Southwest Baptist head women’s soccer coach Benjamin Wade is one of 16 contestants on the 18th installment of the CBS reality series “Survivor.”

The 37-year-old is one of eight men who, along with eight women, will be vying to be the last one standing in the series that premieres Thursday, February 12.

Wade, who recently completed his fourth season at Southwest Baptist, has been a collegiate coach at the four-year level for eight seasons.

He led the Bearcats to a 10-4-5 record in 2006 and a third-place finish in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

Besides being Southwest Baptist’s women’s soccer coach, Wade spends part of his off-season in California as a conductor and artistic director for the Susanville Symphony. A world-class trumpet player, he has composed more than 50 classical works for symphony orchestras.

In 1996, Wade set the world record for longest solo kayak expedition when he paddled for six months and 6,132 miles from San Felipe, Mexico (on the Baja Peninsula) to Colombia.

Among the other contestants in this edition of “Survivor” is Tamara “Taj” Johnson-George, formerly part of the Grammy-nominated vocal group SWV and the wife of former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George.

– Courtesy of Matt Newbery from the MIAA