Rob Bentele

Rob Bentele
Contestant Profile
Hometown	Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal
Occupation	Events Videographer
Survivor Career
Version	South Africa Australia
Tribe(s)	Sa'ula ► Ta'alo Manumalo
Finish	Winner
Alliance(s)	Amigos Alliance Spitshakers Seven
Challenge Wins	15
Votes Against	3
Days Lasted	39/39
Tribe(s)	World
Finish:	14/14
Alliance(s)	Internationals Alliance
Challenge Wins	0
Votes Against	6
Days Lasted	2/16

Robert "Rob" Bentele is the Sole Survivor of Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets. He later competed on Survivor: Australia v The World.

In Island of Secrets, Rob was roped into the five-person Amigos Alliance that went on to dictate the season. Boasting a combination of physical prowess, natural charisma, and strategic creativity, Rob's streak of immunity wins and his unrivaled network of social connections allowed him to survive numerous attempts to overthrow him. Though his moral compass was viewed as sanctimonious, the jury nevertheless respected his unprecedented control over the game and awarded him the victory at Final Tribal Council.

Early into Australia v The World, Rob attempted to rally the non-American members of the World tribe against their American counterparts. However, his domineering gameplay, his status atop the tribe hierarchy and his cross-tribal liaison with David Genat prompted the rest of his tribemates to blindside him at his first Tribal Council.

Profile

• Island of Secrets
• Australia v The World

Retrieved from m-net.dstv.com

Surname: Bentele
Age: 28
Occupation: Events Videographer
From: Richards Bay

Robert Bentele is the drop-dead gorgeous exotic Trevor Noah lookalike on the show. His dad is Austrian and his mother is Zulu. And even though he grewup mainly in the Zulu culture, he embraces and celebrates his unique identity. He has been a bodybuilder and MMA fighter and has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, but for him "everything is about the energy". He is into Zen, meditation, peace, balance and spiritual enlightenment. Before he outwits, outplays and outlasts, his game strategy is to out charm his teammates and rivals alike. "I'm a chameleon, I can be anything you want me to be," Robert says. But is it possible to stay this cool and collected while others are aiming daggers at your back?

Retreived from 10.com.au

Rob – South Africa

Instagram: @rob_bentele_survivor

Winner of Survivor South Africa, Rob's streak of Immunity wins and his social game made him forever known as King of Survivor SA.

Playing in 2019, Rob is a challenge beast with natural charisma and a strategic mind, and he says he's ready to play with the best from around the world.

Rob says, "Never has it happened in history that there's an overlay of the best players on earth from all different corners of the world. My ultimate dream would be to play with Boston Rob – I watched him as a kid growing up and he ignited the Survivor flame in me as a young boy."

Physically strong, Rob dominated in challenges during his season and his strong social connections gave him the win and he's here to prove it was not a fluke.

He says, "I was never in danger in my season, but I'll need to be careful when I'm playing against the best in the world this time. I want them to think I'm innocent and to forget about me.

"There's no question Australians are tough in Survivor, but they've never come across an African. And that will be their downfall."

Survivor South Africa

Island of Secrets

• Challenge History
• Voting History

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge-Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Sa'ula	Haulin' Oats	Reward	No	N/A1
		O-Black Water	Immunity	No	Lost
2		Stacked Up	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
		Water Slaughter	Immunity	No	Lost
3		Mud Slide	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
Switched Tribes, Day 8
4	Ta'alo	Great Escape Run	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
5		Concentration	Reward	Yes	1st
		Smash and Grab	Immunity	No	1st
6		Beach Balls	Reward	No	Lost
		Discy Business	Immunity	Yes	2nd
7		Spoon Man	Reward	No	Won
		Hot Pursuit	Immunity	No	Lost
8		Kicking and Screaming	Reward	No	Won
		Mazed and Confused	Immunity	No	Won
Tribes Merged, Day 20
9	Manumalo	Fools in the Rain	Immunity		Lost
10		Puck It Up	Reward		Lost
		Last Gasp	Immunity		Won
11		Island Sudoku	Reward/Immunity		Lost
12		Push Your Luck	Reward		Lost
		Flashback	Immunity		Lost
13		Free Will	Reward		Won
		Roll Away the Dew	Reward/Immunity		Won
14		TBA	Immunity		Lost
15		Survivor Yankee Swap
		Teeter Tower	Immunity		Lost
16		Mud Slinging	Reward/Immunity		Won
17		Over-Extended	Reward		Won
		Roundabout	Immunity		Won
18		The Ball Drop	Immunity		Won
Sole Survivor, Day 39

^1 The tribes competed to collect supplies. No winner was declared for the challenge.

