Back in the Army as a Company Commander: An Interview with Survivor 2’s Kel

While the Survivor: The Australian Outback DVD hit stores last week, I had an opportunity to briefly chat with one of the contestants who left fairly early but made a big impact. Kel Gleason, who was in the U.S. Army while on Survivor but then left shortly thereafter, is now back in the service and just recently took command of an intelligence unit based in Hawaii.

Kel’s story on Survivor has been told and retold from just about every angle. But as the various seasons of the show have continued, Kel has kept a fairly low profile in the U.S. since being on Survivor, but in his native Canada, he worked for Global Television for a while. Kel told me that after leaving the Army, “in late 2001 I had received a phone call from Global Television in Toronto, Canada. They asked me if I would be interested in working in their entertainment section as one of their reporters promoting Survivor. The timing was great! I packed my car and headed for Toronto. I worked for Global TV for a while, travel[ing] around Canada and United Sates.”

What happened to change his life again from entertainment reporting back to the Army? Kel said, “When I left the Army in 2001, I was stationed at Fort Hood Texas. Fort Hood Texas is a great place for training... but not so great if you are single. There were no eligible females there. So when I left the Army in 2001, it was not because I was ‘dissatisfied’ with the Army. On the contrary, I was extremely happy in the Army and wanted to make a career out of it, and still do. The Army has always been my second family. The Army values were easy to incorporate into my life because I was already living them. But what I lacked at the time was my own family. I was 33 years old at the time (now I am 37) and I knew I could easily be single for the rest of my life if I did not become proactive and start looking for a wife. So when my commander asked why I was leaving I told him that I was going to go look for a wife, because there is no way I am going to find one here in Fort Hood Texas. I promised him that as soon as I found a wife I would I come back to the Army. My philosophy is that if you want something to happen, you just don't sit around and wait for it, you have to make things happen. It's your life and you decide what direction it is going to go in.”

So Kel left the Army and ended up on Survivor. From there he moved on to reporting. While in Toronto working for Global TV, the woman who would eventually become his wife introduced herself. “Eventually, I met my wife Sonya, in Toronto, at a fashion show during Fashion Week. I was impressed that she came up to me and introduced herself. Some time after that we started dating on a regular basis. We got married on 25 November 2003.”

“As promised, I called the Army and told them I was married. My orders were cut and I was back in the Army as of 15 December 2003. For the past 15 months I have been stationed in Hawaii, gearing up to be a company commander. I am really glad I am getting the opportunity to serve as a commander for this particular company. The soldiers and the First Sergeant are top notch. I could not ask for a better situation to step into for my company command time. All army captains that I know look forward to getting a chance to be a company commander.”

(The photo at the top of this article shows Kel, a Captain, receiving the guidon from his senior commander in a “passing of the guidon” ceremony that symbolizes the change of command. The ceremony represents the passing of authority, responsibility, trust, and mission from the outgoing commander to the incoming commander.)

Given all that Kel has done since then, what did he think of doing Survivor? He told me, “Doing Survivor was a good thing. And I am glad I did it.” In fact, he would have liked a second chance in All-Stars! However, Kel doesn’t really have any contact with the other players. “We all have our own lives,” he said. “I have met some of them from other seasons. but that was when I use to live on the mainland and we would do the charity events. They are all interesting individuals, different backgrounds and unique lifestyles.”

Kel continued, “As you know, we were brought together because we did a game show. The game show was over four years ago and now it's time to move on with our separate lives.” In fact, while a number of Outback contestants added commentary to the new DVD, Kel said he was not even contacted about it.

But that definitely doesn’t bother Kel. “Bottom line, life is great: I'm married to a woman that means everything to me and I'm the company commander in the greatest army in the world. It just does not get better than that.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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