Rudy: Still Full Of Fizz And Vinegar

Even though Rudy Boesch didn't take home the $1 million prize on Survivor, he was in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday morning to film a commercial for Island of Adventure theme park. He took a break to be interviewed by CBS News Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel about life in the limelight.

To begin with, he talked about shooting the theme park commercial.

Rudy Boesch: I've rode the roller coaster about 7:00 this morning, and that's probably the best one I've ever been on. Actually, I can take a roller coaster or leave it.

Bryant Gumbel: So you wouldn't choose to go on this if they weren't paying you, is that what you're telling me?

RB: I would just as soon watch you go on it.

BG: Thank you very much. Are you seen in this commercial, or do you have lines to say, too?

RB: I got a few lines to say. I told them anything over five words would be hard for me.

BG: Come on. Give me the lines.

RB: I forgot already.

(Gumbel took the opportunity to show footage of Boesch delivering some lines at a Target convention, in which he tells his audience that he is not Rich but he would have been rich if he "hadn't let go of that damn pole.")

BG: That was pretty good comedic timing, Rudy.

RB: Yeah, but I was reading all that stuff.

BG: Since losing out to Richard and Kelly on the island, we know you've done a milk ad and saw that one. What other offers have come your way?

RB: I'm down here in Orlando right now, and Friday, we're going to Chicago, and Sunday, I'm going to be out in Los Angeles at the Emmy Awards. I'm not getting an Emmy. And then Tuesday, I think, is Politically Incorrect. I should fit right in there.

BG: Yeah, I was going to say. Is it true you're also going to be on an episode of JAG?

RB: That's what they say. I think they want somebody to square that admiral away.

BG: Are you going to play yourself or a fictional character?

RB: I don't know. I keep saying, I don't know.

BG: Yeah, I don't know.

RB: I don't know what I'm going to play. They're writing the script now, they said.

BG: Rudy, a month ago, I was reading that your quote was, "I figure a month from now, they'll forget who I ever was." Are you willing to admit you were wrong?

RB: Yeah, I think I was a little bit wrong, anyway. I thought, you know, after a week that people would be saying "Rudy who?" You know how that goes. But it's hanging on for awhile, I guess.

BG: How much longer do you figure you can milk this thing?

RB: Maybe another week or so. Or longer.

BG: Yeah. Look, you're a decorated war veteran. You're a Navy hero. Do you think all the attention you're getting as a result of being on a TV show at this point in your life is a little bit silly?

RB: Yeah. I never expected this, and I don't think CBS dd either. It really turned out big, and I'm glad for Mark Burnett (executive producer of Survivor).

BG: i know you've made a big deal about not wanting to hang around the people you were with on the island and not making any real friends. but have you been in touch with any of the other castaways?

RB: I seen six of them yesterday.

BG: Yeah.

RB: And I think as this thing goes on, we'll keep running into each other. But, still, they're not my type of friends. You know, Rich is a friend of mine. But when the sun goes down, he goes his way and I go mine.

BG: But you'll see these people. That's it. But you're not anxious to see them.

RB: No, if I don't run into them, okay. If I do, okay.

BG: Once the new episodes of Survivor start airing in January, you realize that America will probably move on to other castaways. Is that okay by you?

RB: That's okay by me. I was never destined to be a movie star, and I'm happy not being one.

BG: You're ready to return to a normal life?

RB: Yeah.

BG: This celebrity stuff isn't much fun?

RB: Not for me, it ain't.

BG: Just curious. When those new episodes of Survivor start running in January, are you going to watch?

RB: I'm going to watch. And I'll criticize them and all that kind of stuff, but I wished I was there.

BG: I know you tried to be. But it just didn't work out that way.

RB: No, they didn't let me. I think I know too much.

BG: Shouldn't have let go of the pole, Rudy.

RB: I know it. That was a million-dollar slip.

BG: Sure you don't want to give us your lines yet in Orlando? They couldn't come back to you yet?

RB: No.