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Benjamin Wade

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RealityFreakWill:
Secret Scene: Coach


courtesy of CBS

RealityFreakWill:
Coach: The Day After


courtesy of CBS

puddin:
Watch an exclusive interview with Benjamin 'Coach' Wade, the latest eliminated contestant from Survivor Tocantins

puddin:
 

“I’m Not Delusional” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: Tocantins’ Coach
by David Bloomberg -- 05/15/2009

 
Coach was a man with great entertainment value for viewers. But that was certainly not his goal going in. He wanted to be strong, loyal, and honest. Now that he’s been on TV, how does he reconcile what viewers saw with what he said? Does he change his tune on anything he said or did over the course of the show? Read on to see what Coach has to say now!

As I prepared for my interview with Coach, I expected him to be fiery and perhaps a bit defensive. I knew the questions I would be asking would challenge his moral views and his honesty. But what I found in talking to him was a very calm, almost contrite at times, Coach that we rarely saw on TV while watching Survivor.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Coach, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at RealityNewsOnline.

Coach: My pleasure.

RNO: There are questions that my readers have been begging me to ask you for weeks now. So let me start with one of the biggies. You talked about how you wanted to compete against the best. But at almost your first opportunity, you voted out Brendan. When asked about it, you said he went against you. Could you explain how these actions and statements were not contradictory?

Coach: I definitely don’t think they were contradictory. After the merge, it’s kill or be killed. If I hadn’t have taken out Brendan, I would have gone home and I wouldn’t have had the chance to take the weakest or the strongest to the end.

I didn’t want to gloat over beating a weaker opponent. That very first day I told Brendan I wanted to change the game. If he would have jumped on board, he, Tyson, and myself would have been checkmate for the final three. I was disappointed he didn’t. I didn’t want to cut Brendan, but Tyson had been telling me for days about Brendan and I kept saying I don’t want to do this. But as soon as I found out he was gunning for me, it flipped and I needed to take him out first.

RNO: If your plan was truly to take the most deserving and strongest players to the end, can you explain how that could have been a winning strategy?

Coach: Well, again it was a different strategy. As I said, I wanted to change the game. If I won along the way, it would be a bonus. It was almost a winning strategy. If Tyson would not have been eliminated, we would have been one-two. Tyson wanted to play it much differently coming in. When we got in an alliance, he played it differently [than he had originally planned]. Unfortunately, I was his downfall. He was too honest and he told J.T. and Stephen where they would end up. He was a voracious competitor who I deeply respected and admired. Obviously, the game is full of twists and turns. If something different would have happened, I think I got pretty close to fulfilling what I wanted to do.

RNO: You claimed to have never lied and to value honesty above all else. But we saw the situation with Sierra and we saw you tell quite a different story. Similarly, we saw you lie to Brendan about who was going to be voted out when Brendan was actually the target. How do you reconcile that, especially now that you’ve seen everything on TV?

Coach: With Sierra, what you see is final product. She did come up to me two days before. In a moment of complete lucidity and brilliance, she laid out the rest of the game: They’re going to pick us off. She did come up to me.

When I spoke in Tribal about my honesty, that was what I was remembering. I was very disappointed in myself. She was referring to the conversation that day. At the time, I did not think I lied. Watching the show, I think it was a gray area, and I wanted to avoid gray areas.

When it was Brendan’s turn to go out, I asked him, “What do you want to do?” He told me and I responded, “I want to go with the numbers.” I had the numbers, so it was not a lie. So I think I’m justified in saying I did not lie.

I wish I would have handled the Sierra situation better. I was not lying to stay in the game. I was still trying to be true to my alliance. I never went back on who I was going to vote off or vote for. I stayed true to my word and I’m one of the few people who can say that.

RNO: How did it feel to watch episodes over the past few weeks, including last night’s, and see that you were being taken for a ride while fully believing in your allies?

Coach: Overall it’s been a roller coaster. It’s been great and very tough. I’m human and I’ve been raked over the coals. It’s to make a brilliant character [for the show], which maybe I am and maybe I’m not. It’s been very tough to watch people you put your trust in. We’re relying on each other to survive. You build trust and you have to break that trust. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch that.

It was just so close to mapping out the rest of the game and solidify that change to the game and the culture of the game. I think I was successful, but it could have been even better. It ripped my guts out when Debbie turned against me. Last night, the whole episode was overwhelming for me. I wasn’t surprised that Stephen turned against me.

But just watching my body, it was very sad and very heroic. I’m not trying to toot my own horn, I just didn’t realize what shape my body was in. I never thought I was stronger than Brendan or faster than Tyson or smarter than Erinn. I thought I was one step back and knowing people would expect a lot from me. All I have left in this shell of a body is my mental focus. Getting myself psyched up for the game was what my strategy was all along.

RNO: Having watched yourself on TV, have you come to any realizations or conclusions about your own personality?

