‘Survivor 50’ Contestant Reveals His Extreme Pre-Show Diet

One of Survivor‘s most recognizable characters shared the lengths he went to in extreme dieting to prepare for the show’s 50th season.

Ahead of his fourth appearance on the popular CBS show, Benjamin “Coach” Wade, 54, told GQ magazine that he went on 100-day fasting sprees in the lead-up to Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.

“I got turned onto these 100-hour fasts about a year ago,” Wade, who often refers to himself as “the Dragon Slayer,” told GQ.

He continued, “I’ve fasted my whole life. I think it’s important that our mind tells the body what to do instead of our body telling the mind what to do, because our minds are pretty freaking sharp.”

The highly anticipated season, which features twists and challenges chosen by fans, was filmed last summer in Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands and premieres on Feb. 25 with a three-hour special.

Wade told GQ that he has learned a lot since his first time on the show 17 years ago. At the time, Wade recalled, he “got [his] a-- handed” to him during season 18 Survivor: Tocantins, which was filmed in Brazil in 2009.

Wade’s second season, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains in 2010, and third season, Survivor: South Pacific in 2011, were filmed in Samoa.

Wade told GQ that the intense fasts, which he undertook once a month, were the “biggest change” he made during preparation for his fourth season.

He also revealed that he hired a trainer, “but with my schedule and being a father of three kids and being the guy that cooks all the dinners and prepares all the lunches and takes them to school, like I do now—I don’t have time to just fully commit,” he admitted. Wade has been married for 14 years.

“These 100-hour fasts were absolutely incredible. No matter what I prepared for in the past, I would go out there and just hit a wall because it’s so draining. You just don’t have any food,” he said of his past seasons.

“This time I was flying, and the other times I feel like the pain, the hunger has really come to me. I struggled by thinking about food at home, whereas this time my mind was like, ‘This is temporary. It’s not going to last forever,’” he said.

This time, however, he noticed the impact of his age on certain aspects of the experience.

“I’ve been around the world, man. I have been in the bush, and I’ve been in some nasty environments. But sleeping on the dirt—I was 53, I’m 54 now—sleeping on the dirt at 53 sucks. I’m just like, ‘I’m too old for this. I can’t believe I’m doing this again,’" he said.

However, that did not make him want to cut his experience short. He said, “Those thoughts go through your mind. There’s never ever a thought that you’re going to quit, but it is certainly far more miserable on your bones. I can see why people move to Florida when they get older.”

Wade also detailed the troubling side effect that his time on Survivor had on his hair.

“I was so malnourished that my hair was falling out in chunks, and it would clog the drain. I lost 60 pounds that first time,” he said. “I had to call a plumber at least every two weeks.”