SC doctor makes his debut on ‘Survivor.’ One person was voted off. How did he do?
Suffice it to say, it’s unlikely anyone has seen Cedrek McFadden like he was shown on “Survivor” Wednesday night.
Crawling through a mud pit with a heavy net overhead, trying to scramble up a slippery wall.
It’s not the usual look for the buttoned-down, well dressed Greenville doctor.
But it was the first challenge of the 2-hour season premiere of the 48th season of the reality show that pits tribe against tribe and even tribe members against each other.
McFadden is a colon and rectal surgeon for Prisma Health Greenville, a national television commentator on medical issues and a clinical professor.
He was the only doctor among the 18 contestants vying for $1 million.
Filmed over 26 days in the Mamanuca Islands, Fiji, the show also includes teachers, an attorney, two firefighters, a pizza restaurant owner and stunt performer among others.
There are 13 episodes with the finale expected to air on May 21.
The first episode covered three days of challenges and also some jockeying for position and forming alliances — and not — with tribe members.
McFadden showed up on the Island in Fiji looking more like himself: khaki pants and blue blazer, but quickly moved into an almost castaway look of muscle shirt and shorts.
He was part of the Vula tribe, which overall didn’t do that great.
The six members came in second place in the run for supplies and ended up with just a machete and in third for the last that involved a physical challenge of pushing a heavy cart up a ramp and over sandbags to ultimately put together a huge puzzle of the “Survivor” logo.
McFadden is a Columbia native, whose parents still live on the street he grew up on. He started watching “Survivor” at the end of its first season and was hooked. He tried one other time to get on the show before being accepted last year.
Because his tribe came in last, they had to face Tribal Council, a nighttime scene reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie replete with torches and rock-like formations.
One person would be voted off.
It was Stephanie Berger, a 38-year-old Brooklyn resident who describes her occupation as tech product lead.
McFadden survived to see another episode.
Next Wednesday, the 1.5-hour episode airs on CBS at 8 p.m.