The premise is simple: outwit, outplay, and outlast, but America’s most famous reality show delivers much more than a simple strategy and adventure game. Entering its 11th season this fall, Survivor is well known for placing strange casts of conflicting characters into remote settings, then providing twists and turns worthy of a Laurie R. King novel.

But this season, set in the Guatemalan rainforest, may provide the most intriguing juxtaposition yet: a gay Mormon cast member.

Rafe Judkins, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, grew up in a large, eclectic Mormon family. He spent his early years traveling around the United States in a seventeen-passenger van, and it was this experience that he credits with getting him interested in travel and nature. His family eventually settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he attended an esteemed prep school, and upon graduation he was selected as the senior class member “Most Likely To Be On Survivor”. Four years later, that prediction has come true.

Rafe is being promoted by CBS as “the gay Mormon Ivy Leaguer”, but the network seems content to leave the burning questions surrounding this label as a secret—for now. However, his family is (at least superficially) very supportive of him, as evidenced by their jubilations about him on their family homepage, LandonJudkins.net.

Rafe is the fifth out gay male to appear on Survivor in the show’s history. Richard Hatch won the premier season in Pulau Tiga by making alliances—a concept that is now universal to nearly every contestant in every Survivor season—and flaunting himself as a “fat, naked gay man”. Subsequent seasons saw Brandon Quinton and John Carroll saddled with every gay stereotype in the book, and the latter was considered one of the most deceiving contestants on the show.

John later defended his actions, saying, “When you are gay, you learn to have façades. So, I think manipulation is inherently a defense mechanism for many gay people.” However, neither contestant was particularly memorable once their season ended.

Last season saw a small break in the mold for gay contestants, as Coby Archa, a conniving Texan hairdresser, surprised those around him with his physical presence in the challenges. However, he ultimately couldn’t handle the social, schoolyard-like aspects of the game, and he was eliminated halfway through the season.

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