By Burt Constable
Daily Herald Editorial Columnist
Posted Saturday, April 28, 2007

During his lean years, Rupert Boneham was homeless and slept in a Chevy Chevette with his pet Burmese python tucked inside a pillow case. He raided birds’ nests in parks to feed his snake, and sold his plasma to make money for his own meals.

Today, the bushy, tie-dye-wearing cult hero from the 2003 “Survivor” TV show will wake up in the suburbs in a luxury 40-foot motor coach where he has been sleeping during his Midwest book tour promoting his autobiography. Starting at noon, he’ll sign copies of “Rupert: Just Being Me” at Borders Books & Music, 1540 Golf Road in Schaumburg.

“It’s been great everywhere we stop,” Rupert, 43, says of his tour. “Just outside of Cincinnati, I signed 336 books in two-and-a-half hours.”

While many reality TV stars run into trouble or drop out of sight, Rupert still relishes his life in the spotlight after viewers voted him the most popular “Survivor” cast member.

“We’re still getting fan mail from around the world,” says Rupert, who used some of his bounty to buy a three-bedroom ranch home in Indianapolis with his wife, Laura, and 7-year-old daughter, Raya. “Some days, we’ll get hundreds in.”

Does he ever have a day when no one brings up his “Survivor” career?

“Yes, but that means I didn’t walk outside my house,” quips Rupert, who has learned to carry publicity photos and a Sharpie pen for autographs.

 “It’s been three years since (‘Survivor’ host) Jeff Probst signed that $1 million check on my back and changed my life,” Rupert says.

But the money didn’t change who he is.

“He’s still Rupert,” says my brother Bill, who has been one of Rupert’s oldest and dearest friends since they used to bartend together at a comedy club in Indianapolis. Bill drives Rupert’s motor coach on the book tour and is a partner in one of Rupert’s post-“Survivor” businesses, a behind-the-scenes TV production business.

“If someone would have told me when I was 16 that I’d get a million dollars for losing a game and treating people right, I would have told them they were crazy,” Rupert says, his deep gruff voice always on the edge of a giggle. “I remember when I was $40,000 in debt and I was working as a gravedigger for $500 a month.”

All he needed was a break.

“He has this burly tough exterior, but scratch beneath the surface and he’s very sweet,  and good-hearted, and even a little vulnerable,” notes Keisha Smith, a Borders district marketing manager. “For a TV star, he seems very genuine.”

Those qualities allow Rupert to sell books and command as much as $10,000 for four hours of motivational speaking in the corporate world, but they also keep him grounded. While he gets a kick out of telling stories about sharing a limo with Ray Romano, being a guest of honor at the Indy 500, doing a guest shot on TV’s “Yes, Dear,” sponsoring his upcoming Rupert Cruise in the Caribbean,  or even serving as late-night entertainment for one school’s prom, Rupert uses every appearance to raise funds and attention for his charity.

Working as a counselor to troubled youth back when he and Laura were living in a rundown house they bought for $18,000, Rupert now has the money and clout to run Rupert’s Kids.

His not-for-profit charity (www.rupertskids.org) in Indy takes adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who have exhausted other options and teaches them job and living skills, finds them housing and turns them into productive members of society.

“There were times in my life when people would have met me and said, ‘Throw him in jail and be done with it,’ but I was still me,” Rupert says. “Every one of us has us in it to do it.”

At the end of his book tour, Rupert will auction off the motor coach provided by bestbuyrvs.com to raise more money for his charity.

“So many people are willing to accept me in spite of my faults,” says Rupert, who confesses to some in his book. “It helps keep it in my head that I’m OK. My [charity] kids need to be told that they’re OK, too.”

Rupert has put that uplifting idea of helping downtrodden folks get better into four TV pilots, but says producers would rather “show people better off getting worse.”

Not that he’s complaining.

“I say thank you every day of my life,” Rupert says. “The celebrity of my 15 minutes will last many, many years, I hope. I hope that I have somebody come up to me every day for the rest of my life. I will love to the day I die running around being me. Positive energy — who wouldn’t love that?

“Even if I went back to a job making $20,000 a year, I’d still be fine being me,” Rupert says. “I love being me.”