Interview with Survivor: Micronesia’s Chet Welch

AE: You're a beauty queen coach, correct?
CW: Correct, yes, for the Miss America system.

AE: How does that prepare you for being on the show? Is there anything you can take from that and apply to Survivor?
CW: Absolutely. I've been coaching girls for 25 years for the Miss America Pageant, basically in Pennsylvania. I'm actually the most successful pageant coach in Miss America, period, with all my winners.

It just gives you confidence. You need to stand out. You can't compete as any former contestants have competed. I didn't want to go there as any former contestant. You have to stand out. You have to be different. You have to do what you have to do. When you get out there, you need to be different enough to figure out exactly what you're doing.

AE: Are you conscious of being a role model for other gay men, especially men over 35?
CW: I hoped to be. I've always been open in my area. I've always been even though I grew up in a rural farming area of Pennsylvania. Truthfully, I've never had an issue in my life about being gay. If people had an issue, I wasn't really aware of it, or if they did, I figured that was their problem not mine. I do hope in some way I'm able to encourage other people that way, as well as I was hoping to show people that might have homophobia or issues with it in some way that it's not what it's sometimes portrayed to be.

I think that's what happened in my rural area. It turned out that people didn't understand a lot in my area, but they knew me. They knew I was gay, and it was okay to be gay then because Chet is gay. I was always the one that when I had parties, the neighbors would kill to come to my parties because they knew they'd be fun or whatever. I really think I have helped people that way.

Sure, I'd love to be a role model. It wasn't my main intention, but if other things can come out of it then I hope I can be a role model for... well, I hate to say older gay men. [laughs]

AE: Well, just gay men in general.
CW: In general, yeah. I 'd love to be someone like that.

AE: When I was interviewing Todd Herzog a few weeks ago, he said he remembered seeing Richard Hatch on the first season of Survivor and being surprised that gay men weren't just in their twenties. Do you think older gay men are fairly represented in the media?
CW: You know what? I really don't, but I can't say it's really anyone's fault but their own. I think older gay men often have that stigma that they need to keep quiet about it, where younger ones don't because they grew up in a different environment.

I don't think we are fairly represented, but I don't think it's entirely the media's fault or the public. I think it's self caused. It wasn't an issue for me. I didn't care. I just wanted to go on the show as myself who happens to be gay, not as a "gay man." I wasn't going to be anyone else but who I am.

AE: Who were your role models when you were younger? How did you become so confident?
CW: Truthfully, I didn't have any. My family was always supportive even though it wasn't something we discussed readily. I just knew there was that support behind me. It was funny because, again, I grew up in a rural community and there wasn't even anyone my age around.

Basically, I grew up with animals in my life. In a way, I think that sort of protected me. I never had those issues growing up of being called names or whatever because I grew up with animals. That's what I spent all my time around. I think they're what protected me and saved me all those years. By the time I was old enough and getting out in the world, I was so confident about everything because of them that it really helped me through everything.

That's another reason, even in the game I tried to bring it up, one of my main goals in life is promoting awareness of adopting animals from shelters. That's my main thing in life, something I've been passionate about since I was little, and still am. I pretty much owe my life to animals so I'm trying to give back in return and help them out.

AE: Do you have a partner?
CW: I do have a partner. We've been together over a year and a half. We live together.

AE: How did he feel about you being on the show?
CW: He was very supportive of me going on Survivor, probably more supportive than I was. I really felt at that point in my life, I didn't have a reason that I needed to go. I had a great job I'd been with for 20 years, I was very content with my life, I wasn't trying to get away from anything, and I was trying to look for reason not to do it — and I couldn't find any. Everyone was saying "You need to go do this." My boyfriend Bob was probably the most supportive person in it. I knew he'd be proud for me to go, so I went for him in a lot of ways.

AE: So what exactly is a pageant coach? What do you do?
CW: I help girls prepare for the state or Miss America pageants. I take them to New York to get their evening gowns done, I work on their interviews, I take them to whoever they need to work with for their particular talent whether they're singers, dancers, pianists, or whatever. I teach them basic knowledge of how to handle certain situations and how to stand out, basically, how to be the one the judges are looking for.

AE: What drew you to the beauty pageant business?
CW: I was a member of the local Jaycee group and they ran a local pageant. The winner went on to Miss Pennsylvania. The director no longer wanted to do it, so they put me in charge because I used to show horses and cattle, and they figured I had the best knowledge of how to handle contestants. That's really how I started. I went from showing horse and cattle to showing contestants.