Survivor Kaôh Rōng: Joe Del Campo On The Adventure Of A Lifetime

If it accomplished nothing else, the penultimate episode of Survivor: Kaôh Rōng settled one of the world’s most enduring questions once and for all: “Where’s the beef?” It’s inside Joe del Campo.

In the episode, the mythological battle between the tortoise and the hare was put into practice, as four of the remaining five finalists sprinted off into the wilderness to complete a reward challenge as quickly as humanly possible. But Joe? Not so fast. The 71-year-old former federal agent moved with the speed of dial-up internet as he pushed through the challenge, winning thanks to a combination of a loophole in the game design, and enough turtle power to make Leonardo and friends proud.

But Joe did not exert that same slow-and-steady approach when it came to enjoying his spa day reward. He gorged on beef skewers, devouring row upon row of satay sticks, feasting on his first substantial meal in weeks. In the moment, bodybuilder Cydney Gillon knew trouble was brewing for Joe, but nobody knew just how bad it would get. Within twenty-four hours, Joe was in so much internal distress due to the “three feet” of steak kabobs his body refused to pass, that he was pulled from the game to avoid serious physical damage.

With that, Joe became the third contestant to leave Kaôh Rōng due to medical reasons, with only days to go before the game’s finish. But that’s only how his story this season ended. It doesn’t speak to the fact that Joe withstood 34 days of the harshest Survivor season ever, as the second oldest contestant to ever play the game, only behind the legendary Rudy Boesch — the same man who pushed Joe into applying for the show, in fact.

No matter how it ended, Joe’s run is more than impressive in its own right. He joined me on the phone this morning to talk about it all, calling from his home in Florida, birds chirping in the background. Here’s what he had to say about the state of his health now, the animal metaphor he uses toward that reward challenge, his spirit of adventure, and what’s next.

Joe, how are you today?

I’m doing very good, sir. I feel like I’m back on the island. I’m sitting under one of my palm trees out back in my house. It’s got me in the mood like I’m back there.

And you’re feeling okay now? We shouldn’t be worried?

Of course. Don’t forget now, it’s been a year. We all wanted it to air as soon we got back home, of course, but then they wound up doing the [Second Chance] folks — the fans-favorites — and they sent them out to Cambodia and aired them first. We had to wait a long time, from February of last year until our show came on. Otherwise, it was fun. It was great.

Can you talk me through where things went wrong, starting with the spa day? When did you start feeling unhealthy?

It was well late into the evening. I couldn’t sleep. As it is, I usually only sleep about five hours per night. That’s all I needed on the island. It was late into the evening — maybe four or five o’clock in the morning — and I started feeling discomfort. I couldn’t pass urine and my tummy was starting to hurt as things worked their way down. We ended up being transported back to the beach, which is a boat ride. As the day progressed, it got worse and worse. I said, “Let’s call up Doctor Joe.” He came out for the first visit and did an examination on me and basically said that because of a swollen prostate, I was unable to process any water. At the same time, with all the meat in my system, and it wasn’t going anywhere, as I started drinking water that day, the damage was already done. He had hoped that giving me something would help pass it out, but it didn’t work. It just got worse and worse.

By the end of the day, I felt like someone was sticking a knife in my tummy and twisting. All these fluids were building up and moving back toward my kidneys. So I called up the second time, and that’s when Jeff came out. That’s when Doctor Joe said, “If he continues, we’re looking at potential kidney damage.” Jeff said, “Are you saying he has to be pulled?” And he said, “Yes.” So, it was a good decision on their part. The aftermath of that over the next couple of days were pretty rough on me, going back to Ponderosa, as far as the damage done, when finally I was able to relieve myself. So it was a good choice. But with five days to go? That was the only thing. Man, almost there. But that’s life.

How hard was it to reconcile your fate in the game when you were so close to the end?

