{"id":282860,"date":"2019-11-02T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T18:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b1061643"},"modified":"2019-11-02T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T18:06:00","slug":"survivors-oldest-contestant-rudy-boesch-dead-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/music-news\/survivors-oldest-contestant-rudy-boesch-dead-at-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Survivor’s Oldest Contestant Rudy Boesch Dead at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Rudy<\/p>\n

Picture Perfect\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Rudy Boesch<\/strong>, a fan-favorite competitor of season one of Survivor<\/em> and the franchise’s oldest contestant, has died at the age of 91.<\/p>\n

The UDT\/SEAL Association announced the death of the reality star and U.S. Navy vet on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“It is with a broken heart that we inform you that Master Chief Rudy Boesch passed away last night,” the group said on Instagram<\/a>. “Master Chief was a legend in the SEAL and Special Operations community. Rudy proudly served our Nation from 1944-1990 and his impact on so many individuals continues today. Please join us in respecting his family’s wishes of privacy until we can release more details. God Speed Rudy!”<\/p>\n

Boesch had battled Alzheimer’s disease for years prior to his death, People<\/a><\/em> reported. His death was preceded by the passing of his wife Marjorie Thomas<\/strong> in 2008. The two were married for 53 years and shared three children. <\/p>\n

Boesch had finished in third on the inaugural season of Survivor: Borneo<\/em> in 2000 when he was 72 years old.<\/p>\n

“I was the most popular,” he said in an interview posted on the Marine Corps website<\/a> in 2004.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Richard Hatch<\/a><\/strong>, the first Survivor<\/em> winner, paid tribute to him on Twitter.<\/p>\n

“Ours was an interesting bond, Dear Rudy!” he wrote<\/a>. “You and I helped open minds and undermine predjudces. While your time here has passed, you will remain loved and iconic, dear friend!”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Boesch, one of the most beloved Survivor<\/em> contestants, also competed with other show alumni on season eight, Survivor: All Stars<\/em>. He was the second contestant voted out.<\/p>\n

Boesch jointed the Navy as age 17 in 1945. He underwent training at boot camp when World War II ended. He served for 44 years.<\/p>\n

“After boot camp, I went to Florida for Scouts and Raiders school and then they dropped the bomb,” he said in the Marine Corps website interview.<\/p>\n

He later headed to California and then China. In the ’50s and early ’60s, he was a member of the Underwater Demolition Team, after which he and 49 others were picked to join a new special unit the Navy was starting: the Navy SEALs.<\/p>\n

He remained a SEAL with the special operations unit until 1988, and took part in two tours to Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star. He later joined the U.S. Special Operations Command and became the Command Master Chief for USSOCOM. He retired from the Navy in 1990.<\/p>\n

In 1999, he interviewed to participate on Survivor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“I read an article and it had the word challenge,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about the money, but I was going to do it anyway.”<\/p>\n

“I figure they had 15 fouled-up people and they needed one normal one,” he added. “That was me.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

via:: E! Online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture Perfect\/Shutterstock Rudy Boesch, a fan-favorite competitor of season one of Survivor and the franchise’s oldest contestant, has died at the age of 91. The UDT\/SEAL Association announced the death of the reality star and U.S. Navy vet on Saturday. “It is with a broken heart that we inform you that Master Chief Rudy Boesch passed away last night,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-music-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-14 20:38:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIDN - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}