'Survivor's Benjamin "Coach" Wade's Wife Changed His Mind About Marriage and Kids
"I'd always said, 'I don't want to get married, I don't want to have kids.'"
Published April 16 2026, 11:16 a.m. ET
For some Survivor fans, the Benjamin "Coach" Wade that they see in the monumental 50th season is different from the one they saw in the three seasons he competed in before 2026. He might still be the wildcard and intense islander they got to know and love over the years, but Coach also has a wife and kids now, so in a way, he has settled down a bit.
Coach got another nickname, "Dragon Slayer," during his first Survivor season. He never won a season, but he was the runner-up in Survivor: South Pacific. He originally got the "Coach" nickname because he was a college soccer coach. Now, he mostly coaches his kids' sports teams. But for Survivor fans, he will always be known as Coach, and for some, he will always be a welcome addition to an all-star season.
Benjamin "Coach" Wade from 'Survivor' married his wife in 2011.
According to Us Weekly, Coach married his wife, Jessica Newton, in late 2011. It was the same year he competed on what would be his last season of Survivor until 2026. He told Us Weekly that having a family changes his perspective on life and, as a result, he was different during his fourth go at Survivor.
"I'm in a great spot in my life," he said. "I'm very content. I'm not that ego-driven person that you saw on the screen the last few times," he reflected. "I feel grounded, and I want to share that with the world. The world can be, sometimes, a dark place, and I want to share those fundamental truths that I feel, that I've learned over the last decade and a half."
Coach's wife has a business that brought them together outside of 'Survivor.'
Coach's wife Jessica isn't part of the reality TV world, but she is a performer in a different industry altogether. She owns a dance studio in Susanville, Calif., called J & J Performing Arts. Per the website for the studio, Jessica started dancing at a young age and was later part of the Harlem Hip-Hop Festival in New York City.
Jessica also performed as a singer for different rodeos, and she was just 18 when she opened J and J Performing Arts. Coach told Parade that it was ballet that brought them together. He said he wrote a ballet that was "a nice, big splash in the art world when it premiered."
It was around that time that Coach also decided he was ready to settle down and, soon after, he did, with Jessica and her then-infant from a previous relationship.
Coach has three kids now.
Coach and Jessica welcomed two other children after they were married. Now, Coach seems to keep pretty busy as a father of three. And, per his own admission, being a dad clearly has given him a different outlook on life in general.
In 2025, he posted a montage of clips of his kids on Instagram and wrote in the caption, "The early years with our children are so powerful and formulating in their minds .... Weigh each action, each decision, and each second carefully."