Sayville native voted off 'Survivor'
NYC firefighter Tom Westman of Sayville won "Survivor: Palau" in 2004. He returned to compete on "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" in 2010. Credit: CBS / Bill Inoshita
Maybe Leo Durocher was right about nice guys. (You know. That thing about finishing last.) Except that Tom Westman has already won "Survivor." So, on second thought, maybe Leo was wrong.
That said, Sayville native and former New York Fire Department member, got dumped from the "Heroes vs. Villains" edition of CBS' "Survivor" Thursday night.
"It's me tonight," he said in the tribal council, "unless a couple of good people vote for the team strength and unity, and not [for] the numbers."
They voted for the numbers.
His departure was not surprising. His "Heroes" team has lost immunity challenge after immunity challenge, while Westman got a reprieve last week after finding the immunity idol. Whether he clicked with his team or not is up to close watchers. Nevertheless, it's hard to imagine anyone (hero or villain) wanted to reward a former champion with a million bucks, or even keep him around.
The basics on Westman: After winning "Survivor 10," he left the FDNY and later joined the Hartford Financial Services Group as an executive in Manhattan. He's father to three children - Meghan, 13, Declan, 11, and Conor, 9 - and married to Bernadette.
Several years ago, he rebuffed the show's offer to join "Fans vs. Favorites" (2008) because he had just started a new job - as he said in an interview last month - and "after going through considerable effort and expense to turn a fireman into someone who sells financial products, I didn't want to walk out the door. It would have seemed like I wasn't serious" while you "risk getting linked with professional reality TV people who have done shows four, five times." But his wife encouraged him by pointing out the obvious: Palau was the most fun he ever had.
A call to Westman's cell last night was not returned. Celebrating, Tom?
