Betsy Bolan, a 48-year-old massage therapist turned Campton police officer, has landed her dream vacation. It's on CBS' upcoming season of "Survivor" in Samoa.
"I knew I was never going to get any exotic vacation, unless I applied for Survivor," the mother of four said.
She did that. Thirteen times.
The unlucky number proved to be the charm. Or perhaps it was the video.
"I had my (police) uniform on and I was getting ready to go to work when my son put on this great music, and I started dancing," she said. He picked up the video camera.
"My daughter, she started dancing, too. I was laughing so hard. When we played it back, it was something spontaneous," Bolan said.
She is one of 20 contestants who spent 39 days on the island in the South Pacific; the season's first episode airs Thursday, Sept. 17, at 8 p.m.
Under her contract terms, Bolan cannot say how she fared on the show.
If she talks publicly, she could risk the $1 million first prize or $100,000 second prize which will go to the contestants who make it to the final phase, when the show culminates in December.
Her interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader was a conference call in which a CBS official in New York stopped any and all answers about the island or the show.
Bolan said she missed her husband and children, with whom she had no contact during the filming.
"It drove me crazy not knowing what was going on at home," she said.
Home since late July, she said she is very happy to be able to see her kids off to school and to return to her job as a part-time Campton police officer.
"I absolutely love my job," she said.
Click below to view Betsy's "Survivor: Samoa" introduction:
Bolan's husband, Chris, is executive director of the Waterville Valley Region Chamber of Commerce.
Their eldest son, Dan, 17, is a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy. Tim, 13, is just back from working at Camp Wulamat in Bristol and is in the eighth grade at Campton Elementary. Daughter, Molly, 11, is a seventh-grader there. Meg, 9, a fourth-grader, was also happy to see her mom, as was the family's black lab, "PHAT Kate."
Bolan is not the first New Hampshire resident to be on "Survivor." Jenna Lewis of Franklin was on the first season; Deb Eaton, a corrections officer in Berlin, was a 2001 contestant.
Bolan has some life experience which made her an ideal candidate for "Survivor."
As a teenager, she attended Hurricane Island Outward Bound school in Maine. There she spent days living alone with no food on an uninhabited island, as well as on the water in an open boat with a group of fellow Outward Bounders in the icy waters of Penobscot Bay.
Bolan, who grew up in Andover, Mass., summered at Hampton Beach.
Her father lives in Manchester and her mother in Hampton. She describes herself as a recovering alcoholic who has been sober since 1986.
Now, she is looking forward to sitting back on the couch with her kids and husband and watching the show on Thursday nights this fall. And she is thankful for the "Survivor" experience.
"I appreciate everyone so much more, now," she said.
