Virginia Lodge Prelate Stars on Survivor: Cook Islands

Montgomery County, VA Lodge 1470 Prelate, Anh-Tuan “Cao-Boi” Bui is part of the Asian-American Tribe on the CBS reality show hit, Survivor this season.

> The current Prelate of Montgomery County, VA Lodge 1470 is one of 20 participants vying to become the title “survivor” of CBS-TV’s Survivor: Cook Islands.

He’s Vietnam native Anh-Tuan Bui, 42, nicknamed “Cao Boi” (pronounced Cowboy), from Christiansburg, VA, and he appears on the 13th season of the well-known CBS reality show. Cao-Boi established himself as a viewer favorite from the beginning, garnering the No. 1 position in a CBS website popularity poll immediately following the season premier.

This season, the perennial “water-cooler-conversation-starter” show began by separating teams into ethnic groups—partially in response to criticisms that historically, the Survivor show has not been ethnically diverse. The 20 participants were initially split into the racially homogenous “tribes” of African-American, Latino, Caucasian and Asian-American.

Bui, who at age 11 in 1975 was a Vietnam War refugee, began with the Asian-American “Puka” tribe.

Bui’s friend and Montgomery County Lodge Administrator, Rick Cupp, recalled a conversation he and his wife Dot had one evening while watching the Survivor show; “We were talking about it (Survivor) and we both thought that Anh-Tuan would be a perfect candidate for the show. Three weeks later, Dot, who is an avid Survivor fan, found out there was going to be a casting call in nearby Blacksburg, for the Cook’s Island show. She called the Lodge to see if “Cao-Boi” was there and showed up a short time later with application forms she’d downloaded off the Internet and handed them to Anh.”

Bui was asked to fly to Los Angeles soon after and was chosen to participate in the show after meeting with producers.

“We think he’ll do well because of his outgoing personality and his life experiences,” said Cupp.

Bui, who moved to the U.S. after the end of the Vietnam War, attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Bui was enrolled into Lodge 1470 on April 27, 2005; not only does he hold the Prelate’s position already, but has also sponsored eight new members in just a bit over a year!

In addition to the Moose, Bui’s diverse interests include bicycling, hiking, photography and skydiving. The latter is a natural, as he has served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army! He earns his living as manager of a nail salon -- although he called CBS and specifically requested his listed “occupation” reference be changed to “Prelate, Loyal Order of Moose” on his online biography!

He is married to Kristol Bond. The couple has two children, Jesse Dakota and Nicholas Roundtree.

According to CBS and Survivor agreements, Bui may not participate in any personal interviews regarding the show or reveal any results of the contest until the show’s end.

The Montgomery County Lodge facility plans on holding Survivor viewing parties each week, as long as their “Cao-Boi” Prelate survives!

(Late note: Bui was "kicked off" the island October 20th.)