Why is Cliff Robinson Doing “Survivor”?
By David MacKay
Photo Credit: CBS.com
Earlier this afternoon, Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly announced that the new cast of Survivor: Cagayan will include former Portland Trail Blazer and 1993 Sixth Man of the Year Cliff Robinson. Uncle Cliffy played eight seasons with the Trail Blazers (1990-1997) in his 19 season NBA career. Now 47 years old, it would seem that he is ready to kick back and enjoy the many millions he made through those 19 seasons like only a wealthy exhibitionist can.
Or is he? I think just as fondly of Cliff Robinson as the next Blazer fan and even the one before them, but Cliff isn’t exactly a shrewd investor. In 2009, he declared bankruptcy after his real-estate investments went south. His 5,900 sq/ft Hillsboro home was then put to auction, as Robinson moved to New Jersey, where he had finished his NBA career with the Nets.
Call it a hunch, but I suspect that this Survivor stint leans closer to business than pleasure. We all need money to get by these days, and Robinson is cashing in with a little television face-time. I only hope that he enjoys his involvement on the show without it reflecting too heavily on how far he has slipped. Survivor: Cagayan premieres on February 26th at 8:00 p.m. on CBS.