Ralph Kiser

Ralph Kiser was a contestant from .
Ralph notably stumbled upon the Hidden Immunity Idol before veteran player Russell Hantz could find it, contributing to Russell's elimination for the first time in his three seasons. After reaching the merge, Ralph found himself on the wrong side of numbers and was eventually voted out as part of the Pagonging of his alliance. He was ultimately eliminated in 9th place after losing the penultimate duel. Ralph is also known for his constant misspelling of contestants' names at Tribal Council.
==Profile==
Retrieved from CBS.com
Name (Age): Ralph Kiser (44)
Tribe Designation: 
Current Residence: Lebanon, Va.
Occupation: Farmer
Personal Claim to Fame: Being completely debt-free at age 44. No vehicle payments, no mortgage payments, plus I own two homes on the same farm.
Inspiration in Life: I'm inspired by my farm; I've been at it all my life. I'm always amazed at my animals - how they grow and survive. Being able to watch the circle of life go 'round and be a part of it is a very satisfying adventure that I never get tired of.
Hobbies: Hunting, hiking and traveling.
Pet Peeves: People who are lazy and don't try to make anything of themselves.
3 Words to Describe You: Determined, strong-willed and stubborn.
Survivor Contestant You Are Most Like: I'm probably a combo of Big Tom and J.T.
Reason for being on Survivor: I've wanted to be on the show for years and knew one day I'd get my chance. I want to be a hometown hero for the folks back home!
Why you think you'll "Survive" Survivor: I'm an outdoors mountain man. I know plants, trees and what most of their uses are. I can also build anything; start a fire anywhere and make people believe anything I say!
Why you think you will be the Sole Survivor: I will be the king at camp because I can build shelter, cook, find food and be the leader.http://web.archive.org/web/20230201102110/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/52450/
==Survivor==
Ralph entered the game as a member of the Zapatera tribe. On Day 4, Ralph stumbled across the Hidden Immunity Idol while collecting rocks. After winning that day's Immunity Challenge, he witnessed Russell Hantz take the clue to the idol out of the reward basket and began to search for it, unaware that it was already in Ralph's possession. While Russell and his allies searched, Ralph and the other five members of Zapatera conspired to throw the upcoming Immunity Challenge, in order to eliminate him. Their plan would later come to fruition on Day 8, where Ralph's alliance voted Russell out of the tribe.
The next day, Ralph was selected to attend Russell's duel, along with Sarita White. After losing the duel, Russell began to reveal all of Zapatera's secrets to the Ometepe tribe, including the fact that Ralph possessed the tribe's Hidden Immunity Idol. While Ralph initially confirmed this, Sarita convinced him not to show the idol in front of the other tribe. Ometepe's Phillip Sheppard then took this information back with him and shared it to the rest of his tribe.
The Zapatera tribe would then go on an extensive losing streak, during which Ralph's alliance voted out Russell's former allies Krista Klumpp and Stephanie Valencia. However, when Zapatera lost immunity on Day 18, Ralph's alliance was forced to vote out one of their own. Despite most of the tribe voting out Sarita due to her poor challenge performance, Ralph voted for David Murphy, whose loyalty he was skeptical of.
Ralph later made the merge on Day 19, joining the Murlonio tribe. Although they entered the merge down in numbers, Ralph and the other Zapatera's attempted to pull Matt Elrod to their side after he had previously been voted out by Ometepe. Ralph also believed that the Ometepe alliance would vote against Mike Chiesl, who was the strongest former Zapatera, and decided to play his Hidden Immunity Idol on him. However, the Ometepe alliance decided to cast their votes against Matt, who had pondered defecting to Ralph's side. This move left Ralph still in the minority, and no idol to protect himself.
In the coming days, Ralph's alliance was Pagonged by Ometepe until only he and Steve Wright remained. During this time, Ralph continued to perform exceptionally well in Immunity Challenges, narrowly winning on several occasions. Thus, the former Ometepe members decided to target Ralph over Steve, believing that he could go on a potential immunity run later in the game. Thus, after Ralph lost immunity to Grant Mattos on Day 30, he was voted out 6-2. On Redemption Island, Ralph survived his first duel, but was permanently eliminated on Day 33, after losing to Andrea Boehlke. He became the 4th member of the jury.
At the Final Tribal Council, Ralph did not seem to favor anyone out of the Final Three, but appreciated the fact that Phillip said that he was the nicest and hardest working member of Zapatera. Ralph ultimately voted for Phillip to be the Sole Survivor, which was just enough to give Phillip second place to Rob, who won in an 8-1-0 vote.
<tabber>Challenge History=
Episode 	TribeAffiliation 	Challenge 	Challenge Type 	Sit-Out?	Result
1 	rowspan=7 	Push It Uphill 	Reward/Immunity	No 	
2 	Smash, Grab, Smash	Reward/Immunity	No 	 	
3 	Spin Cycle 	Reward/Immunity	Yes 	 	
4 	Toolin' Around 	Reward/Immunity	No 	 	
5 	Smoko 	Reward/Immunity	No 	 	
6 	Beach Balls 	Reward/Immunity	No 	 	
7 	Crash Course 	Reward/Immunity	No 	 	
colspan=6	 	 	 	 	
8 	rowspan=5 	Roller Ball 	Immunity 	 	
9 	Meso Soup 	Immunity 	 	 	
9 	Gang Hang 	Immunity 	No 	 	
10 	Mayan Pizza 	Immunity 	 	 	
11 	Log Jam 	Reward/Immunity	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	
12 	rowspan="2" 	Rock Block 	Duel 	 	
13 	A Maze N' Jig 	Duel 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	
|-|Voting History=
Episode 	Ralph'sVotes 	Voted AgainstRalph
1 	 	
2 	 	
3 	 	
4 	 	
5 	 	
6 	 	
7 	 	
8 	 	
9 	 	
9 	 	
10 	 	
11 	 	
 	 	
12 	colspan="2" rowspan="2"	
13 	 	
 	 	
Voted forSole Survivor	colspan="2" 	
 In , the vote ended with a 3-3-3 tie between Ralph, Russell, and Stephanie, forcing a revote. On the revote, Ralph did not receive enough votes to send him to Redemption Island.</tabber>
==Post-Survivor==
===Death===
Ralph passed away on April 20, 2022 due to a heart attack. He was 56.https://www.facebook.com/Big.Mike.Allbright/posts/10105551877345486
==Trivia==
* Similar to and contestant Susan Hawk, Ralph was also known for casting poorly-spelled votes (i.e. "Ressell", "Krasta", "Stifinie", "Davie", and "Philite").
* Ralph was the oldest player to win a duel on .
* It was stated by host Jeff Probst that Ralph was his favorite castaway on Redemption Island.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJjfUyB3n0c
* Ralph was the first contestant to play a Hidden Immunity Idol on another contestant without physically handing that person the idol, instead verbally indicating to Jeff who it was intended for.
* Ralph lost 24 lbs. during his time on Redemption Island.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeF-bCkJ49A
==References==
Category:Contestants
Category:Male Contestants
Category:Deceased Contestants
Category:Redemption Island Contestants
Category:Redemption Island Jury Members
Category:Zapatera Tribe
Category:Murlonio Tribe
Category:9th Place
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor (U.S.) Contestants
Category:Survivor: Redemption Island
Category:1965 births
Category:2022 deaths