42 Facts About Rudy Boesch

Rudolph Ernst Boesch was a United States Navy SEAL, and two-time competitor on the reality competition show Survivor.

Rudy Boesch became an Underwater Demolition Team Frogman in 1951, serving on two UDT Teams.

Rudy Boesch was chosen as one of the first SEALs, becoming chief of the boat of newly created SEAL Team TWO in 1962.

The oldest competitor on the inaugural Survivor: Borneo at 72 years of age, Rudy Boesch finished in third place.

Rudy Boesch set the age record again when he competed on Survivor: All-Stars at 75.

Rudy Boesch parlayed his fame into several other television appearances, including hosting the show Combat Missions in 2002.

Rudy Boesch was born in Rochester, New York on January 20,1928, the son of Austrian immigrants Clara and August.

Rudy Boesch credited his parents' Central European upbringing for instilling him with discipline and work ethic.

Too young to join the Marines, Rudy Boesch dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Navy in April 1945 at age 17.

Rudy Boesch then had a tour as a boatswain's mate on board USS Massey, a destroyer ported on the Chinese coast.

In 1967, Rudy Boesch was promoted to the rank of master chief petty officer.

In 1968, Rudy Boesch was sent on a combat deployment to the Vietnam War, as a platoon chief based in My Tho in the Mekong Delta.

Rudy Boesch earned the Bronze Star for heroic action during more than 45 combat operations.

Between the Vietnam deployments, Rudy Boesch trained and competed for the US Navy's bobsled team.

Rudy Boesch competed with the Hurricane Bobsled Club of the Adirondacks in competitions at Lake Placid.

Rudy Boesch wasn't going to let anything or anybody get in the way of putting together the best platoon he could build, beg, borrow, coerce, or dig out of the Operations Department.

Rudy Boesch was a physical training fanatic whose dog tag listed "PT" as his religion and who through the decades gained a reputation for leading grueling runs that men would look for ways to avoid by faking injuries or hiding in bushes.

In 2000, Rudy Boesch appeared in Survivor: Borneo, the name later assigned to the inaugural season of the US version of Survivor, filmed on the remote Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga.

Rudy Boesch found his niche in camp life cooking for his tribe, using the resourcefulness learned from his tours in Vietnam.

Rudy Boesch won an individual immunity challenge by defeating the other competitors on a human-sized checkerboard.

Host Jeff Probst and the show's production staff thought Rudy Boesch was likely to win the final challenge and the game.

The 5-foot-10-inch Rudy Boesch weakened physically during the castaway experience, losing 22 pounds off his SEALs-era weight of 185 pounds that he started the show with, but unlike some of the other contestants, he did not get sick.

The "Rudy Boesch" persona was based around his gruff, cantankerous manner, his flattop haircut and stoic approach to life on the island, and to his being a man of his word.

Blunt about survival needs, the Catholic, but non-church-attending Rudy Boesch memorably said that the only use for the Bible on the island was as toilet paper.

Rudy Boesch said several hundred others had worked on the show in that capacity and that he had not known Burnett personally, and Burnett said he had not realized Rudy Boesch's earlier involvement until after Survivor had begun.

In 2004, Rudy Boesch appeared in Survivor: All-Stars, set on the Pearl Islands of Panama.

At age 75, Rudy Boesch was the oldest contestant ever, topping the record he set four years prior.

Rudy Boesch earned $85,000 for his third-place finish on Survivor and shared the money with his three daughters.

Rudy Boesch was honored by both his hometown of Virginia Beach as well as by the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he received a standing ovation in the Virginia House of Delegates after they passed a resolution commending his service.

In November 2000, Rudy Boesch was included in People magazine's annual "Sexiest Man Alive" issue as the "Sexiest Survivor", reflecting the number of female fans he had garnered.

Rudy Boesch was licensed to appear in a Survivor slot machine from WMS Gaming, wherein if you hit his bonus, it shows a clip of him from the show.

Rudy Boesch's role consisted of standing in a desert and introducing experts who explained how to cope in a variety of survival scenarios.

Rudy Boesch later hosted Combat Missions, a Mark Burnett-produced reality series that aired on the USA Network in 2002.

Rudy Boesch served as the titular commandant of "Camp Windstorm", the garrison location in the Mojave Desert where the show took place.

Rudy Boesch's uniform is on display at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Florida, a reflection both of his record-setting service with the SEALs and his fame from Survivor.

Rudy Boesch remained one of the most popular contestants among Survivor viewers, with a survey of them after the show's first ten seasons placing him among the top ten contestants.

In 2015, Rudy Boesch was one of three inductees into Xfinity's "Survivor Hall of Fame," alongside Jerri Manthey and Benjamin "Coach" Wade.

On October 27,2010, Rudy Boesch was one of 14 initial inductees to the Commando Hall of Honor at Macdill Air Force Base.

Boesch hosted the annual Rudy Run SEAL Challenge on Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek to raise funds for the charity Naval Special Warfare Foundation.

Rudy Boesch's perceived slurs towards homosexuals irked some, going back to the initial Survivor season.

Rudy Boesch was criticized for ostensibly homophobic comments he made both in 2012 at the 50th Anniversary of the SEALs and in 2013 at the season finale of Survivor: Caramoan.

Rudy Boesch is one [of] the most iconic and adored players of all time.