Romeo Escobar has had an interesting career as a pageant coach before competing on Survivor season 42. The 37-year-old is looking to make his mark on Survivor the same way he has in the pageant world.
Survivor is back with another shortened season of 26 days, where 18 castaways will be forced to compete in challenges and fend for themselves in the wild jungles of Fiji. After Erika Casupanan won Survivor season 41, a new batch of contestants are looking to take on the challenge of another grueling season. Season 42 is said to be filled with more idol twists, like having members of different tribes say nonsensical phrases in order to activate them, and more shocking blindsides.
Romeo is a California native. His hometown is in Los Angeles and he currently lives outside LA, in Norwalk. Before becoming a big name in the pageant world, he went to California State University, where he majored in television production. He has worked at several different companies before finding his calling as a pageant coach and director. In his CBS bio for Survivor, Romeo said that he has accomplished a lot just getting into the pageant industry and now he even owns his own pageant. His drive to set high goals and reach them no matter how difficult will likely help him in the highly competitive environment of Survivor.
Romeo first worked as a segment producer at Entertainment Tonight for nearly a decade before becoming a publicist, and later a talent booker. According to Romeo's LinkedIn profile, after spending four years as a talent booker, he moved into the Miss Universe Organization, and has held that position for four years now. His title is the National Director for Miss Universe in Belize. Romeo is also a publicist for Miss California USA and a producer of a news organization in southern California.
Since Survivor began airing in 2000, it has been nominated for 128 Emmy Awards and has won 42, but Romeo has revealed on his Instagram that he is also a three time Emmy Award winner. His awards are for his work as a producer, but he has called pageant coaching his passion as well. Romeo was also nominated for Best Director at the Global Beauty Awards for his role in sending a representative from Belize to the largest pageant in the world. Romeo added that his personality and persuasion abilities that he has gotten since working in the pageant industry may be enough to help him win Survivor season 42.
Source: CBS bio, Romeo Escobar/Instagram, Romeo Escobar/LinkedIn