Watch CBS’ “Survivor: Redemption Island” at 8 p.m. Wednesday on WJHL.
Then follow the live blog on TriCities.com throughout the show.
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
ABINGDON, Va. – “Survivor: Redemption Island,” which will air its second episode Wednesday, is gaining a fan following in the Mountain Empire in part because a Russell County man is among the contestants.
Ralph Kiser, 45, said in an interview before the premiere that competing on “Survivor” was “a lot harder than I ever dreamed it would’ve been.”
He is the sixth contestant from the Tri-Cities region to compete on the popular CBS reality show. He compares himself to “Big Tom” Buchanan, a Smyth County man who was a fan favorite and came close to winning in 2001.
The show brings contestants from around the country to a remote foreign location, where they’re divided into tribes and compete in physical challenges. Someone gets voted off every week and the sole survivor at the end gets $1 million.
Kiser, who lives with his girlfriend in Lebanon, farms and works at a factory in Abingdon, came through the Feb. 16 premiere episode in good shape, leading his tribe in shelter construction and helping them to victory in the season’s first immunity challenge.
“I saw Ralph in a very realistic form, as a true SURVIVOR, something he had learned long before there was a reality TV show by that name,” said Deborah Icenhour, who tuned in because she was his teacher at Lebanon High School some 25 year ago.
She still thinks of him as “a great kid” who graduated and went on to work for Hapco, where he’s been employed ever since.
In today’s day and age, she said, that kind of employment record is an accomplishment in and of itself. But she also admires the work ethic and values he’s always exhibited – and his perseverance in finally getting on the show after several attempts.
“He brought me a pair of geese,” she recalls of the young man who’d already established himself as a farmer by the time he was in his teens. “I named them Ralph and Violet. … He brought me four chickens, and one of them laid eggs in the classroom.”
Ralph the goose became sort of a “watch gander” at her home, responding aggressively to anyone who appeared to pose a threat, she said.
Around Easter, her student brought her a live rabbit.
“I said I’d like to have a real rabbit – as a joke,” she said. “Well, it came the next day, in a sack on the bus. Its name was Bunny Lou Ellen.”
Icenhour said she plans to keep watching –and predicts that Kiser will go far.
“I believe he will do well on the show because he understands the basics of how to survive and subsequently thrive,” she said. “Furthermore, he knows that having a little fun in the meanwhile is important.”
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