Coach Wade/Tocantins

Benjamin "Coach" Wade is a contestant from Survivor: Tocantins.

In Tocantins, Coach annoyed his tribemates with his behavior, but managed to endear himself to his allies Debbie Beebe and Tyson Apostol, allowing him to rise to power in the Timbira tribe. Even as the Timbira Alliance's control of the game evaporated after the merge, Coach remained close to power, establishing a working relationship with Jalapao power players J.T. Thomas and Stephen Fishbach. However, after losing his closest allies and a trip to Exile Island, he was melodramatically voted out at the final five.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Benjamin "Coach" Wade (37)
Hometown: Bolivar, Mo.
Occupation: Soccer Coach

Benjamin Wade is known by many names. As the head women's soccer coach at the Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, he is called "Coach Wade," but he also goes by "Maestro" due to role as an artistic director and conductor of a California symphony orchestra. A skilled musician, Benjamin was traveling the world playing the trumpet before most kids could even spell "trumpet."

Wade sees coaching as another form of manipulation. "You have to find out what everybody wants, what everybody needs, what they think they want, what think they need and then you have to be the person that solves everything." He knows these skills will be valuable in the game of Survivor.

If Benjamin was asked to wear just one hat, it would be that of "Renaissance Man." Aside from setting the world record for the longest solo kayak expedition on the ocean (an amazing 6,132 miles), Wade has also been attacked by a tiger shark, stalked by a jaguar in the Amazon and has been bitten by a piranha on his right hand. To say that he is a Type A, Alpha male, who likes to control the environment around him may just be an understatement. Coach's dominant personality will be a force to be reckoned with in the game.

Benjamin is single and currently splits his time in Bolivar, Mo, and Susanville, Calif. His birth date is September 18.^[1]

Survivor[]

Coach's appearance inspired some strong first impressions from other contestants, and he was excited when host Jeff Probst announced that both tribes would vote someone out right away on Day 1, eager to "get rid of the weak players before we even start". He formed the Timbira Alliance before the merge with Tyson Apostol (whom he called his assistant coach) and Debbie Beebe, and quickly took control of the Timbira tribe. Coach's leadership style and personality did make him a few enemies in Candace Smith and Erinn Lobdell, the latter claiming that Brendan Synnott made a better leader. Though Coach succeeded in voting out Candace, Erinn was spared when Jerry Sims fell ill and Timbira won the remaining pre-merge challenges. Brendan rivaled Coach's influence in the game, setting the stage for a power struggle that wouldn't be resolved until the merge.

After the merge he made new allies with former Jalapao members Stephen Fishbach (who he called "The Wizard") and J.T. Thomas (who he called "The Warrior"). Together with previous allies Debbie and Tyson, the five became the "Power Alliance", reflecting Coach's philosophy to take the strongest players to the end. J.T. and Stephen were happy to go along with it, but as they pulled in outsider Erinn, they remained most loyal to her and original tribemate Taj.

The night Joe Dowdle was medevaced, Coach told the tribe his story about the time he was kidnapped by indigenous people when kayaking in the Amazon. The story shocked everyone, and even his closest allies questioned the authenticity of the story, though no one other than Brendan responded to ask some clarifying questions. At that point, Brendan decided he could no longer trust Coach. After Coach claimed he had prior experience breaking tiles in the Day 22 Reward Challenge, Probst would go on to playfully comment on Coach's experiences in his subsequent failures to win Reward Challenges, in particularly that one when the reward was kayaking. Coach labeled Brendan as "The Dragon" and Coach named himself the Dragon Slayer, and fulfilled this title on Day 24 when Brendan was voted out 4-3-2.

