Imagine being thrown on an island with 13 grown men, all of whom come from wildly different backgrounds. Can a stay-at-home dad, a firefighter, an trauma surgeon and the rest of the gang survive without the conveniences we're used to?
For Dr. Buck Parker, the severe caloric restriction was a bugger. The cast depended on little aquatic snails called "limpets." Dr. Buck says it was a mighty tedious task to extract enough meat to satisfy a grown-up.
But he also got satisfaction from what has become a new fixture in his life - coconuts.
"Because I'm a surgeon and I'm a little bit weird, I generally just bring my own machete," he said, whipping out an honest-to-goodness machete in the lawn of the Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee. Demonstrating his new skills, he tossed up a coconut water 'juice box' and sliced it mid-air. He displayed extraordinary confidence by slashing away at a coconut to get to the meat - evidently his new favorite thing.
Dr. Buck proceeded by giving us an all-access tour of the hospital. This includes shortcuts "authorized personnel only" areas throughout the the trauma center and ICU.
For instance, the surgeons have their own private break room. Naturally, I wanted to know what they ate.
"I love Nutter Butters!" he smiled, showing off a well-stocked kitchen of chips, snacks, and fruits. But the one thing he does "24 hours a day" is suck down coffee. Nothing fancy. Just black.
But when he has an overnight 7-7 shift, there's something called a "Call Room." Walking in, there's a freshly-made bed on the right and a full shower and restroom. If he's lucky, he might catch a few winks in between trauma patients.
You'll be hard-pressed to find a single room in this hospital that does not have a computer. Doctors' paperwork is a constant.
"But now we're finding that maybe doctors aren't as smart as we think," he tried to convince us. "We're not really as smart." He took that back, squaring up to our cameraman. "We are smart."
A sense of humor is one of the ways he brings some normalcy to a hospital environment. We watched as he high-fived and - ah-hem - schmoozed the nurses.
Dr. Buck: "What have you heard about me - good things or bad things?"
Nurse: "Very good things. I haven't heard any bad things yet. Best part I heard is that you're good looking and you're cute."
Well there you go.
We know that Dr. Buck has been invited to Celebration's 7th Annual Hearts of Reality event. He's checking his availability now. If he does go, you can meet him Aug. 6-9 in Celebration, FL.