Coach Wade

Benjamin "Coach" Wade is a contestant from, , and.

Considered one of the most recognizable and polarizing castaways in Survivor history, Coach made a name for himself with his unorthodox ways, preening himself on honorable tactics throughout his three games.

In Tocantins, Coach annoyed his tribemates with his behavior, but was also to make the bonds necessary to take him to the final 5. Thereafter, he was finally blindsided by Stephen Fishbach, who he had trusted.

Little had changed about Coach in his time in Heroes vs. Villains, though he had managed to form a tight relationship with Jerri Manthey; together, they became the swing votes pivotal in eliminating Rob Mariano whom he idolized and giving Russell Hantz success for the rest of the season. However, his decision was fatal as he was blindsided at the following Tribal Council by his own alliance in a charge led by Sandra Diaz-Twine. He finished in 12th place.

Appearing one last time in South Pacific, Coach had finally learned from his past mistakes. This time, he became a more trustworthy figure, managed to form a long-lasting alliance (The Family) on the very first night of the game, and convinced John Cochran to flip to his alliance at the start of the merge. He also played a more deceptive game; betraying several allies and breaking promises. His alliance and strong strategic play would take him to the Final Three. However, his decision to constantly hide behind his honor code despite playing a deceptive game, and inability to own his decisions caused him to lose to Sophie Clarke in a 6-3-0 vote, only receiving three votes, and thus becoming the runner up.

Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com

Tocantins
Tocantins was Coach's first season. He formed the Timbira Alliance before the merge with Tyson Apostol (who he called his assistant coach) and Debbie Beebe and quickly took control of the Timbira tribe. After the merge he made new allies with former Jalapao members Stephen Fishbach (who he called "The Wizard") and J.T. Thomas (who he called "The Warrior"). His main enemies were Erinn Lobdell, Brendan Synnott and Sierra Reed, the latter two were two of the people he voted out, though ended up losing his closest ally and friend Tyson in the process. He was voted out on Day 36 since Stephen decided to put his alliance with J.T., Taj Johnson-George, and Erinn ahead of the one he had with Coach and J.T.

At Final Tribal Council, Coach asked JT and Stephen for examples of honesty and integrity during later stages of the game and being the noble warrior. . He respected J.T. more than he respected Stephen, so he voted for J.T. to win.

Heroes vs. Villains
Coach was put on the villains tribe due to his behavior and gameplay in his original season. He got off on the right foot because of his strength in challenges and since he immediately found an ally in Tyson, both from the same original season. He was often seen as entertainment to the tribe, inviting the tribe to meditation sessions as well as climbing trees while Boston Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine debated whether or not he would reach the top. Coach also developed some feelings for Jerri Manthey but not much came out of it aside from building an alliance between them. At the first Tribal Council, Coach's feelings were hurt by Sandra's comments of how he was little more than a laughing stock but after Tribal Council, Tyson comforted him and politely told him to stop wearing feathers in his hair. Coach was fine after that. Russell Hantz tried to recruit Coach in his alliance but in , Coach helped Rob in the split vote against Russell and Parvati Shallow. However the plan did not work thanks to Tyson switching his vote and Tyson was eliminated. The Villains would lose the next Immunity Challenge and despite Rob and Russell's alliances targeting Russell and Rob respectively, Coach insisted in voting off the weakest player, which in his perspective was Courtney Yates. During the Tribal Council in, Coach mentioned how Tyson bridged the divisions on this tribe. He would vote for Courtney, playing a part in Boston Rob's vote off. In, Sandra told Russell that Coach was targeting him in an attempt to keep herself and Courtney in the game longer. Russell, Parvati, and Danielle went back and forth on whether to vote off Courtney or Coach and the girls of the tribe (minus Jerri) voted off Coach, making him the 1st member of the jury.

At Final Tribal Council, Coach praised Parvati's game play, called Russell a little man and told him that he would have been the strongest person in the game had he admitted he crossed a line, called Sandra a coattail rider, and criticized her for her weakness in challenges. He voted for Parvati to win along with the other villains excluding Courtney as Sandra became the Sole Survivor in a 6-3-0 vote.

Voting History
In Banana Etiquette, Parvati used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Coach's vote against her.

South Pacific
At first, Coach was not well received by his tribe, Upolu, with his only friend being Edna Ma. He had a conflict with Christine Shields Markoski, which is mostly one-sided on her side (Christine openly said that Coach and Ozzy were "temporary players"). Due to Christine clearly not being on the same side as him, Coach targeted her and her ally Stacey Powell first and thanks to the alliance he created on Day 1 (consisting of Rick Nelson, Sophie Clarke, Brandon Hantz, and Albert Destrade) and with extra help from Edna, Christine and Stacey would be the first to go from the Upolu tribe. Coach was the first player to know about Brandon being Russell's nephew, and was the only one to know until Brandon revealed it to his whole tribe in Survivalism. Coach had a shaky relationship with Brandon because Brandon trusted him more than anyone else at the tribe but at the same time Brandon proved to be an unstable and oversensitive player. Coach's first big decision came in Free Agent, where Coach was upset at Mikayla Wingle for not listening to him during the Immunity Challenge, which ultimately lead to their defeat. Coach, Brandon, and Edna were set on voting off Mikayla, but Albert and Sophie thought that Edna deserved to go, since she was a weaker player. Coach did all he could to convince Rick that Edna should stay because Edna would blindly follow Coach, no matter what. In the end, Coach barely got his way, and Mikayla was voted off that night.

