Brian Heidik

On June 19th, 2019, Heidik did an interview with Jonny Fairplay and Matt Bischoff on their podcast SurvivorNSFW about the incident and what he's been up to lately.

Heidik has generally been regarded as one of the least likable Survivor winners ever, according to Dr. Brad Wolgast, Ph.D., and Survivor expert Mario Lanza. In 2007, Wolgast and Lanza, in a book about Survivor, called Heidik "the most cold-hearted player of them all," and they went on to compare him to a "detached gunslinger," an "emotionless, unempathetic cyborg," and a "sociopath." In the years following Survivor: Thailand, Heidik was never even talked about in a nice way by any of his fellow castaways. According to Wolgast and Lanza, no one who had ever been on Survivor had even bothered to mention Heidik in interviews or chats.

On July 5, 2006, Heidik was arrested in Douglas County, Georgia, on charges of shooting a puppy dog with an arrow. When police came to his house, he tried to flee in his car, but was quickly apprehended.

In 2002, Heidik competed on the fifth season of the American version of Survivor, entitled Survivor: Thailand. As part of the Chuay Gahn tribe, Heidik was not immediately targeted due to his physical strength and his ability to provide food for the tribe. Early on in the game, he was considered a trustworthy individual, despite being reputed by all as a used car salesman. However, his status as trustworthy would soon change dramatically. When Heidik's tribe lost the first and second immunity challenges, he joined the majority to vote out John Raymond and Tanya Vance. After the "Grindgate" incident between Ted Rogers, Jr., and Ghandia Johnson, Heidik was worried that the rift between the two would divide the tribe. So he enlisted the help of Helen Glover to side with himself, Rogers and Clay Jordan to vote out Johnson, which they did successfully in Episode Four. By doing so, he created a Final Two alliance with Glover, despite already having one with Rogers. Chuay Gahn then enjoyed two immunity wins.

In the end, Heidik beat out Jordan in a 4–3 vote to become the Sole Survivor. He managed to gain the votes of Billingsley, Rogers, Glover, and Gentry. Heidik was benefited by a usual occurrence on Survivor when two of his votes came from a vote against Jordan, particularly Glover and Rogers, whom Heidik himself betrayed in the game, but still voted for him over Jordan. Rogers mentioned that he was voting for Heidik, because he was "the lesser of two evils". Heidik officially received his million dollar check on December 20, 2002.

While taping Survivor in 2002, Heidik claimed that he was a used car salesman. But it was later revealed that he had also worked as a soft-core porn actor alongside his then-wife C.C. As an adult film star, he went under the name "Dave Roth."

After Survivor: Thailand finished taping, Heidik got a restraining order against C.C. over an assault which he claimed she perpetrated against him in November 2002. But a few weeks later, on December 16, his wife's scheduled court date, he did not show up for the hearing. Prior to the court date, the restraining order had been lifted. He divorced C.C. four years later and quickly remarried.

Heidik was born to a Finnish mother and a German father. He attended Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, and played quarterback on the high school football team. He later enrolled at North Carolina State University. He was once married to Charmaine "C.C." Costigan from 2000–06; between them, they have one son, Logan. He has been married to his second wife Courtney since 2006; with her, they have three children of their own.