Video links:
- "Cowboy Rick" pre-season ad on YouTube
- "Meet Rick" video at CBS.com
- Rick's pre-game interview with EW.com's Dalton Ross
- Rick's 2010 Sears online audition video at Video-Survivor.com
- Rick's pre-game interview with Xfinity TV's Gordon Holmes
- Rick Nelson's official Survivor: South Pacific CBS.com bio
- Rick Nelson (nelsonranch)'s CBS.com user profile (mostly blank).
Collection of images from the pre-game and circa Ep1-era footage provided with the cast release videos:
Vidcap gallery: Click on thumbnails to expand; use arrow keys to navigate between large pics.
From his MSN.com contestant profile:
"Rick says: I've applied fourteen times (to Survivor) and interviewed three times. It feels unreal. I applied through the Sears contest, next thing I know it hit the top ten, thankfully Sears and the nation recognized me. I won through the Sears contest.
Jeff [Probst] says: He's the real deal."
From his EW.com new contestant picture caption (by Dalton Ross):
"He may sport the most incredible mustache in Survivor history, but Rick will need more than fabulous facial hair to make it to the end. He'll need persistence, something he has already shown by applying 14 different times to be on the show. He finally made it this go-round after winning Sears' online Casting Call contest (Marc-Anthony and Sophie also initially applied through the Sears contest). 'My whole strategy is going to be, do your work, give it 110 percent at everything,' says Rick, 'but don't whine.' And what about the returning players? 'They had their chance. This is our chance. This is our time.'"
Excerpts from his official CBS Survivor: South Pacific bio page:
"Personal claim to fame:My family and my ranch.
Inspiration in life: My grandfather. He built a very large ranch with his own determination and sheer willpower.
Hobbies: Team sorting, hunting, riding and playing on my horse.
Pet peeves: Quitters and lazy people who don't keep their word.
3 words to describe you: Outgoing, strong-willed and self-motivated.
Survivor contestant you are most like: J.T. He played a great game and won. He is country, strong-willed, a great competitor, good to get along with, not a quitter and true to his word in the end. I'd like to think if you put 15 years on him, he would mirror me - except I'm better.
Reason for being on Survivor: It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to prove that you can survive with next to nothing for 39 days and be one of 23 people in the world to be named 'Sole Survivor.' (And a million dollars would be nice).
Why you think you'll 'survive' Survivor: I'm used to living out in the elements on a daily basis. I'm a hard worker. I can build a fire, shelter and I can hunt and fish. I'm easy to get along with, always have a positive attitude and a lifetime of little tricks to make life nicer while camping in the dirt.
Why you think you will be the sole Survivor: After applying 14 times, I am driven and very determined to win the game. I will stop at nothing!"
Summary of evidence for Rick Nelson being on Survivor: South Pacific.
- January, 2011: Rick is one of the 10 finalists in the Sears online audition contest. Watch his video here, at Video-Survivor.com. See also discussion of the finalists at SurvivorSucks.
- Of the Sears contest, Cody Clark of the Utah Valley Daily Herald writes (1/19/11):
"Now there's another Beehive State resident who has, well, at least a puncher's chance of getting on the show: Provo native Rick Nelson, who operates a ranch in Aurora (a few miles north of Richfield in central Utah), is a Top 10 finalist in the current "Survivor" video casting call contest."
- An apparent friend of Rick's at HaltersHorseTack.com writes this on 4/25/11, which should have been around the time the S23 cast was close to finalized:
"An interesting character will appear on the next season of CBS' Survivor. Rick Nelson, Utah cowboy and rancher will add a twist to the list of the next Survivor cast that the show has not seen to date. Nelson, a cowboy by trade, with a handle bar mustache to boot, will bring a personality to the show that will entertain people the world over. A man known as a practitioner of practical jokes throughout the ranching community of Salina, Utah is sure to surprise the rest of the unknowing souls on the show. "
- As the rest of the male cast had largely been discovered at Sucks, DanieuBleau (7/30/11) reported receiving a tip that Rick Nelson is in fact a contestant on Survivor 23, filling the last (apparent) male slot.
