Benjamin "Coach" Wade

Comments

There are 2 responses to this article. Click here to join the conversation »

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Printer friendly

More Celebrity News

• Ellen DeGeneres out as 'American Idol’ judge
• Grudge Match: Cats vs. Dogs
• Insider: Johnny Knoxville initially said no-go to 'Jackass' in 3-D

Share and Enjoy

If you’re wondering why you’re seeing the byline of Wayne Bledsoe rather than Terry Morrow in the Insider this week, don’t worry: Terry Morrow will be back next week and thereafter. I’m only filling in this week.

Due to a lost e-mail, “Survivor” cast member and former Knoxvillian Benjamin Wade, better known as “Coach,” showed up at the paper while Terry was at the spa getting a full body wax ... or a hip replacement ... or maybe a prescription for Viagra ... or something. He can tell you all about it next week.

Ben Wade was in town for his 20th West High School reunion. In our 20-minute conversation Wade said that he had been told by movers and shakers in Hollywood that he had made the biggest impression as a character on reality TV in the past 10 years.

“I don’t know if I believe that,” he said.

Wade did make an impression. On “Survivor: Tocantins” he was cast early on as a big-talking villain.

Wade still smarts a little from that depiction.

“It was such a slap in the face — being portrayed 180 degrees from what I thought I was, but then it caused some self-reflection: ‘Maybe I am arrogant.’ If there was a modicum of truth in it I wanted to learn something from it.”

He said people ask him if the tales he told about his life (death-defying adventures in the Amazon, for instance) were really true.

“When people call you a liar, that’s the biggest slap in the face — because I gave up $1 million because I wouldn’t lie,” he said.

Wade said the hardest thing about the fallout from the show was friends who felt differently about him after “Survivor.”

“My inner circle became my outer circle,” he said.

He also lost his job as a soccer coach at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo.

He has been pursuing some options in Hollywood, but he’s not overly enthusiastic about a career there.

Wade said he was walking down Hollywood Boulevard recently and came to a conclusion: “L.A. is the loneliest place in the world. I was around a lot of really big, important people and they’re all searching after a dream that doesn’t really satisfy.”

Wade says he’ll probably still do some things in Hollywood, and he’ll continue to be a motivational speaker, but he’s currently most interested in his music.

Wade is the director of the Susanville Symphony Orchestra in northeastern California and, he said, he’s composed 50 pieces of music in the neo-romantic style.

Wade said he’d love to travel to 20 different cities around the world and compose a symphony for each city utilizing native instruments.

“I need something to chase ... I’m excited about the future. Every time I do something my father always asks, ‘What are you going to do for an encore?’ I take that to heart. When I do something I always want it to be bigger and better.”

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
Want to use this article? Click here for options!