If a new orthodontic student at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry looks familiar, chances are he is. Jed Hildebrand was a cast member on the CBS Survivor Thailand television show.

As 22 million viewers watched, Hildebrand-who was a member of the Sook Jai squad on the show last season-battled team Chuay Gahn through temperatures of 112 degrees, extreme humidity, mosquitoes, snakes, foodless days, rainy nights and other dangerous island encounters.

While Hildebrand was filming Survivor, his oldest brother, who is in the orthodontic field, researched and narrowed down a list of graduate dental programs and highly recommended Case. Hildebrand said Case's dental school became his top choice because of the clinical experience associated with the orthodontic program.

It was a year ago, when the then senior dental student from Baylor University took an unexpected and sudden two-month leave of absence from school. The cover story was that he went "to travel and do mission work."

Actually, he disappeared from his hometown of Dallas, Texas, to fly thousands of miles away and be dropped off on a remote island in Southeast Asia where he competed against 15 other individuals for a $1 million prize.

Before his stint on Survivor, Hildebrand was no stranger to the outdoors. He has spent summers as an adventure tour guide in Maui and has even been to Thailand before. He comes from a family of dentists (his father and two brothers) and following the example of his father, who visits Romania and other countries on dental missions, Hildebrand and his brother Sloan had visited orphanages and children's hospitals in Thailand, Cambodia and India to care for children in refugee camps who had never gone to a dentist.

Upon his return from secretly filming the show, Hildebrand said his friends pumped him for information on where he had gone, why his hair was longer and why he had grown a beard-and needed to clean up a bit. But he stayed tight-lipped.

Their answers came shortly before Survivor started its new 2002 season when it unveiled its cast in newspapers and on television. Within 30 minutes of the announcement, Hildebrand's friends filled his answering machine and e-mail with congratulatory messages and the all-important "Who won?"

Hildebrand's friends encouraged him to apply for the show-six months before it aired and three days before the audition deadline. He did, and CBS invited him as one of the 80 hopefuls from 100,000 applicants to come to Los Angeles for two weeks of interviews and psychological and personality tests.

After being notified he was selected as a cast member, Hildebrand and his parents signed $5 million confidentiality agreements.

For his 40-night stay on the island, Hildebrand was allowed one bag with a change of clothing, a canteen of water and one personal item. He selected a Frisbee inscribed with 25 Biblical verses to inspire him and his teammates through the rough times ahead.

"My goal was to be myself," said Hildebrand, adding that he did not want to come home and be known for the rest of his life as "the dentist who was deceitful on Survivor."

The first night on the island, he put his survival skills to use and started a campfire-and restarted it after it rained later that night. He was one of the few cast members to find food, but the eight crabs were little fare for his hungry team. He also singlehandedly won the team immunity in the first two challenges, but his strength may have been his downfall as his team members, who's strategy was to eliminate the strongest players first, voted him off in the third segment.

"What surprised me was the extent of the hunger that we were having. There was no food and by the third day people were fainting," he said, adding that he now can slightly relate to the thousands of children, who have suffered from hunger, thirst and lack of shelter, he saw during his missionary work.

Hildebrand said the Survivor experience has been life changing. While he did not win $1 million, he has become a sought-after speaker for church groups and school children. Around Dallas, he is a celebrity, and on a recent vacation to Mexico, 40 people lined up to have their photo taken with him.

Would he do it over? Hildebrand said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity-but he's ready to go again any time.

Return to the online edition of the 9-25-03 Campus News.