Ben R. Driebergen is an American Marine Corps veteran and reality television personality, best known for competing on and winning Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers.

Early life

Driebergen attended Capital High School in Boise, Idaho. After graduating in 2001, he eventually enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. During his time in the Marines, he served in Iraq, attaining the rank of Lance Corporal. Once, while stationed in Fallujah, he came across an elderly couple that couldn't evacuate the city due to the wife's illness. As other civilians were being cleared out of the place, LCpl. Driebergen and his squad agreed to watch over them. After a week of protecting the two civilians, the couple was able to make it out of town on their own, unharmed.

Survivor

In 2017, Driebergen participated in Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers, the 35th season of Survivor. He was initially placed on the Levu tribe, also known as the Heroes tribe. On Day One, he formed an alliance with Alan Ball, JP Hilsabeck, and Ashley Nolan. When Levu lost the first immunity challenge, Driebergen joined the rest of the Heroes in voting out Katrina Radke. Following her elimination, he aligned with Chrissy Hofbeck. Following the tribe switch, he was switched to the Yawa tribe, where he was the only original Levu member, and in the minority. He also took a dislike to new tribemate Cole Medders due to the latter's eating habits.

Driebergen made it to the merge on Day 17. Going into the first post-merge Tribal Council, he and his ally Lauren Rimmer were the swing votes. Both he and Rimmer sided with the Yawa and Levu members at Tribal Council resulting in the elimination of Soko member Jessica Johnston. On Day 25, he and Rimmer, Nolan, and Devon Pinto, formed a Final Four alliance. The next day, Driebergen stumbled on a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol and managed to find the idol. On Day 27, Pinto suggested that Driebergen play double agent by voting against Mike Zahalsky while his new alliance blindsided Hilsabeck, shocking Driebergen's former allies Hofbeck and Ryan Ulrich.

On Day 33, Driebergen suspected his alliance was plotting against him. At Tribal Council, everyone voted against him, but he played his idol negating the six votes cast against him, and his sole vote blindsided Rimmer. This was the first time is Survivor history that someone achieved to negate all votes with a Hidden Immunity Idol. On Day 36, he found a clue to another idol, and found it moments before Tribal Council. He played the idol before the votes were cast which resulted in Nolan's unanimous elimination. The following morning he found a third idol. He tied Russell Hantz in Samoa, Tony Vlachos in Cagayan, and Tai Trang in Game Changers for the record for the most Hidden Immunity Idols found in a season, with 3. At Tribal Council, he played the idol, which negated the three votes against him, while voting against Pinto, resulting in a 1-1 tie between Pinto and Zahalsky. In the revote, Zahalsky was voted out. On Day 38, Driebergen lost the final immunity challenge to Hofbeck. During Tribal Council, Hofbeck revealed that since she won immunity, she had to choose one person to bring to the Final Three with her, while the other two castaways were to go against each other in a fire-making challenge. She chose to save Ulrich, forcing Driebergen and Pinto to compete in the fire challenge. Driebergen easily won the challenge, joining Hofbeck and Ulrich in the Final Three.

Driebergen received mixed reception during the Final Tribal Council. He was applauded for finding multiple idols, and his strong strategic play, but was condemned particularly by Joe Mena for his weak social game. When Zahalsky and Mena encouraged Driebergen to explain why he believed he should win, he opened up to the jury about his post-traumatic stress disorder and how he has learned to live with it, stating that he hoped to show fellow veterans that while life after the military is difficult, there is more to look forward to in the future. Driebergen was ultimately awarded the title of sole Survivor with five of the eight jury votes. He earned everyone's vote except Nolan, Zahalsky, and Pinto; the former two voted for Hofbeck while the latter voted for Ulrich.

After the game ended, Driebergen got to reunite with some of his fellow Marines at the Survivor reunion. He also said that he planned on saving his $1 million prize, hoping to set some money aside for his children's college fund.

Personal life

After completing his service to the Marines, Driebergen worked several regular or odd jobs around the United States. At the time of his Survivor casting, he was employed at a grocery warehouse. He currently lives in Boise with his wife Kelly, and their two children, Wyatt and Gracie.

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