Survivor paid tribute to Rudy Boesch on Wednesday night. Boesch was on Season 1 of Survivor, back when it was a risk to be a cast member on a new type of reality competition show.
Rudy passed away on November 1, which was very sad news to fans who have been with the show since it debuted on CBS. Even though it has been close to 20 years since Rudy played Survivor, he was just that memorable.
Born in 1928, Rudy passed away at the age of 91 and will certainly be missed by the show, its fans, his family, and the CBS audience.
At the close of the show on Wednesday night, producers shared a title card for Rudy. It has since been posted to the Twitter account, and we are sharing it below.
A #Survivor icon. ❤️ An American hero. ?? You will be deeply missed, Rudy. pic.twitter.com/inBuMZ7t90
— SURVIVOR (@survivorcbs) November 7, 2019
The reference to Rudy being an American hero is that he was a Navy SEAL many years ago. It was something that came up several times during his season on the show, and a part of his past that helped form his character.
Rudy was not just well-loved by viewers of the show, but also by Survivor cast members and host Jeff Probst. A post from Jeff made its way to social media shortly after the sad news came out.
Our hearts go out to Rudy's family and friends. He will be greatly missed. ? https://t.co/yRMMFL9em6
— SURVIVOR (@survivorcbs) November 3, 2019
Richard Hatch ended up winning Survivor: Borneo and Kelly Wiglesworth finished in second place that season. Rudy came in third place, ending up just short of that final vote for the $1 million.
Richard had an interesting friendship with Rudy, and he noted as much on his own Twitter account when it was revealed that Rudy had passed away. Richard doesn’t post to social media that often, so it shows how much he respected Rudy.
Survivor airs Wednesday nights at 8/7c on CBS.
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