Another of the cool people that I met at the Survivor Dodgeball Charity weekend was Beauty & the Geek 4 winner David Olsen. Yeah, I know about all the geek stereotypes…I grew up in a family of engineers and my son is one too… But David is not the typical geek. I got a chance to get to know him a bit when my friend Betsy & I gave him a ride from Long Island to Boston. We had hours (and a couple of traffic tie-ups) in which to discuss everything from reality TV to astrology to the nature of the universe. He’s a very personable guy. Yes, he’s extremely bright, but that’s a good thing, right?

David Olsen, winner Beauty & the Geek 4
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First of all, he says that being on the show did give him more confidence with women and that he has dated more since then. And I also asked him what he feels about the VH1 reality show The Pickup Artist. We both agreed that Mystery has a lot of good knowledge of body language and social skills, but David said that he doesn’t like the goal the guys have on that show (to get laid.) See, I told you he was a good guy!

And it occurred to me. I have another new mission. I would like to see if I can help David find a nice girl (or girls) to date. He’s not in my geographic area or age group, so I’m not a candidate, but I asked him what kinds of things would make a woman someone he’d like to date. He thinks that living in or near Boston is important since long-distance relationships seldom work out. And he likes a good sense of humor and intelligence. And being a good conversationalist is not bad either. Do you know that he didn’t even mention looks? I get the feeling that the more esoteric things about a person are more important to him.

Ok, single girls in Boston. He’s a nice guy, won some big bucks on a reality show, isn’t in a relationship and seems like an all-around good catch! So if you are interested in connecting with David, drop me an email and I’ll pass it along.

One of the great people I met last year and again this year at the Survivor Charity weekends was Mike. He is a super-fan of Survivor and also a really intersting and nice guy. And you really have to see his collection of Survivor buffs to believe it. He has every single buff from every tribe on every season…except one. And all of the buffs he has have been autographed by the Survivors from that tribe. He’s got them all very organized and it’s impressive to see.

Mike Survivor Super-Fan
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But then I talked to him a bit about the one missing buff. It’s the one from season 1, from Richard Hatch’s tribe before the merge, and it’s never been for sale. (Except that he’s seen one on eBay once for $800!!! - Yikes!)

So I decided to take this on as one of my new missions. A super-fan like Mike deserves a complete set, don’t you think? So I’m making an appeal to anyone out there that may have one and would be willing to offer it to Mike to complete his set. You would be making a great guy truly happy. If you have a lead on where Mike can get one, just drop me an email and I’ll let him know. I want to see him with a complete set. It will make me feel good too.

Last year I met Chad Crittenden and was able to tell him that I had admired him since I first saw him on the show. As a cancer survivor, he now has a prosthetic leg and and a whole new mission. To inspire and help other amputees adjust to their changed abilities. I definitely do not say dis-abilities, because anyone who has met Chad knows that he is not disabled, he’s differently-abled. He told me that he has been competing in triathons (heck, how many of us can say we do that and have no challenges to use as an excuse?)

As people go, he’s one of the nice ones. After he and I chatted at the after party, I was ready to call it a night and Chad was a gentleman and walked me to the shuttle. He’s not only a role model, he’s a great person too. So anyone who is in need of information for amputees, be sure to visit Chad’s web site, and feel free to tell him I sent you.

Chad (Vanuatu)
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The Survivor Dodgeball Charity weekend raised money this year to go to breast cancer research in honor of Jen Lyon from Survivor: Palau. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and is still battling it. It’s now in stage 4 and in her bones. But if you could meet her, you would know that with her bright and sparkling smile and her positive outlook she can beat it if anyone can. She is truly a wonderful spirit and my thoughts and prayers will continue to be with her. And she has promised to keep me updated on her progress so I can let you know too.

And her fellow Palau tribemate, Katie Gallagher is also very sick at the moment. She has congestive heart failure. She too has a positive attitude and a strong outlook. My thoughts are with her too.

The two were there for moral support last weekend, but neither was able to compete. Not a problem, though. They both brought their warmth and their great personalities and the weekend was so much better for having them there. I truly like them both very much and look forward to seeing them both at many future events.

Jen Lyon (Palau, L) & Katie Gallagher (Palau, R)
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This is Billy Garcia (Cook Islands) and his sister Laurin. I can’t say enough about what cool and nice people they are! Laurin is the person who originally encouraged Billy to try out for Survivor, so I want to thank her!!

