Brian Heidik - mug shot

A winner of the "Survivor" TV game show posted bond today on charges related to shooting a puppy with a bow and arrow and simple battery against his wife.

Brian Heidik, 38, posted a $6,000 bond — $2,000 on the battery charge and $4,000 on a cruelty to animals charge — today after an initial appearance in Douglas County Magistrate Court. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Heidik was jailed early Tuesday morning after he allegedly shot a puppy after the pet wandered onto his property in Douglasville, said Douglas County Chief Deputy Stan Copeland. He said Heidik was upset the neighbor's dog had come onto his property.

Copeland said Heidik shot two puppies, but the facility manager at the county animal control office, Chuck Brawn, said only one puppy was shot.

Brawn said the dog, a tan-and-black shepherd-hound mix about 12 to 16 weeks old, was shot below the rib cage. He said the dog was not seriously injured and that the owner, Jeff McCloud, was expected to pick up the dog Thursday morning.

"You can equate it to seeing a kid going across your property, and going and beating the heck out of him," Copeland said.

Copeland said Heidik should have called the county's animal control office.

Heidik, a former North Carolina State football player, used-car salesman and part-time actor, won the $1 million prize as the sole survivor of "Survivor: Thailand," the fifth edition of the CBS adventure game show broadcast from September to December 2002.

Heidik's TV acting credits include appearances on "Baywatch Nights," "Doogie Howser, M.D." and the popular soap opera "Days of Our Lives." His film credits as David Roth, according to IMDB.com, the internet movie database, include "Chick Street Fighter," and "Virgins of Sherwood Forest."

Heidik's wife, former Playboy bunny Charmaine Heidik, 34, complained to police that he had struck her June 23. She said Wednesday that her husband had grabbed her by the face and pushed her down, bruising her forehead and elbow.

Charmaine Heidik said the couple, and their son, moved to Douglas County in November 2004. They are currently legally separated but still living in the same home, she said.

The night of the shooting, her husband had been out drinking with "buddies," she said.

She said she awoke at 3:30 a.m. to the sound of a dog yelping and went to the back porch where she saw her husband with a bow.

"He just shoots the dog right in front of me," she said.

According to Charmaine Heidik, her husband then said, "I am tired of stupid dogs on my back porch."

Charmaine Heidik said her husband has been "spiralling out of control" since winning 'Survivor: Thailand."

"I think maybe it's the show," she said, adding her husband saw a therapist who tried to help him adjust back to normal life after 'Survivor.'

"I don't think he's ever adapted to real life since then. He thinks he can do anything. He thinks he invincible," she said.