Michael Skupin

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Survivor contestant
Michael Skupin
Date of birth January 29, 1962 (1962-01-29) (age 46)
Resides Commerce Township, Michigan
Season(s) The Australian Outback
Finish Removed due to injury, Day 17
Tribe(s) Kucha


Michael Skupin (once Michael Landry, born January 29, 1962 near Detroit, Michigan) is a reality show contestant and computer software developer. He is a co-founder of Rhinosoft Interactive, a maker of Christian-based computer software. He is currently best-known as a contestant in Survivor: The Australian Outback, and the first contestant in the American show's history to be MEDEVACed from the show due to a medical emergency. The second was Bruce Kanegai, a contestant in Survivor's 12th season, Survivor: Panama, Gary Stritesky from Survivor's 14th season, Survivor: Fiji was the third, and Jonathan Penner, and James Clement from Survivor's 16th season, Survivor: Micronesia were fourth and fifth.

Michael, who is known as "Mike" or "Scoop" among his friends, is married, and has seven children ages 19 to 1. His father died of cancer (at age 28) when he was four years old. His mother married baseball coach Clarence Landry when he was about 10 years old, and for a few years he took the last name as well. However, his name was never legally changed, and he reverted to Skupin during high school.

Michael appeared on Survivor: The Australian Outback in 2001, where he was a member of the Kucha tribe. One of the incidents he is known for is a well-publicized hunt he undertook where he killed a small wild boar, then painted his face with the boar's blood. That event was overshadowed, however, by his medical-related departure on Day 17. He was stoking a fire at the Kucha camp after a Reward Challenge victory, when he inhaled smoke and passed out, falling forward into the fire pit. As a result, he suffered second and third degree burns on his face, hands and chest which necessitated his evacuation and removal from the game. Tina Wesson later went on to say that had this not happened, she would have lost the season. Michael never received a single vote against himself.

He created the charity Victory Over Addiction in 2001 to help combat drug addiction among children.

Before Survivor, he gave away 18 million CD-ROMs of the bible as a General Mills giveaway.[1]

Nowadays, Mike serves as vice president of sales for Premier Business.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.michaelskupin.com/life.html

[edit] External links

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