Survivor Contestant

[mjparme]

Don't know if anyone watches Survivor (reality show on CBS) but one of the contestants is a retired astronaut. Dan Barry, flew in space 3 times, 4 spacewalks, and last flew in 2001:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

EDITED: because retried isn't the same thing as retired:-)

[novaderrik]

well, being an astronaut would tend to qualify you for stuff like that- lots of survival training, don't mind being isolated in extreme conditions, etc.
i hope he wins- of course, if he does, then there will be some complaints that it was all rigged as a PR stunt to get more attention for NASA..

[BenM]

The thing is that qualifications don't matter on Survivor. It's how you manipulate others that counts. Unless he can play serious mind games with the rest of the contestants, I think he will be out as soon as they find out who he is. His qualifications will make others perceive him as to much as a threat.

The same thing happened in the first year when they had someone who I think was an instructor at a naval aviation survival school. Voted out in the first week or so.

[hippietrekx]

It seems that the trick to winning Survivor is to be really smart, but play dumb. Or have a good job and play poor...

I mean, there was a lawyer who said he was a postman (and got pretty far) and Gary, who was an ex pro football quarterback or something and made the jury. (Gary claimed he was a landscaper; some people were on to him, but he rode it out well)

Here's to hoping Dan dosen't talk about what zero-Gs feels like!

--hippie