Jean-Robert Bellande is a contestant from Survivor: China.
Jean-Robert was the primary source of conflict within the Fei Long tribe, irritating tribemates with his habits around camp, directly calling out players that he deemed threats, and denigrating players that he viewed as weak. At the final nine, he tried to target James Clement for having two idols, but this caused his ally Todd Herzog to identify him as the bigger threat and turn the vote on him, resulting in his blindside at the subsequent Tribal Council.
Profile[]
Retrieved from CBS.com
Born in Long Island, N.Y., Jean-Robert Bellande considers himself international as he is the son of French-speaking Haitian immigrants that raised him in Asia. Bellande is a professional poker player (his televised tournaments include the 2005 Rio Circuit Event, 2005 U.S. Poker Championship, Ballbreakers 2005 and the 2005 World Poker Tournament's "Bad Boys of Poker"). In 2005, he was ranked as high as the Number 6 Card Player in the world.
Bellande first made a name for himself promoting some of Los Angeles' hottest nightclubs including the Roxbury, Tatou of Beverly Hills and the Gate. He then opened up his own Hollywood night spot, Sky Sushi, which he ran for five years. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Azusa Pacific University. He describes himself as charismatic, fun and loud. He is most proud of making it to the final table at the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event where he pocketed a whopping $210,000, and has now pocketed over $700,000 in tournament winnings. Bellande's hobbies are playing poker, playing pool and hitting the nightclubs. His favorite sport is soccer. He enjoys playing tennis and basketball. If he could take three non-survival items with him to location, he'd bring a deck of cards, poker chips and a dealer!
Bellande currently resides in Las Vegas. His birth date is Sept. 17, 1970.[1]
Survivor[]
After the Chinese ceremony on Day 1 was completed, Jean-Robert was placed on the Fei Long tribe. His instincts told him that Todd Herzog was a devious player and questioned Todd on whether he was telling the truth. Todd was concerned as Jean-Robert could tell everyone to look out for him. Fei Long won the first two Immunity Challenges, though Jean-Robert acted lazy at camp as part of his strategy. He also had a tendency to snore loud and attempt to cuddle with the tribe's females at night, much to their discomfort, particularly Courtney Yates. Aaron Reisberger confronted him about his apparent lack of ethic, leading to an argument in front of kidnapped Zhan Hu member Jaime Dugan. Furthermore, ally James Clement called him out for making the women uncomfortable, though he persisted. Leslie Nease saw him as an easy first vote out for his annoying personality and habits.
After Fei Long lost the Reward Challenge on Day 7, Jean-Robert and James affirmed their loyalty with each other and with Denise Martin. However, Courtney and Todd later overheard Jean-Robert making lewd comments to James about Courtney, much to the disgust of the eavesdroppers. Zhan Hu won the following Immunity Challenge as well, after Courtney had difficulty with the challenge. At camp, Jean-Robert lobbied to vote out Courtney for her weakness in challenges. At Tribal Council, however, he joined the majority in voting out Leslie because of her connections to the other tribe. The following day, Jean-Robert began to step up around camp, and even served as the tribe's translator, using his ability to speak Mandarin when a fisherman and his family came to Fei Long's camp when they won the next Reward Challenge. His feud with Courtney, however, intensified as the latter was now irritated with his bossiness. Nevertheless, Fei Long won the next Immunity Challenge.
On Day 15, a local Chinese fisherman gave a note to the tribe instructing them to pick the two warriors from Zhan Hu that would benefit their tribe; Fei Long chose Frosti Zernow and Sherea Lloyd. Jean-Robert told James that if Zhan Hu gets the same note, then James is out of Fei Long. This was true as Zhan Hu picked Aaron and James in the Tribe Switch. Jean-Robert was disheartened as he lost his closest ally, James, though he later proposed to the original Fei Long that Sherea goes first, followed by Frosti. Frosti and Sherea quickly noticed that Jean-Robert was the biggest annoyance to the Fei Long tribe, much to their delight, as they felt they could use that to make in-roads later on. Fei Long won the subsequent Immunity Challenge, due to Zhan Hu's Jaime and Peih-Gee Law throwing the challenge. Jean-Robert's conflict with Courtney intensified during a reward to a local tea house on Day 17 when he made more obnoxious comments about her and Amanda Kimmel. Fei Long then lost the next Immunity Challenge, placing him on thin ice once again. Todd felt that Jean-Robert should go for being a physical and strategic threat. Amanda, however, felt that Sherea should go for being untrustworthy and a challenge threat as well. At Tribal Council, Amanda's logic beat out Todd's and Sherea was voted out.
