Three Twins Ice Cream owner Neal Gottlieb to compete on ‘Survivor’

Neal Gottlieb, owner of Petaluma’s Three Twins Ice Cream, is the latest man with Sonoma County ties hoping to join the ranks of reality TV super-stardom.

Gottlieb, 38, will appear on the 32nd season of “Survivor,” which begins airing Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. on CBS. He will be one of 18 castaways competing for the $1 million Sole Survivor prize, CBS announced Wednesday.

The show was filmed over 39 days in Cambodia during the spring of 2015.

Its theme is “Brains, Brawn, and Beauty,” and contestants are placed on one of three teams representing those three traits. Gottlieb’s tribal designation? Brains.

As one publicist explained, once the cast was set, the contestants were sorted into groups based on their strongest attributes.

In his online biography on the show’s website, Gottlieb describes how, as an entrepreneur, he returned home from the Peace Corps in 2005, spent his life’s savings of $70,000 creating Three Twins Ice Cream and turning it into a national brand.

“I couldn’t afford employees, so I did everything myself at first,” he wrote in the biography. “We’re now sold in grocery stores in all 50 states, have a team of around 100 and sales this year will be about 100 times sales from the first year, despite almost going broke during the economic downturn and unrelenting competition.”

One could venture that placing him on the Brains team was a no-brainer.

During the 31st season last year, the show averaged an audience of 11.34 million viewers. During the original season’s finale in 2000, viewership reached 52 million. The ratings have since slipped, but the show “defies gravity,” said Lori DelliColli, vice president at CBS Entertainment Communications. “It’s very consistent. The viewers are very loyal, and the demographic really remains the same season after season.”

Gottlieb, who lives in Sausalito, is not permitted to talk publicly about the show until the week it airs, but according to the online bio, he is a member of that very loyal demographic.

“I have been a ‘Survivor’ fan for years and therefore understand the game, am mentally tough, a physical force, likable and absolutely determined to win,” the bio states. “I will excel at both the social and physical game. Much of my life has prepared me to be a great contestant. Being a fan has shown me some brilliant moves and, perhaps more importantly, stupid ones to avoid. More than anything, I believe that I will be the sole Survivor because I want to and I usually get what I want, no matter how hard I have to work for it.”

And just how does he think he’s going to make that happen?

“I will be the provider for the group and the court jester,” he wrote. “I will be a calming force and the one that psychs up the tribe to go into battle. I am a strong swimmer and will be a valuable hunter, fisher and gatherer for the group. I have a tireless work ethic and will contribute more than my fair share towards building a strong shelter, cooking and getting water. I am most often happy, quite witty, never complain and am generally entertaining, which will help to keep the peace during tough and stressful times. I am physically and mentally strong, I was a competitive athlete for years, I am a fast runner and sharp, so I will be strong in challenges.”

Gottlieb joins a group of local reality-show contestants that include Sonoma’s Ben Flajnik, who starred on the 16th season of “The Bachelor” in 2012; Rohnert Park’s Koli Palu, who won $100,000 prize on “The Biggest Loser” in 2010; and Santa Rosa’s Guy Fieri, who won “The Next Food Network Star” in 2006 before attaining international culinary super-stardom.

Will Gottlieb get voted off the island? Only time will tell.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.