Survivor 50's Benjamin 'Coach' Wade Wants To Go Mano A Mano With Colby Again — Plus, Will He And Ozzy Play Nice?

The following interview was conducted on location in Fiji before filming began for "Survivor 50."

When Benjamin "Coach" Wade asks at the top of an interview if you want to hear an ancient Japanese Samurai proverb, the answer is a resounding, "Yes!" 

The Dragon Slayer is back, only this time he's unleashing a new and improved Version 4.0, one who's ready to stay fluid to win, while also serving up some killer TV moments. This deep-dive interview with Coach is everything one could ever possibly want out of the now-four-time player. Below, he explains his reasons for returning and where he stands with his former nemesis Ozzy. He also lets us inside his life as a family man and how he transformed Tai Chi into "Coach Chi." Plus, he shares a ton of hot takes on the new era, and even calls out some of the "naysayer a–holes" he played with in the past. 

Read on for the full Coach Q&A, then check out our interviews with Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick and Jeff Probst for more "Survivor 50" pregame content. More to come!

TVLINE | Tell me a bit about your decision to come back to "Survivor." Why now?
BENJAMIN "COACH" WADE | The elusive eel that's been wriggling out of the "Survivor" casting nets every time they call me — not in the right spot, not in the right time, but now the roads have converged for me to come back and for very specific reasons that I'm back here, but I feel like the time is right for me to appear again. Like every good superhero, in the nick of time.

TVLINE | How will you adapt to the game's new era?
Since I last played "Survivor" 14 years ago, I was a single man running all over the place, living for myself, and met the woman of my dreams. Fell in love with her, her little nine-month-old boy, and the rest is history, man. I'm a much different man than the last time I played, and you're going to see that reflected in my game. [There's] hopefully a little bit of humility being on the bottom in the family tree. As a dad I gotta put everybody else first instead of me, and so I think for me this game, being fluid, not rigid — Final 5 promises, Final 3 must happen or else. Less talk about honor and integrity. Still going to play that way, but not pigeonhole myself. I want to be fluid and finding players that I normally would not work with is a big part of where I want to go with my game, not just saying I'm going to take the strongest, Joe and Jonathan and all those guys, to the end. But again, being fluid, finding people that I want to work with. It's a newer, quicker game. I mean, my life is new and quick, trust me. When I wake up in the morning and get those kids ready for school, pack their lunches, I'm running all over the place. So, I think you're going to be able to see that playing from the bottom, I don't mind. In the past I've only known how to play from the top, and this time around, I don't mind playing from the bottom, playing from the middle. I don't have to be the leader of the pack at all times, so I can kind of slide into the shadows.

It reminds me of an ancient Japanese Samurai proverb, if you want to hear it. "You prepare for war beneath the shield. And you sharpen the blade in silence." I think that's very apropos for how I want to play this game. But I mean, if I'm called on to be a leader, don't mind it. I feel like I'm comfortable in whatever role that is necessary for me to slip into.

TVLINE | Tell me a little bit about your past relationships with some of the people here.
There's a lot of people, obviously, in a returning season that have played with each other and so what about me? Where does that put the Dragon Slayer? The only person that I've actually played with was Ozzy, and we hated each other's guts. It didn't end well in "South Pacific." Everybody else, they were on the other side of the beach on the tribe that I was supposed to be on, on the Heroes side. I haven't played with them at all! I didn't. I said more words to Colby's body during that first challenge as I side-mounted him and to his nether-regions than I did to his face because I never talked to those people. I literally haven't talked to Colby, Stephenie, Cirie, none of those people I've talked to. My goal is to just start anew. Just totally start fresh. Wipe the slate clean with Ozzy. Wipe the slate clean with anybody else who might think I'm a character rather than a player, and just come in humble and ready to slay it.

TVLINE | So you're open to working with Ozzy?
Yeah, I could work with Ozzy. Why not? I think "options open for the entire game" is gonna be part of my strategy. And with Ozzy, I think he's in a different place in life just watching how he carries himself in the game so far. I think he might be in a different spot. I know I'm in a different spot, so we'll see. Hopefully I can read him when I first come up to him, but I'm not opposed to working with anybody really.

