The year is 2008. Sales representative Jacqueline Berg has just become the third person to be voted out of “Survivor: Gabon.”
When she arrives at Ponderosa — a luxury resort in Sao Tome, a small African nation just 180 miles away from where she’d been eliminated hours earlier — Jacquie is greeted by her post-game handler.
The man — Tyler Ramsey — was a producer on the season. While Ramsey, like all crew members, was strictly forbidden from fraternizing with the contestants, the immediate “sparks” he felt with Berg eventually led to him breaking that rule.
In the end, their relationship led to Ramsey losing his job on the show. On the upside, the sacrifice wasn’t made in vain. Eight years later, the couple were married.
While news of the behind-the-scenes affair spread across the fandom in the years that followed, in a January 2025 interview on Kevin Lanning’s “Rise Above” podcast, Tyler Ramsay opened up about the unbelievable events that unfolded in the days after his relationship with Berg was discovered.
Ramsey Recalls Meeting His Future Wife on ‘Survivor: Gabon’
CBSIn the interview, which resurfaced earlier this week when a clip of it was uploaded to the podcast’s Instagram account on April 29, Ramsey explained how he was essentially a “babysitter” for “Survivor” contestants who’d been eliminated.
“They would be sent to this resort… This incredible place in Africa,” he revealed, referring to Sao Tome. “About one out of every 10 contestants pretty much goes crazy when they get kicked off, so you kinda had to watch out for that and really just sort of keep things under control.”
All in all, it was a simple job. Tropical beaches, luxury resorts, and only one “absolutely non-negotiable” rule: “Don’t mess around with the contestants.”
Ramsey had no problem adhering to the guideline until castaway Jacquie Berg, the woman who would eventually become his wife, arrived at Ponderosa.
“When I met my wife, there were sparks right away and I just didn’t even worry for a second that there was a rule and we had a thing immediately,” the ex-producer admitted.
Ramsey & Berg’s Off-Limits Fling Was Outed by Other Contestants
Ramsey thought that he could keep the fling under wraps until filming on “Survivor: Gabon” wrapped, until he remembered that the other eliminated contestants were watching his every move.
“What I forgot is that the other people on the show are selected because they don’t let anything slip by,” he continued. “I thought I was being careful, but I was around all these people that were only selected because they watch everything…They could tell something was going on.”
It was while Ramsey and Berg were lavishing in their budding romance, “partying like there’s no tomorrow,” that Tyler received a call from “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett revealing that they’d been found out; one of the castaways had “told on” them.
A Full-Blown ‘International Incident’ Followed
While Ramsey recently celebrated his fifth year of sobriety, the events that followed Burnett’s call preceded that journey for the ex-producer.
“I had realized that I had disappointed people that I loved. Instead of taking responsibility, I ran off into the jungle,” the 52-year-old recalled. “I, like, wanted to create an international incident and just go missing.”
Ramsey spent the next two days ensconced in the wilderness, becoming a real-life castaway himself.
“I had wandered out of the jungle long enough to look for alcohol,” he said. “Somehow, people in this really small community communicated that ‘the white guy everybody was looking for’ had popped up.”
Unbeknownst to Ramsey, CBS had been working with local law enforcement to locate him.
“They ended up having to send, like, a jet with, like, a mercenary and a psychiatrist to come figure me out,” he added, revealing that he himself had attempted to hire a translator to help him disappear into the jungle again before he was apprehended by local police.
Are Tyler and Jacquie Still Together Today?
While Tyler never returned to his job as a producer, having previously worked on shows like “Fear Factor” and “Survivor,” he and Berg tied the knot in 2016.
The happy couple have since welcomed two children together – Violet Sky Ramsey and River Leonidas Ramsey – as well as launching their own ground-breaking medical start-up, Fresh Test, a natural FemTech company based in Los Angeles, California.
Hear more about Jacquie and Tyler’s journey from star-crossed lovers on “Survivor” to business mogul parents below.
