Phillip William Sheppard is a contestant from Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: Caramoan.
He is known for proudly boasting his former life as a federal agent, although he appears to lack the tact and intelligence needed for the job, and for wearing pink undergarments that made his tribemates feel uncomfortable and ridicule him in the process.
Profile
Redemption Island
Name (Age): Phillip Sheppard (52)
Tribe Designation: Ometepe, Murlonio
Current Residence: Santa Monica, Calif.
Occupation: Technology Executive
Personal Claim to Fame: Being a father to my son and being able to take risks in life. I say "yes" when others may say "no."
Inspiration in Life: Medical Professionals - they save lives in real time.
Hobbies: Chess, basketball, skating and sport training with weights.
Pet Peeves: People who think they know everything and yet do nothing and watch others do the work.
3 Words to Describe You: Outgoing, articulate and determined.
SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: I am my own man!
Reason for being on SURVIVOR: I love the idea of competing and proving I still have what it takes to prevail in new challenges that are completely outside my normal everyday life.
Why you think you'll "survive" SURVIVOR: I come from a small family (12 brothers and sisters), and as such I've become a creative problem-solver and good talker in stressful situations where others would give up.
Why you think you will be the sole SURVIVOR: I am a go-getter. As a former Special Agent with the former Defense Investigation Services, I honed my interview and investigative skills to persevere when others are being evasive or less than forthcoming.
Caramoan
Name (Age): Phillip Sheppard (56)
Tribe Designation: Bikal, Enil Edam
Previous Season: Survivor: Redemption Island – Runner-Up
Current Residence: Santa Monica, Calif.
Occupation: Chief Executive Officer of Enter Software Sales
Personal Claim to Fame: Having served as a soldier in the U.S Army and being a Special Agent.
Inspiration in Life: My son, my family and people in Healthcare, the Fire Department and Police Officers who save lives in real time.
Hobbies: Skating, basketball, weightlifting and people.
Pet Peeves: People who act like they know everything and do nothing.
3 Words to Describe You: Outgoing, intelligent and a competitor.
If You Could Have a Couple Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why?
1) Picture of my son who I love very much. 2) Buddhist Meditation Bowl
SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: Smart players – Boston Rob Mariano, Andrea Boehlke and John Cochran.
Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: To win one million dollars and outwit the other contestants again.
Why You Think You’ll “Survive” SURVIVOR: I’m a hard worker who easily adapts to the elements in the wild.
Why You Think You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: I am smart, can read people well, and I finished 2nd last time around as the The Specialist.
Survivor: Redemption Island
Phillip rubbed his tribe the wrong way from day one, with his tribe did not taking kindly to his bossy attitude and outrageous statements. They were also skeptical of his background as a former federal agent. After Ometepe lost the first Immunity Challenge, he was approached by Kristina Kell and Francesca Hogi to work together to get rid of a member of the large Rob Mariano-led alliance, most likely Natalie Tenerelli, who was viewed as one of the weaker players. However, at Tribal Council, Phillip worked self-defensively and called out Kristina and Francesca (i.e. mispronouncing her name several times despite corrections) and Kristina's Hidden Immunity Idol. In a confessional, Phillip revealed that he had been acting as an annoying, controversial contestant intentionally as part of a well-hidden strategy to make his tribemates believe that he is the perfect person to bring to the final three.
After losing yet another Immunity Challenge, Phillip approached Rob and told him he "owned his vote". Rather than risk Phillip opening his mouth at Tribal Council again, Rob simply put his hand on Kristina's shoulder before he voted, indicating that he wanted Phillip to vote for her. Out of fear, Kristina decided to play the idol, not knowing Rob swerved the vote toward Matt Elrod's direction instead. Despite annoying his tribemates with his dictatorial approach, outbursts and odd comments, Phillip lasted through the merge at Boston Rob's expense.
After the merge, his peculiarities continued to be a constant source of discourse with the former Zapatera members. While Ometepe had the numbers advantage, the Zapateras outwardly showed their disdain for Phillip. When Steve Wright finally snapped and called him "crazy", Phillip lashed out, stating that Wright was subconsciously implying him the derogatory "N" word. This gesture sparked controversy around camp, where Phillip's alliance partners rallied to Steve's defense and let Phillip know that he was overreacting. That afternoon before Tribal Council, Julie jokingly stole Phillip's shorts, much to his dismay. At the next Tribal Council, the heated discussion between Steve and Phillip was a main topic of discussion. After admitting she stole the garment, Julie faced the wrath of Ometepe, voting her out. The next day, Phillip miraculously found his shorts under a rock, wearing them to the duel to surprise her. As predicted, the remaining Zapatera members, Ralph and Steve, were subsequently voted out, forcing the six Ometepes to turn on each other.
