Jean-Robert Bellande

Jean-Robert Bellande is a contestant from.

Profile
Born in Long Island, N.Y., Jean-Robert Bellande considers himself international as he is the son of French-speaking Haitian immigrants that raised him in Asia. Bellande is a professional poker player (his televised tournaments include the 2005 Rio Circuit Event, 2005 U.S. Poker Championship, Ballbreakers 2005 and the 2005 World Poker Tournament's "Bad Boys of Poker"). In 2005, he was ranked as high as the Number 6 Card Player in the world.

Bellande first made a name for himself promoting some of Los Angeles' hottest nightclubs including the Roxbury, Tatou of Beverly Hills and the Gate. He then opened up his own Hollywood night spot, Sky Sushi, which he ran for five years. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Azusa Pacific University. He describes himself as charismatic, fun and loud. He is most proud of making it to the final table at the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event where he pocketed a whopping $210,000, and has now pocketed over $700,000 in tournament winnings. Bellande's hobbies are playing poker, playing pool and hitting the nightclubs. His favorite sport is soccer. He enjoys playing tennis and basketball. If he could take three non-survival items with him to location, he'd bring a deck of cards, poker chips and a dealer!

Bellande currently resides in Las Vegas. His birth date is Sept. 17, 1970.

Survivor: China
After the Chinese ceremony was completed, Jean-Robert Bellande was placed on the Fei Long tribe. His instincts told him that Todd Herzog was a devious player. He questioned him whether he was telling the truth. Todd was concerned as Jean-Robert could tell everyone to look out for him. Fei Long won the first two immunity challenges. However, Jean-Robert acted lazy at camp as part of his strategy. This irritated everyone, mainly Courtney Yates. Aaron Reisberger confronted him about his apparent lack of ethic, leading to an argument in front of kidnapped Zhan Hu member Jaime Dugan. Leslie Nease saw him as an easy first vote off for his annoying personity and habits. Fei Long lost its first challenge for reward. Zhan Hu won the immunity challenge as well, due to Courtney's physical weakness. Jean-Robert discussed with James Clement whether to vote out Courtney or Leslie. However, Todd and Courtney overheard the two men. The tribe decided to vote out Leslie because of her connections to the other tribe. Jean-Robert was safe as Fei-Long won the next challenges.

A local Chinese fisherman, gave a note to the tribe. It said to pick the two warriors from the other tribe that would benefit their tribe. Fei Long chose Frosti Zernow and Sherea Lloyd. Jean-Robert told James that if Zhan Hu gets the same note, James is out of Fei Long. This was true as Zhan Hu picked James and Aaron. Jean-Robert was the most disheartened as he lost his closest Ally. Jean-Robert proposed to the original Fei Long that Sherea goes first and then Frosti. Sherea and Frosti quickly noticed that Jean-Robert was the biggest annoyance to the Fei Long tribe. Fei Long won the immunity challenge, due to Jaime and Peih-Gee Law throwing the challenge. Jean-Robert's conflict with Courtney intensified during a reward to a local bathouse. Fei Long lost the immunity challenge, placing him on thin ice again. Todd felt that Jean-Robert should go for being a physical and strategic threat. Amanda Kimmel felt that Sherea should go for being untrustworthy and a challenge threat too. Amanda's logic beat out Todd's and Sherea was voted off.

The tribes merged and they celebrated with a feast, much to Jean-Robert's enjoyment. The first immunity challenge was based on the events at the feast which Jean-Robert failed to remember the color of the pole. At the first Tribal council of the merged tribe, Hae Da Fung, Jean-Robert was horrified when Jaime pulled out what was thought to be an Hidden Immunity Idol. It was confirmed to be an Fake one and Jaime was sent to the jury. Jean-Robert along with James, Todd, and Amanda won a reward to a local Chinese village. The quartet was handed a clue to the idol. While Jean-Robert was suprised by the thought of an Idol, everyone else has been aware of its existence. Jean-Robert started searching for the idols, oblivious that James had both Idols. At the immunity challenge, Jean-Robert was the first person out. After the challenge, Erik Huffman informed him that James had not one but two idols. Startled by the revealation, Jean-Robert tried to align himself with James. James declined stating it would be the dumest move in ''Survivor. ''Jean-Robert then decided to blindside James for his idols and his physical ability. Jean-Robert secured the votes of Erik and Peih-Gee. He also discussed his plan with Todd. Distrubed by the fact that Jean-Robert was placing Ideas in people's heads, Todd branded Jean-Robert as the biggest threat to him. Todd secured the votes of Amanda, James, Frosti and Courtney who wasn't sure it will work. Expecting James to meet his end in the game, Jean-Robert was blindsided in a 5-3-1 vote.

At Final Tribal Council, Jean-Robert scolded Courtney for riding Todd and Amanda's coattails. He turned his attention to Todd, demanding to know the reason why he was voted out over the more powerful James. In addition, he had previously promised himself not to vote for Todd or Amanda. Todd told Jean-Robert that he was becoming a strategic threat and thus the biggest threat to him. Left speechless, Jean-Robert congratulated the finalists, much to the other jurors shock and laughter. Jean-Robert casted his Juror vote to Todd, who became Sole Survivor.

Post-Survivor

 * At the 2008 World Series of Poker Bellande came close to capturing his first bracelet when he finished runner-up to Matt Graham in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em - Shootout event, earning $173,564 then later he finished in 442nd place out of 6844 entries at the Main Event that same year. As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,100,000.
 * On July 3, 2014, Jean-Robert was arrested in Las Vegas for “expired license plates” and “unlawful acts of financial responsibility”. He was released the next day after spending 16 hours in jail.

Trivia

 * Jean-Robert is the first professional poker player to compete on Survivor. He would later be followed by Jim Rice and Garrett Adelstein.
 * Jean-Robert received the most votes out of everyone in Survivor: China, with 12.