Since Benjamin Wade made his “Survivor” debut on the cast of 2009’s “Survivor: Tocantins,” he’s been more famously remembered by fans as “Coach,” a nickname inspired by his off-screen career as the head coach of Southwest Baptist University’s women’s soccer team.
While other former castaways have managed to successfully achieve nickname status in the “Survivor” fandom – such as Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano and Rizo “Rizgod” Velovic – Wade stands alone as the sole castaway who’s donned multiple monikers over the course of his three-season career on the series.
From the Brazilian Highlands of “Tocantins,” Wade continued his reality TV journey on the cast of seasons like “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains” and “Survivor: South Pacific,” describing himself all the while by a plethora of nicknames and personas, from “Maestro” to “Renaissance Man” and “The Zenslayer,” though none have been as popular as the original “Coach” and its mythological successor: “The Dragon Slayer.”
Now, as the hotly-anticipated premiere “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” approaches, Wade has revealed that he will introduce an all-new persona during the milestone season to help him finally add “Sole Survivor” to his ever-increasing list of titles.
Coach to Adopt New ‘Tide Walker’ Persona for Season 50 Run
CBSSpeaking to Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross in the days before filming for “Survivor 50” began, Coach opened up about the evolution of his many nicknames, revealing that he’s once more finding inspiration in mythology.
For his fourth series appearance, however, Wade admitted he’s taking a step back from the “Arthurian legend stuff” that inspired his “Dragonslayer” title, opting instead for “stuff that’s random, like Japanese mythology, maybe some Dungeons & Dragons.”
Specifically, Wade revealed that his latest nickname – “Tide Walker” – is inspired by a fantastical “water druid” that he describes as “the person that can move and flow with the tide. And when they have to go around obstacles or eliminate obstacles, they do so gently.”
“My mantra for this game is to hide behind the shield while I’m sharpening my sword in silence,” he elaborated. “In the past it was, I’m making war out in the open – ‘Here’s my sword!’ It’s the opposite of that. I want to make war with a clean heart, which I’ve tried to do, but I haven’t admitted that I was making war.”
The ‘Dragonslayer’ Breaks Down His 17-Year ‘Survivor’ Evolution
CBS/GettyDespite his efforts to play an honorable game during previous appearances, Wade was surprised to find that his behavior wasn’t reading the same way to fans and his fellow castaways.
“The first season [‘Tocantins’], it was a great chance to look in a mirror, which ‘Survivor’ does if you let it, and say, ‘Oh man, am I really that arrogant..? I mean I can’t be that pompous, am I?’ And to say, ‘Let me temper that down a little bit and not take myself so seriously. That’s a turn off. I might have a loyal core, but I’ve got to be turning people off – which I’m sure I still do,” Wade reminisced about seeing himself on TV for the first time.
“The second time taught me the greatest gift,” he continued. “Don’t give a rip about what other people say or think about you. And it happened after I was watching [‘Heroes vs. Villains’] and thought: I don’t care henceforth what other people say or think about me.”
“Third season, that was the softening of everybody’s perception of me,” he said about his 2011 return for “Survivor: South Pacific,” adding, “I’m grateful for that, but I was very selfish. I was not married. I was living for myself. I really thought the meaning of life was if I can build up enough championships on the soccer field, if I can start enough symphonies, be the best at everything that I do, I’m going to leave an awesome legacy. And that’s just not true.”
And so it was, upon learning he’d been invited back to compete on the show’s milestone 50th season, that Coach formulated his “Tide Walker” persona in hopes that his new mentality would finally help him win the game he’s been playing for nearly 20 years.
Wade Outlines His Strategy to Finally Claim ‘Sole Survivor’ Title
“This time around, above all, I want to be fluid,” he revealed. “This time, I’m leading from the bottom, and I can do that and I feel comfortable doing that. There’s a really cool term in Portuguese that the soccer players used to tell me, and it’s the ‘Malandro.’ And the ‘Malandro’ is the guy that is not the man, but he makes everybody around him be the man. So I want to be that. I want to be able to be fluid. I want to go up to people who voted against my wishes at Tribal Council and be their friend.”
As an “old-school” player returning for a “new era” game, Coach added that he hopes to capitalize on a “softer” and more “authentic” approach by allying with “the honorable people,” who Coach identified as Joe Hunter, Colby Donaldson, and “maybe” Jonathan Young and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick.
Despite his “honorable” strategy, Coach confirmed that he doesn’t plan on repeating past mistakes during his “Survivor 50” run.
“I want to play a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the beginning,” he said. “Then let the wolf come out. And [if] the timing of that is impeccable, it’ll determine whether I win or not.”
Find out if Benjamin “Coach” Wade is able to successfully step out from behind his shield – sword sharpened – at exactly the right time to strike down his biggest competition and finally claim the “Sole Survivor” title when “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” makes its historic three-hour premiere on CBS on Wednesday, February 25 at 8:00pm ET.