After Brendan's elimination, Timbira continued to cave from within and Coach was a key reason for that. He constantly told Sierra Reed that she was the next to go, claiming the noble thing to do was to "fall on her sword like the Samurai". At this point, Coach became very comfortable in his position to the point that he sat out of the Day 27 Immunity Challenge for pizza and beer, which nearly proved costly as Sierra almost won. Though Debbie ultimately prevailed, Coach's plan to vote out Sierra was interrupted by the Jalapao contingent and Erinn opting to blindside physical threat Tyson instead. This blindside let to a brief attempt to try to rekindle a Timbira strong gameplan, but at that point Coach and Debbie's relationships with Sierra and Erinn were irreparable. Things did not improve even after Coach won immunity on Day 30 and finally sent Sierra home, as Debbie began to distance herself from Coach as well.

Though Debbie targeted him on Day 33, Coach was spared as the Jalapao Three saw Debbie as the bigger threat. The following day, Coach cited various health issues asked J.T and Coach to send Taj and Erinn to Exile Island despite admitting the noble choice would be to send J.T. or himself since they were the only ones left that haven't gone. J.T. won the Reward Challenge and referenced that nobility in sending Coach to Exile Island. Coach once again listed his injuries and conditions but also declared he would not eat or sleep, which angered Erinn as she felt that he was minimizing her previous Exile Island experience. On Exile Island, Coach cherished the opportunity and claimed that it made him more of a man. A weakened Coach, now with a cane, approached the Immunity Challenge on Day 36, only to push J.T. to the limit in an endurance showdown. J.T. came out on top, but not without Coach audibly struggling and collapsing, the dramatics of which annoyed Erinn and Taj who were skeptical of his antics. Coach pushed for Erinn to go, which J.T. and Stephen had considered given her rude comments toward Coach in the last few days. J.T. planned on voting for Erinn anyway to keep his promise to Coach, leaving Stephen as the swing vote. At Tribal Council, Coach claimed the vote would not be a blindside as "women have good intuition", confident Erinn's fate was sealed, and read a poem he wrote just before the vote. Coach was ultimately voted out on Day 36 since Stephen decided to put his alliance with J.T., Taj Johnson-George, and Erinn ahead of the one he had with Coach and J.T.

At the Final Tribal Council, Coach asked J.T. and Stephen for examples of honesty and integrity during later stages of the game and being the noble warrior. He respected J.T. more than he respected Stephen, so he voted for J.T. to win, writing "The Warrior" on his parchment and contributing to J.T.'s unanimous victory.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Timbira	A River, Run Through It	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
2		Basket Brawl	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
3		Blind Leading the Blind	Reward	No	Lost
3		A Crate Idea	Immunity	No	Lost
4		Shoulder the Load	Reward	No	Lost
4		Try-Any-Angle	Immunity	No	Won
5		Dizziness as Usual	Reward	No	Lost
5		Water Mortar	Immunity	No	Won
7		When Pigs Fly	Reward	No	Won
7		Sandstone Shootout	Immunity	No	Won
Tribes Merged, Day 19
8	Forza	Get a Grip	Immunity		Lost
9		Rock Block	Reward		Lost
9		Rope-a-Dope	Immunity		Lost
10		Swiss Cheese Please	Reward		Lost
10		Tocantins Shuffle	Immunity	Yes¹	Lost
11		Jala-Powed	Reward		Lost
11		Snag, Drag and Bag	Immunity		Won
12		Survivor Auction
12		Propellerheads	Immunity		Lost
13		Blind to Reason	Reward		Lost
13		Chimney Sweep	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 36
Notes: ^1 Coach elected to sit out of the challenge to eat pizza.

Episode	Coach's Votes	Voted Against Coach
1	Timbira Tribe Immune
2	Candace	-
3	Jerry	-
4	Timbira Tribe Immune
5	Timbira Tribe Immune
7	Timbira Tribe Immune
8	No Tribal Council
9	Brendan	Brendan, Sierra
10	Sierra	-
11	Sierra	Individual Immunity
12	Taj	Debbie
13	Erinn	Erinn, Stephen, Taj
Voted Out, Day 36
Voted for Sole Survivor	J.T.

Trivia[]

When Coach left the United States to film Tocantins, he told his coworkers that he was having surgery for a rare form of brain cancer.
Coach lost 31 lbs. during his time in Tocantins.^{[citation needed]}