During the 12-day shoot on Nugent's ranch in Waco, Texas, Wilms rescued chickens from a coop full of snakes, was buried up to his neck in mud and drove in a demolition derby. The self-described "vegan yogi wing-nut songwriter" also had to endure dietary distress when Nugent, a hunter and diehard carnivore, forced him to eat meat not once but twice to stay in the game.

"The producers wanted my character to be a covert vegan," Wilms explains. "I reconciled my beliefs going in, in that the meat was going to be consumed regardless."

Wilms may have been mentally prepared to eat meat, but his physical reaction was less forgiving.

"It didn't sit too well, because I haven't eaten any for a few years," he admits.

It may seem antithetical to talk about being a character on a reality show, but Wilms, a musician who prefers to be called "The Bob," likens his experience to creating performance art.

Reality television, he says, "puts people in situations that are less contrived than a dramatic piece of art. [Viewers] can relate to that. They see themselves in these situations and kind of live through [the show]."

On Nugent's ranch, Wilms lived through some challenges that weren't in the script as nature had its way with him and the other contestants, who were housed in shacks made of aluminum siding.

"The weather for the last few days dropped to just above freezing," he recalls. "Rain almost flooded our little shack."

Wilms endured all the trials on the show in hopes of winning the $100,000 grand prize in the end. But in the final episode, which aired May 6, he was beaten by Dawn, a 23-year-old bartender from Hinsdale, Ill., in an archery contest.

The defeat still gnaws at Wilms, particularly because he'd won a trip to Jamaica by shooting a bull's-eye in an earlier contest.

"I had to use a bigger bow" the second time, he says. "It made me hesitate mentally. I still blew it. I had my chance."

As "The Bob," Wilms is taking his chances on a career in music. He's been working on his first album for three years and plans to release songs via his website, www.whoisthebob.com.

"I'm putting together the most eclectic pop record to come from a kid raised in the Cupertino suburbs," says the Monta Vista High School graduate. "A lot of the music is pretty dark because I was going through a rough emotional time [when I wrote it]."

Wilms spent the better part of his teens and 20s battling severe asthma and a weight problem. When he began to focus on his music, he also switched to a vegan diet and took up yoga.

"At the point I started writing, I started to reevaluate the ways I approached my life," he says.

Despite their different approaches to life, Wilms says Nugent gave him some good advice about his music career.

"He made a comment that if you're going to be a songwriter, you need to grab life by the balls. His point was well-taken in that I've been laying low, working on my record, waiting for things to happen."

Wilms applied Nugent's advice to his performance on the show. "The next day," he says, "I turned everything up. I was up at 3 a.m. breaking limbs off trees for firewood."

"The Bob" is hoping that his album will turn things up a notch on the local music scene.

"I see this whole valley as kind of a cultural vacuum," he says. "It's very much centered on people's business. Homes in the suburbs don't have connections like they did years ago. They're a resting point where people reenergize to go back to work. My last three years have been about subverting that."

Wilms says his experiences on Nugent's ranch will aid in this subversion, particularly when it comes to his own thought processes.

"Sometimes the 'what ifs' become too prevalent in my daily life. The biggest thing I took away from [the show] is that all of that is B.S.," he says. "I need to attack my career in music the same way I do other things. That's what I took away from Ted in general."

"The Bob" will perform an acoustic show July 16 at the Cupertino Britannia Arms.