Update on Rupert

AvecLion · January 21st, 2006, 09:58 AM

Tribal tycoon
Move over, Donald Trump; America's favorite 'Survivor' is building his own business empire -- one where coat and tie are optional
By Dana Knight

Rupert Boneham doesn't pass the dress code of corporate America.

Business casual: Rupert Boneham has started his own company, RFB Enterprises, with help from the $1 million prize he won on "Survivor." "I used to be the guy swinging the hammer," he said. "Now I'm the business guy." - Alan Petersime / The Star

Wearing a white tank top covered by a denim shirt, a beard so unruly it could scare away a client and sunglasses atop his head on a cloudy day, he isn't an executive's dream.

But Boneham couldn't care less. For the first time in his life, he doesn't answer to a boss. He is the boss.

America's favorite survivor, who received $1 million after winning TV's "Survivor: America's Tribal Council" in 2004, is using his money to build a modest business empire on his own terms.

RFB Enterprises, which stands for Rupert Frederick Boneham, is the parent company of three business ventures: promotion, real estate and production companies.

Gone is Boneham's past work life of grave digging, bartending and driving a camera truck.

Now he owns a production company with five camera trucks. He buys office space to lease to corporate bigwigs, and he can walk into a formal business affair in a tie-dyed shirt without getting tossed out on his ear.

"I used to be the guy swinging the hammer. Now I'm the business guy," said the 41-year-old, who graduated from Haworth High School in Kokomo and lives in Nora with his wife, Laura, and their 6-year-old daughter, Raya Felice.

After becoming an instant celebrity, Boneham formed RFB to handle his promotional and speaking appearances, but he is adding subsidiaries as new business ideas pop into his head.

Tournament Towers, his production company, recently secured a deal to build the walkways, connections and floors of tents for Super Bowl vendors in Detroit. His crew of camera truck drivers, who typically travel to college football games, will turn into carpenters for the Super Bowl.

"I'll go with them, but I'll be sitting out talking to the president of ABC," Rupert said. "I don't have to get dirty anymore."

His real estate venture, Rupert Boneham Real Estate Development, is honing in on office space. He recently purchased a business complex at 86th Street and College Avenue for $750,000. That's where the RFB offices are located.

He bought the space from Herman & Kittle Properties. At the closing, the company's lawyer, Jeff Abrams, saw a Boneham exactly like the guy on TV.
"He's got some pretty good street smarts," said Abrams, a partner with Dann Pecar Newman & Kleiman, who walked away from the closing with autographed pictures for his three children. "I became the hero at home."

Boneham's building also is occupied by a group of attorneys, but he is looking for more tenants and more real estate. He has his eye on other buildings in the city, worth more than $1 million each, and said he plans to buy them within two years.

"Before long you will see RFB on office buildings all over the city," he said. "One day, I will be Donald Trump's biggest competitor in real estate."

The entire article: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...NESS/601200438

Gabby · January 21st, 2006, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Tournament Towers, his production company, recently secured a deal to build the walkways, connections and floors of tents for Super Bowl vendors in Detroit. His crew of camera truck drivers, who typically travel to college football games, will turn into carpenters for the Super Bowl.

Oh Goodie! He's in my hometown...I can hardly restrain myself.

taloson · January 21st, 2006, 10:49 AM

ew, Poopert!

SurvivorSims07 · January 21st, 2006, 11:25 AM

i read this in the my newspaper at home. try to find him gabby! i saw him once at the mall.

Sunburntbeatle · January 21st, 2006, 11:42 AM

I hope he does well.

Gabby, are you going to have him over dinner while he's in Detroit?

survivorwatcher · January 21st, 2006, 01:53 PM

Good for Rupert!! Nice to see a big money winner not blowing his money, but using it to make a new life for himself. Survivor gave Rupert a super confidence burst, and not in a bad way like some of the other reality "stars".

frawniemae · January 21st, 2006, 08:16 PM

I knew he'd make good and not blow it!
go Rupert!! Yeah, I'm still a fan!

Slitter · January 22nd, 2006, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunburntbeatle

Gabby, are you going to have him over dinner while he's in Detroit?

Ooooo, SBB, you are so bad!

SurvivorSims07 · January 22nd, 2006, 12:11 PM

how can you not like Rupert? He is a great guy, he is America's favorite after all!

Gabby · January 22nd, 2006, 02:14 PM

There are plenty of things to hate about Rupert...but it's all in the archive.

TigerLily · January 22nd, 2006, 03:10 PM

There are definitely things to not like about Rupert. And just because he's America's favourite doesn't mean he's mine. But as Gabs says, it's all in the archive.

SurvivorSims07 · January 23rd, 2006, 02:36 PM

lol Sounds like a touchy issue, I think I will let it rest in the archive.