Grafton’s Vinnie Virga Jr. wants to be THE sole ‘Survivor’

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Vinnie Virga, Jr. has played 32 seasons of “Survivor” — in his backyard and in college. Now he wants to play the real thing.

He wants to be on an island. He wants to build a shelter, to scheme, to search for hidden immunity idols and make an alliance. He wants Jeff Probst to narrate his progress in an immunity challenge.

He. Wants to be. The sole. Survivor.

“I know I would make entertaining television,” said the 27-year-old Grafton resident.

Virga has been a fan of the CBS reality show since he was 8 years old, rooting for Colby Donaldson in “Survivor: Australia.” While Donaldson came in second, the show became an important part of Virga’s life.

He’s applied to be a contestant — twice. But as the COVID-19 pandemic surged, leaving him sheltering in place and working from home, his thoughts again turned to sunny island beaches and the opportunity to Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.

“When I applied before, I was young and I don’t think I was ready for it,” Virga said. “I was so focused on the destination — getting on the show. Now, for me, it’s about the journey. I will get to the destination, but now doing it becomes the reward.”

This season’s “Winners at War” concept brought a heavy hit of nostalgia for it. The 40th iteration has a cast of former winners — “Boston Rob” Mariano, Ethan Zohn, Parvati Swallow, Sandra Diaz-Twine — and for Virga, “the time just felt right.”

His audition video highlights his determination, sense of humor, and snippets of his time playing “Survivor.”

The 32 “seasons,” as he calls them, of “Survivor,” started during his last year of high school in a friend’s back yard. They set up challenges based on the the ones on the show, although they were considerably less elaborate.

At UMass Amherst, things got a bit more competitive.

“I’d go up to anyone who would listen and said ‘hey, you want to play our Survivor season,'” Virga recalled. “Some of them went on to play 10 or more times.”

At first, the prize was just bragging rights. Then the purse went as high as $300. While it wasn’t the $1 million of the original, it certainly made the game more interesting.

Virga’s video opens with him standing on a roof. He explains he had a fear of heights, brought on by the time his seatbelt malfunctioned on a Myrtle Beach rollercoaster when he was a kid. He finally conquered that fear by riding rollercoasters — all the rollercoasters, including the tallest in the world and the coaster that started it all.

Virga has no fear.

He can talk to people, and be convincing — he does it all the time for his job at Floors and More, a national buying group. He accepts that while he’d like to be the rugged, all-American Colby Donaldson type of player, he’s fated to be more of a John Corcoran or Adam Klein: analytical, with a deep knowledge of Survivor history.

And he’s already made friends. Through Twitter, he reached a casting agent who has worked with “Survivor.” And he met current player and “Survivor: Guatemala” Danni Boatwright through work, and she agreed to pass his video onto her own agent.

The question is, can he make fire?

“I’ve tried out a flint but I didn’t have much luck,” he admitted. “But on ‘Survivor,’ fire equals life, so I’m going to have to get good at it.”