He Will (Try To) Survive

Rattlesnakes? 220-mile runs? That's nothing for Bruce Kanegai, who has been outwitting, outlasting, and outplaying on CBS' hit show.

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Bruce Kanegai on the set of CBS' reality television series, "Survivor." —photo by MONTY BRINTON/CBS Copyright 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

Thirty-nine trips to the emergency room and appearances on television shows titled Worst Case Scenario and It’s a Miracle should have proven that Bruce Kanegai, 58, is a survivor. But he recently set out to claim that exact title on the popular reality show, Survivor: Panama—Exile Island.

Aside from his numerous brushes with death (including a bite from a four-and-a-half-foot rattlesnake), Kanegai has also survived the classroom for the past 34 years as a visual arts teacher at Simi Valley High School in California. As a student, “I didn’t enjoy high school and I thought education should be more enjoyable and inspiring,” Kanegai says. “I thought I could do better and touch young people’s lives.”

Armed with a black belt, Kanegai has instructed more than 7,000 students in the art of karate, and he is writing a book about American Shotokan Karate. He’s set the record for running the 220-mile John Muir Trail from Mount Whitney to Yosemite National Park.

Throughout his childhood, “I was no athlete,” Kanegai says. “I was always the smallest person in my class [and] the last one picked.” High school friend Steve Becker calls him “a giant man packed into a little guy’s body. He’s got this warrior spirit.” Although he is the oldest participant on Survivor this season, his physical condition and competitive spirit made him a contender.

No word by the time this went to press if Kanegai had been exiled or was in it for the long haul. And his CBS contract keeps him mum on his Panama adventure. But he did hint that he has a secret weapon: the support of his wife, also a teacher, who’s endured all 39 emergency room trips since they met 28 years ago.        

—CAITLIN HICKEY