Law Schools

Law Student Hopes To Win 'Survivor: Ghost Island' To Pay Off Law School Debts

Best of luck to this law student who's trying to win a $1 million grand prize!

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Bradley Kleihege

You may think that going to law school is like being a castaway on “Survivor,” where you have to outwit, outlast, and outplay your classmates to make it to the top of the curve and get a job — until you’re actually a castaway on “Survivor.”

Meet Bradley Kleihege, a third-year student at UCLA School of Law. Kleihege went jobless his 2L summer to become a member of the Naviti tribe on Survivor: Ghost Island, which was filmed in Fiji. Kleihege isn’t the first law student to be featured on Survivor. In 2011, Harvard Law student John Cochran was a castaway on Survivor: South Pacific where he came in eighth place, and he returned a few years later for Survivor: Caramoan, where he won the $1 million prize. Kleihege, who has watched almost every episode of the show, also has high hopes of winning the grand prize.

According to the Daily Bruin, Kleihege had to strategize because he’s a law student:

In order to appear less threatening, he hid that he was a law student from other castaways, instead telling them he was a graduate student studying geography. He graduated from Michigan State University in 2013 with a degree in political science, but he had more credits in geography, making it the perfect cover.

“I think most people think of law students or lawyers as very analytical … they know how to read people, they know how to ask the right questions – which is perceived in the game of ‘Survivor’ as being a threatening skill set,” he said. “I (also) think that nonlawyers have the perception that all lawyers are super wealthy, and that also doesn’t really help you win a million dollars.”

https://youtu.be/5UMZycoUt4A

Kleihege, whose pet peeves include “[s]tupid people and people who think they know everything” (i.e., all law school gunners), says he’s sometimes “cold and flippant” and “likes to make fun of people.” Let’s see how well this law student’s quirky personality traits goes over with his fellow castaways on the island.

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Kleihege says he’d like to win Survivor’s grand prize so he can pay off his student loans. A very noble goal, considering the fact that he tossed his employment prospects out the window to appear on the show. “I don’t have a job lined up right now, but I think the experience is one that I definitely wouldn’t trade,” he said.

Best of luck to Bradley Kleihege as he tries to become this season’s sole survivor!

Student deviates from law school norms to compete in ‘Survivor’ [Daily Bruin]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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