After Mikayla's departure, the remaining Upolu members, mainly thanks to Coach, became more unified and went into the merge ready to take down Savaii with the help of John Cochran, who respected Coach and didn't really like his own tribe. In, Cochran decided to side against Savaii which allowed Coach and the rest of Upolu to systematically eliminate them. By, the only Savaii members that remained were Cochran and Ozzy (the latter who had survived via Redemption Island), and at this point the vote-offs became more difficult for Coach, since everyone truly trusted him and as much as he didn't want to disappoint anyone, he had to. He stuck to his word by staying true to his original alliance, voting off Cochran first and then voted out Edna.

However, Coach and Ozzy Lusth made a deal when Coach visited that the two would work together to go to the final 3. Coach said that he made that promise because Ozzy is a truly noble player that he respects. In, Coach was annoyed that while the loved ones stayed at Redemption Island, Brandon's dad practically forced him into taking Brandon to the end and as much as he liked Brandon, he felt like he had to go. Coach was upset when Brandon won immunity but then Brandon talked about giving immunity to Albert to forgive Albert and then Brandon, Albert, and Coach would vote off Sophie. But Coach stuck to his own plans and voted off Brandon. Once Ozzy returned from Redemption Island, Coach was torn between his Upolu allies and his promise with Ozzy. Ozzy won Individual Immunity and with no choice but to turn on each other, Rick was voted out in a 3-2 vote. When Coach attempted to hug Rick, Rick angrily told him to sit down. In the final 4 when Sophie won immunity, Coach had one last big decision to make between voting off Albert or Ozzy. In the end, Coach made what he believed was the smarter decision and voted off Ozzy.

At the Final Tribal Council, most players respected Coach for playing a much better and stronger game than in his two previous seasons, but at the same time, they criticized him for using honor and loyalty too much as a shield and not owning up to what he has done. Coach received votes from Cochran, Edna, and Rick (at first thought to be from Cochran, Jim, and Brandon), which was enough to make him the runner-up of Survivor: South Pacific, behind Sole Survivor Sophie.

Voting History
In Double Agent, the vote ended with a 6-6 tie between Keith and Rick, forcing a revote. Coach did not change his vote on the revote.

Post-Survivor

 * On January 9, 2010, Coach attended Survivor ' s 10-year anniversary party along with all of his Heroes vs. Villains cast mates.
 * Coach, along with Danielle DiLorenzo, starred in a movie called 180 that came out in 2011.
 * Coach has currently eloped and married a lady whom he wrote a ballet for. He revealed this to Parvati Shallow on the Survivor After Show that Parvati hosts, following the elimination of Brandon Hantz from Caramoan.
 * Coach appeared in Survivor After Show show as a guest, with Parvati Shallow. He appeared in the After Show following, where he got a chance to speak with former South Pacific ally Brandon Hantz.
 * Coach's daughter, Lenna, was born on 8 May 2014.
 * Coach retired from coaching soccer at the Lake Tahoe Community College.
 * Coach was inducted to the Survivor Hall of Fame in 2015.
 * Coach and his wife welcomed a son, Bekston William Wade, born on October 13, 2016.

Trivia

 * When Coach left the United States to film, he told his coworkers that he was having surgery for a rare form of brain cancer.
 * Coach lost 31 lbs. during his time in Tocantins.
 * During, Coach routinely wrote numbers alongside the person he was voting out. These were 4, 18, 1, and 7 which, when ran alongside the alphabet, spells "DRAG" in an attempt to spell "DRAGONSLAYER" through his votes. Coach did not practice this during South Pacific.
 * Coach lost 22 lbs. during his time in.
 * Coach has experienced both and, but the latter was merely a visit as opposed to being voted out.
 * His rival, Ozzy Lusth, is one of the three castaways to be on both Exile Island and Redemption Island.
 * Coach is the third castaway to compete more than once at the same location (in his case, Samoa), following Rupert Boneham (Panama) and Russell Hantz (also Samoa). Later, Malcolm Freberg (Philippines), and Michaela Bradshaw and Zeke Smith (Fiji) would also follow.
 * However, unlike the others, he competed in Samoa in both subsequent attempts and not his original attempt.
 * In, Coach revealed that he does not like being called "Benjamin."
 * Coach currently displays his unused Hidden Immunity Idol in his living room.
 * Coach has stated that he will not play for a fourth time.
 * Coach is one of three castaways (along with Russell Hantz and Colby Donaldson) to compete in three seasons and not participate in a Tribe Switch.
 * The color of each tribe Coach has been on are the same colors as the tribes in.