When Andrea returned from Redemption Island, she zeroed in on Phillip as being the next to go. Rob got wind of the plot and managed to convince the tribe to vote for Andrea instead. Phillip managed to make it to the final three along with Rob and Natalie. During the final Tribal Council, he was lambasted for his strange behavior and odd comments. The only person that voted for Phillip was Ralph, the only Jury member who seem to have a liking for Phillip (on account of Phillip saying that Ralph was the hardest worker of the Zapateras), which apparently was mutual. This one vote landed him in second place, losing to Rob by seven votes (8-1-0).
At the live reunion show, Jeff Probst introduced a special guest - a certified federal agent named Diane Hardy. She revealed that Phillip was indeed a former federal agent.
Voting History
| Phillip's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Phillip's Votes |
Voted Against Phillip |
| 1 | Francesca | Francesca, Kristina |
| 2 | Kristina, Matthew | |
| 3 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Kristina | Grant, Kristina, Rob |
| 5 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 7 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 8 | Matthew | - |
| 9 | Mike | David, Julie, Mike, Ralph, Steve |
| David | - | |
| 10 | Julie | Julie, Ralph, Steve |
| 11 | Ralph | - |
| Steve | - | |
| 12 | Andrea | Andrea |
| 13 | Grant | - |
| 14 | Andrea | - |
| Ashley | Ashley | |
| Jury Votes for Phillip |
Ralph | |
| Runner-Up, Day 39 | ||
Survivor: Caramoan
Phillip returned as one of ten Favorites that comprised the Bikal Tribe. Phillip, using strategies he had learned from his time being an ally of Rob Mariano in Survivor: Redemption Island, formed a second incarnation of Stealth R Us with fellow Redemption Island returnee Andrea Boehlke, Dawn Meehan, Malcolm Freberg, John Cochran, and Corinne Kaplan. This alliance put Phillip's rival Francesca Hogi, Brandon Hantz, Erik Reichenbach and Brenda Lowe in the minority. Francesca attempted to let Phillip know she was over what happened in their season, but Phillip (who had already buried the hatchet with Francesca) became annoyed with her for being stuck in the past. At the first Tribal Council, Francesca was voted out 6-4 for being a strategic threat.
Over time, Brandon became more annoyed with Phillip for his arrogance, and after Phillip referred to him as "middle management", Brandon told the rest of the tribe that Phillip was the biggest bully he had ever seen. The feud between Brandon and Phillip reached its climax when Brandon dumped Bikal's rice and beans shortly before the fifth Immunity Challenge. The tribe mutually agreed to forfeit so they could boot Brandon, which they went through with. Brandon took the time to lash out at Phillip for demeaning the other tribe members with the Stealth R Us codenames before he was unanimously voted out 8-1. After Brandon's departure, The Bikal tribe gained Gota members Michael Snow, Matt Bischoff, and Julia Landauer while Phillip's alliance only lost Malcolm and Andrea.
Corinne's budding friendship with Michael became a concern for Phillip's alliance, but despite this, Michael was spared at the next two Tribal Councils and reached the merge. At the merge, Dawn spilled the beans on the counter alliance that consisted of Eddie Fox, Malcolm, Corinne, Reynold Toepfer, and Michael after they had approached her to join them. Phillip and his alliance voted out Corinne at the following Tribal Council due to her betrayal.
Phillip and Stealth R Us decided to focus on targeting the three stronger males on the outside at the next Tribal Council (Eddie, Malcolm, and Reynold), but once Andrea caught wind of being a target, she became paranoid and the alliance switched it up to Michael just to be safe. With Michael now gone, Phillip and Stealth R Us enjoyed a 7-3 advantage over the alliance of Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold. At the Immunity Challenge, Phillip sat out voluntarily due to a childhood incident and did not want to be underwater for a long time (oddly enough, Phillip had participated in the previous Immunity Challenge, which was mainly underwater).
