Former Astronaut Turns Into Reality TV Show Contestant
by Philip Chien
Retired astronaut Dan Barry followed up his space career with something even more unusual - reality show contestant. Barry was one of the sixteen contestants on "Survivor - Panama" in 2006.
Barry flew in space three times, becoming the first astronaut to fly on three flights and make spacewalks on each mission. He chose to retire from NASA in April 2005 and move back to his hometown of South Hadley Massachusetts and founded "Denbar Robotics" which is developing new robot technologies.
About his decision to enter the world of reality TV Barry said, "I just thought it would be kind of a fun thing to do. When you go into space you have about a thousand people backing you up making sure you have absolutely everything you need to be successful. I thought it might be interesting to try a challenging situation where you don't have that kind of backup."
Barry applied in June 2005 and did a preliminary interview in Boston, a more intense interview in Los Angeles, and was in Panama by the end of October.
Fame as a TV star is far greater than fame as an astronaut. Barry said, "Prime time TV definitely gets you recognized more than flying in space. I've been pretty surprised that the number of times people have stopped [and recognized me from "Survivor"]." In one case Barry was sitting in a Starbucks in New York City and a woman walking by on the street saw him through the window and started jumping around.
Barry said, "Every morning I'd wake up and I would look out at the sunrise and say, 'It's another beautiful day in paradise' and that became the mantra for the tribe. It was really an amazing place to be, the animals were tame and the people were great - that was a big surprise."
Not seen on the show is Barry building a survival shelter. Barry had been through actual survival training before coming to the show. Besides his NASA survival training he went through a three day survival course at an Air Force orientation school. He noted, "I built this amazing shelter on Day 2, basically two feet off the ground, solid bamboo with a roof that moves up and down. My nickname was 'Dan Fueigo' because I could start a fire out of anything. I had a couple of backup ways to make fire."
Early in the show Barry bonded with Terry, a former Navy pilot, and told him that he was an astronaut. The other contestants only knew Barry as a NASA worker. Barry explained, "I wanted to wait until they knew me as "Dan" because I wouldn't be burdened by the preconceptions that go with what an astronaut does and not to stand out from the crowd. After I became really good friends with Nick and we spent many many hours out there fishing I decided to tell him. Once it was clear that I was not going to be staying I also told Austin, but those were the only people that knew during the show." The other twelve contestants found out afterwards.
Astronauts tend to be over achievers and Barry’s no exception. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe joked that when he read various astronaut biographies he wondered if somebody had accidentally combined the resumes of three people together because of all of their college degrees and experience. Barry was one of a group of astronauts nicknamed "MDPhd" (Pronounced "mud-fud") - folks with both medical degrees and PhDs in a scientific field.
The other Survivor contestants were unaware of the fact that Barry was a medical doctor, but it did come in handy. Barry recalled, "There was one night where Nick and Austin were real sick after having some beans. I was keeping an eye on them. I spent most of the night up making sure that they were okay. On the day I was leaving I told them I was a doctor and Nick goes, 'that explains, you're taking my pulse and doing these things 'what's up with that?' I was too sick to ask at the time but I was wondering what was going on.' I didn't tell them till the last day that I was a doctor but there were some circumstances it was pretty useful to have that background."
Barry notes that the show doesn't show the camaraderie between the different contestants. While they were all in competition with each other and strategizing to eliminate each other according to Barry they got along. He said, "We sang songs to go to sleep at night, we played trivia games together."
Barry says the editors didn't include an argument he had with Terry after one of the contestants was voted off. He said, "I'm yelling at Terry and got my finger in his face for voting off Ruth-Marie. I told him he was an idiot - absolutely."
While Terry and Dan had pledged support to each other early in the show they were put into a difficult situation in the sixth episode. There were five members of the Casaya tribe and Sally was given temporary immunity. That put the four remaining men in a difficult situation since they had planned to vote Sally off that night and would have to have vote off one of themselves instead. Barry expected that Terry would remain loyal to him and they would vote against Nick and Austin, but Terry chose to break his agreement with Dan Barry and side with the others. Barry said, "I was kind of surprised when Terry came up and said, 'Hey, I've decided to vote against you' and that's when I found out I was in trouble for real. I thought Terry would stick with our agreement and I was surprised he chose not to - I certainly in the same situation would have stuck by him." Had Terry chosen to keep his agreement with Dan it would have resulted in a two to two vote and Barry and the other contestant would have had a small contest to determine which one would remain on the show. Terry's decision to side with Nick and Austin resulted in Dan's removal.
Barry said that when contestants were voted off they stayed in Panama and did various tourist activities but had no information about the game. He said, "Once you go, you go." His only way of keeping up with the progress of the show after he was voted off was to watch it on television along with the rest of the public.
With the amazing interest in the first "Survivor" season Rudy, Susan, and Richard became household names and quickly got their fifteen minutes of fame - interviews, cameos on television shows, and celebrity endorsements. But "Survivor - Panama" was the twelfth installment and with almost two hundred contestants it’s rare for somebody to become famous. Barry said, "I haven't gotten any movie offers. I'd be interested in doing a science education show like "Nova" or "Scientific American Frontiers" but no offers so far."
Before the final episode Barry talked about his former teammate Terry. Barry said, "He's been doing awesome, winning every immunity challenge has been amazing, it makes up for some poor strategic plays. But on the other hand I'm kind of concerned that he really hasn't made any friends and they're all sitting on the jury." As it turned out Terry did win "Survivor Panama".
Links
Denbar Robotics.
CBS page on Dan Barry on Survivor.
TV.Com description of the show where Barry was voted off.
STS-72, Barry’s first spaceflight.
STS-96, Barry’s second spaceflight.
STS-105, Barry’s third and final spaceflight.
Dan Barry’s official NASA bio.
About the author
Author Philip Chien covered Dan Barry's space missions for his hometown newspapers. Portions of this article originally appeared in the "Union-Republican."
On Barry's second flight he flew with astronaut Rick Husband who later died in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Author Philip Chien's book "Columbia - Final Voyage" is about Columbia's last mission and mentions Dan Barry's interaction with Rick Husband. More information is available on the Internet at - http://www.sts107.info.
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