 on August 28th.

“Robert “Bob” Crowley won Survivor: Gabon at the age of 57. Gabon was the seventeenth season of Survivor, and the season featured twists including Exile Island, a schoolyard pick for tribes, two tribe swaps, and a delayed merge.”

Contestants should be relatable, have some charisma and be comfortable around cameras. Ultimately there’s a bottom line and contestants are part of the process of driving advertising revenue for CBS! They like people who have some experience in sales. I have over twenty years in sales, including seven years of door-to-door sales. I’ve tinkered with hundreds of YouTube videos, enough to be comfortable with cameras. They like people who can make a point quickly and tell a story. Viewers want to be entertained. Viewers want to root for or against players. Could an older contestant, probably viewed as an underdog, draw in viewer interest?

Initially I couldn’t figure out if there was a limit to the amount time or data our video could have, so I recorded and edited way too much. After editing the fourteen minute video from high definition to the lowest resolution, it was still more than three times too long. So I edited it down and hope it didn’t lose too much. Videos must be less than 50MB.

I highlighted ways I’d overcome obstacles and successfully worked in contrarian or uncommon ways. I wanted to let them know I had worthwhile ideas to communicate about human well being, environmental stewardship, living cooperatively and minimalist, avoiding chronic diseases and using the power of our minds and emotions positively. I’d built, remodeled and sold homes “by owner” while working full-time. I’d gone from being a low performing, shy high school late bloomer to about 17 years as an advertising account exec for the largest local media company. I’d gone from breadwinner and a productive real estate hobby to being a full-time dad for many years; showing some flexibility by transitioning voluntarily from provider to nurturer and support. I’d gone from being an overweight, out of shape cancer patient to running many ultra marathons on a long-term all plant based “diet”. When people say you can’t do this or that, I sometimes laugh and think, just wait. It would be a blast to sit with the filming crew and chat about the game and life. Access to millions of ears would be a rare opportunity.

Winning would be a life changing event, but participating alone would be an amazing adventure. I submitted my information the week that the current season, Winners at War, began. Second thoughts hit, as running 100 miles in 37 hours in the mountains is tough, but sleeping on bamboo, sand or dirt with bugs, snakes and rats with no pillow or blankets for up to 40 or so nights … quite another challenge!! Could I really do this? Do I really want to leave the comforts of home and family? I’d miss our Goldendoodle and have never been away from my wife more than a few days in well over twenty five years of dating and marriage. Our daughters loved the concept of me being stranded with strangers, surviving on minimal calories. It would be like working on straight commission. This would be the toughest challenge ever, or maybe not relative to going thru cancer?

In December, I’ll hit ten years of living exclusively on plant based foods. On rare occasions, I might accidentally be exposed to nominal amounts of dairy, egg or grease from meat, but it’s important to me to thrive on plants only. Could I maintain enough weight playing the game on plant foods only? Ethical questions could come up. Might I starve? I’m already down about ten pounds this year! IF, Intermittent Fasting, has been successful. Would I hunt food for the tribe that I wouldn’t normally eat? Back stabbing or being stabbed is not my thing, and very much opposite of how I live in a cooperative mode as much as possible. All of this has been part of my experiment adopting the healthier ways of the Raramuri. Could this work in the game? Do I have worthwhile commentary for Americans?

Could the guy who participated in no sports through middle school and high school be effective in physical challenges? That was another transition I made, from “non” athlete to regular 100 mile ultra runner. Lately, I’ve developed an ability to run circles around most people decades younger. Could my endurance be a superpower in the game?

Humans truly need to evolve. What we do to the world and the animals, we do to ourselves. A great irony is that the hidden tribe of warrior athletes living as third world nomadic subsistence farmers in the Copper Canyons have more to teach us than we have to teach them.

If you know anyone with CBS, feel free to share this with them! And, thanks for reading and watching!

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