Episode	Rob's Votes	Voted Against Rob
1	Lee-Anne	-
2	Ineligible1	-
3	Sa'ula Tribe Immune
4	Ta'alo Tribe Immune
5	Ta'alo Tribe Immune
6	Ta'alo Tribe Immune
7	Rocco	Rocco
8	Ta'alo Tribe Immune
9	Meryl	-
10	Geoffrey	Individual Immunity
11	Seipei	Danté
12	Danté	-
13	Cobus	Individual Immunity
14	Mmaba	Jacques
15	Jacques	-
16	Mike	Individual Immunity
17	Laetitia2	Individual Immunity
18	Laetitia	Individual Immunity
Jury Votes for Rob	Danté, Geoffrey, Laetitia, Meryl, Mike, Mmaba
Sole Survivor, Day 39

^1 In "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back", Rob wagered his vote for a chance to send any castaway to the Island of Secrets at any point before the merge. He lost the wager, making him ineligible to vote at Tribal Council.
^2 In "Icarus", Laetitia used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Rob's vote against her.

Survivor: Australia v The World

Following a dominant showing en route to his victory on Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets, Rob was invited to be one of four non-American players on the World tribe. Rob immediately made an impression not only by beating David Genat in his heat in the opening Reward Challenge, but in having a lengthy conversation with him prior to the heat. Upon his victory, Rob chose the secret box as the reward. Recognizing the number of US-based Survivor greats on his tribe, he immediately went to Lisa Holmes, Kass Bastarache, and Tommi Manninen to solidify the majority. Parvati Shallow also approached Rob, hoping to leverage her relationship with David to get into his good graces. The conversation alerted each other to the threat they pose to their respective games. While Rob's initial target following the World's Immunity Challenge loss on Day 2 was Cirie Fields, he later went to Cirie and Tony Vlachos when Parvati hesitated to join the plan to vote out Cirie. Parvati caught wind of this plan through a conversation with Lisa and Kass. At Tribal Council, Rob exposed Parvati's connection to David in the hopes of sealing her fate. In actuality, the World united against Rob to vote him out 6-1.

• Challenge History
• Voting History

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	World	Slip, Slide & Score	Reward	No	N/A 1
		A Crate Idea	Immunity	No	Lost
Voted Out, Day 2
Notes: ^1 This Reward Challenge was played in seven rounds, with the winner of each round taking a different reward item.

Episode	Rob's Votes	Voted Against Rob
1	Cirie	Cirie, Kass, Lisa, Parvati, Tommi, Tony
Voted Out, Day 2

Post-Survivor

• Shortly after filming Islands of Secrets, Rob moved to Johannesburg, citing work opportunities as his reason for doing so.
• In 2021, Rob developed a free anti gender-based violence app, which was endorsed by Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini.
• Rob started to be involved with providing help by donating food parcels in the eMakhambane area outside Mtubatuba, which helped inspire the nationwide #riseforgood initiative.

Trivia

Statistics of Rob Bentele
Longevity
Seasons competed:	2
Days lasted:	41
Challenge Wins
Tribal wins:	8
Individual wins:	7
Total wins:	15
Tribal Council
Total votes received:	9

• With five individual immunity wins, Rob shares the record of most individual Immunity Challenges won in a single season of Survivor South Africa with Ashley Hayden from Santa Carolina and Chappies Chapman from Immunity Island.
• Rob is the only Survivor South Africa contestant to have competed in an international version of Survivor.
• Rob is the only Survivor South Africa Sole Survivor to play in multiple seasons.
• Rob, Lisa Holmes, Parvati Shallow, and Tony Vlachos are the second through fifth winners who later competed on an international version of Survivor, following Sandra Diaz-Twine.
• Both times Rob competed, the cast had an uneven number of men and women.
• Rob repeated his entire wardrobe from Islands of Secrets for his appearance on Australia v The World.

References

Preceded by Philippines Tom Swartz

Sole Survivor Titleholder Island of Secrets Rob Bentele

Succeeded by Immunity Island Nicole Wilmans