Survivor fans ready! 

When the reality show “Survivor, Gabon – Earth’s Last Eden” debuted on CBS at Thursday, Sept., 25, South Portland resident Bob Crowley was among the 18 contestants vying for the $1 million prize. While the show’s enthusiasts will be closely watching their television screens, Crowley has returned to his regular life – standing in front of students, teaching physics at Gorham High School. 

He said his students are pretty excited – “but they aren’t as excited as I am,” he said.

The 57-year-old Crowley is the oldest contestant on the show this season and he will attempt to “outwit, outlast and outplay” fellow survivors as they engage in physical and mental challenges – and get voted off one by one.

 Although contract requirements forbid him from discussing his performance on the show, including when [or if] he was “voted off,” his strategy or friends he made during his time on the west coast of Africa, he said being a contestant on Survivor was a “hoot.”

Crowley did not say he was a fan of the show, but he said he watched the first episode of “Survivor- – Borneo” – and season 14, “Vanuatu,” which featured his former student Julie Berry of Gorham.

After a family friend suggested Crowley try out for the show, he said he figured he’d give it a shot and mailed in a four-page application, along with a video.

“I talked about me, about who I am,” Crowley said, noting he detailed his life as a teacher, tree climber and entrepreneur. “I remove skunks and I take care of houses.”

According to his biography on the official Survivor Web site, Crowley has associate and bachelors degrees in forestry from the University of Maine, Orono and a masters degree in education from the University of Southern Maine. He also has served as a first mate on a research boat for the Smithsonian Institution in Canada, as an entomologist for the USDA, as a skunk relocater, as well as president, vice president and chief negotiator for the Gorham Teacher’s Union.

He said CBS liked the video enough to fly him to Los Angeles where he was interviewed in person but he didn’t think he passed the interview phase when he answered the question, “Are you lying or being deceitful?”

 “I told them I wasn’t,” he said. “But, they sent me back [to Maine] and then called me again and flew me back out for the psychiatric exam and physical [fitness exam].”

When he learned he was accepted as a contestant, Crowley said he began swimming daily “just to get in shape” for the challenges. He said he expected to be good at the physical challenges because he is good at climbing, jumping and balancing.

He also thought he would be good a puzzles and other challenges that required keen thinking skills.

“My primary strength is that I am clever,” Crowley said, noting he describes himself as a “Maine Yankee” who is resourceful. “I assumed I’d be good at finding food and being a provider for my tribe.” 

By June, Crowley was on a plane bound for Gabon.  

Food and salt was what he missed most, he said.

Fried clams from Portland’s Dimillo’s Floating Restaurant and “crackling calamari” from South Portland’s Salt Water Grill were the top two items he craved. 

“You don’t know how much you miss salt until you don’t have it,” he said. 

His father, H. Gordon Crowley, was also very happy his son made it on Survivor.

“He thought I’d represent Maine well,” Crowley said. “He was my biggest fan.”

However, H. Gordon Crowley died Sept. 1, before he could see his son on television.

Crowley’s wife Peggy and three children, David, 26, John, 25, and Page, 20, will be watching the finale, anxious to learn if one of Maine’s own won the million dollar prize.

And to see if Crowley set out to accomplish his main strategy – “is to be a provider and to fly under the radar, out to prove that nice guys can make it to the end of the game.”