How two FLW anglers almost made the cut onto TV’s “Survivor”
It’s a simple enough formula: If you catch fish, you eat. If you do not catch fish, you starve. That might have been all the excuse CBS producers of TV’s “Survivor” needed in choosing two professional bass anglers as possible contestants for its next show.
Unfortunately for FLW anglers Chris Daniels and Bud Goeke, CBS ultimately decided that the contestants scheduled to head into the wilds of Kenya for the next “Survivor” series could probably make it without the help of a pro fisherman. But Daniels and Goeke came about as close as anybody can come to being on the show without actually making the cut. They both made it all the way through the extensive culling process of some 50,000 contestants to the semifinal round of 50 before being handed their pink slips.
“It was pretty exciting,” said Daniels. “It was a pretty good ride.”
“The whole thing was just amazing,” agreed Goeke. “I just wish I would have made it.”
Just for adventure
Survivor-mania is everywhere. It’s really no surprise that the wildly popular “reality” show has captured the attention of certain pro bass anglers. FLW competitors are guys already drawn to the show’s most basic elements: the outdoors, survival in the face of adversity and the chance to score a fat check really quickly. They face the same elements at almost every tournament they fish. (Lest you scoff at the suggestion of a “survival” aspect to the FLW Tour, just ask Tommy Biffle – or any competitor for that matter – about the back-breaking Mississippi River tournament in Memphis last year.)
What is surprising is that not one, but two guys from the tour actually applied for the show – and they were both semifinalists.
Yet even more astonishing is the fact that neither one of them knew the other was doing it. You might think they had conspired together in an attempt to get an angler on the show. That’s not the case. In fact, Daniels and Goeke only know each other in passing from fishing some of the same tourneys.
“This has been going on for, like, two months, but I couldn’t tell anybody,” said Goeke, of Pickneyville, Ill., who arrived at the FLW event in Detroit one day after learning he didn’t make it onto the show. “So I was dying to tell people about it. When I heard about (Daniels), I was blown away.”
It started for Goeke (pronounced GO-key) after the initial Survivor series took the nation by storm. Just 42 years old, he retired at the age of 38 and began his quest for adventure several years ago by taking up pro bass fishing, competing as a co-angler on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour and EverStart Series. Last year, he saw an opportunity to up the ante in his adventure-seeking with “Survivor.”
“When I saw the show, I thought, man, I should be there. I know all kinds of stuff,” he said. “I don’t work, so I just wanted adventure.”
So he made a videotape of himself and submitted it for casting on the Australia “Survivor.” Focusing on his decidedly unique trade, pro bass fishing, Goeke’s submission included video of him at home on the water.
“I went out to the lake behind my house, got in my boat, set up the camera and said, `Hello, my name is Bud Goeke. Welcome to my office.'”
Unfortunately, he received no callback for that show. However, possibly prompted by the Survivors’ inability to catch fish and feed themselves in Australia, CBS producers apparently decided it might be a good idea to have a pro fisherman on board for the Africa series. Goeke received a call last spring telling him that he had made the cut for the next “Survivor” and prompting him to head to Chicago for screen tests.
“I didn’t believe (the casting agent) at first,” said Goeke. “I told her, `I’m trying to figure out whether you’re my friends messing with me or not.'”
She wasn’t. And between FLW events, Goeke signed a heap of contracts and traveled to the Windy City for his audition.
“The contracts basically said that if I get killed in Africa, they weren’t responsible,” he explained. “I was going to sign whatever they wanted. I didn’t care. I wanted to be on the show.”
Anything to survive
When Chris Daniels showed up for his “Survivor” screen test in Maryland, there was a sign on the wall that said, “Do not speak to anyone.” He obeyed, but did manage, however, to sneak a peek at the competition. Also auditioning for the show that day were a Hell’s Angel and “one real good-looking girl wearing a pretty tight top,” according to Daniels.
“When I got in front of the camera, I got nervous immediately,” said the FLW pro. “I caught myself twisting the microphone around my finger. It put me in a totally different atmosphere. But I thought I did well. (The casting agents) laughed all the way through it.”
Daniels was lured into “Survivor” by his wife, Margie. A 52-year-old jack-of-all-trades from Clayton, N.C., Daniels is a known pro in fishing circles. A two-time FLW Championship qualifier, including this year, he won the 1997 FLW tournament on Lake Okeechobee. Between tournaments, he has made a living running an auto shop, a paint store, a western-wear shop, in trailer sales and as publisher of the nationally distributed “Bass Fever Magazine.” A fan of “Survivor,” Margie thought her husband’s resourcefulness would make him a good candidate for the show.
She assembled footage from his FLW victory at Okeechobee as well as other bits and pieces and sent it in to CBS. Next thing he knew, Daniels was being summoned for screen tests as one of the top 50 finalists for “Survivor” Africa.
“I received a certified letter at the (FLW event on the) Red River telling me to fly to Maryland,” he said. “She worked endless hours putting that tape together. It was her fault I got into this.”
Not that Daniels was averse to the idea. On the contrary, the thought of taking home the million-dollar prize for winning “Survivor” was mighty appealing. So he went after it.
“I was going to be one the guys to try and help feed them,” he said. “I really kind of grew up in the swamps of Louisiana, so I can prepare game, raw fish and so on. On the show, they categorize everyone. I figured they could put the `registered redneck’ symbol on me real quick.
“My wife asked me what I would eat when I was over there. I said I don’t know, but when I left there would probably be some three-legged elephants running around or something.”
For the adventure-seeking Daniels, the prospect of playing the psychological game that “Survivor” entails was just as intriguing as the survival aspects. It’s a kind of strange popularity contest in the wild where contestants need to massage their rapports with each other in order to avoid being voted out of camp. And, had he made it, Daniels felt confident about his chances.
“In that situation, I feel I could probably handle it,” he said. “A lot of that would have to be a quick reaction. I’d do whatever you had to do to win. I’d do anything to survive.”
Maybe next time
From “Robinson Crusoe” to “Cast Away,” the stranded-on-a-deserted-island storytelling genre is historically littered with the bony torsos of characters who failed to nourish themselves adequately with the fruits of the sea or the game of the woods. It is a time-honored dramatic device used in adventure tales, one that played right into the hands of CBS when they created “Survivor.”
Perhaps that was the key motivation behind Daniels’ and Goeke’s almost-successful attempts to get on the show. Maybe CBS thought it was time to enlist a real outdoorsman to keep the group well fed.
However, in the end, just days before the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s Forrest Wood Open in Detroit in June, both anglers learned of their own demise – and, incidentally, of each other’s – in their respective quests for adventure and a million bucks in Kenya. CBS called and said, “Thanks for playing. Better luck next time.”
But neither is disheartened. In fact, they remain hopeful about the subsequent filmings of “Survivor.” CBS keeps the tapes of all entrants and told them both that they have a chance to make it the next go-round.
“The casting agent had really positive remarks for me,” said Daniels. “Evidently, she really thought I had the bite to do it.”
Said a relentless Goeke, “I’m going to apply for the next `Survivor.’ I’m never going to give up.”
With that kind of attitude, how can they lose?