| Jeff Varner | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 16, 1966 |
Jeff Varner (born April 16, 1966) is a news anchor and reporter, a former entertainment reporter, and a former contestant on the CBS reality television series, Survivor: The Australian Outback
Contents |
Jeff was raised on a tobacco farm in Greensboro, North Carolina. He played right defense for a hockey team in the local youth hockey league. He earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 15. He attended Southern Guilford High School, where he was active in student government and theatre arts. He later went on to earn a journalism degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .[1]
Jeff was a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback, 2001.[2] He was a member of the Kucha tribe, and made it to the merge, but not the core group of nine, as there was a tie between him and Colby Donaldson. At the time, in the event of a tie, previous tribal council votes would be used. Jeff had two but knew only of one, Colby had zero. It was revealed on the Survivor Australia Outback DVD, in the special commentary section, that it was Kimmi Kappenberg that inadvertently gave away the vote he had against him during the Episode 2 Reward Challenge. This is also mentioned by Jeff in the episode he was voted off, early in the episode while the Kucha tribe is talking in their shelter at night. Tina Wesson once referred to him as a "little devil" because he delighted in tormenting his opposition.
During the show, Jeff's luxury item was a coloring book and a set of crayons. The Survivors colored in the books and signed their autograph in it, and after the show, he sold the pictures on eBay to raise money for charities.[3]
Jeff worked as an entertainment reporter for KCBS in Los Angeles, CA then E! News Live, and then as a field correspondent and host for the TV Guide Channel. He was a weekend news reader and field reporter at FOX 8 WGHP in High Point, North Carolina. In his first year in broadcast news, he won an Associated Press Broadcast News Award: "Rookie of the Year," in 2005.
Jeff began his career in communications as a public relations assistant and corporate communications manager for Citicorp in New York City. He was part of the first team in the corporate world to utilize the internet to communicate project information as a manager in Citicorp's "Product Design and Development Division."
He used that background to transition into web development, working in developing web properties for Citibank, MCI, Harlequin Romance, and Martha Stewart Living Online.[4] Jeff used his Survivor exposure to pursue his dream of becoming a television journalist.
He also worked for many years as the nightly anchor on WWMT Channel 3 in Kalamazoo, MI until April 2011.