TVLINE | What's a past mistake that you're looking to learn from?
Not making promises that I can't keep. I do not want to see the game slip through my fingers again, and I did it then and I'm glad I did it. I'd make that choice 10 times out of 10. Cochran and Edna came up to me, Final 7, and they said, "Coach, congratulations, you've won the game." I was like, "I have?" And they were like, "Yeah. And I was like, "I'm riding your coattails. Nobody will vote for me." Cochran was like, in perfect cue, "I'm a flipper. Nobody's gonna vote for the flipper. You've won this game. Take us to the end." And I thought about it. I'm like, there's a million dollars, or I could be a man of my word. In "Survivor," the winning strategy means that you've got to tell a few lies and manipulate perception, and hopefully those lies you actually own up to, which I didn't do in "South Pacific," and that came back to really hurt me. So that's, I think, a big part of how I'm going to play this game.

TVLINE | If this is the last time you play, what's the legacy of the Dragon Slayer? How do you want to be remembered?
It's taken a lot for them to bring me back. I was adamant about not coming back when they called me for several seasons. And so this season, I only felt a shift in my mind less than a month ago where I was on the fence to say no and I said yes. So, I just want people to feel that joy that I feel every day waking up that radiates inside of me. I want them to see the Dragon Slayer 4.0 that can actually come out here and try to win the game. I think my legacy has already been cemented no matter what happens out here in Season 50, and that's a huge monkey off my back. I don't have to worry about that. I'm not out here to prove anything to anybody. I'm out here to have fun, be in this beautiful environment, play this game one more time that I love and hate in the same breath, and make a good show of it.

TVLINE | Who are you most excited to see out here?
I was most excited to see Colby. I was thinking, "Let's go mano-a-mano again. Let's go back on the beach and get into a wrestling tournament." I love seeing Jonathan. I love seeing Kamilla, which might seem a little bit [like] a random pick, but she was adamant about just saying, "I want Coach to come back," and to keep that flame alive. That speaks volumes. That's cool loyalty, even though she didn't know me. So I was excited to see her hit the beach.

TVLINE | Who are you hoping is the first man or woman out?
I think the first person that should be sent packing would be somebody from the new season, and here's why I say that. We haven't seen them. I'm having flashbacks to Ponderosa when Russell was brand new and he lied to all of us as to how he played his game. We don't know those two contestants. They might be great people, but we don't know them. They know every single one of our gameplay, and that's a dangerous spot to be in. So I would say the first person that needs to go would be Rizo.

TVLINE | Is there anyone you were expecting to see here, but is M.I.A.?
I thought for sure that we would see somebody like Domenick or maybe Jonathan Penner. Or maybe even Rupert. I know he's had problems with throat cancer, but of those three, it would have been cool to see one of them. And you know, since they're picking up winners, it'll always be great to see Parvati. She's a champ. She's the best player, in my opinion, ever on "Survivor." I don't know how she does in "Australian Survivor," [which hadn't aired at the time of this interview] but I'll tell you, she might have laid an egg in "Winners at War," but I bet she goes to Australia and kicks ass. She's an awesome player. For me, I think she's the best that's ever played.

TVLINE | How do you feel about winners being a part of this season?
I think that people will assume that the winners are going to be big targets, and maybe they will be. Guess what? I'm going to go with the flow for the beginning, at least. But it's like, "Hey, whatever, whoever you guys want." Rizo, winners, doesn't matter to me. Hate to say I'm picking up a little bit of Sandra's M.O., anybody but me, but the winners don't scare me. I've played with winners before. I was on a tribe with Parvati and Sandra. And then, later on all those people went out and won, a lot of them. Boston Rob, Tyson, Cochran from another season. So winners don't scare me. I think that their time will come, and if they make it to the end, then good on them. They're obviously great players, so it doesn't bother me. I'll work with them.

TVLINE | Who are the biggest threats out here?
Me. I think the biggest threat out here is me. I think with my evolved game... a convergence of events that have happened recently. Joe being on "48" and actually saying two words that are near and dear to my heart: honor and integrity. For that to happen, for Ben Katzman to out of the blue ask me to come play in his band where I was able to meet a few of these people beforehand, and word spread that I was here and there and everywhere, and I met a bunch of these people, it's crazy. That does not happen by chance. I'm a big believer in fate and destiny, and I feel like the table is set for me to come out here and play a game that can win.

