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Archive => RFF Archived Boards => Survivor 10: Palau => Topic started by: puddin on May 16, 2005, 12:09:01 PM

Title: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: puddin on May 16, 2005, 12:09:01 PM
'Survivor' Tom Gets His $1M

NEW YORK, May 16, 2005



(CBS) Tom Westman is a now millionaire.
The victor in "Survivor: Palau picked up his winnings, a check for $1 million, on The Early Show Monday.

Co-anchor Harry Smith gave Westman the check, with his fellow anchors at his side.

Westman joked, "My wife shud be here, so I can just pass it over to her."

He added, "I'm just so happy. I mean, (this is) life changing, life-enhancing. It's just wonderful."

Westman said he wasn't sure whether there would be any splurge purchases now, but admitted he and his wife did open champagne they found in the hotel mini-bar last night, without even thinking about it.

Westman, 41, a father of three who lives on Long Island, is a second-generation New York City fireman.

He told co-anchor Julie Chen his wife, Bernadette, lit a fire under him to take part in "Survivor."

"She's the one who pushed me to go," Westman says. "I thought she was trying to get rid of me for 40 days or so, but it was just so unbelievable, from getting a chance to play a game like this and then getting to win it. It's a dream. It was great."

Asked by Chen if he is "perhaps the only person to ever play this game where you were not flying under the radar and played it with integrity from beginning to end," Westman said he wasn't sure.

"I mean, other people maybe have played it that way also. I think I'm maybe the one who got the furthest. It might not have been the best strategy to walk around that many days with that big a target on you, but somehow, I was able to get through a minefield and make it to this point.

"The integrity was important. I didn't spend 40 years of my life to become a certain person, just to throw it away on a show. And when you get out there, even though you think you'll be able to do this, you do make real bonds, and you do get attracted to these people, and it is real. I didn't make deals I couldn't hold to, in spite of that. So maybe I didn't outwit anybody. I outlasted them."

Saying he's a huge "Survivor" fan, Westman is also a student of the game's winning strategies.

"Originally, (my strategy was) to try to fly below the radar. Especially when I saw the rest of the cast and saw how young everybody else was. I felt like I was the manager and working with a boy band or something, all these young, you know, handsome guys.

"I said I had my work cut out for me. And it didn't happen that way. I didn't stay too well under the radar, so you can't say that I did stay with it. But my wife and buddies just told me, 'Your strategy should be to go out there and be yourself and play hard.' I did, and it worked out for me.

Westman says Bernadette urged him to play "Survivor" for the adventure, and the potential pot of gold at the end of the game's rainbow.

"We would watch the show and I'd, say, 'I could beat that guy for that' or 'I wouldn't have fallen for that.' She said I'd be the perfect one.

"She is a self-sacrificing person who said, 'You know what? You got to do this.'

"I (was worried about) taking this kind of time off from work and what it will cost us financially to have this adventure if I didn't win. She was just like, 'You'll spend your whole life looking back if you don't do it.'"

The hardest part, Westman says, was being away from Bernadette and their kids: "Lack of food, you got used to that, but missing home got more intense. It was hard."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/16/earlyshow/series/survivor/main695415.shtml


Video Link~

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: gammonwoman2 on May 16, 2005, 01:30:10 PM
waht a honey man!!!! }^!
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: creamY on May 27, 2005, 05:42:09 PM
i saw that it should have been katie in the winning seat but no1 saw her charm :(  :':')

-kans
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: misjir1104 on June 06, 2005, 07:58:34 PM
tom so kool-  =]/
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on June 12, 2005, 07:35:43 PM
i m ian all the way - too bad he didn't win  :':')
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: misjir1104 on June 13, 2005, 08:17:10 PM
yeah- well, he obveriously didn't win for a reason---- it's all good in the end!
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on June 13, 2005, 09:22:43 PM
yeah - i would love to see  him on another survivor, tho. i am praying for another ALL STARS!! what about you?  (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on June 28, 2005, 07:01:17 PM
Yeah I really hope that there is an AllStars 2, and I hope that if Ian is on it (which hopefully he will be) he will win!!

Kristen
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on June 28, 2005, 07:51:45 PM
i'll have my fingers crossed for him  }bH{
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on June 29, 2005, 09:19:13 AM
lol me too

Kristen
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on June 29, 2005, 10:06:35 PM
but i'm kind of upset to find out that he doesn't answer his fan mail . . . probably because there's way too much of it!!!!!
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on June 30, 2005, 02:05:20 PM
lol, yeah, he must get A LOT of fan mail!

Kristen (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on June 30, 2005, 07:54:23 PM
if i ever get his address, the amount is sure to double!!!!!  :kuss:
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on July 01, 2005, 09:27:07 AM
lol, no, TRIPLE!!!  ha ha!  :]
Kristen (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on July 01, 2005, 11:11:25 AM
i rrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy want to become famous or something so that i can meet him. however, for right now, i'm writing to other celebrities/authors to get my name around (like i emailed the author of the pendragon books and he/she?? replied!!!
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on July 03, 2005, 10:18:10 AM
awesome!! yeah i want to become famous for something too! maybe if i get reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy good at playing the guitar i can meet him!! lol that would be soooooooooooo ccccccooooooolllllllllll!!! ha ha!

Kristen (| (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on July 03, 2005, 01:02:08 PM
u play the guitar?? whoah, that's cool - i play the diggori doo, but i've never heard of someone being famous for that  *(^
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on July 04, 2005, 10:29:41 AM
lol, i remember in like 3rd grade we made diggori doos in music class. i think that i might still have mine. well you can be the first famous diggori doo player ever!! lol that would be pretty cool. Yup I play the guitar! It is really fun!! (|

Kristen (|  :]
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on July 04, 2005, 04:15:28 PM
that is so totally COOL!! do u have a band or is it just a hobby?? i am teaching myself how to play the diggori doo but am having a hard time with the circular breathing thingy  {**}
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on July 05, 2005, 08:46:12 AM
lol, thanks. no its just a hobby,though  it would be cool to have a band! :]

Kristen (| (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on July 05, 2005, 07:32:42 PM
yeah - quick fame. just promise you'll remember me when you get famous  }bH{ jk, jk. but we have a boy band at our school, and  . . . i don't know how to put this nicely, but  . . . they're not very good  }} and they don't know it. but it's laugh out loud hilarious to watch them!
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on July 06, 2005, 08:28:20 AM
lol. don't worry i'll remember you. we dont really have any bands at out school. There is this one guy in my school who is in a band with these two older guys, and they are REALLY REALLY bad!! (|

:] (|

Kristen (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on July 06, 2005, 04:40:06 PM
lol - do they know it? 'cuz our guys have no clue  |(
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: Ianfan19 on July 07, 2005, 03:06:33 PM
No, I dont think that they know it, but i kinda' wish that they did because maybe there would be at least a slight chance that they would stop playing. :] lol


(| kristen (|
Title: Re: Tom on The Early Show
Post by: socklover123 on July 07, 2005, 05:36:12 PM
  ]][ lol. i wonder when the parents have to tell them . . . i mean, i couldn't say that there are any truly HORRIBLE bands performing live, or at least any that tried to.