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Jkm

Friday, October 24, 2003 - 08:17 am EditMoveDeleteIP
From www.indystar.com

Rupert the rapscallion
Friends and family say 'Survivor' contestant Rupert Boneham is just being himself.


Rupert Boneham of the Drake tribe is the most popular contestant in “Survivor” history. He has tended bar, dug graves, counseled kids, rehabbed houses and more. -- CBS

Rupert Frederick Boneham
Born: Jan. 27, 1964, in Detroit.
Education: Haworth High School in Kokomo.
High school sport: Swimming.
Height: 6-foot-1.
Favorite movie: "Star Wars."
Favorite food: Crab claws.
Source: Roger Boneham

Will the real Rupert please stand up?
Rupert Boneham has been many things in his life, from rigger to mortician's helper to alligator man to ABC football camera crew. And more.
Rupert's jobs/hobbies:
• Youth counselor.
• House restorer.
• Snake and alligator enthusiast.
• Oil field rigger in Texas.
• Orderly in a hospital.
• Crew member operating a motorized sideline camera for college football games on ABC every fall.
• "Survivor" contestant.
• Husband and father of 4-year-old daughter.

Related content
• Tribe Drake needs a win to boost numbers




By Abe Aamidor
abe.aamidor@indystar.com
October 23, 2003


He wouldn't be the first person invited to join the cool fraternity on campus.

And you might not offer him a lift if he were thumbing a ride on I-70.

Yet Indianapolis' own Rupert Boneham is the surprise hit of "Survivor: Pearl Islands," seen at 8 p.m. Thursdays on WISH . "Blackbeard" Boneham, as he's been nicknamed on the show's Web site, has the highest popularity rating and the greatest number of votes to be the sole survivor in the series' history.

Of voters on CBS.com, 61 percent say he'll take home the million bucks.

Gruff-sounding, hulking, shaggy -- Rupert follows in the footsteps of Little John from the Robin Hood adventures, or perhaps Gentle Ben, the lovable black bear featured in two generations of children's movies.

"I think the best thing he's done is to just be himself, and it shows," said Roger Boneham, Rupert's dad, who's a retired geology professor at Indiana University-Kokomo.

Neighbors in the diverse Near-Northside area where Rupert has lived the past several years say he is a hoot, and that what you see on TV is what you get in real life.

Willie Conley, 16, says Rupert once volunteered to help him build a tree house, and James Williams, 50, says he and Rupert often trade favors such as mowing each other's grass.

It's just Rupert -- tie-dyed T-shirt, bushy beard and all. He has not always worn a skirt, however. (That came about on the first episode of "Survivor: Pearl Islands" when Rupert's thick black jeans became water-logged and had to be tossed.)

Not everyone on Rupert's street knows about his boa constrictor, though. Or the rats he keeps in the house to feed it.

Willie and his older sister, Ceayra Conley, 18, have seen them.

"He's got about 20 rats," Willie said.

A supermarket tabloid recently pointed out that, as a kid, Rupert would collect dead animals from city streets, then take the carcasses home and boil them. He'd retrieve the skulls for his collection.

"They promoted that as, 'The Strangest Survivor Cast Members Ever,' " Roger Boneham said.

Note that Roger didn't say it was untrue.

Basically, Rupert is more like someone you'd expect to discover on a deserted island, not someone plucked from civilization and set down on one for 30 or 40 days.

Younger brother Christopher Boneham, who lives in Raleigh, N.C., says Rupert always was a survivor.

"He was definitely a fisherman as a young man," Christopher said. "I think he also learned how to catch turtles and snakes and reptiles when he was a kid."

That was in Kokomo; Rupert would stick his hand in any puddle of water around and pull something out.

Yet Rupert, 39, has had a hugely varied career to date. After graduation from the former Haworth High School in Kokomo, he attended oil well drilling school in Texas. He wanted to be a rigger.

He later worked as an orderly in a hospital in Abilene.

He's listed by CBS as a counselor for troubled youth. Rupert contracts with a local social service agency to teach job skills to kids who do not want to return to school.

He's had the kids over to his house a few times, working on the ramshackle brick and wood two-story home part time. One of Rupert's many jobs is rehabbing older homes, then selling them. That's what he's doing on his current house.

Then there's the gig with ABC. That's the one CBS does not talk about.

Rupert has been a camera cart driver for several years for college football games broadcast by ABC Sports. He drives the little cart that goes up and down the sidelines, and then drives the van that hauls the cart to the next game and does it all over again.

He does this every fall, traveling in the van with his wife, Laura, and 4-year-old daughter, Raya.

"I'm just told he's a terrific guy," said Mark Mandel, a spokesman for ABC Sports. "He's very interesting. I know he's got a lot of people from ABC rooting for him."

He also was a bartender at The Alley Cat years ago, as well as a grave digger at an Indianapolis cemetery.

Dad says he never wanted to push Rupert toward getting a college degree.

"He didn't really want to go to college," said Roger. "I said, 'Rupert, that's fine. I see people in my class, and they really should not be there at 18. Maybe at 28.' "

The big question is whether Rupert wins, of course. He declined to speak to The Star for this story; it's part of every cast member's agreement with CBS.

Family members say they have not asked, and will not.

"He enjoys the fact that he's a little different," sister-in-law Lisa Boneham said. "He's always been the nonconformist -- 'You're going to like me not because of the way I look, but for the person I am.' "

The winner of "Survivor: Pearl Islands" will be chosen live from two finalists in the last episode. Yet 14 of the original 16 cast members obviously know if they've been voted off the island in the tape-delayed series.

In the meantime, Rupert's family, fans and friends continue to root for him. Chris says his block in Raleigh has a "Survivor" party every Thursday night, and Chris knows who he'll portray at the neighborhood Halloween party: Rupert.

Call Star reporter Abe Aamidor at 1-317-444-6472.

Lorry

Friday, October 24, 2003 - 08:30 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Good article, and it does not build him up to be some kind of super hero... just that he's a good guy.. you get what you see.

Thanks for posting it.

Gidget

Friday, October 24, 2003 - 09:50 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Enjoyed the article. Thanks jkm