The tribes merged into the Hae Da Fung tribe on Day 20 and celebrated with a feast, much to Jean-Robert's enjoyment. The first Immunity Challenge was based on the events at the feast, wherein Jean-Robert failed to remember the color of the pole and Frosti won immunity. At the first Tribal Council of the merged tribe, Jean-Robert was horrified when Jaime pulled out what was thought to be a Hidden Immunity Idol. However, it was confirmed to be a fake one and Jaime was sent to the jury. The next day, Jean-Robert, along with Amanda, James, and Todd, won a reward to a local Chinese village where the quartet was handed a clue to the idol. While Jean-Robert was surprised by the thought of an idol, everyone else had already been aware of its existence. Jean-Robert started searching for the idols, oblivious that James was already in possession of both.
On Day 24, Jean-Robert got into an argument with James about food consumption, prompting Todd to want to target James. Later that day at the Immunity Challenge, Jean-Robert was the first person out, with Courtney winning immunity. After the challenge, Jean-Robert bluffed to Erik Huffman that he had found the Hidden Immunity Idol. However, Erik informed him that James had not one, but two idols. Startled by the revelation, Jean-Robert confronted James, threatening to either work with him or against him. After James brushed him off, Jean-Robert then decided to blindside James for his idols and his physical ability and secured the votes of Erik and Peih-Gee. He also discussed his plan with Todd. Disturbed by the fact that Jean-Robert was placing ideas in people's heads, Todd branded Jean-Robert as the biggest threat to him and secured the votes of Amanda, Courtney, Frosti, and James. At Tribal Council, though expecting James to meet his end in the game, Jean-Robert was blindsided in a 5-3-1 vote.
At the Final Tribal Council, Jean-Robert first pointed out that his vote was up for grabs as he promised himself not to vote for Amanda or Todd if they betray him, but did not believe that Courtney was the most deserving. First, Jean-Robert asked Courtney on why he should vote for her. Courtney said she had outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted him and pointed out she won immunity. Jean-Robert reminded Amanda that he told her that he was not going to backstab her, to which she replied that she was not going to vote against him. Jean-Robert asked if she was lying when she made that promise or just went back on her word. Amanda denied lying and said that she did not want to vote out Jean-Robert, but just went with the majority. Finally, Jean-Robert told Todd that he identified him as a strategic player and asked why he did not vote out the biggest threat in James. Todd told Jean-Robert that he was becoming a strategic threat and thus the biggest threat to him. Left speechless, Jean-Robert congratulated the finalists, much to the other jurors' shock and laughter. Jean-Robert cast his jury vote for Todd, who became Sole Survivor over Courtney and Amanda in a 4-2-1 vote.
Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Fei Long | Dragon Dance | Reward/Immunity | No | Won |
2 | Chinese Checkers | Reward | No | Won | |
Gatecrasher | Immunity | No | Won | ||
3 | Clear the Deck | Reward | No | Lost | |
Blade Runner | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
4 | Great Balls of Fire | Reward | No | Won | |
Warrior's Duel | Immunity | Yes | Won | ||
5 | Plunge, Pull, Pop | Immunity | No | Won | |
6 | Search and Decode | Reward | No | Won | |
Survivor Smorgasbord | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
Tribes Merged, Day 20 | |||||
7 | Hae Da Fung | Memory Feast | Immunity | Lost | |
8 | The Bucket Stops Here | Reward | Won | ||
Dragon Rider | Immunity | Lost | |||
Voted Out, Day 24 |
Episode | Jean-Robert's Votes |
Voted Against Jean-Robert |
---|---|---|
1 | Fei Long Tribe Immune | |
2 | Fei Long Tribe Immune | |
3 | Leslie | Courtney, Leslie |
4 | Fei Long Tribe Immune | |
5 | Fei Long Tribe Immune | |
6 | Sherea | Courtney, Sherea |
7 | Jaime | Erik, Jaime, Peih-Gee |
8 | James | Amanda, Courtney, Frosti, James, Todd |
Voted Out, Day 24 | ||
Voted for Sole Survivor |
Todd |
Post-Survivor[]
- At the 2008 World Series of Poker, Jean-Robert came close to capturing his first bracelet when he finished runner-up to Matt Graham in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em - Shootout event, earning $173,564. He later finished in 442nd place out of 6844 entries at the Main Event that same year. As of 2010, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,100,000.
- On July 3, 2014, Jean-Robert was arrested in Las Vegas for "expired license plates" and "unlawful acts of financial responsibility". He was released the next day after spending 16 hours in jail.[2]
- On June 27, 2019, Jean-Robert's wife, Veronica gave birth to twins, Axel Cash and Isabella Zoe Bellande.[3]
Trivia[]
- Jean-Robert received the most votes out of everyone in China, with 12, and had received votes every time he went to Tribal Council.
References[]
Survivor: China Castaways | |||||||||||||||
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