Gervase Peterson

Gervase Peterson is a contestant from and.

Borneo
His past occupations include an auditor, a field representative for Nielsen Media Research and a test technician for I.B.M. He attended Lincoln Technical Institute for two years.

Gervase's proudest accomplishment is living to the age of 30. His perfect day would consist of playing with his kids, enjoying a game of basketball and football, followed up by a large incredible meal. His hero is his mother for all the sacrifice and love she gave after his father passed way when he was fifteen years old.

His three favorite hobbies are watching movies, basketball/football and anything revolving around actress Salma Hayek. Gervase describes himself as confident and responsible, but has trouble dealing with indecisive people who are afraid of trying new things. His birth date is Nov. 2, 1969.

Blood vs Water
Name (Age): Gervase Peterson (43)

Tribe Designation: Galang

Relationship to Significant Castaway: Marissa’s Uncle

Previous Season: Survivor: Borneo – 3rd jury member

Current Residence: Philadelphia, Pa.

Occupation: Cigar Lounge Owner

Why Did You Want to Return to Survivor and Play with Your Loved One? I wanted to return to Survivor because I felt that I could win the game if given another chance, and what better way to play than to play with my niece, Marissa. She is just as driven, focused and competitive as me. This is the ultimate experience and I get to share it with her.

Survivor: Borneo
During the original Survivor season, Peterson worked only when necessary, and was able to successfully preserve much of his strength until the individual challenges in the later rounds. Although at times he appeared lazy, he claims that this was part of his strategy.

As a member of the Pagong tribe, Peterson was one of the first Survivor contestants who was forced by circumstance to eat cooked rat for sustenance, and was the very first contestant to remark that cooked rat actually tasted good. In one episode, he made a disparaging remark about women, stating that "Girls are the stupidest things on the planet next to cows." However, his teammate Joel Klug laughed so hard that the comment was attributed to him, and the female members of Pagong voted Klug off at the next opportunity.

After the two tribes merged into Rattana, Peterson (like all the remaining members of Pagong) did not realize that former Tagi members Richard Hatch, Kelly Wiglesworth, Rudy Boesch, and Susan Hawk had formed a voting alliance until the Pagong faction had been outnumbered and outmaneuvered. The Tagi alliance, along with former Tagi member Sean Kenniff, eliminated Peterson in Day 30.

Survivor: Blood vs Water
Gervase returned after 13 years, a longer gap than any other returning player has had between two seasons. On Day Zero, Gervase arrived with his niece Marissa Peterson to play the game for a second time. When the ten pairs of returning players and loved ones joined together, Gervase joined the tribe of returning players, Galang, and was part of the majority to vote Candice Cody out on Day 1. At the first challenge of the season, Gervase's performance while swimming was so poor that he needed Aras Baskauskas' help to keep going, putting Galang at a severe disadvantage. The tribe was able to come from behind and win despite this setback; however, this victory was at a price, as Gervase's boisterous cheering was deemed as pouring salt into wounds, and the dominant alliance on the loved ones tribe, Tadhana, sent Marissa to Redemption Island on Day 3.

On Day 4, Gervase felt that Marissa had to play the game on her own (but was confident in her) and declined to switch places with Marissa at the duel; she was able to escape elimination by finishing second. Redeeming himself from his poor performance in the previous challenge, Gervase did well in the final part of the immunity challenge and was able to win the second challenge for Galang, continuing their winning streak. Gervase was getting tired of Colton constantly trying to talk strategy, and he joined a majority alliance that included Aras, Tyson Apostol, Tina Wesson, and Monica Culpepper. Gervase bonded with Tyson the most from this group since they often snuck off to eat coconuts in secret (forming their identities as "Coconut Bandits") and since they were the first members of the alliances whose loved ones were eliminated from the game. Gervase only visited Tribal Council once before the merge where his alliance blindsided Laura Morett in hopes of defeating Brad Culpepper on Redemption Island to secure Monica's loyalty. Gervase became a member of Tadhana post swap, where he and Tyson proceeded with the plan to get the numbers to blindside Aras at the earliest opportunity. Since Tadhana was clearly the stronger tribe, they won all the immunity challenges, which meant they had to wait until the merge. But once the merge hit, the Tadhana five plus Monica from their original alliance and Laura M., Ciera's mom, were able to pull it off.

Gervase and Tyson remained in a good spot in the game for some time until Ciera Eastin told them about Caleb Bankston and Hayden Moss coming up with a plan to vote off Tyson. This caused Gervase to be nervous because if this plan succeeded, he would likely be the next to go. However, Gervase secured a solid alliance of four between him, Tyson, Monica, and Ciera and they blindsided Caleb on Day 29. After that Tribal Council, Hayden told the entire Kasama tribe that Tyson would beat any of them if he got to the end. Gervase was very vocal and adamant in his response, saying that he is in control of Tyson (although Hayden, nor did anyone else, take him seriously). Gervase's response gave Hayden the feeling that Gervase was open to making a big move, and Hayden proposed they vote Tyson off next. Gervase felt that Tyson was his main ally but that it was good to keep his options open. Gervase would win individual immunity on Day 32. At the Tribal Council in Rustle Feathers, Gervase accidentally dropped major hints that Ciera was the 4th member of the majority alliance, and Gervase was very vocal that Tribal Council (his voting confessional was heard by everyone). The initial vote ended in a 3-3 tie and the revote a 2-2 tie. Since Gervase had individual immunity, he was exempt from the rock drawing, which increased his alliance's odds of a favorable outcome. With Katie drawing the white rock, Gervase and his allies remained in the majority for the rest of the game and he would reach Day 39 with Monica and Tyson.

Gervase's argument as to why he should win was because of how well he was able to adapt to what Survivor has become since his first season, and while the jury felt he did play well, his gameplay didn't stand out as much as Tyson's or Monica's, earning him no jury votes and 3rd place.

Post-Survivor

 * He named his youngest son, Gunnar Tiga Peterson after the first season's location: Pulau Tiga.
 * Like several members of the Borneo cast, Peterson has attempted to parlay his popularity into an acting career. Thus far, his most notable role has been that of absentee father Leo Thompson, whom he portrayed in 2001 on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. Additionally, he made a cameo appearance in The Scorned, which featured numerous personalities from American reality television.
 * He is the owner of a cigar lounge in New Jersey http://www.burnzcigars.com/about/
 * Gervase is still good friends with tribemate Joel Klug.
 * Gervase also currently has a column ''Say Gerv?" in the Jersery Man Magazine.

Trivia

 * During the run of Borneo, a hacker announced that he had gained access to an area of the CBS Survivor website containing a photo array of the 16 contestants. An "X" was displayed across the picture of everyone except Peterson. This led many to believe that the network had inadvertently revealed Peterson to be the winner. A few episodes later he was voted off, and CBS admitted that its so-called mistake was done on purpose to mislead viewers and pundits as a way of keeping the true winner's identity secret, since the Final Tribal Council results were revealed on-location.
 * Gervase's luxury item was a deck of cards.
 * Gervase and Ramona Gray are the first castaways from the state of New Jersey.
 * They are both African-American
 * Gervase is the first Jury member to address the finalists at the Final Tribal Council.
 * Gervase is the first African-American male contestant in Survivor history.
 * Gervase broke Michael Skupin's record for the longest period between appearances on the show, spanning 13 years. This is also the longest period between a first appearance on Survivor and a most recent one.
 * Gervase has the word "Pagong" tattooed on his left arm.
 * Gervase is the only returnee from Borneo to not compete on Survivor: All-Stars.
 * Gervase started both of his seasons on a yellow tribe.