Brad Virata

Brad Virata
Contestant Profile
Born	November 23, 1976 (1976-11-23)
Hometown	Santa Monica, California
Occupation	Fashion Director
Survivor Career
Version	United States
Tribe(s)	Puka Puka ► Rarotonga
Finish	12/20
Challenge Wins	5
Votes Against	7
Days Lasted	21

Bradley "Brad" Virata is a contestant from Survivor: Cook Islands.

Profile

Retrieved from CBS.com

Brad Virata was raised in the small town of Oak Harbor, Washington, just outside of Seattle. The youngest of five children, he excelled at track, football and volleyball during his teenage years.

Virata received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in international communications from the University of Washington and was an active member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Shortly after graduation, Virata traveled throughout Europe and Asia working as a model. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion and attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. He began working in couture clothing sales and clothing design merchandising for Guess? Men's Division. He spent five years with the company and helped launch the clothing line "Los Angeles Denim Atelier." He currently works as the Director of Men's Merchandising for Lucky Brand Jeans.

Virata is an avid beach volleyball player and surfer. His hobbies include weight training, running, rollerblading, power yoga, beach volleyball and international travel. He is most proud of giving back to his community through work with organizations such as AIDS Project Los Angeles, Project Angel Food, Starlight Foundation and the Big Brothers Program of Los Angeles.

Virata is single and currently resides in Santa Monica, California, with his Boston terrier named Maxx. His birth date is November 23, 1976.

Survivor

Brad was initially placed on the Asian-American Puka Puka tribe. Brad quickly became annoyed at Cao Boi Bui's racist jokes. Despite their differences, however, Cao Boi cured a headache Brad suffered early on. Puku Puka emerged as the strongest of the four tribes, winning the first two Immunity Challenges and keeping Brad safe.

At the tribe dissolve on Day 7, Brad was switched to the Rarotonga, where he formed an alliance with the men on his tribe Adam Gentry, J.P. Calderon, and Nate Gonzalez. The men felt comfortable in the game because they thought that the women needed them due to their physical prowess. When Rarotonga lost the Immunity Challenge on Day 11, Brad wanted to target Stephannie Favor because she had openly told the tribe that she was the weakest link and would not be offended if she was voted out. However, when Rebecca Borman approached Brad about the possibility of joining the women in blindsiding J.P., Brad initially seemed unsure of the plan, eventually joined the women at Tribal Council in eliminating J.P..

With the women now in control, Brad felt uncomfortable and started working hard at camp. He started to become annoyed by Cristina Coria, who he felt was bossing the tribe around. The rest of the tribe also became annoyed at Cristina, and the tribe collectively decided to eliminate her at the next Tribal Council. This opportunity came again lost the next Immunity Challenge. After the challenge, however, Stephannie revealed to Nate that she was looking forward to going home. Brad took this as a sign of weakness, so he and the rest of the tribe decided to vote out Stephannie instead of Cristina.

When host Jeff Probst announced a Double Tribal Council during the Reward Challenge on Day 15, Brad felt that it was time to vote out Cristina. Cristina knew she was in danger of being sent home, so she asked everybody to give her another chance and vote out Jenny Guzon-Bae instead. Brad was the only person who listened to Cristina, but she was still sent home in a 4-2 vote. At the Reward Challenge the next day, Brad elected to do the puzzle portion of the challenge instead of the swimming part, despite being seen as the best swimmer on the tribe. This annoyed Nate, who placed Rarotonga's loss squarely on Brad, claiming that anyone else could have done the puzzle portion.

When a chance to mutiny was offered on Day 20, Brad refused the offer along with the rest of his tribe. Instead, Rarotonga gained Candice Woodcock and Jonathan Penner, who had decided to mutiny from Aitutaki, back to their original tribe. Brad was on board with the plan to eliminate the newcomers, unaware of the alliance that had been formed by the original Rarotonga members. When Rarotonga lost the following Immunity Challenge, he was targeted by the newly formed Raro Alliance. When Brad told the tribe that he did not trust them, he turned the tribe against him and he was voted out at Tribal Council. Brad finished in 12th place, becoming the first jury member.

At the Final Tribal Council, Brad congratulated the finalists. Brad pointed out the very limited interaction between himself and Ozzy Lusth and asked what the hardest challenge he overcame was. Ozzy said that it was his experience with father and how the latter was not there for him. In the end, Brad gave his jury vote to original tribemate Yul Kwon, who became the Sole Survivor over Ozzy and Becky Lee in a 5-4-0 vote.

Voting History

Brad's Voting History
Episode	Brad's Votes	Voted Against Brad
1	Puka Puka Tribe Immune
2	Puka Puka Tribe Immune
3	Rarotonga Tribe Immune
4	J.P.	-
5	Stephannie	-
6	Jenny	-
8	Rarotonga Tribe Immune
9	Jonathan	Adam, Candice, Jenny, Jonathan, Nate, Parvati, Rebecca
Voted Out, Day 21
Voted for Sole Survivor	Yul

Post-Survivor

• As mentioned in his Survivor Oz interview, Brad was the one to introduce fellow Survivor: Cook Islands contestant Yul Kwon to his future wife, Sophie Tan.
• On January 9, 2010, Brad attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
• Brad currently works as a creation director for E! Entertainment.

Trivia

• Brad is the first LGBT Asian-American contestant to appear on Survivor. He would be followed by Tai Trang and Vince Moua.
• Brad is the first contestant to place 12th and be a member of the jury.
• Brad is the first male contestant to be voted out before the merge and be a member of the jury and the second overall, following Erin Collins in Thailand.
• Brad is the first contestant to become a member of a nine-person jury.
• Brad is the first juror to attend a pre-merge Tribal Council as a member of the jury.

References

Survivor: Cook Islands Castaways
Adam Rarotonga	Becky Puka Puka	Billy Aitutaki	Brad Puka Puka	Candice Rarotonga	Cao Boi Puka Puka	Cecilia Aitutaki	Cristina Aitutaki	J.P. Aitutaki	Jenny Puka Puka
Jessica Rarotonga	Jonathan Rarotonga	Nate Manihiki	Ozzy Aitutaki	Parvati Rarotonga	Rebecca Manihiki	Sekou Manihiki	Stephannie Manihiki	Sundra Manihiki	Yul Puka Puka