‘SURVIVOR’ LEGEND, FORMER SEAL DIES
Rudy Boesch, a 91-year-old retired Navy SEAL who achieved fame as a ‘Survivor’ two decades ago, died Friday.
Rudy Boesch, a longserving Navy SEAL who rose to fame 20 years ago as a castaway on the first season of “Survivor,” died Friday, according to the Navy SEAL Foundation and multiple entertainment news outlets.
Boesch, 91, spent much of his life in Virginia Beach. When he was cast to “outwit, outplay, outlast” on a groundbreaking reality television program 20 years ago, he was already 72 years old, but only 10 years removed from his Navy service.
On the show, he was true to himself, coming off as no-nonsense, cantankerous and largely unconcerned with the conventions of political correctness. That drew criticism, but many viewers laughed at and admired his candor, and many locally rooted for the hometown favorite to win the show.
He finished third, and his alliance member Richard Hatch won the $1 million prize.
“Ours was an interesting bond, Dear Rudy!” Hatch posted on Twitter Saturday. “You and I helped open minds and undermine (prejudices). While your time here has passed, you will remain loved and iconic, dear friend!”
Boesch famously said of Hatch, who is openly gay, “Richard and me got to be good friends, but not in a homosexual way.”
Boesch retired from the Navy in 1990 as a master chief and the oldest serving SEAL. He served in the Vietnam War and earned a Bronze Star.
A Virginian-Pilot reporter who caught up with Boesch five years ago wrote that Boesch still won’t say much about his service, but he affirmed that the life of a Navy SEAL is “the best life in the world … ‘Survivor’ was nothing compared to what I did, and it’s just that way.”
Boesch competed on “Survivor” a second time when he was 75 and made several other television appearances that launched from his reality TV fame.
Boesch’s wife of 50 years died in 2005. As of five years ago, he was still living in the home he had lived most of his life and had raised his three daughters. At that time, he was keeping active, but he said he was slowing down. The Associated Press reported Boesch had been battling Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2015, the Pilot reported Boesch had moved into First Colonial Inn retirement community in Virginia Beach. Even then, he was both challenging and encouraging his neighbors and other seniors to remain fit.