2004-05-11 - 10:37 p.m.

I heart Rupert

Doesn't have the effect of Amber wearing her declaration on her shirt... but I do heart Rupert.

My husband and I have loved him from the minute we saw him on his first Survivor season. Big hairy scary guy who didn't fool me for a second - much like two other big hairy scaries whom I'd follow to the ends of the earth. I loved how in the reunion/finale show of that season, Jeff jokingly asked Rupert something to the effect of, how'd you ever get such a gorgeous wife? And I will always remember Rupert looking at his wife with complete adoration and saying, she saw right through me. That's my man. Robfather shmobfather.

There is a clip on the cbs.com site of Rupert's final words after he was voted out. He talks about how he was the little kid who got picked on. And he's not just talking about when he was an actual kid. He was talking about how, even after his first Survivor season, he still believed he was that worthless little kid he was told he was.

But in this clip he was talking about how he felt when he walked in with his tribe in the all-star season, the first time the tribes saw each other, and heard some of the others, players he had idolized... people who, as he said, he would have waited in line for hours to get their autographs... he heard them saying, that's Rupert. Walked up and heard someone who was a celebrity to him recognize who he was, and say - that's Rupert. He repeated it at least three times - and his voice, and his eyes - you could tell it was a defining moment. And now he says he knows he doesn't have to be that scary-ass guy who pushes people away. His voice when he said that was quiet and almost amazed.

Kind of an odd thing to be a life changing catalyst? Maybe. For me it was a guitar pick, a smile and four words. What bizarre and insignificant components for a life altering event. I admit that. But that's how it happened. The baseline was raised. And I just hear that same thing in Rupert's voice in that clip. He got his guitar pick.

He's got the code of honor of a Klingon, a heart the size of an ocean, the laugh of a madman, and he's completely arrogant and completely insecure at the same time. And he quotes Kinks songs. How do you not love him?

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