Rodger Bingham

Rodger W. Bingham is a contestant from.

He is remembered for his father-daughter relationship with Elisabeth Filarski.

Profile
Rodger was born and raised in Crittenden, Kentucky. He and his wife, Patricia, have one daughter, Angela. Rodger worked as a school teacher, teaching at least one carpentry class, and as a farmer prior to his time on Survivor: The Australian Outback. He now works for the Department of Agriculture. Rodger also speaks in schools about the importance of remaining healthy, especially in not using tobacco, and his Survivor experience.

Rodger told Louisville Life that though his time on Survivor “was the adventure of a lifetime”, his grandchildren (Parker (born c. 2002) and Macy Fran (born May 2005)) are the highlight of his life.

Survivor: The Australian Outback
Despite his age, Rodger was able to help out at camp by using his knowledge in construction to help build a shelter for Kucha on Day 1. On the second day, he tore out a few pages from his luxury item, a bible, to help make fire. While doing so he found a personal note from his son-in-law inside wishing him the best of luck and to try his best.

His tribe lost the first Immunity Challenge, and he was on the chopping block because of his age. However, Debb and Jeff were both trying to get the other voted off, and that took the pressure off of Rodger. He voted unanimously with the rest of his tribe against Debb.

The Reward Challenge on Day 4 proved difficult for Rodger. It involved jumping off a cliff and swimming. Rodger had just learned to swim awhile before coming on the show and was terrified of heights. He performed in the challenge anyway, but dragged his team behind, letting Ogakor win the blanket reward. His tribe won the next three Immunity Challenge's though, saving him from almost certain elimination.

When Kucha lost their next Immunity Challenge in The Gloves Come Off Rodger was saved from elimination because of Kimmi Kappenberg's attitude and not bonding with the tribe. After the merge he formed a close bond with Elisabeth, a sentimental father-daughter relationship that saw Rodger do his best to make sure Elisabeth was not targeted by the rest of the tribe.This eventually cost him when in the final five as Rodger asked the tribe to vote him off instead of Elisabeth because of the bond they shared. This worked when Rodger was voted out at the next Tribal Council, becoming the fifth Jury member.

As a Jury member Rodger cast his vote for Colby Donaldson to win, who eventually finished as Runner-Up against Tina Wesson.

Voting History
In The Merge, the vote ended with a 5-5 tie between Colby and Jeff, forcing a revote. Rodger did not change his vote on the revote.

Post-Survivor

 * ElisabethRodger HollywoodSquares.jpg Survivor, Bingham was honored by the leaders of the Commonwealth on Feb. 20th in the Legislature and the Governors Office in February 20, 2001.
 * In May 2001, The cast of The Australian Outback appeared on Hollywood Squares for Survivor Week. Rodger himself appeared in three episodes on the 15th, the 17th where he shared an square with Elisabeth and the 18th.
 * On January 9, 2010, Rodger attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
 * In May 2013, Rodger reunited with his Outback cast mate and friend Elisabeth Hasselbeck when he made an appearance on The View.

Trivia

 * Bingham was the second contestant who had brought a Bible as his luxury item, the first one being Dirk Been from the previous season.
 * He was the oldest contestant on The Australian Outback.
 * Rodger was the last male Kucha member standing.
 * Rodger is the first contestant from Kentucky.
 * His tribemates and Jeff Probst gave him the moniker "Kentucky Joe".
 * He was shortlisted for and .
 * When Ogakor was speculating which castaway was evacuated in Trial by Fire, several members of the tribe (Jerri Manthey in particular) believed that Rodger had a stroke. Needless to say, this was not the case.
 * Rodger, along with fellow Outback castaway Maralyn Hershey, were the first Survivor castaways born in the 1940's to compete on the show.
 * However, they were not tribe mates.