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Heyltslori
Moderator
09-15-2001
| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 12:19 pm
Biography Jerry Sims (49) Hometown: Rock Hill, SC Occupation: Sgt. – U.S. Army Jerry Sims promises, "you've never seen anybody like me before." Growing up in a poor family, he was one of 10 children who had to learn, very early on, the skills to help him survive in the real world. Jerry has been passing on those survival skills learned from his childhood to soldiers in the Army National Guard for the last 20 years. A 1st Sergeant and specialist in Nuclear Operations, Sims just recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. No stranger to being in a leadership position, Sims was in charge of 100 men and not only knew how to manage them, but also earned their respect. "With this big smile and this convincing attitude, I get them to do exactly what I want them to do!" He's always been a strong proponent of the team concept, a skill that came in handy growing up in such a large household, especially around dinner time "where you had to be on time!" Jerry is also a family man, who's been married for 25 years and has both an adult son and daughter. He has no qualms about saying he's doing this for the money. "The million is in my grasp! I've got to have it. I'm a competitor. I like to win. I like to win, win, win!" Raised on a chicken farm in South Carolina, Jerry also knows how to live off the land and involve everyone in the daily chores. This self-proclaimed jokester says he will give his fellow castaways some much need entertainment, but nobody should misinterpret his cheery personality for weakness because Jerry proudly proclaims, "I am physically fit, I am mentally strong and I'm ready for the million." Jerry currently resides in Rock Hill, SC. His birth date is May 18.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 3:46 pm
Oh, gracious! I hope he can hide those leadership skills under a bush for quite a while! I would love to see him do well, and dread him "organizing" folks!
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 8:54 pm
There's certain speculation that Jerry may be the Rupert of this season. By that I mean he is supposed to be the guy whom the general audience might love to root for or vote to give money to later. I'm with Tnt though. Right now I just hope he'd last for a while!
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Friday, January 30, 2009 - 11:22 pm
Jerry Sims: “I don’t want to” be a leader Andy Denart # Reality Blurred dot com During our conversation, Jerry Sims described himself as someone who is “just laid back, [doesn’t] get rattled real easily, can deal with stressful situations calmly.” That’s absolutely true; in a group of relatively easy-going contestants, he was easily the most relaxed and low-key. At 49, he’s the second oldest Survivor Tocantins cast member (behind Sandy, ahead of Debbie), and he was recruited for the show after having been featured in a newspaper article following his return from Afghanistan last May. As part of the National Guard—which he’s been in for 26 years, having joined because he thought, “I need a change”—he leads 100 people in South Carolina. But he was extremely humble about that, and said that, in Afghanistan, as a first sergeant with 20 experienced guys underneath him, “really my job was easy, they knew what to do and how to do it, so I was like a paper-pushed, basically.” Despite his leadership skills, Jerry told me that “out here, I don’t want to be in charge, because the in-charge guy always gets axed. … I could be [a leader] if I wanted to, but I don’t want to,” he said, although post-merge he may “assert myself a little more.” Instead, his strategy is to “kind of lay back and take it low key,” but Jerry admitted that will be hard for him, and later said he’d “make suggestions” because it’s his “personality, I like to get things done and complete and relax.” Jerry also told me that he plans to “be real friendly, buddy up, all the time in my mind I’m thinking, ‘How can I get rid of this person?’” Despite being religious and honest, he won’t have a problem lying to others in the game, because during his preparation (“watching a lot” of the show “DVD, and YouTube, and everything else”), he learned that “you can’t trust no one” “you could do the secret handshake, say you’re bonded for life, and before you know it, the knife comes out.” “I’m a real honest-type person, you know, real religious-type, honest, and I just have to go into it, this is a game. I’m going to have to leave that at the door until after the game and pick it back up,” Jerry laughed. He laughed a lot, and just seemed genuinely content and happy. I’m pretty sure that will get him far in the game, because he doesn’t seem threatening at all. In addition, he said that being in Afghanistan prepared him for Brazil’s ridiculously hot weather. Jerry said he’s “in pretty decent shape” and isn’t worried about food (“I have been on a few religious fasts before, so I can go a few days without eating—without getting too delirious.”) His only concern is water: “If I can get water, I’m good.” Although CBS’ biography says he’s an army sergeant, that’s not his full-time job. For about 16 years, Jerry has been an operator at a nuclear power plant (“the control room pushes the button and I check it out to make sure it’s not smoking or eating itself up”), following years of painting for the same company, which he’s been with for 30 years. “Right now, I love what I do. Most people can’t say that, but I just love working,” Jerry said. While he’s excited to be on talk shows after appearing on the show, he doesn’t envision the money changing his life, saying he wants to “win this million dollars [so] I can be debt free.” Hear Jerry’s great laugh as he talks about the big variable in how well he’ll do in competitions, the role he’ll take in the tribe, and how he was recruited:
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Chy
Member
07-19-2003
| Friday, January 30, 2009 - 11:25 pm
He's a "recruited" as well?? At some other BBs posters think he might be the one rumored to be as loved as Rupert was. Or so those tv peeps predict.
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Trueheart
Member
09-12-2006
| Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:55 pm
He seems like a nice guy but I have to admit I'm a bit distracted by his job. Military types don't normally do well on Survivor, do they? Or am I wrong? I just keep thinking about a few past contestants (man I can't recall their names!) all who had previous military experience and they got too bossy (and I think most of them even said that they weren't going to be like that) But they got too "let's do this" or "this is a better way" or "I have experience in this sort of thing"....or whatever. *shrugs* Maybe he will be fine.
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Beachcomber
Member
08-26-2003
| Wednesday, February 04, 2009 - 2:53 pm
A friend of mine works with Jerry at the nuclear plant and says he is really nice. No clues though of how he did or how long he was gone.
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Trueheart
Member
09-12-2006
| Wednesday, February 04, 2009 - 10:48 pm
It always amazes me how many people know things about these contestants from "a friend" that knows them! Or people who have met them, themselves. It makes this world seem not so big.
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Lardbrick
Member
01-16-2006
| Saturday, February 14, 2009 - 6:48 pm
I hope he doesn't go early. He seems like a person that would be easy to root for.
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