Last week, MacMillian House hosted a viewing party for the latest season of CBS Survivor with special guest speaker Bob Crowley and his wife Peggy. Crowley, a Maine native and winner of the seventeenth season of the reality show, shared his portfolio of keepsakes and told little-known stories from his historic conquest in the jungle of Gabon.
House resident Jack Butler ’22 was instrumental in getting the former competitor to Bowdoin. After watching old episodes of Survivor last summer, Butler told The Bowdoin Orient he wondered whether Crowley was still living in Maine. He tracked down Crowley's Durham-based business, Maine Forest Yurts, and reached out to him through an online contact form.
Before Crowley competed on Survivor, he taught physics at Gorham High School. One of his pupils, Julie Berry, actually ended up competing on Survivor: Vanatu.
During the interview and audition process for the seventeenth Survivor season, which aired in 2008, Crowley was asked about his deception prowess. He said that as a high school teacher he was really good at it. “I tell my students if you want to get ahead in life, you got to be deceitful all the times and lie whenever is necessary,” he said in jest. Ultimately, however, he confessed to the show producers: “If I were a pilot or a politician, I could lie and be deceitful, but I can’t go on national TV as a teacher and represent deception and lying.”
Crowley flew back to Maine, believing his honesty had diminished his chances of becoming a Survivor castaway, and it had. “I went home slightly depressed, and tried to tell my students I was proud that I stood for integrity and honesty, but I kept crying and it was really embarrassing,” he said and laughed.
But Crowley had a stroke of luck. He was called back when Jimmy Johnson, the former Dallas Cowboys coach, dropped out due to medical issues just three weeks before the competition. And, Crowley said, “the rest is all Survivor history.”
Before becoming the sole survivor of Survivor: Gabon, Crowley went on to win five challenges in a row, including the Loved Ones Challenge, in which his wife paid a surprise visit to Gabon. When Crowley brought out some mementos from his time on Survivor, including handmade buffs and two idols he made to deceive other contestants, students oohed.
After speaking, Crowley joined students in watching the premiere of Survivor: Winners at War, which features twenty returning winners (but no Crowley) from previous seasons, in celebration of the show’s twentieth anniversary. As far as choosing a favorite contestant for this season, Crowley said he can’t. “Picking a favorite for this season is like picking your favorite kid."
