It's been 16 years in the making but Brendan Shapiro finally got his chance.
The Health and Physical Education teacher from Herndon, VA is one of 20 new Castaways on the 36th season of the CBS hit show, Survivor.
Survivor: Ghost Island premieres Wednesday, February 28th on WUSA9. The premiere is titled "Can you reverse the curse?"
Host, Jeff Probst, says the twist this season is that players may be sent to a separate haunted island filled with actual relics from the previous 35 seasons. The question is: will the players be able to learn from past mistakes?
"Ghost Island is a nod to all of our super fans and super players because that’s who we make the show for. The idea is, what if you took all the bad decisions, and there have been some legendary, fantastic, bad decisions over 35 seasons, and they’ve been living on Ghost Island and now they're coming back to haunt a new group of players."
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For more on Season 36th of Survivor: Jeff Probst previews Survivor:Ghost Island
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Probst says they had to reach out to Survivor memorabilia collectors and past contestants and ask to "borrow" their relics or idols.
"So when players dig up an idol or an advantage it will be the real relic from 8,10,12 years ago."
Brendan Shapiro is one of 20 castaways looking to be the sole survivor. He is married to his highschool sweetheart and the two of them founded Potomac River Running Store. Now he co-owns Commonwealth Race Management and is a teacher in Fairfax County.
Brendan first applied to be a contestant when he was 25 years old, and he made it pretty far in the interview process but ultimately figured out he wasn't exactly what producers were looking for at the time.
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“I was 25 at the time. I did this regional interview and I came home to my wife and said I’m 25 and married. I don’t think I’m what they're looking for. They’re looking for a swinging bachelor. I told my wife, if they're still doing this show when I’m 40 I think Ive got a shot."
Sure enough, Brendan turned 40 in June of 2017 and got the call from producers 5 months later.
“The first time I ever saw Survivor I really drew me in. I’ve been a competitor all my life, I played a lot of different sports but I was never the best at anything. I looked at Survivor and I said I think it suits my skills and I could do well. So I just felt like it was a game I could go out and compete well in and win and it just looked like an incredible adventure."
Brendan says the competition begins when all the cast and crew come together a few days before taping begins, but that they have no idea what the theme is until they hit the beach for the first time.
"We didn't know anything. The players make it out to location a few days before the game and we’re kind of isolated we cant speak to each other, we can look at them and that’s it. So you're just trying to draw some conclusions about the players but also about the theme. I was sizing everybody up but I just couldn't’t come up with the theme might be. And this was a theme they’ve never done before so I was really excited to be a part of it.
"As a player I was looking for the people that didn't know the game very well because I was wanted to try and take advantage of those people. I think really knowing the game made it more fun for me and made it more fun for the players. And most of the players this season were super fans so we kind of got what was going on our there so it was a really cool theme."
Host, Jeff Probst, says he is a fan of Brendan's and that he is the type of contestant viewers will root for.
"I loved Brendan the minute he walked in. In many ways hes the prototype of the player we look for on this show. Somebody who gets the show, is a player. They want to come in and play the game. They want to dive into the strategy the want to figure out the social relationships. He’s relatable, I think a lot of guys will look at Brendan and say 'I get this guy. That could be me.'"
For Brendan 16 years of anticipation was well worth the wait.
"It was everything and more. I thought about it for 16 years. It exceeded expectations. It was incredible."
