Rupert Boneham

Boneham and his wife Laura later competed on the 31st season of The Amazing Race and were the second team eliminated.

Rupert Frederick Boneham (born January 27, 1964) is an American mentor for troubled teens who became known to reality television audiences in 2003 as a contestant on Survivor: Pearl Islands.

He later appeared on the All Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, and Blood vs. Water seasons of Survivor, placing fourth, sixth, and 20th, respectively.

He was ultimately a fan favorite among Survivor viewers, who voted him a million-dollar winner on Survivor: America's Tribal Council, a special episode of Survivor: All-Stars.

The prize was awarded after a nationwide popular vote in which Boneham received 85% of the votes cast.

Boneham also made an appearance in the third season of the Israeli version of Survivor in September 2009 as a part of a reward in a reward challenge.

Boneham returned to participate in the Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains as part of the Heroes tribe.

He was a part of the Heroes alliance which consisted of himself, J. T. Thomas, Amanda Kimmel, Cirie Fields, James Clement and Candice Woodcock.

The alliance successfully eliminated Stephenie LaGrossa and Tom Westman, however, Fields was blindsided on Day 11, and they voted Clement out on Day 15 because his knee was injured.

After Clement's elimination, the Heroes were down to five members, however, they won the last three immunity challenges.

The tribes merged with ten players remaining: five Heroes and five Villains.

The Heroes thought that Villain member Russell Hantz was on their side.

However, Sandra Diaz-Twine warned Boneham that Hantz was not with them, which concerned Boneham.

At Tribal Council, the Heroes voted against Villains member Jerri Manthey while the Villains voted against Thomas, However, Parvati Shallow used one of her hidden immunity idols on Diaz-Twine, and used another idol (originally Thomas's immunity idol, which he gave to Hantz right before the merge, and which Hantz eventually gave to Shallow) on Manthey, whose votes were negated by the idol, therefore blindsiding Thomas and putting the Heroes in the minority.

Woodcock flipped to the Villains alliance at the next Tribal Council so Kimmel was voted out.

After Shallow won the next immunity challenge, Boneham put a rock in his pocket which made Hantz believe it was a hidden immunity idol.

So the Villains decided to split their votes between Boneham and Woodcock.

Due to Boneham and Colby Donaldson voting against Woodcock, she was blindsided thus sparing Boneham.

He was spared again at the Final Seven Tribal Council, due to Hantz and Manthey siding with him to get rid of Danielle DiLorenzo.

After the loved ones challenge, Hantz plotted with Boneham and Donaldson to get rid of Shallow and they agreed.

This plan was foiled when Shallow won immunity which surprised all three.

At Tribal Council, Boneham and Donaldson voted for Diaz-Twine, but she used her hidden immunity idol, however, it only negated Boneham and Donaldson's votes as they were the only one's who voted against her.

Boneham was the 2012 Libertarian nominee for governor of Indiana, losing to Republican nominee, and future Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence.

During Survivor: Pearl Islands, Boneham quickly became one of the most popular Survivor contestants, and was well known as a "gentle giant" for his distinctive appearance, which included a huge beard, tie-dye shirt and large size, as well as a boisterous, friendly-but-focused personality.

Boneham was a preselected member of the Drake tribe, before his arrival on the island for Survivor: Pearl Islands.

For the first three episodes he was part of an alliance with Sandra Diaz-Twine, Christa Hastie, and Trish Dunn.

In episode four, Boneham's tribe lost immunity, but he was kidnapped by the Morgan tribe and did not attend Tribal Council.

He temporarily looked after a wounded python he found named Balboa, who became the namesake of the merged tribe.

In Episode Six, Drake lost their third immunity challenge, and Dunn conspired with Diaz-Twine, "Jonny Fairplay" Dalton, and Shawn Cohen to vote out Boneham, but he was saved by Diaz-Twine and Cohen, sending Dunn home instead.

After the next Tribal Council when Cohen was voted out, Burton Roberts from Drake and Lillian "Lil" Morris from Morgan returned to the game, as part of the Outcast twist, and both joined the Drake alliance at the merge.

After two Morgan members had been eliminated, Dalton, Roberts and Morris sided with Darrah Johnson and Tijuana "Ti" Bradley from the Morgan tribe and successfully voted Boneham out on Day 27, in a vote of 5–2–1.

That night he became the tenth contestant voted out of the competition (eleventh overall) and the second member of the jury.

On Day 39, Boneham cast his jury vote for Diaz-Twine, who would be named the winner of the season.

Less than a month after Boneham returned home from the competition, he returned to compete in the All-Stars season, the only player from Pearl Islands to do so, and thus the first contestant in Survivor history to compete in two consecutive seasons.

Boneham went on to finish fourth, being voted out in Episode 15 and being the fifteenth person eliminated.

After All-Stars ended a special aired called Survivor: America's Tribal Council, in which viewers were given the opportunity in a contest called "America Votes" to select one of the 18 contestants to win one million dollars.

The finalists were Boneham, Colby Donaldson, "Big Tom" Buchanan, and "Boston Rob" Mariano.

Boneham won the million dollars, receiving 85% of the 38 million votes cast.

He spent his prize money on his family's debts, a college fund for his daughter, a new house for his family, and the creation of his charity, Rupert's Kids, which mentors troubled children.

After All-Stars ended, he appeared in national promos for Survivor: Vanuatu.