Rafe Judkins
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Rafe Lee Judkins (born January 8, 1983) is an American television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. He is the
showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
for the
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television series ''The Wheel of Time'' and appeared as a contestant on the 11th season of '' Survivor'', which took place in
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
.


Early life

Judkins was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a large
Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
family that is said to include 60 first cousins. Rafe's childhood involved him spending time painting rocks and taking apart machines. This was probably because of his mother being an artist and father being an inventor. He moved to
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,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
at the age of five. His time was spent towards teaching English and science to inner city middle school students. He graduated in 2001 and was selected as the member of the senior class most likely to be on Survivor. Judkins moved to
Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
,
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
, after graduating from the Academy to attend
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
. His main focus during this time was in
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and
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. He also managed the Brown Outdoor Leadership Training (BOLT) program, which is used to give students exposure to wilderness situations with small groups of people. He also founded a cooking class for students which is run by Brown's head catering chef.


''Survivor''

Judkins participated in '' Survivor: Guatemala'' in the fall of 2005. He was part of the Yaxha tribe. Rafe had an early alliance with
Gary Hogeboom Gary Keith Hogeboom (born August 21, 1958) is an American former football quarterback, real estate developer, and television personality. He played in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts and Phoenix Cardinals. ...
, Stephenie LaGrossa, Morgan McDevitt and Brianna Varela but back-to-back immunity losses caused the departure of McDevitt and Valera. As of the fourth episode, Rafe had been switched to the Nakum tribe along with three other Yaxha members (Jamie, Stephenie, and Lydia). They managed to persuade a Nakum member (Judd) to vote with them, thus giving them a 5-3 majority on Nakum. In episode five, they won the immunity challenge. In episode six, both teams had to vote a member out, but Rafe won individual immunity. As the reward, he was not in danger of being eliminated, he had the opportunity to watch the other tribe during their Tribal Council, and he was allowed to give individual immunity to a player on the other team. He chose Gary Hogeboom. In episode seven, Rafe, with Stephenie, had to solve a puzzle in order to win tribal immunity. They finished the puzzle in the nick of time, thus helping their tribe go into the merge with a majority. In episode eight, the teams merged into the Xhakum tribe; Rafe and Lydia worked on the team flag. Rafe's alliance expanded to include Cindy, and although Rafe was tempted to vote out Jamie due to Jamie taunting the tribe members who were in the voting minority, ultimately his alliance voted out challenge threat Brandon. In episode nine, Rafe continued to be frustrated with Jamie, and nearly beat him in an immunity challenge centered on navigating across bridges. In episode ten, Rafe won his second individual immunity in a challenge in which he had to climb through various hurdles and ropes. To his surprise, Rafe began to think he would be seen as a challenge threat. Jamie offered Rafe a final 3 alliance with Judd, but Rafe, increasingly upset by Jamie's paranoia, convinced alliance partners Stephenie and Lydia that it was the right time to vote Jamie out. Afterwards, he worked with Stephenie and Lydia to overthrow Judd, giving Danni a second chance at the game. Rafe's main alliance was with Stephenie, and his plan was to eliminate every player he felt would lose to her in the final 2, thus ensuring she would take him if she won the final immunity. He wanted another partner who would take him to the final 2, and this was Danni. As a result, after winning the a complicated maze/puzzle immunity challenge, he engineered Lydia's departure, in spite of her being no threat for the upcoming endurance challenge. At that challenge, Rafe lost his concentration and was eliminated. Danni then beat Stephenie. After he saw a sobbing Stephenie, he told Danni that any promises that she had made to him were no longer existent and that she could take Steph to the final 2 if Danni wanted to. Due to her belief that she might not beat Rafe in front of the jury, Danni took Steph to the final 2; although Rafe felt she made a good strategic move, he was bothered by her decision as he had hoped she would take him based on their bond, not on a promise she had made. While on the jury, Rafe cast the sole vote for Stephenie. Rafe did not hold a lasting grudge against Danni - he attended a
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game with her and she listed him as one of the people she had remained friends with after the show ended.


Television career after ''Survivor''

After ''Survivor'', Judkins moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in screenwriting. He was staffed on the short-lived
Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...
drama, '' My Own Worst Enemy''. After that, he was hired on the third season of ''
Chuck Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * ...
''.Watch 055 - Renewal, Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc , Chuck vs. the Podcast Episodes , Entertainment Videos , Blip
Some of his episodes were
Chuck Versus the Tic Tac "Chuck Versus the Tic Tac" is the tenth episode of the third season of the television series ''Chuck'', airing on March 15, 2010. When Casey's former commanding officer returns, Chuck and Sarah take it upon themselves to clear his name when he is a ...
,
Chuck Versus the Honeymooners ''Chuck'' is an American spy action-comedy-drama television series created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. It premiered on the terrestrial television network NBC on September 24, 2007, airing on Mondays at 8:00 pm ET. ''Chuck'' centers on ...
,
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,
Chuck Versus the Push Mix "Chuck Versus the Push Mix" is the thirteenth episode of the Chuck (season 4), fourth season of ''Chuck (TV Series), Chuck''. It originally aired on January 31, 2011. Much like "Chuck Versus the Other Guy" in the Chuck (season 3), third season, ...
, and the first of half of the series finale
Chuck Versus Sarah The fifth and final season of the American action-comedy television series ''Chuck'' was announced on May 13, 2011. It included 13 episodes, which premiered on October 28, 2011, and concluded on January 27, 2012, with a two-hour finale. Continuing ...
. After a stint on ''Hemlock Grove'' he began writing for '' Marvel's Agents of SHIELD''. On April 20, 2017, it was announced that Judkins would be writing and showrunning the
TV adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...
of ''
The Wheel of Time ''The Wheel of Time'' is a series of high fantasy novels by American author Robert Jordan, with Brandon Sanderson as a co-author for the final three novels. Originally planned as a six-book series, ''The Wheel of Time'' spans 14 volumes, in a ...
''.'' ''In May 2018, it was announced that Judkins was showrunning and writing ''The Last Amazons'' alongside director/executive producer
Ava DuVernay Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...
, a television show about the real Amazon women in ancient Greece.


Filmography


References


External links

*
Rafe Judkins biography
for '' Survivor: Guatemala'' at
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Judkins, Rafe 1983 births American television writers American male television writers Brown University alumni Former Latter Day Saints American gay writers LGBT people from Pennsylvania LGBT people from Utah Living people Survivor (American TV series) contestants Writers from Pittsburgh Writers from Salt Lake City Screenwriters from Pennsylvania Screenwriters from Utah Sewickley Academy alumni