'Survivor: Vanautu' winner Chris Daugherty may lose job for lying
UPI News Service, 05/26/2006
The winner of the $1 million prize at the end of CBS' 2004 "Survivor: Vanautu" may be fired from his job at the Ohio Department of Transportation.
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A hearing in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday concluded Chris Daugherty, 35, submitted a bogus doctor's excuse citing stress and depression last fall so he could go on a CBS-sponsored "Survivor" tour of Europe, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Friday.
Daugherty did not have enough paid days off to legitimately take the trip, the hearing officer said. Because of the doctor's note, Daugherty ended up being paid $8,000 by ODT while he was gone.
Daugherty reportedly told an ODOT investigator the "Survivor" tour helped cure his illness.
"Daugherty's claim that he had an illness which just happened' to coincide with his Survivor' tour is simply not credible," ODOT chief investigator Les Reel wrote in his ruling, as reported by the newspaper.
Penalties can range from reprimand to dismissal, the Plain Dealer said.