TVLINE | Who else from the new era have you met?
I flew to Miami and I played trumpet in Ben Katzman's band, and I said, "Dude, I don't want to meet any Survivors. I go to no events. This is not what that is," and he was like, "OK, no problem, no problem." Play the show, the next day I'm leaving. I'm flying on a 24-hour trip, and he's like, "Hey, I got a couple of people coming over." I was like, "What? I thought I told you." He's like, "No, but they're super cool." I'm like, "Are they Survivors?" And he's like, "Yeah." So I sit there and I talk to Wendell and I talked to Dee, just for about an hour. It was a beautiful conversation. I felt a really good vibe from Dee. They let me know that people actually like the Dragon Slayer in the new era, which blew my mind. I feel like everybody still hates me from those first few seasons where I was a laughingstock to everybody. They thought I was a joke. So, it was really good. It was actually healing to hear them say [that]. People value authenticity. They're not afraid of it like they were back then.

I went up to Brooklyn and I was playing in a show and somebody comes up to me, they're like, "Can you please sign my Buffalo Bills jersey?" And I'm just like, "OK." Ben's like, "Hey, he's on this current season." I'm like, "Oh, OK, that's cool." He's like, "Coach, I love you." He had this great winning smile, right? And it was the past winner. It was Kyle. So just random events like that that point to a good direction for the start of this game. Good vibes to start off.

TVLINE | Did you vote in the fan vote? Anything in particular you're hoping wins out?
I did not vote for the fan vote, but I certainly encouraged Ben Katzman. He's getting all in this interview. I certainly encouraged Ben Katzman to vote. He was like, "Coach, do you want rice?" And I said, "Well, if I weren't playing, I'd say no, but I'm playing, so let's vote for rice." Less twists and turns. I'm really hoping that it's gonna be an old school feel, but a lot of new school twists. The new era doesn't scare me. I think it's cool. I think it's great that they keep evolving, so we'll see which ones that the fans voted for. I think it's a great way to start a season to incorporate the fans that have been loyal to this franchise for all these years or maybe just started watching during COVID like a lot of people did. If anything could be won out of that, "Survivor" won a lot of fans coming out of COVID.

TVLINE | How do you feel about the fire-making challenge at Final 4?
I liked it when it was first introduced, but I think it's run its course. I hope it's not here. I think that the person that wins that individual immunity challenge, really, they deserve to be in the driver's seat. Who do they want to sit next to? I mean, that Final 4 challenge is usually a doozy, so you've got to give even more credibility and power to the person that won it.

TVLINE | Have you been keeping up with the show since you've been on?
I have not watched much of the new era of "Survivor." I stopped watching at "40," and then when I watched all those old schoolers just play a terrible game and get picked off one by one, I thought, "Man, the game has passed you guys by. I'm over this." So I didn't watch it. When I met Ben Katzman, I watched his season, and then I started watching the current season. Everybody else is Cliff Notes. I had to watch the best of. Best of Emily Flippen. Best of Genevieve. But I think it gave me enough flair. Maybe less is more in this case. Less knowledge is going to be better for me. You can overwatch, overthink, overplan things, and I don't think that I'm doing that going in this time around.

TVLINE | Any new era hot takes you'd like to share?
I do think it's unfortunate that they don't play 39 days. I think that the character growth and the crippling psychological and physical duress that your body goes through from Day 26 to Day 39 is pretty crazy. And so I wish that people could play the 39, not because, "Hey, I played 39, so you have to as well," but just that it becomes a whole new game from about Day 24, 25 onward. There were some times where I thought, these people are really emotional. There were times where I thought these people are soft. There were times when I thought, didn't you do the psych evaluation testing so that you would know if you had a freaking panic attack Day 1? Maybe they're on so many medications that they just had to be like, "Oh, I can't survive out here without that." I don't know. That's cool. To each his own, but I was surprised at how soft some of the people were. But on the other hand, I was really surprised at how joyous everybody seems running into Tribal, running into challenges. You know, making songs and coming in with big smiles on their faces. If they come in and they can't even handle their anxiety the first day and then they come out on the other side and they've conquered it, I think that it seems to be more joyous. It seems to be less judgmental because when I played, super judgy.

