Gervase Peterson

Gervase Peterson was a contestant on. He placed 7th.

Profile
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.

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 it made him appear 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 "nothing is dumber than a woman, except maybe a cow." 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.

Post-Survivor
He named his youngest son, Gunnar Tiga Peterson after the first season's location, Pulau Tiga. He is still good friends with Pagong tribemate, Joel Klug.

Trivia

 * Amidst the fervor that swept the nation during the airing Survivor: 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 snafu was done purposely to fool viewers and pundits as a way of keeping the true winner's identity secret (The Final Tribal Council, where Hatch was voted the winner, had been prerecorded along with the rest of the season).
 * Gervase was nominated in America's tribal Council as Sexiest Male but lost to Colby Donaldson.
 * It was rumored that Gervase was short-listed to compete in the show's tenth anniversary season, Survivor: Heroes vs Villains.
 * Gervase's luxury item was a Deck of Playing Cards.