CHRIS UNDERWOOD ’15 WINS SEASON 38 OF "SURVIVOR"
by Kate Thomas
"I’m not playing this game for second, third or fourth," Chris Underwood ’15 looks into the camera on the last episode of "Survivor: Edge of Extinction." "I’m playing this game to win." And he did.
Growing up watching "Survivor" with his family, Underwood loved the idea of the adventure of the game. He applied to be on "Survivor" after graduation … and again the year after … and the year after until he finally was accepted and cast on the show.
"He always talked about ‘Survivor,’ and he began applying to play the game while he lived at Glendale assisting us at the Goodall Center," says John Lane ’77, professor and director of Wofford’s Goodall Environmental Studies Center. "And now he’s won it, and we are so proud of him."
This season of the popular television show was different than the previous 37 seasons. Players who were voted off had the option to head home or go to the Edge of Extinction, an island with even fewer resources than the main island. Underwood says being voted off in episode three was blindsiding and hard to come to terms with, but he knew he wasn’t ready to quit. He spent 27 nights on Extinction Island waiting for his chance to return.
"Now I am going to do everything in my power to win this game," he said on the show after winning the re-entry challenge.
Underwood compares "Survivor" to a high-stakes poker game. He didn’t know if his cards would get him to the end, but he threw in his chips anyway. Giving his immunity necklace to Julie and going head to head with Rick Devens, his closest friend in the game, was a huge risk.
"This was actually a really tough moment for me," says Underwood, who knew he had to make big moves in the final few days of the game in order to warrant respect and convince the jury that he was deserving of the title of Sole Survivor.
"I think he showed off a great many liberal arts skills in that last push to victory," says Lane.
Underwood says his environmental studies capstone — paddling from Spartanburg to the ocean with, as Lane calls it, "minimum gear and maximum enthusiasm" — and his study abroad experience in Ecuador helped prepare him to survive "Survivor."
"I like to think his undergraduate study abroad experience conducting field research in the San Pedro de Vilcabamba region of Ecuador was great preparation for his time on ‘Survivor,’" says Amy Lancaster ’01, dean of international programs. "After all, students who have studied abroad typically demonstrate a better capacity to navigate ambiguity, work in teams and think critically."
Now Underwood is looking toward the future. He and his wife, Kate, will be moving to Chicago where he has accepted a new opportunity with LGCY Power. After moving, Underwood and Kate will do some sailing and traveling, which now thanks to the $1 million prize, he has the means to do!