Survivor: one world
survivor (2000-current) is full of crazy characters and few can match up to 66-year-old plastic surgeon greg smith from survivor: one world (2011). he’s done everything from playing the piano at church to being an amateur wrestler. and that’s not where it ends… his tarzan nickname isn’t new – greg’s been calling himself that for years and admits that “when a surgery goes fantastically, i’ll call out the tarzan yell in the operating room”. he also identifies with the character as they’re both “brave, manly and noble”. the board-certified plastic surgeon from texas has been married to 60-year-old terri for more than 30 years. he nicknamed her rapunzel because she has long blonde hair. the couple have travelled a lot and that’s inspired their house, which they’ve decorated themselves. there’s a stuffed polar bear in one room, a lifesize gorilla in a bathroom and a full-size velociraptor dinosaur in the gym. they’ve also got a “christmas room” and only ever sleep in it on christmas eve. greg’s loved the tale of peter pan since he was six and he’s got a tiny obsession with tinker bell – terri’s bought him more than 30 ceramic figurines. and coincidentally, terri and tinker bell were “born” in the same year (1953), when disney released the first peter pan movie. although he lost 12kg and developed a protein deficiency during the game, greg says that “i’m immensely glad that i did survivor. i am an adventurer and it was an adventure”. why does he think the castaways didn’t always understand him. says greg, “the big bang theory – you know who sheldon is? if something’s too over someone’s head… i know thermal dynamics and i was explaining it to them”. greg’s spare time is filled with his hobbies: entomology (insect study), 4x4ing in his jeep and primatology (studying living and extinct primates).