Coach: I’m not delusional. I’ve done everything I claimed to have done. It has tested who I am. It has been some wonderfully high times and some low times. I am who I am but I probably learned that nobody can take away that identify that I have, whether I’m a coach or I’m not or I’m fired. I had my career taken away from me, my reputation tarnished, I financially took a blow. I really came there a month ago and took a hard look. I have my character that’s been forged through trials and near death experiences and my identity in Christ. I’m a born again Christian. Neither of those can be taken from me. I just remember who I am.

The second thing is that I feel I’ve been blessed a lot of the time in life. I have that fine line between confidence and what people see as arrogance. It was actually humbling. I don’t want to be perceived as arrogant. Being a coach and a conductor, you can never be wrong in the moment, you have to put on this personality that says you know what’s right and this is the direction you have to go. That is the tack I took on Survivor.

RNO: Since you mentioned your religious beliefs, I’ve been wondering: does the Hebrew tattoo on your left arm say?

Coach: I have two different ones. The first is Psalm 23:4. I had that tattooed when I had the growth on the back of my head. That one says, “Yeah though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” The other is Genesis 49, the prophecy of the tribe of Benjamin. It says, “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he devours his prey. In the evening he divides his plunder.” I love that verse because it speaks of my character in life. I can be ravenous but I want to be generous.

They didn’t show this, but every single challenge, I was the one encouraging people. I spent one on one time with people, trying to make sure they were okay and share in that victory we were having every day. I tried to seize that moment and share in my experiences. I knew it would be very easy for me to go into the game and say I just work with soccer players and teach music, but I said I’m a big time kayakker, I have a world record, this and that. I told everybody who I was and what I’d done. It could have backfired but didn’t. Maybe it did because people thought I was crazy or delusional. But I played as strong and with as much integrity as I could the whole way through.

RNO: Why is it that none of your various stories or exploits appear in print or on the web anywhere except from you, yourself?

Coach: That might change. That’s all I’m going to say about that. I think you can find them on the web if you want to. When I actually broke the record in Honduras. I’m not going to go into all that. I didn’t set out to take these trips for world records or other people. I took the first trip to get closer to God. The media wanted to sensationalize it and came up with the world record. The Guinness book says the longest solo kayak trip is 326.98miles – I could do that in three days. I’m working on that.

I didn’t set out that way. I set out to do things that would put me closer to God. I really got burned out that first trip because the media distracted me from my true intention. I started getting consumed by the media. I had to be humbled many times by God and reminded as to what my purpose was.

When I came back, I experienced the same thing as Tom Hanks in Castaway and didn’t feel like I was part of society. Everybody wanted to hear my story but they couldn’t relate. They weren’t there when I truly needed them. I thought, “You know what, I didn’t do it for you guys,” and I became very introverted. I didn’t make friends and was very closed off and continued to take those trips. I could have documented it and made a bigger deal, but that wasn’t my intention.

RNO: There are so many more questions I and readers would like to ask you, but I’ve been told we only have time for one more. So I’ll open the floor for you: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Coach: I think my exit interview said it best, I left the game with my head held high. I hope I had a small impact on people watching. I’ve spoken all over the world for the last 13 years and never asked for a dime. I want people to see me and think, “I want to be a better person because of him and a more honest person.” (Quiet laugh.) I’m not sure that’s going to come out. I love changing people lives. So I hope in some small way besides entertainment value, they can look at my true purpose and core values and my loyalty. In this game, you cannot question my loyalty.

RNO: Thanks again, Coach!



   

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.


http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=4&article=article8918.art&page=1




 

puddin:
Exclusive Interview: Coach Benjamin Wade, from 'Survivor: Tocantins'
Friday, May 15, 2009
             
The most talked about, most controversial castaway on Survivor: Tocantins was undoubtedly Coach Benjamin Wade.  The soccer coach, the symphony conductor, the teller of tall tales, the meditation guru, The Dragon Slayer.  Love him or hate him, Ben Wade made for good TV, and he will be a Survivor contestant we remember for years to come, which is a rare feat.  We had the great pleasure of speaking with Coach earlier today, as he discussed his persona, the media's portrayal of him, and whether or not he's ever posted comments on BuddyTV.

Hey, this is Oscar Dahl from BuddyTV and I'm here with the infamous Coach Benjamin Wade. Coach, how are you doing?


I'm awesome, how are you doing?


I'm pretty good.  Before we start, I have to clear one thing up.  Have you been posting comments on our website, sir?

Posting comments on your website?  I'll tell you this.  I have not posted one comment on any.  I've had friends say, "Hey man, somebody thinks that I'm you..."  So, no, definitely I have never posted any comment on any website, especially not yours.  I did get on your website because I looked at 250 something pictures you had of me, so I liked that. Posting comments is against the contract and no, I'm not doing it.


Overall, having watched the entire season, how do you feel about your portrayal on the show?  Is it what you expected it to be?