Also, Billy is the person who organized the first Survivor Dodgeball Charity event last year. So he is the person with the big heart that started something wonderful. Thanks so much to you too, Billy!!

Since then, he’s been involved with the Reality Rumble charity events, a number of other charity events and is now working on a top-secret, very cool BIG project that you will definitely be hearing about once I get the word that it can be published.

Billy Garcia & sister Laurin
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The whole purpose of the Survivor Dodgeball Weekend was to raise money for breast cancer research. And it wasn’t just the admission costs that went into the fund, but also the drink costs at the parties and we had an auction of lots of reality TV items. I got into the spirit of the auction and with the agreement of Yau-Man Chan, Rita Verreos and Earl Cole of Survivor: Fiji, I auctioned off a photo with the three of them to appear on this site. I didn’t know if it would bring big bucks, but anything is just that much more for a worthy cause. (I think I’ll do a lot more of them for the next auction!)

The Survivor super-fan who generously bid and won was April Mueller. (Thanks so much, April!!) Here’s her winning photo with Yau-man, Rita & Earl:

Yau-Man Chan, April Mueller, Rita Verreos & Earl Cole
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Don’t worry, April. I’m sending you four hi-res photos of you with the three Survivors so you can print and frame one if you want!!

There were several members of Survivor: Gabon at the Survivor Dodgeball Charity event last weekend, but I only snapped photos of them and did not ask them any questions at all. They are still under a strict contract with CBS and I did not want to jeoparize that in any way. Check out some photos of them:

Yau-Man (Fiji & Favorites) with Paloma (Gabon)
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Ace (Gabon)
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Anthony (Fiji), Billy (Cook Islands), Jacque (Gabon) & David, winner Beauty & the Geek 4
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Chet (Fans/Faves), Charlie (Gabon) & Tracey (Fans/Faves)
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One of the most loved former Survivors is Yau-Man from the Survivor: Fiji and Fans & Favorites seasons. He’s a very likeable man and even though he admits to being a bit shy at first, he is very friendly and gracious once he gets acquainted.

This weekend when we were in the buffet line beside each other, he told me that in China people will cook and eat anything that flies, swims walks or crawls because meat is so scarce there. And since they cook so many vegetables at home, they expect to see almost exclusively meat at a buffet. It was one of those interesting cultural things I enjoy learning.

He was unable to make it to last year’s Dodgeball event since he was still filming the China season at the time. But now that I had the chance to find out, I was interested in what he’s been doing since the show. So here he is, filling us in on his latest activities:

UPDATE: You can read Yau-Man’s blog entries here. (And I’m adding the link to my sidebar too.)

I have a bit of reality TV trivia for you. It’s a very little known fact that Survivor: Fiji star Anthony Robinson and Beauty & the Geek 4 winner David Olsen have been friends for about 10 years and share an unusual hobby: LARPing. While David was very open about his love of LARPing on his series, I don’t remember ever seeing Anthony discuss the subject before this weekend’s Survivor Charity Dodgeball event.

And one more bit of trivia: the foam weapons used by David to demonstrate LARPing for the B&tG series actually belonged to Anthony. Now how’s that for some reality TV trivia?

The two of them were very animated and enthusiastic when they were hanging out at the after party Saturday night. They talked a lot about LARPing and I asked them to pose for a photo together. This is what they came up with:

[Photo: Lynn DeVries - DO NOT repost without permission]

They then explained to me that in two different LARPing games, the gestures they were making made them invisible. (Yes, they still did show up on the camera…LOL) Anthony is invisible in the Vampires game and David is invisible in the Quest game. Who knew?

Still have no idea what LARPing is? It seems that even reality shows are a form of LARPing. Here’s David to explain:

One of my favorite former Survivors is Bruce Kanegai. He and I have talked on several occasions and have both attended the Dodgeball event twice. He’s sent me a number of exclusive items to post on Reality Exploits and has always been terrific to share things of interest to Survivor fans. He’s a wonderful guy!

Since retiring from being an art teacher, he says that he takes about two vacations each month. One of his most recent was to run with the bulls in Spain. Now, here’s the amazing part…he did it two days in a row! I got him to tell us what it was like to run with the bulls:

He has also promised me a couple of photos he took while he was there. I’ll post them as soon as I get them. He always comes through.