TVLINE | Do the new era players have an advantage?
I think the new era players have a huge advantage. They're all hanging out with each other. They're all going to events together. I'm going to none of that crap. Every season I've been on, I'm like, "Don't go to those events. They'll suck you in, you'll get a false sense of self-identity," and everybody's like, "[makes camera-snapping noises] I'm at all the events, look at me!" But hey, there's no judgment. It's just for me, I'm looking at this cast and they're all hanging out with each other, they're all social media crazy, you know. Crazy networked. And I'm up here in the middle of nowhere in Northern California without even a CBS affiliate. So, I think they're at a big advantage because they all know each other. They've all played together, and it's very easy on "Survivor" to say, "We've got a group of people here. Who's the minority?" Old school... there's only six people here from Season 1-32, for crying out loud! What the frick is up with that? Could be disastrous, could be heroic. Whatever it is, it'll be an adventure either way.

TVLINE | What was your first reaction to the cast overall?
I was a little bit disappointed when I saw the cast reveal, only because, in my opinion, which doesn't amount to anything... eight people from Seasons 1-18, eight people from Season 19-30-whatever, and eight people from Seasons 33-49. That's the only way to do it. Let's make a fair representation because fans have come and gone [in] each era. I'm sure that there were people that were really into "Survivor" in the 20s and they're sitting here saying, "We have nobody here." I know there were a lot of returning seasons and all that kind of stuff, but I think that it would have been really cool to have old school, middle school, new school, and run it with that. But other than that, other than being surprised that there were 12 players from season 41 to 49, I just was happy to be in that mix. That was my first thought.

My second thought was: Who's going to take camera time away from me? I mean, I'm always thinking about that. Come on, we're making a TV show out here! So I'm thinking, "OK, who are my competitors?" And I thought, "Well, who are the storytellers?" Do I want to run through this season with one storyteller, me, or would it be good to run through with a couple of narrators, Rick Devens, myself, maybe somebody like Q. There are always storytellers. But on this season, they seem to be few and far between, which is all right in my book. Then I started thinking, who's been on the same season together and who's this and who's that. By that time, it was too late. I couldn't look at my phone and see who's friends with who and who's taking pictures with whom. It was kind of too late for that.

TVLINE | You're remembered for your proverbs, your zen lifestyle, Tai Chi...
Well, it's actually Coach Chi because it's a blend of what Bruce Lee used to do with muscle retention, flexing every single muscle in your body, and a little bit of qigong, which is like Tai Chi, but a different version of it, and then a little bit of moment of critical execution meditation. That's too much information for you. Anyway, it's like I blended it in, and just made it up in Tocantins because it was like, "I've got to do something to stop from slapping the s–t out of somebody." Prayer was not enough. I said I better get my ass down on that beach and start and I was like, "OK, Bruce Lee, I remember I've done this before." So you've gotta think about it because if your quad is flexed, your hamstring is not. So to flex both of them at the same time, I just did it. It takes work. That's what he used to do.

Then I was like, "Well, I'm definitely gonna be praying," because the meaning of life is having a relationship with the creator of the universe, so I better slide that in while I'm doing it. Hey, I used to teach my soccer players to visualize the moment of critical execution. That's the moment in a soccer game where they're gonna shoot or they're gonna save, or they're going to pass, or they're gonna tackle. That was a huge answer to your question, but it's actually like a blend of a bunch of different disciplines and it f–king works, let me tell you. Even those naysayer a—holes like Parvati and Courtney and Boston Rob that were just getting me to do it so I could look like an ass. Even afterwards, of course they didn't show it in the final cut, they were like, "Damn man, I feel different. I feel like something woke up." It really just centers your body in a magnificent way.

TVLINE | How will all of that help you become the winner of Season 50?
Life is beautiful. Drink it up, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do with these players. I'm gonna just show them that a regular guy with extraordinary tendencies, a normal [person] with eclectic behavior, can come out here and really show them the path of spiritual enlightenment, physical connection to the universe, and you can be a noble warrior and take home the W on this show.