Coach Wade

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

Coach is a self-described "Dragon Slayer" in which he relies on honesty and integrity, allowing only those worthy to progress in the competition coupled with his somewhat exaggerated adventures and mannerisms.

Tocantins
Benjamin Wade is known by many names. As the head women's soccer coach at the Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, he is called "Coach Wade," but he also goes by “Maestro” due to role as an artistic director and conductor of a California symphony orchestra. A skilled musician, Benjamin was traveling the world playing the trumpet before most kids could even spell "trumpet."

Wade sees coaching as another form of manipulation. "You have to find out what everybody wants, what everybody needs, what they think they want, what think they need and then you have to be the person that solves everything." He knows these skills will be valuable in the game of SURVIVOR.

If Benjamin was asked to wear just one hat, it would be that of "Renaissance Man." Wade claims to have set the world record for the longest solo kayak expedition on the ocean (an amazing 6,132 miles). He also claims to have been attacked by a tiger shark, stalked by a jaguar in the Amazon and bitten by a piranha on his right hand. To say that he is a Type A, Alpha male, who likes to control the environment around him may just be an understatement. Coach's dominant personality will be a force to be reckoned with in the game.

Benjamin is single and currently splits his time in Bolivar, Mo, and Susanville, Calif. His birth date is September 18.

Heroes vs. Villains
Benjamin “Coach” Wade (38) Tribe: Villains Hometown: Susanville, Calif. Current Residence: Susanville, Calif. Personal Claim To Fame: Holding the World’s Record for “Longest solo kayak trip 6,132 miles.” Note that this claim is false. Inspiration in Life: “Composing classical music for the Susanville Symphony.” Previous Finishes: Tocantins: 11th out, 5th jury member Favorite Past Moment: “My monastic approach to exile.” Previous Survivor He Respects Most: Tom Westman (Palau) Previous Survivor He Respects Least: Jonny Fairplay (Pearl Islands, Micronesia) Why Did He Come Back?: “Redemption!”'''

South Pacific
Name (Age): Benjamin "Coach" Wade (39) Current Residence: Susanville, Calif. 'Previous Seasons:' Survivor: Tocantins and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Personal claim to fame: Test. Inspiration in life: Test. Hobbies: Soccer. Why you think you’ll “survive” SURVIVOR: Coach believes that it is his experience and his leadership that make him an asset to his tribe, but he’s reevaluating his strategy this time around. “I’ve got to come out here and I’ve got to be confident but not arrogant, strong but not intimidating, I’ve got to be humble but not weak, I’ve got to be honorable but not self righteous.”

Survivor: 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 and Sierra Reed, the latter of whom was one of the people he voted out, but not before seeing his closest ally and friend Tyson being voted out the Tribal Council before that. He would be voted out on Day 36 since Stephen decided to put his alliance with JT., Taj Johnson-George, and Erinn ahead of the one he had with Coach and J.T. Since he respected J.T. more than Stephen, he voted for J.T. to win. His attitude and personality this season gave him a spot on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains as a villain.

Survivor: 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 Coach was fine after that. Russell Hantz tried to recruit Coach in his alliance but in Banana Etiquette, 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 I'm Not a Good Villain, 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 Expectations, 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 gameplay and voted for her 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.

Survivor: 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 Trojan Horse, Cochran decided to side against Savaii which allowed Coach and the rest of Upolu to systematically eliminate them. By Cult Like, 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 and Edna first.

However, Coach and Ozzy Lusth made a deal when Coach visited Redemption Island 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 Then There Were Five, Coach was annoyed that while the loved ones stayed at Redemption Island, Brandon's uncle 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. 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 at 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 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 was in a movie called 180 that came out in 2011. Also in the movie was Danielle DiLorenzo.
 * Coach appeared in Survivor Live After show as a guest, with Parvati Shallow. He appeared in the aftershow following Persona Non Grata, where he got a chance to speak with former South Pacific ally Brandon Hantz.
 * Coach's daughter, Lenna, was born on 8 May 2014.

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 has experienced both Exile Island and Redemption Island, 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.
 * The second one is Candice Cody who experienced Exile Island during Survivor: Cook Islands and Redemption Island in Survivor: Blood vs. Water.
 * The third one was Aras Baskauskas who experienced Exile Island during Survivor: Panama and Redemption Island in Survivor: Blood vs. Water.''
 * During, Coach routinely wrote numbers alongside the person he was voting out. These were 4, 18, 1, 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 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) would also follow suit.
 * However, unlike the other three, he competed in Samoa in both subsequent attempts and not his original attempt.
 * In both Tribal Councils where Coach was voted out, the difference was one vote, and he was sent to the Jury.
 * 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.
 * Coach is the second castaway to return in a one Returnee per Tribe format, make it to the Final Tribal Council, and finish second all at the same time. He succeeded Stephenie LaGrossa, who did this in, and precedes Michael Skupin, who did this in , although in Skupin's case it was joint-second with Lisa Whelchel.
 * Coach shares his birthday with Kim Johnson.
 * Coach's claim to hold the world record for longest solo journey by kayak is false. The actual record is held by Helen Skelton at 2010 miles.