Joe was a castaway on Survivor: Kaôh Rōng and he was originally a member of the Chan Loh (Brains) tribe. The oldest castaway since Rudy Boesch, the former FBI agent managed to make it deep in the game. He started the game off as a bit of an outsider and by circumstance, aligned himself with Debbie, who was also a bit of an outsider. Chan Loh managed to win their first several immunity challenges, keeping Joe safe from elimination. When Peter and Liz felt they were in control of the game, Joe and Debbie teamed up with Aubry and Neal to take out Liz, placing Joe comfortably in the majority. According to a blog comment on the Liz blog, Joe wanted Liz out due to her seafood allergy (how shellfish). On Day 12, he was swapped to the Gondol tribe, where he joined in the blindside of Anna. Gondol lost a second time, where he was thus in the minority, when Peter was sent home.
Joe made the merge on Day 17 and after his ally Neal was medically evacuated, Joe was seemingly in the minority. However, he joined the ladies of the Dara tribe in blindsiding Nick, giving him a fighting chance. He and his allies continued to target Scot, Jason, and Julia throughout the post-merge stage and he refused to join in the Debbie blindside. Vastly under edited, Joe was often at odds with his tribe mates, having small disagreements with them. With Aubry as his closest ally, he was often stubborn and refused to play the strategic game Aubry wanted him to. At Final 5, he went on a reward and ate a TON of food, which made him sick and unable to urinate. The Survivor medical team visited and found out he had a urinary tract complication. With his age also in mind, they medically evacuated Joe from the game, making him the third person evacuated from Koah Rong (the first time a third person was evacuated in a season). As a jury member, he was one of two people to vote for his close ally Aubry.
He is the only Survivor player to compete in his 70s and he was 71 years old at the time of filming, making the former FBI agent the second oldest castaway. Rudy Boesch continues to hold the title as the oldest Survivor, being 72 during Borneo and 75 years old during All Stars. Joe came up with the name for the merged tribe, Dara. He was the first person ever eliminated on Day 34.