Outtakes Online: Hawaii native matches wits on ‘Survivor’

BY MIKE GORDON / mgordon@staradvertiser.com

Ever since “Survivor” first aired in 2000, Jonas Otsuji has been a fan of the CBS reality show, which maroons strangers in rugged outposts and forces them to deal with hunger, the elements and backstabbing competitors.

Tonight, when “Survivor: One World” premieres, the 37-year-old sushi chef will be a part of the show, competing for the $1 million prize along with 17 other people.

If his name sounds familiar to Hawaii residents, it’s because his family has farmed vegetables in Hawaii Kai since 1954. He grew up working on the farm behind Kaiser High School as well as surfing and spearfishing in Maunalua Bay.

Jonas Otsuji

“It was pretty brutal,” he said of his time on the farm. “The farm overlooks the bay and I used to surf. Every time the waves were good, my friends would call. The whole time I would be working the farm and watching the waves. It was torture.”

Otsuji lives in Utah with his wife and three children and divides his time between a successful sushi catering business and helping out on the family farm in Hawaii.

Competing on “Survivor” was one of the hardest things Otsuji has done, he said. But he loved it.

“How do you one-up ‘Survivor’?” he said. “The biggest dream I could possibly ever dream up actually happened. So now, everything else I am pursuing I can totally do that.”

Beginning tonight, “Survivor: One World” will air at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

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Mike Gordon covers film and television in Hawaii for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Email him at mgordon@staradvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his weekly “Outtakes” column Sundays in the Star-Advertiser.