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Name (Age): Vernon McGillivray (33)

Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD

Occupation: Surveillance Officer

Personal Claim to Fame: My lovely wife of 10 years, Genevieve, and our twin boys, Clarke and Ross. Absolutely everything I do in life is for my family, and I just couldn’t imagine what my life would be like without them. Inspiration in Life: Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He truly loves us all so much that He came to Earth and died on a cross to free us all from our sins so that we may live with Him in Heaven for all eternity.

Hobbies: Reading my Bible, spending time with my family, going to church, volunteering in my community, swimming, playing cards.

Pet Peeves: I’m generally a pretty laid-back person, but people that get offended by the phrase, “Merry Christmas” do bug me, I must admit. Christmas is a time for joy, and a time to celebrate the birth of our savior, so even if you’re not religious, you can’t expect me to cut Christ out of Christmas. People that are just overall arrogant and disrespectful also get under my skin. While I do have an incredible life now, I had to work hard for everything I have. At the end of the day, the world doesn’t owe you anything. Furthermore, according to Matthew 22: 36-40, God declared that the greatest of the commandments is love, and that we shall love thy neighbour as thyself. I know loving your neighbour can be hard sometimes, but is it really too much to ask for people to just respect one another as people?

3 Words to Describe You: Loving, faithful, compassionate

SURVIVOR Contestant You are Most Like: I’m a lot like Rupert, I guess, just without the beard. (Chuckles). I will work hard, I will do whatever I can to provide for and take care of my tribe, and I won’t ever be afraid to stand up for what I think is right.

Reason for Competing on SURVIVOR: My wife and I are both huge Survivor fans, so me having this experience and this opportunity truly is both a tremendous blessing as well as a dream come true for both of us. Honestly, I’m just happy to be out here and to have the chance to play this amazing game and have this once in a lifetime experience. With that being said though, I really would love to win the money if I could because it would really help change the lives of my family for the better, and we’d also have the means to donate to so many wonderful charities and non-profit organizations.

Why You Believe You Will Become the SOLE SURVIVOR: Well first off, the Lord will be with me every step of the way, so if I am meant to make it all the way through this game, then He will help me do just that. In terms of the actual game, I plan to be a huge asset to my tribe, both in challenges and around camp, as well as to any alliance that I find myself in. I am an extremely loyal person in my everyday life, so I hope my alliance could see that, and recognize the value I can provide. Not only that, but even though this game is filled with lies and deceit, I’m not going to participate in that stuff. If I get into a moral dilemma, I’m just going to have to ask myself “What would Jesus do?” and the Lord will help me through it. I just hope that if I do manage to get to the end that the jury would appreciate the clean and loyal game that I played enough to cast their votes for me.

Additional Information (to allow me to know more about him/her): Vernon is what one would consider a giant at first glance (standing at 6 foot 7), but he has a gentle heart. Although his family growing up didn’t have much money, he remembers that his mother always made an extra plate of food at Christmas dinner in case someone else needed it, and sure enough, there was almost always someone unexpected that would stop by. Even if that person was a complete stranger, Vernon’s parents would not turn them away, and Vernon has carried that level of kindness and compassion into his own life and family as well. From the time he was little, Vernon had to work for almost everything he received, and as such, he doesn’t appreciate when people expect things to be handed to them, or when people take things for granted. Vernon and his family are proud members of a Presbyterian church and are very strong in faith, with Vernon in particular always turning to God when things get tough. Vernon currently works in a casino as a Surveillance Officer, which has taught him great observational skills and how to read people’s body language in order to see if they may be hiding something or not.

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