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January 5 , 2008: CBS eventually gets around
to putting up their Survivor: Micronesia site,
which includes Chet's bio (below):
"Chet SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA
Age: 48
Home Town: Ford City, PA
Occupation: Pharmacy Customer Service/Pageant Coach
Chet Welch currently works in customer service for a pharmacy
that supplies nursing homes and hospitals with resident-specific
medications. He has been in the pharmacy business for 20
years. After finishing high school, he attended college classes
in business and music.
Welch has lived in Ford City, Pennsylvania,
in the same house his entire life, but has traveled throughout
the United States. He enjoys swimming, hiking, kayaking,
dancing and yoga. Welch describes himself as magical, determined
and unknowing. He is most proud of having coached 11 Miss
Pennsylvania pageant contenders to win the title (he is a
pageant coach for Miss America in his spare time). He believes
the fact that he is fit, intelligent, crafty and street/country
smart will help him go far on Survivor.
Welch continues to
live in Ford City, Pennsylvania, with his significant other.
Having rescued animals for 40 years, he currently houses
his three dogs (Forrester, Chance and Savanna), along with
15 sheep, 75 ducks and three cats. His birth date is October
22, 1959."
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January 3, 2008: Entertainment
Weekly (mostly Dalton Ross) handles the cast-release
chores for Survivor: Micronesia. Included is Chet's pre-show
interview and Probst's comments:
"THE ROOKIES: CHET WELCH
AGE: 48
OCCUPATION: Beauty pageant coach
HOMETOWN: Ford City, Pa.
CHET SAYS: ''I play outside the box.
I know how to stand out, and I know what I need to do.''
JEFF
PROBST SAYS: ''Chet works in the pageant world. He produces
winners and he will do whatever it takes to get his pageant
girl to win. If he plays this game the way he plays in the
pageant world, then he is definitely a force to be reckoned
with. If he doesn't, he could be going home soon. He has
sort of been playing a version of Survivor for the past 20
years in the pageant world, and he gets this game."
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December 16, 2007: CBS
shows clips of the non-All Star contestants in their preview
of S16/ Survivor: Micronesia. Neither sound bites nor images
of Chet made it into the preview, however, unless he's in the
group shot below.
| Vidcaps
- Click thumbnails images to view larger image: |
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December 10, 2007: DanieuBleau of
Survivor Skills reports that the name of the Survivor:
Micronesia contestant mentioned by CobySucks should be Chet, not Curt:
"We recieved a tip on one
of the contestants - Curt should be changed to Chet.
What about this possible -- Chet Welch?"
DanieuBleu also included pictures of Chet and a 2003 article
about him (we've included it below).
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December 3, 2007: Someone named CobySucks
reveals the following at SurvivorSucks's S16+ forum:
"Like i said i will NOT spoil the actual game but i don't
think cast spoilers ruins anything. here are some names i have
found out and this is all I know about them at this point...
Mary-fake tits
Mikey B- LA guy
Truck- new Rupert type/big guy
Curt- works for Miss America/Universe
and then there is supposedly another older lady who goes kind
of whacko and tries to cut her fingers off with a machette????"
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2006-ish: Pageant News
Bureau, media home of previous Survivor contestant articles
(Danni Boatwright, etc.), runs a story on Chet Welch's behind-the-scenes
activities.
"Chet Welch, pageant wizard
The local director is the hero of every
pageant system -- the one who quietly cultivates the garden
and then stands back when the beauties are in full bloom.
Many directors do it for little reward and infrequent thanks.
And many do it year after year.
We don't mean to say that
every director is perfect. Some are horrid. But the good
ones are priceless. They're the kind of people who get too
little honor.
Chet Welch came to our attention quite by
happenstance. (We weren't looking to profile a director.)
But at a recent national pageant, Welch went beyond the call
of duty to be helpful to the PNB team.
It wasn't
that he was looking to curry favor. He was being equally
gracious to everybody. He was the nicest person in the room,
a PNB staffer said, 'the only one who seemed
utterly happy to be there.'
Welch is from Ford City,
Pa. He directs several events for the Miss Pennsylvania Pageant
in the Miss America system -- Miss Armstrong County, Miss
Allegheny Valley, Miss Southwestern Pennsylvania and Miss
Three Rivers. In his 23 years as a director, he has produced
11 Miss Pennsylvanias. He received the 2005 Volunteer Award
from the state pageant organization in 2005.
At this point,
because he's the kind of man he is, he would want us to stop
talking about him and just tell you about the girls. OK,
anything for a hero. But keep Chet Welch in mind...."
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July 9, 2003: Excerpts from an extremely
lengthy local newspaper article about Chet's pageanteering,
from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"Beauty pageant coach is
the power behind crowns
Chet
Welch never gets the Monday morning blues. He has a job he
likes so much he does it for free.
Beauty pageant coach Chet
Welch has mentored eight Miss Pennsylvanias, including the
current Miss Pennsylvania, Melissa Wills.
Welch of Ford City is a beauty pageant
coach. Those on the circuit say he is in fact 'The Coach'
to get if a contestant really wants to be a winner. He has
mentored eight Miss Pennsylvanias, including the past five
to hold the title. And of that accomplished quintet, four
have made it to the semifinals of the ultimate in walk and
talk: The Miss America pageant. One of his "girls," as
he ever-so-paternally puts it, was second runner-up in the
Big Show.
And you wonder why Welch puts in an average of four
hours a day, after his day job as a pharmaceutical customer
service rep, with a smile.
...Welch doesn't charge. Nor is
he paid for being executive director of the Miss Armstrong
County and Miss Southwestern Pa. contests or a pageant producer.
Everyone involved in all levels of the Miss America organization
is a volunteer.
...So,
how does a mild-mannered hometown boy ("I was born,
raised here, went to Ford City High and have no desire to
live anywhere else") become the driving force in the
always competitive, often caricatured and, some say, cutthroat
world of beauty pageants?
'I really like
it,' Welch
says .He must. Welch, 43 and single, got involved when he
joined the Ford City Jaycees back in 1981 and his committee
assignment was to find sponsors for a local girl who wanted
to enter the Miss Pennsylvania contest. That was right up
his alley. He remembers being so smitten by the face of Miss
America featured annually on the Kellogg's Corn Flakes box
when he was young that he begged his mother to buy the cereal.
A cereal he didn't even like.
...
Connie
Klug of Gibsonia, a colleague at Omnicare Long Term Care
Pharmacy, gushes. 'He cares about people, whether
they are clients or pretty contestants.'..."
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