Well, you know, I’m a person where you don’t look back. It happened. After a minute or two, you go, “Okay, so what’s the next challenge? What’s the next thing I’m going to do?” That’s the way I follow my life. I’ve always been adventurous. That’s why I was an FBI agent for 25 years. I enjoyed that. That’s why I’ve been doing the private investigator thing for the past 20 years, since retirement. And I met Rudy at the Navy SEAL museum a couple of years ago, which is only a quick drive from my house here, and I’m a former naval officer. Rudy said, “Joe, you should send a tape in. They haven’t had another guy over 70 years old since me, and that was 15 years ago.” So I said, “You know what? I’m going to do it.” I’m fortunate enough that Jeff and the producers saw me as someone they liked, so I’m thrilled I got selected. I’m thrilled about that. I’m thrilled that I made it and I’m thrilled that I made the distance that I did on the show.

It’s great that you’re friends with Rudy. How’s he doing? I’m sure people would love an update.

God bless Rudy. Rudy is Rudy. He really hasn’t changed. Rudy is 88 now. He’ll be coming back down here soon. We have an annual thing down here called the Navy Muster, at the Navy SEAL Museum. You have thousands of local people as well as dignitaries that come to that. He’s good. He’s living by himself up there in Virginia Beach. He’s a great guy. I’ve met a lot of his friends from way back when he was a Navy SEAL, wonderful people. They are the salt of the earth. Talk about true heroes? These guys are it. I look at Rudy as thanking him for giving me the inspiration and the idea to apply for the show.

Let’s look back at the reward challenge. Sure, the spa food does you in, but it’s a great victory for you. What do you remember about it?

I remember it fondly. I probably wouldn’t have eaten as much if I knew the outcome! [Laughs] But I refer to it as the Clydesdale versus the Thoroughbreds. The Old Clydesdale plops through the jungle, they’re waiting about two minutes for me to come back for that last return visit, everyone had used all their bags and missed, and I was down to those last five bags. I hoped beyond hope that that last bag would go into the hole at the very end, and it did, and I was absolutely thrilled. It was so fun. I think everybody was happy for me, too.

I’m curious about your philosophy toward the game. You struck me as someone who wanted to stick with a plan once the plan was made. What was your approach to the strategic side of Survivor?

Well, the strategic part was from day one, Aubry and I linked up. Debbie was there, too, though unfortunately she got voted off. It was the three of us trying to stay together as a Brains tribe. But once I gave my word, that was it. People said, “He’s inflexible.” Once I give my word, that’s it. We would come up with a vote, and we’re going to do that. On the fly, it would change, and sometimes, unfortunately, I wasn’t flexible enough to maybe see the forest for the trees. But otherwise, that was going to be… Aubry and I agreed to not target people by talking opinions with each other all the time. We were ships passing in the night. She would go out and do the groundwork and come back and say, “Joe, this is what it looks like.” I would say, “What do you think?” And she would say, “I think it’s okay.” You have a general, and you have your officers. If I tried to do that, I don’t think it would have gone over as successfully as with Aubry doing the groundwork out there. I think me being the old guy, a little grumpy, as some of the people referred to me as… [Laughs] I was pleased with it. As far as criticisms from the bloggers and some of the podcasts? Hey, that’s the nature of the game. It’s a game, and there’s a lot of money, but it’s a game. It’s not life. Once you come back to your lives here, that’s all over and done with. Move onto the next adventure. What’s the next challenge?

In the moments when Aubry votes without you, against Peter and against Debbie, what conversations take place to get you back on the same page?

Respecting her knowledge of the game, and her as a very bright individual, I knew that there was a reason to do things that way. I saw enough in the ability of the individual to make a decision on the fly that would benefit me in the end. I was good with that.

What do you remember about how your alliance with Aubry and Debbie formed?

On day one, if you remember from the first show, we had Peter and Liz in the water together, we had Neal and Aubry together, and then the two oldsters were sitting there building a hut. We did the shelter all ourselves. It was pretty much us. So we stuck together. Within the next day or so, Aubry was open-minded, not going with this group or that group. We teamed up and said, “Okay, let’s try to go to the end. Let’s try to make this work.”

It was a very emotional farewell for you, especially from Tai. We didn’t see much of your relationship on the show, so I’m curious to hear your take on Tai.

