In 2005, Hogeboom was a contestant on the CBS reality TV show Survivor: Guatemala. Hogeboom kept his professional sports past a secret and even sneakily claimed his name was Gary Hawkins and was a landscaper, for fear that he would be eliminated right away if the other competitors realized he was a former NFL quarterback and assumed he was already wealthy. Unfortunately for him, his plan failed when another contestant who worked in sports radio (Danni Boatwright) recognized him immediately. In fact, post-show interviews from other contestants revealed that they actually all knew his real identity as Gary Hogeboom and they didn't care because he was a strong, well-liked player. Hogeboom was eliminated on day 30, after saving himself from elimination by using the hidden immunity idol at a previous tribal council; his elimination was unrelated to the issue of his true identity, simply coming down to the powerful alliance of Rafe, Steph, Cindy, Lydia and Judd voting off non-alliance members. After he was voted out, he confessed in his final words that his name was Gary Hogeboom and he was an ex-NFL quarterback. Hogeboom went down in Survivor history as the first person to ever find and play a hidden immunity idol at tribal council.
Read more about this topic: Gary Hogeboom