Erik Reichenbach

Erik Reichenbach is a contestant from and.

A fan of Survivor since the beginning, Erik was the second person to ever hand his individual immunity to another person. This move infamously backfired, as he was voted off after he did so. It was nominated as one of the "Dumbest Moments Ever." He returned to play again as a Favorite but was evacuated from the game minutes after the Tribal Council where Brenda Lowe was voted out.

Micronesia
Erik Reichenbach was born and raised in Pinckney, Michigan. He is currently in his senior year of studying art at Eastern Michigan University, and is a member of the college's track team. Reichenbach works at an ice cream parlor called "Screams" in Hell, Michigan, where he also designs t-shirts, hauls canoes and entertains his customers. He previously worked in landscaping, construction and as a freelance graphic designer.

Reichenbach's hobbies include drawing, writing comic books, rock-climbing and studying philosophy/religion. He describes himself as animated, earnest and familiar. He is very proud of his running accomplishments during his senior year of high school, where he set the school's 400 yard record (49.3 seconds), and being able to run in the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Carolina. Reichenbach is a member of the Eastern Michigan Cross Country and Track team, Pinckney Pirate Track and Field Alumni and a rock climbing club.

Reichenbach believes he'll go far on SURVIVOR because he is a good listener, entertaining, optimistic, athletic, a creative thinker and can easily be a leader or a follower.

Reichenbach is currently single and lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with his cats, Furrball and Kittyfizzle (K-Fizz for short). His birth date is November 27, 1985.

Caramoan
Name (Age): Erik Reichenbach (27)

Tribe Designation: Bikal, Gota, Enil Edam

Previous Season: Survivor: Micronesia – 13th castaway voted out/6th Jury Member

Current Residence: Santa Clarita, Calif.

Occupation: Comic Book Artist

Personal Claim to Fame: Survivor: Micronesia

Inspiration in Life: My Dad and my girlfriend, Dana.

Hobbies: Drawing, running and traveling.

Pet Peeves: Quiet or opinion-less people.

3 Words to Describe You: Easy going, humorous and original.

If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why? 1) Contacts – So I can see. 2) Acrylic Paint – To paint a “masterpiece” at tribal camp. 3) A deck of cards - to eliminate any boredom.

SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: Ozzy Lusth – I am great at challenges too!

Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: To show everyone that I am really not dumb, and in actuality I am a smart, funny guy who just does things in a different way.

Why You Think You’ll “Survive” SURVIVOR: I’m physically strong and easily adapt to my surroundings.

Why You Think You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: I adapt to working with different personalities easily and I have enough of an understanding of the game to improvise if necessary.

Voting History
In I'm Gonna Fix Her!, Amanda used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Erik's vote against her. In if It Smells Like a Rat, Give It Cheese, Erik had won Individual Immunity, but gave it to Natalie during Tribal Council.

Survivor: Caramoan
Erik was placed on the Favorites tribe of Bikal. His tribe won the first Reward Challenge but lost the first Immunity Challenge. At camp, he was angry on how Phillip Sheppard came up to him and said (though worded differently), "You can join us, but if you don't, we already have the numbers, anyway." He sided with Brandon Hantz, Brenda Lowe, and Francesca Hogi in the first Tribal Council, casting his vote for Andrea Boehlke, but since Francesca was voted off 6-4, Erik was left in the minority.

Thanks to Brandon's personality and being useful in challenges, Bikal won the next three Immunity Challenges, and after the Tribe Switch he switched to Gota. Luckily, everybody on Gota were great at challenges aside from Sherri Biethman. Gota won all of the challenges after the Tribe Switch.

Erik then entered the merge, and was now placed on Enil Edam. Erik's alliance became very successful. Erik won individual immunity on Day 33. Referencing his costly mistake in his first season, Jeff asked him if there's any chance Erik would give up immunity again at Tribal Council, to which Erik replied "I'm way too scared to do that again!". However, Erik did give Andrea the Hidden Immunity Idol after he found it (out of courtesy though, since the clue did belong to Andrea). Furthermore the idol put a target on Andrea back, setting her up to be blindsided, this time with Erik successfully voting her off after his unsuccessful attempt way back on Day 3. Nearing the end of the game, Erik started to feel extremely hungry, even attempting to climb an extremely tall tree to get coconuts. Tree Mail then came to say that their Loved Ones were coming, and Erik then began to feel more confident than before. Brenda then won the Loved Ones Challenge and chose Dawn Meehan to enjoy her Loved Ones time, however, since the game of Survivor is full of twists, two Loved Ones were coming and Brenda had to choose between Dawn and her or Erik and the rest of the tribe. However, Brenda chose Erik, Eddie, Cochran, and Sherri to have time spent with their Loved Ones. Because of this, Cochran, Sherri, and Dawn chose to blindside Brenda, but Erik stayed loyal to her and voted for Eddie.

After that night of Tribal Council, Erik began to feel lightheaded. After the medical team came and said Erik's blood pressure was too low, so he couldn't compete. After a sad elimination, Erik left the game finishing in the same place he ended up in his first season.

At the Final Tribal Council, Erik commented on how Sherri did not play the game well, and how all of the Jury members knew this. They began to argue over the case, so Erik just stopped. He asked Cochran why he smells so bad, but this was left unaired. Because of that, Erik gave his Jury vote to Cochran, just as all the other jurors did.

Voting History
In Come Over to the Dark Side, the vote ended with a 3-3-3 tie between Andrea, Malcolm and Reynold, forcing a revote. Erik did not change his vote at the revote.

Post-Survivor

 * On January 9, 2010, Erik attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
 * At the Reunion Show, Erik was nominated for the "Dumbest Move in Survivor History" for giving up his immunity to Natalie Bolton, giving up his shot at the final four and being voted out unanimously by the women's alliance. Erik lost to Heroes vs. Villains castaway J.T. Thomas for giving his Hidden Immunity Idol to Russell Hantz.
 * In an interview with EW.com, Erik called the live reunion show disrespectful, ridiculous, and "a farce," since he and half the jury were not given a chance to talk.
 * Starting from, Erik now works as a graphic designer, where he makes Survivor related caricatures.
 * In October 2013, Erik got engaged to his girlfriend, Dana. They married on August 22, 2014.
 * Erik created a game app for Apple and Android users called "Islands of Chaos".

Trivia

 * Erik is one of five castaways to finish in the same position twice by placing 5th in both of his seasons. The others are James Clement, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Candice Woodcock and Jonathan Penner.
 * Erik is also the only fan from Micronesia to be on all three tribes.
 * Erik is the only castaway to compete on both Fans vs. Favorites seasons, and as of now the only castaway to be both a Fan and a Favorite.
 * Erik is the first person to be voted out immediately after giving up Individual Immunity.
 * In a recent interview, Jeff Probst stated him giving up his immunity was his 3rd favorite Tribal Council moment of all time.
 * Erik won his first Individual Immunity Challenge on his 22nd birthday.
 * Erik was the only Fan from the post-Switch Malakal to make the Merge.
 * Erik is the first castaway to write a name vertically on the parchment when casting a vote.
 * Phillip Sheppard named him The Silent One when he was inducted as an affiliate of Stealth R Us 2.0.
 * Erik designed the tribe flags for both Dabu and Enil Edam.