It was very good. Tai was searching. “Where should I go? Who should I be with?” He was conflicted, as you’ve seen. But he’s a gentle, loving, spiritual man. There were a number of conversations at three or four o’clock in the morning between us by the fire, just talking about life. That’s not going to make good TV, of course, but we were talking about who we are and those kinds of things. We established a relationship between us as two men. He’s a very deep and caring guy and a wonderful man.

When you watched the episode, how upset were you when you saw Tai pour water on your precious fire?

Uh… I was the old “P-ed off,” shall we say. [Laughs] I did not think he was going to do that. But again, he was searching. “If I do that, I can go back to [Scot and Jason] and say, ‘Look! I’m on your side! I did that to the fire!'” I didn’t know about it, of course, until I saw the episode that aired. We have no idea what’s going to be aired. So when I saw it, I laughed. “It was Tai!” Peter thought I had written his name down, and he didn’t realize until he saw that episode that it wasn’t me, because I had shaken his hand and told him I wouldn’t vote against him. Once again, there’s Joe, sticking to his guns, being all rigid. But when I shook his hand in the water and told him I wouldn’t vote him out, I meant it. That’s the kind of guy I am. It doesn’t work out so much on Survivor, but it works out well in life.

I’m wondering about your take on another of your tribe mates: Mark the Chicken.

Well, let me tell you all about Mark, now. You see, Mark was always around the food and all that, doing Mark’s business, as chickens do. But one of the days, he jumped off of the bamboo thing we were sitting on, and his talons poked into the top of my foot, and I started to bleed. You know, in the jungle, you get a little cut or scratch, it can turn into something very serious, as it did for a couple of people. So I didn’t want Mark around us all the time! But Tai kept Mark around as, I believe, his son, not even as a pet. He loved that chicken. He would sleep with that chicken. I would get up in the middle of the night, and Tai would be in the hammock, swinging back and forth, and you would hear him: “Cluck-cluck, cluck-cluck, cluck-cluck.” He was sleeping with the chicken! Him and Mark had this wonderful, paternal relationship. But I did not dislike Mark. I would not have killed Mark. No way was I going to do that. I wasn’t so hungry that I was going to eat that chicken.

What does an adventure like Survivor mean to you at this moment in your life?

I wanted to see if I could do the challenge. I thought I was in great shape. I thought intellectually and socially that I would be able to do good, and I think I did, in my opinion. But also the challenge of being 71-years-old, I still seek adventure in life. I want to do that until the day I go kicking and screaming and the good lord says, “Joe, your time’s up, buddy.” I don’t want to go down that path quietly. This life is to live. We don’t know how much time we have. Why not do the best you can and forget about the past? Forget about not winning this, or losing that. Look forward. Look at this moment, and then it’s the next one.

So, look forward. What’s the next adventure for you?

It would be nice — I don’t know that it’s going to happen — if sometime in the future the producers say, “You know what? Let’s bring Old Joe back. We still have his hammock, so we can send that to wherever we’re going to send these folks.” I would love to do it again. It’s addictive. It’s addictive in nature. I think most of the people who have been on Survivor feel that way, even though it’s so tough and you lose all this weight and the bugs eat you up and you’re soaking wet and you’re miserable. You just want to do it again. And if not that? Then something else. Maybe skydiving. I haven’t done it yet. Maybe I’ll try something like that. I have a cabin up in North Carolina I’m going to go up to. I haven’t been there since the whole Survivor epic started, beginning with the application process to when we went away and came back and watched the show. So I’m looking for a little downtime. It’s been exciting, but I want to go to the mountains and kick back for a little while.

But this all worked out well. It all worked out the way it’s supposed to be. I’m here now. I call it “The Million Dollar Meal.” I do! If I had made it to finals, I don’t know if I would have won, but I certainly took myself out of contention. I wish CBS had referred to that episode as “The Million Dollar Meal.”

I hope it was delicious. I hope the satay was worth it.

It was delicious. I have not had it since, but it was good.

Josh Wigler is a writer, editor and podcaster who has been published by MTV News, New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources and more. He is the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy: 30 Seasons of Survivor, an audiobook chronicling the reality TV show’s transformation, and one of the hosts of Post Show Recaps, a podcast about film and television. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.