You know, I went down there not to win the game, but to change it. And I went down there to make this character that was just larger than life, and I think that I succeeded on all accounts.  As far as the portrayal, it was a two-dimensional character that you guys are seeing.  You're seeing the intense, driven, wanting to take charge Coach that ruffles a lot of feathers, but what you didn't see was the encouraging, hopefully the inspiring, the one-on-one time that I had.  I talked to Taj about her child before the auction.  It was like a week before the auction and she cried on my shoulder and it was a beautiful time.  I taught Debbie how to meditate.  You don't see that part, you don't see me clapping at every challenge, trying to push the team and one of the things that you don't see is the fact that, in Mid-October, I weighed 205 pounds.  You can physically see that at the end of the game I'm 149 pounds, that's almost 60 pounds, the most pounds that anybody has lost and why did that happen? Because I gave my food away to everyone else so they would have enough energy to go about their business.

People were very lethargic, people didn't have energy and I took two hour walks every day and really essentially only ate a couple of small bowls in the morning and a couple at night and people begged me to eat, but I wanted them to have more and I think it was a very noble approach that I took.  I'm not patting myself on the back, but if stuff like that would have been shown, great.  But when I look  back on the season I think that the producers did a fantastic job of taking this person, seeing that they were hated, then just really beefed up the part that people hated, the stories, the this the that, and they created a phenomenal Dragon Slayer villain that people will remember for a long time.
 

You're talking about yourself like it was a character.  Did you go into the season with the idea that you were going to play a certain part?  How much of it was genuine?

Well, I want to say - "How much of it was genuine?"  Well, it was all genuine, except for some of the meditation and also the Dragon Slayer. Obviously, I don't call myself The Dragon Slayer in real life, and so that's the part I was talking about. When I went down there, you know - I am a showman, the Coach, and I conduct a symphony for a living and I love being in the limelight. I like talking to people. I like having a captive audience, and Survivor was a way for me to go out there and be as eccentric as possible, and for people to love it or hate it, but to definitely encourage it, so that part for me was fun.  But I think that I have a lot of different sides to my personality, like I mentioned earlier.  The inspiring part, the motivational part, the jerk that wants to get things done. If I were to say to the tribe, "You guys were awesome today. Tyson, you did great.  Debbie, you did great.  But, you know, dang it, we've got to win."  That's the Coach in me, so if they only show "You guys, dang it, we've got to win," people will be like "Jerk."  But they didn't see me giving my food away, clapping for people, encouraging them, so you've got to know that there are two sides to that coin.  No, it wasn't a total character fabrication.  I wanted to show the more eccentric parts of my personality.


Well, let's say that you and me were having a beer off-camera - what kind of Coach would we see?

It would kind of depend on what you're going through in your life. I'm there for a lot of people and if you were going through a tough time in your marriage, or in your personal life, with your personal growth, I'd try to reaffirm you and I'd try to talk about the parts that you can improve or give yourself confidence or whatever. If you were going through a time where I thought you were going out with somebody that was killing your personality or even just friends were unhealthy in your life I'd probably kick your ass and say "Look dude, this is unhealthy for you."  I'm doing that with my cousin right now and so I'm like "You know, look ,stop it."  So, I would probably be like that, or if you just wanted to have fun, laugh, have a good time, not talk about anything serious, then that would be me as well.  I'm just really like an everyday guy, but I happen to relate and l like to listen to people and I like to help people.  That's what drives me. If you look at the last fifteen years of my life, I've been a public speaker at all different types of schools and rotary clubs and I speak and I never ask a dime for it.  But, it's like I want to go out there and somehow, some way change and help and inspire somebody along the way.


Going into the game, did you expect that the media take you as such a divisive figure?

Well, the media is going to take me however I am portrayed. I understand how they did it.  It's their job to sensationalize everything.  I think that Nietzsche said one time, very succinctly, he said "What is the most humane thing? It is to spare a man shame." Obviously, that's something the media did not do, they were not humane, but in the next sentence Nietzsche says "What does not destroy me makes me stronger."  And I'd say definitely that this experience has humbled me, it's made me take a look at my life, the confidence versus arrogance.  And it's allowed me to be stronger, and I've really been humbled and I really cherish experience and the media is a big part of that, and you guys only report on what you see.  So, I don't hold any grudges against anybody, in the game, out of the game, or in real life.


What surprised you the most about the other castaways while watching the season from home?

Probably just the continual amount of back-biting and loyalties betrayed and you get to see the full picture there.  I think a lot of things were surprising to me and it was gut-wrenching when Debbie turned on me. I know she was getting a lot of influence from J.T. and Stephen to do that and it was perhaps the plan, I'm not really sure, but that was gut-wrenching.  It was tough to watch.


Quick last question - you have any big plans for the future?

Haha.  I'll let you guys know.  I think there will be opportunities for a lot of different things.  I'm focusing on my symphony for right now, writing music.  I've got a couple of college job offers that are going to be on the table, and maybe some things are going to happen in Hollywood.  So, I'm open for anything, I'm just praying about it and contemplating what the next chapter in my life is going to be.


All right, Coach, I appreciate you taking the time.

Awesome, thanks man.


Below you will find the written transcript as well as the full mp3 audio of the interview.
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/survivor/exclusive-interview-coach-benj-28721.aspx

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