The first time Steven Ramm killed a chicken, it was seen by millions.
The Denver resident was a competitor on the 49th season of "Survivor," the ubiquitous game show where people live on an island, compete in challenges and try to avoid banishment.
Ramm’s team had won the chicken in a special challenge event. They were running low on food — so they decided to eat the bird.
“Not to turn my nose up to the first real protein since we’ve been here, but I have never killed anything in my entire life,” Ramm said on the show.
“I’m kind of scared, I’m going to be honest,” he told his teammate.
But he did it, apparently wringing the bird’s neck so his team could feast.
It was part of a solid "Survivor" run for the 36-year-old. He finished in sixth place, lasting 23 days in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji.
“I know it surprises people a lot, but it was the most fun I've ever had,” Ramm said. “I've never felt better in my entire life, because your sleep cycle syncs up with the circadian rhythm of the sunrise. I was actually sleeping better than I do at home with my distractions on my phone that keep me up.”
Ramm’s season aired in September on CBS and wrapped in December.
Reading lips and charging hearing aids
Ramm is hard of hearing and has worn hearing aids since his early 20s. That provided him a unique advantage on the show, he explained.
“I went 20 years of my life not knowing I needed them. And so that actually helped me in the game of 'Survivor,' because whether I knew it or not, I had developed lip-reading skills and I got really good at reading context cues,” Ramm said. “And 'Survivor' is a big social game. It's 99% social is what I would say.”
Ramm is one of only a handful of deaf or hard-of-hearing contestants to participate in the show. Christy Smith, a contestant in 2003, was the first.
Life on the island did bring logistical challenges, especially keeping the hearing aids clean and dry.
“Any time there was water or mud, production was really, really accommodating. They helped me charge them overnight,” he said.
The hearing aids also provided a good cover story when he wanted to snoop around the island for immunity idols, the small talismans that can save a contestant from being voted off the island.
“I had plausible deniability. They'd be like, ‘Where were you, Steven?'" he said. “Getting my hearing aids on.”
He never did find an idol, though.
Representation resonates
Ramm’s time on the show resonated with deaf and hard-of-hearing people. After the premiere aired in September, Ramm got a message from a mom on Facebook. Her 10-year-old daughter is hard of hearing and a "Survivor" fanatic.
The mom told Ramm that her daughter had run into the kitchen, excited that “someone like her” was on the show. If Ramm could compete, why couldn’t she?
“I remember reading it, and my girlfriend's like, ‘Why are you crying at 8 in the morning?'’’ Ramm recalled. “I was so touched by that message.”
He sent the young fan an encouraging video — and learned a lesson himself. He wasn’t afraid of how the audience would see him anymore.
“If the public likes me or dislikes me, this alone makes it worth the price of admission,” he said, tearing up. “Knowing that I could show someone that you can do things.”
How does one end up on 'Survivor'?
Ramm said he trained constantly, even during the casting process, which included multiple interviews with the showrunners. Contestants get about five weeks' notice before they have to head to Fiji, where the show has been filmed for nearly a decade straight.
Ramm lives in a townhome in the Highland neighborhood, where he did most of his training. He installed a slackline to work on his balance, bought 3D-printed puzzles based on earlier "Survivor" puzzles, and fasted for stretches of two and three days to prepare. He also started fires each day in his outdoor fire pit.
His neighbors thought he “was losing it,” he said.
“There's me looking disheveled. I am intermittent fasting and I'm practicing fire,” he said. “They're like, ‘We thought maybe you were going through a midlife crisis or something.’”
Ramm had to keep his participation on the show secret until the official CBS casting announcement, which was months after he returned to Denver. His girlfriend and his employer were among the few who knew.
Ramm is an aerospace engineer at Lockheed Martin. He had to convince the company to sign a nondisclosure agreement — and to take five weeks off with little explanation to his teammates.
“We were in the process of kicking off two new studies or contracts that I was going to be working on. And so as the program manager, those are the busiest times when you're kicking off a contract or getting ready for deliverables,” he said. “So it's not a great look when out of the blue your program manager decides they're going to be taking five weeks on vacation unannounced with very short notice.”
He and his team are working with NASA to develop products for use on the moon, like tents, with a broader goal of creating a space station.
Ultimately, he and his manager simply told everyone he was taking personal leave. Still, he was worried what people would think when he returned.
“I was worried. Legitimately, I lost 21 pounds out there. I was worried that when I went back to work, people were going to think (I) was in rehab or something,” Ramm said. “I was so gaunt and I was so nervous. I tried to put on as much weight as possible after I got back.”
Five months later, he announced his "Survivor" run at a staff meeting. Some people were shocked. Others had no idea the show was still running. "Survivor" debuted in 2000, helping to launch the age of reality TV.
Money incentive
The winner, or sole survivor, gets $1 million. But every contestant gets paid, and the pay increases weekly.
“You could see the dollar signs in people's eyes as you're scheming and plotting on the island,” he said.
Surviving another week could pay off a credit card, or a down payment on a house — and people started competing more fiercely. Ramm declined to say how much money he made from his run. But he was glad to be part of an American institution.
“The thing that was really cool about being on 'Survivor' is the fan base. The community is so great and 'Survivor' has so much heart,” Ramm said.
“'Survivor' means so much to people in so many different ways.”