The alliance's target, Reynold, won Immunity and to make matters worse, Malcolm (the next target in line) found Reynold's replanted Hidden Immunity Idol. This left just Eddie vulnerable, but at Tribal Council, Malcolm stunned everyone when he pulled out two Hidden Immunity Idols, giving them to himself and Eddie. Phillip's alliance was forced to target each other, but decided to stick with their plan of vote splitting. Phillip became the 10th person voted out of Caramoan and the second jury member when he was voted out in a 4-0 vote due to Eddie and Malcolm playing the Idols.
At Final Tribal Council, Phillip "revoked" Sherri's membership from Stealth R Us for riding coattails and chastised Dawn for her constant emotional breakdowns being disruptive at everyday camp life. Phillip praised Cochran for his strategic game. In the end, Phillip voted for Cochran and thanked him for joining Stealth R Us.
Voting History
| Phillip's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Phillip's Votes |
Voted Against Phillip |
| 1 | Francesca | - |
| 2 | Bikal Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Bikal Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | No Tribal Council | |
| Bikal Tribe Immune | ||
| 5 | Brandon | Brandon |
| 6 | Matt | - |
| 7 | Michael; Juila1 |
- |
| 8 | Corinne | - |
| 9 | Michael | - |
| 10 | Eddie, Erik, Malcolm, Reynold | |
| Voted Out, Day 28 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Cochran | |
^1 In Tubby Lunchbox, the vote ended with a 3-3 tie between Julia and Michael, forcing a revote. Phillip voted for Julia at the revote.
Post-Survivor
- On Feburary 1, 2013, Phillip released a book entitled "The Specialist: The Costa Rica Job" through Amazon. Survivor: Nicaragua contestant Holly Hoffman wrote the foreword of the book. He plans to write a sequel to his book in the near future.
- In May, 2013, Phillip revealed that he had been cast in the critically acclaimed comedic web series "Development Hell" as "Dr. Dick Emerson", a character which pokes fun at "The Specialist" character Phillip played on Survivor.
Trivia
- In a confessional, Phillip mentioned that he is Buddhist.
- Phillip received a vote at every pre-merge Tribal Council he attended on Survivor: Redemption Island.
- Kristina Kell voted for him at every one of those Tribal Councils.
- Phillip was the oldest contestant on both Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: Caramoan.
- Phillip and Rudy Boesch are the only contestants to be the oldest on two separate seasons.
- Phillip is one of three contestants who was the oldest in their season and make to Final Tribal Council. The others was Kim Johnson and Lillian Morris. He is also the only male one to do so.
- Phillip was the only Ometepe member at the merge that did not win an Individual Challenge (Matthew Elrod won duels on Redemption Island; Grant Mattos, Rob Mariano, Ashley Underwood, Andrea Boehlke, and Natalie Tenerelli had all won either Reward Challenges or Immunity Challenges).
- Phillip has received 22 votes at Tribal Council, tied with Andrea Boehlke for the most among contestants who have played the game twice.
- Phillip accumulated the most votes against a castaway in a single season without being voted out with 17.
- Phillip initially had the record for most votes in a single season overall, outdoing Jonathan Penner's record of 15. This fact was referenced by during the Final Tribal Council of Survivor: Philippines.
- Phillip's record would be quickly tied by Ozzy Lusth in Survivor: South Pacific and eventually broken by Laura Morett in Survivor: Blood vs. Water with 19 votes against her.
- Phillip also has the record for most votes for a first time player. Baylor Wilson would tie this inSurvivor: San Juan del Sur.
- During Phillip's Redemption Island confessionals, his occupation was presented as "Former Federal Agent (?)", stating that the editors could not tell if he was joking or not. But in the reunion show, Jeff Probst confirmed that Phillip did work for the government.
- Unlike the other Caramoan returnees from the two "Redemption Island" seasons, Phillip was never sent to Redemption Island.
- Amongst the Favorites on Caramoan, Phillip is the only one to reach Day 39 on his original season.
- On Survivor: Caramoan, Phillip established a second version of Stealth R Us, giving everyone nicknames, and calling himself "The Specialist" again.
- He is one of two people to be a member of both incarnations. The other is Andrea Boehlke.
- Phillip is the first contestant to opt out of an Individual Immunity Challenge without being tempted by food. He would be followed by Missy Payne in Survivor: San Juan del Sur.
- Phillip is one of three contestants (alongside Sherri Biethman and Natalie Tenerelli) to reach the final on their first season and lose it to a returnee.
- Only men voted against Phillip during Survivor: Caramoan.
- Phillip was the only jury member on Caramoan to never be a member of Gota.
- Phillip, Francesca and Andrea were all on the same tribe in both of their seasons.
References
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