Rick Nelson
All the honesty, integrity, all that stuff, and Coach stood up, "Oh, don't be that way." It's like, "Sit down." Survivor 23, E15
Played on
37 days played
Game record
Vote alignment83%of 12 ballots
82nd percentile of 423 castaways
Immunity record0career immunity wins
No wins to rank
Occupation at casting Rancher Hometown Aurora, Utah
Played with 17 castaways across 1 season See every connection ↓ Rick Nelson lasted into the jury phase of Survivor 23: South Pacific in the modern era, 37 days in, and went out as the 16th voted out. Nelson's torch went out by a 3-2 vote. Before that, Nelson cast 12 tribal council votes in Survivor 23, 10 with the majority.
Get to know Rick Nelson
Rick Nelson's own answers from the pre-game cast profile CBS published before the season aired.
- Claim to fame
- My family and my ranch.
- Hobbies
- Team sorting, hunting, riding and playing on my horse.
- Pet peeves
- Quitters and lazy people who don't keep their word.
- Inspiration
- My grandfather. He built a very large ranch with his own determination and sheer willpower.
- Castaway they say they are most like
- J.T. He played a great game and won. He is country, strong-willed, a great competitor, good to get along with, not a quitter and true to his word in the end. I'd like to think if you put 15 years on him, he would mirror me - except I'm better.
- Why they wanted to play
- It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to prove that you can survive with next to nothing for 39 days and be one of 23 people in the world to be named "Sole Survivor." (And a million dollars would be nice).
Alliances fans have named
Survivor never names an alliance on screen. These names, and who counts as a member, are how the fan community records the game rather than an official record of it.
Birthplace, pre-game profile and alliance facts adapted from Survivor Fandom and Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-07-21. Licensed CC BY-SA.
Fan poll Players
Survivor Hall of Fame: is Rick Nelson in or out?
Tap to vote and see what fans think 1,405 community votes
Community votes are fan estimates for fun, not a scientific survey.
Seasons
| Season | Result | Days | Tribes | Votes against | Confessionals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 South Pacific Season 23, 2011 | 16th voted out | 37 of 39 days
| Upolu Te Tuna | 15 | 8 |
The vote that sent Rick Nelson home
Three of the five ballots named Rick Nelson on day 37 of Survivor 23: South Pacific, a 3-2 vote.
Rick Nelson voted for Sophie Clarke.
Castaway network
Rick Nelson’s connections
The strongest overlaps are surfaced first; every castmate is organized by season below.
- 17
- castaway connections
- 8
- tribemates
- 2
- winners
- 6
- returning players
Connections worth exploring
Repeat pairings, other-show overlaps, tribe overlap, winners and Survivor veterans rise to the top.
The other 11 castaways
Open the season for the rest of the cast and the context behind each connection.
South Pacific 11 castaways View cast
-
Albert Destrade Shared a tribe1 season -
Christine Shields Markoski Shared a tribe1 season -
Edna Ma Shared a tribe1 season -
Elyse Umemoto Shared the cast1 season -
Jim Rice Shared the cast1 season -
Keith Tollefson Shared the cast1 season -
Mark Caruso Shared the cast1 season -
Mikayla Wingle Shared a tribe1 season -
Semhar Tadesse Shared the cast1 season -
Stacey Powell Shared a tribe1 season -
Whitney Duncan Shared the cast1 season