‘Kentucky Joe’ speaks at Kiwanis prayer breakfast

Kentucky’s most famous “Survivor” was the keynote speaker at the Williamsburg Kiwanis Club’s World Day of Prayer breakfast Thursday.
“We certainly do have a lot to be thankful for living here in the United States,” Rodger Bingham told club members. “This is world day of prayer, and I hope each and every one of you will take a few minutes out today to pray.
“Even as we are sitting here today, there are men and women in other parts of the country, who are laying their lives on the line for us even as we are sitting here today. We definitely all have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope you will all take some time today to say a few words of thanks.”
In 2001, Bingham appeared as one of the contestants on the popular CBS show Survivor II, The Australian Outback, and was given the nickname of Kentucky Joe while on the series. He was able to survive 36 of the 42 days before being voted off. Bingham chose the Bible as the one luxury item he was allowed to take on the show.
Bingham said when he sent in an application to appear on the show, he didn’t know at the time that there had been almost 49,000 other people from across the country, who had also sent in applications.
The process of making it onto the show was lengthy, and the top 50 finalists were all flown to Los Angeles for a two-week period.
“During that two week period, I did some things that I wouldn’t normally do. I took one test that had over 1,400 questions on it,” Bingham said. “Things I also had to do for a physical included doing as many push-ups as we could do, and as many sit-ups as we could do, then had to get on a treadmill and run for a long period of time.”
During the breakfast, Bingham showed a videotape of highlights producers put together for him concerning his time on the show.
Bingham said every day on a show like Survivor isn’t fun, like the day contestants had to jump off a 50 to 60 foot high cliff into the river, and swim a long distance.
It was an adventure for Bingham, who had only learned how to swim the week before he left to go to Australia.
When on a show like Survivor, Bingham said contestants experienced some things that most people normally don’t experience during the normal course of their lives.
The area of Australia, where the show was filmed, is home to five of the world’s 10 deadliest, most poisonous snakes.
“They did give us training on poisonous snakes the day before they dropped us off in the outback,” Bingham said. “We did come across two poisonous snakes, and one of them came into our camp one day. What made it so dangerous besides the fact that it was a poisonous snake, is that it has no fear of humans. It is noted for actually chasing people.”
Bingham said contestants had to be on the lookout since no one was standing around with a club or a gun to kill the snakes. He was especially watchful while out fishing alone.
“Sometimes I would be down stream fishing sometimes a couple of miles away from camp by myself,” Bingham said. “I always kept an eye out where I was walking, because I knew if I got bit by a poisonous snake a couple of miles away from camp by myself, I could have been in serious trouble.”
Bingham said one thing that surprised him about the show was the temperature extremes in Australia.
One contestant had a belt buckle with a thermometer on it. One day while fishing the temperature got up over 110 degrees, and later that night it dropped down to the upper 30s.
“We spent some very cold nights in Australia. We didn’t have any blankets starting out. We were there during the rainy season. If we got a fire going, it wasn’t uncommon for the rain to put that fire out. We spent some unbelievably cold nights in Australia,” he added.
On day 18, Bingham said his tribe won a blanket and a toothbrush, which everyone shared.
“That is something I never thought I would have done in a million years, but there wasn’t one person in our tribe that turned that toothbrush down when it came their time to use it,” Bingham said. “A lot of things we take for granted on a daily basis, a lot of folks don’t have simple things like toothbrushes, or that blanket.
“We were very thankful to have gotten that blanket, which is something we take for granted on a daily basis here in the United States. There are millions of people around the world, who don’t have simple things like that.”
One thing Bingham said the show didn’t feature a lot was how hungry the contestants became.
“We had one girl on the show that did a lot of crying. They showed it a time or two. Really the reason she was crying was because of being hungry all the time,” Bingham said. “I was on the show 36 out of the 42 days before I was voted out. During that 36 day period, I lost almost 30 pounds. I don’t recommend it as a weight loss method. The hunger was definitely something to contend with.”
In addition to being a reality show contestant, Bingham has held a wide variety of jobs over the years, ranging from chief executive officer of a bank, to being a school teacher, owner of a building supply and hardware store, a real estate developer, a farmer, and being an elder in his church.
He currently serves as deputy executive director of agriculture marketing and products promotion for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
“It just all goes to prove that a country boy can survive,” said Steve Morris, Kiwanis Club President.