'Survivor' proves to be real test for teacher

Stories by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Photos by Bill Inoshita/CBS copyright 2005 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

For an art teacher, Bruce Kanegai is one tough dude.

He estimates that he has faced off with bears in the wilderness 14 times. He's walked through a crocodile pit in Bangkok. Elephants have stepped over him. He lived for a time in a Hawaiian volcano. He was knocked off a cliff by a boulder and was lucky enough to land on a ledge. He's survived a rattlesnake bite. He holds a black belt in karate and teaches the discipline. He estimates that he's made more than 40 visits to urgent care units over 25 years.

But nothing was tougher than being a contestant on "Survivor: Panama — Exile Island," says Kanegai, a Simi Educators Association member who exited the island in a dramatic episode a few weeks ago. No, it wasn't the machete wound to the face that forced him to leave the show. When that happened, he just spit out a tooth and persevered. But when his bladder and intestines became blocked from dehydration and poor nutrition, Kanegai was evacuated from the island writhing in pain in the middle of the night.

"I was in pain for 12 days before my body started shutting down," says Kanegai, a teacher at Simi Valley High School for 34 years. "I have a very, very high pain tolerance. But the pain escalated, and I thought my abdominal artery might burst. My father died from that."

When Kanegai finally succumbed to the pain, he was alone on the island with two of the show's most annoying contestants, Shane and Courtney. He describes them as "my two nightmares." All the others were enjoying a reward challenge. With a storm and high tide preventing the medics from landing a helicopter, he had to be carried by stretcher to a boat. And helping carry the stretcher was Shane, who wasn't wearing any clothes.

"I must be the only survivor escorted off the show by a naked, wild man," recalls Kanegai, who at 58 was the oldest contestant.

The boat took five hours to reach Panama City. "We hit every storm wave and swell. My body kept slamming into the boat and hitting the ceiling."

After three nights in the hospital, he returned to the island for the tribal council, where he served as a judge for the "final two."

"Being in the hospital was one of the lowest points of my life," he says. "I had trained so hard [running two miles barefoot in the street, doing 100 two-knuckle push-ups and 300 sit-ups each day], I felt like I was letting people down when I left. I wanted to represent teachers. I wanted to represent senior citizens. I wanted to represent the little guy, because I was the smallest and was always the last one picked. I wanted to represent my students and inspire people with good moral values, honesty and integrity."

Lying in his hospital bed, he finally came to peace with the fact that he may not have won $1 million, but he did accomplish the rest of his goals. He's also proud that he kept his dignity under extremely trying circumstances.

The show's editing, however, may not always reflect what really transpires, says Kanegai. His image suffered a blow after one episode that made it look like he and another contestant had swiped a bottle of wine and gotten drunk in the outhouse while everyone else was asleep.

What the cameras didn't show was that he was working hard chopping fish while his teammates drank three bottles of wine. By the time he finished his chores, everyone else had gone to sleep. After washing up, he returned to find there was no room left in the shelter. When it began to rain, he and another contestant took refuge in the outhouse with the wine.

The footage of their emergence at 4 a.m. was less than flattering. They literally rolled out from a crouched position. It's "no wonder we looked drunk" after being cramped in such a small space. Besides, he says, "the film crew kept waking us up every hour."

Only a fraction of hundreds of hours of footage gets televised. "What you see is a result of the editing process, and you have to accept that as part of the show."

He is less accepting of the treatment he received at the hand of his own school district. After being chosen as a contestant, he had to have his wife and principal, who were both happy for him, sign confidentiality clauses. No one was to know he had been on the show, which finished shooting before Christmas, until it began airing in February. When he confided in an administrator in order to get an unpaid leave of absence for one month, he was told that if he didn't show up for school the next day, the school board would be asked to permanently terminate his job.

"I expected him to say, 'What can I do to help you?' or 'You have brought so much honor to the school district and the community,'" says Kanegai, a former district teacher of the year.

Every day on the island he worried that he would not have a job to come back to. "Everybody in the tribe knew it," he says, although it was not revealed on air. When he returned home, he was suspended for five days without pay. He wasn't allowed to set foot on the school grounds until he signed a piece of paper that accused him of abandoning his students. He signed it and went back to work.

Such treatment was completely unjustified, says Kanegai. A student teacher who had worked with him for six periods a day over a four-month period was willing to substitute.

"I'm not bitter," he said. "I don't let any one incident or person ruin my day."

He was willing to put up with the treatment because of his deep love of teaching and devotion to his students. "I take such pride in teaching," he says. "Teachers are so often overlooked. To me, they are the heroes of the nation. I tried to bring that to 'Survivor' by acting calm, quiet, wise and powerful."

Kanegai is now being treated as a celebrity everywhere he goes. Whether he's eating sushi in a restaurant, going through security at the airport, throwing dice in Vegas or walking down the street, people stop him and ask, "Are you Bruce?"

Offers are also coming in for endorsements and appearances, which he will consider after the finale.

Since being on "Survivor," he's learned to really appreciate life, he says. "I think my life is just beginning. I'm looking for a new adventure."

"It must be in the stars," he laughs, reading the slip of paper he has just pulled out of a fortune cookie: "Soon you will find more adventure in your life."