Survivor birthday: Erik Huffman (China) turns 37 years old

One of the select few members of the Survivor marriage club, Erik Huffman turns 37 years old today, still maintaining some of the show’s weirdest records.

Player: Erik Huffman
Occupation: Musician
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Season: Survivor China
Tribes: Zhan Hu (Yellow Buff), Hae Da Fung (Black Buff)
Finished: 6/16

Despite making it to the third-last episode of the season, some Survivor fans will have a hard time remembering Erik Huffman. Besides being part of a showmance that blossomed into a romance that blossomed into the most unprofessional reunion interview question in the show’s history, his part of the season’s story was there to serve as a foil for others.

However, that partly underestimates the impact of Erik Huffman in Survivor history. Both him and Jaime Dugan-Hoffman are the only players in the show to ever marry another member of their original season, although certainly not doing so in such a public fashion as Boston Rob proposing to Amber Brkich back in All-Stars.

Furthermore, Erik is the first ever player to vote for the third-place participant at a Final Tribal Council, voting for Amanda Kimmel despite her historically awful performance. It’s only happened three times in Survivor history, following Baylor Wilson voting for her mom, Missy, in San Juan del Sur and Devon Pinto voting for Ryan Ulrich in Survivor season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.

With all that said, it’s a bit of a bummer we didn’t get to see more of Erik Huffman in Survivor China. He was a decent dude that held his own in a season that leaped forward in strategy way more than we had ever seen in the show’s history. Were he playing on an earlier season, no doubt he likely would have made it close to the end, as he was a social player with a good attitude.

Next: Let’s Rank the Survivor Seasons by Their Locations

We at Surviving Tribal would like to wish Erik Huffman a happy 37th birthday!