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<mask>   (born 10 November 1957) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ribble Valley constituency in Lancashire since 1992. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Joint Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee from 2017 to 2019. He served as First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, one of the Speaker's three deputies, from 2010 to 2013. He was elected as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means in 2020. He is a strong critic of the European Union and supported Brexit in the 2016 EU Referendum. He has since been supportive of Leave Means Leave, a Eurosceptic campaign group and backed Boris Johnson for Prime Minister. He has however since refrained from campaigning on issues such as Brexit in order to fulfill his role as one of the deputy speakers.Early life
<mask> was born on 10 November 1957 in Swansea. He was educated locally at the Dynevor School, and at University College of Swansea, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics in 1979. He was involved in the management of his family's newsagent's and convenience store in Swansea. Political career
In 1985, <mask> was elected as a councillor to the West Glamorgan County Council. In 1990, he became the deputy Conservative group leader, before standing down as a councillor in 1991. He contested Swansea West at the general election of 1987, but was defeated by former minister Alan Williams by 7,062 votes. He was selected to contest the 1989 Pontypridd by-election in Pontypridd, following the death of Brynmor John, the seat's Labour MP.<mask> was defeated by Kim Howells by 10,794 votes. He fought his third election in the same parliament when he was selected to contest the normally "safe" Conservative seat of Ribble Valley, in the by-election caused by the resignation of David Waddington to become the Leader of the House of Lords in 1990. <mask> was again defeated on 7 March 1991, when Mike Carr gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats by 4,601 votes. <mask> won Ribble Valley from the Liberal Democrats at the general election of 1992, defeating Carr by 6,542 votes, and has remained the constituency's MP since then. He made his maiden speech on 20 May 1992. He was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Employment David Hunt in 1993, and remained Hunt's PPS when he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1994. In 1995, <mask> became the PPS to Tony Baldry the Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1995, and in 1996, he became the PPS to the new Secretary of State for Wales William Hague.With the Conservative Party not winning a single seat in Wales at the general election of 1997, <mask> was drafted onto the frontbench by former prime minister John Major as a spokesman on Welsh Affairs. He became a member of the Shadow Cabinet under Iain Duncan Smith as the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales from 2001 to 2003. He had publicly criticised the government for not having a dedicated Secretary of State for Wales in a cabinet post, so when the new Conservative leader Michael Howard decided to take the role outside of the Shadow Cabinet, <mask> chose to return to the backbenches. He became a member of both the Trade and Industry and the Welsh Affairs Select committees in 2003. In November 2004, <mask> was appointed a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, with specific responsibility for overseeing Conservatives Abroad and mobilising the Conservative vote overseas. He returned to the back benches on the election of David Cameron as party leader in 2005, deciding to dedicate more time to his work on the Council of Europe and Western European Union. He has been a member of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee since the general election of 2005.In November 2009, <mask> was ranked as the 570th most expensive MP out of the 646 MPs in the UK Parliament, based on his expenses claims. Criticism was drawn over his £375 a month expense on phone bills, and his purchase of four digital cameras in 18 months. <mask> later attracted criticism for saying that he struggled to live on his salary of over £64,000 per year. He responded by saying that the comments were made in jest. On 8 June 2010, <mask> was elected First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. This was the first time the three Deputy Speakers had been elected by secret ballot of all MPs. <mask> supported Brexit in the 2016 European Union referendum.On 8 January 2020, he was elected as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means by the MPs. Political views
<mask> is a supporter of the proposal to make 23 June a public holiday in the United Kingdom, to be known as British Independence Day. Following a Parliamentary debate on the topic, the announcement from the government of the United Kingdom to not proceed with the holiday at present, he said it was "a shame the government has made this decision, this is an absolute belter of an idea." On the issue of climate change, in 2008 <mask> expressed his belief in the solar variation theory, the causes of warming on the earth and on other planets being sunspots. He praised the television documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle as "one of the best and most controversial programmes I've ever seen on television, particularly for those who don't like being spoonfed by Al Gore". Arrest and trial
On 4 May 2013, <mask> was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. His trial began on 10 March 2014.He was acquitted of all charges on 10 April 2014. In 2012, he had supported large cuts to legal aid which became part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO); in 2018, after losing his life savings defending himself in 2014, <mask> said that the experience had shown him that "It's wrong, completely wrong, to remove people's right to have expert legal representation ... We're definitely talking about justice being denied as a result of LASPO." Hannah Quirk, a criminal law lecturer at King's College London, referred to him as a victim of the so-called 'innocence tax'. Personal life
On 18 December 2010, following the death of his 86-year-old mother, <mask> revealed to The Mail on Sunday that he was gay. He lives in Pendleton, Lancashire, a village in his constituency. References

External links
<mask> MP official site

ePolitix.com – <mask> MP
Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: <mask> MP

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1957 births
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Gay politicians
Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Independent politicians in the United Kingdom
LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
LGBT politicians from Wales
Living people
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People acquitted of sex crimes
People educated at Dynevor School, Swansea
Politicians from Swansea
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
Welsh politicians

masks:
Nigel Martin Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Evans
Nigel Evans
Nigel Evans
Nigel Evans


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<mask> (1820 – May 25, 1849) was an African-American sailor who was hanged for murder in Boston in May 1849. His case was the subject of considerable attention by those opposed to the death penalty, resulting in over 24,000 signatures on petitions for clemency to Massachusetts governor George N. Briggs. His trial was presided over by Justice Lemuel Shaw who the following year would sentence Professor John White Webster to death for the murder of Harvard Medical School benefactor, George Parkman, another trial that would capture Boston's imagination and blur the lines of distinction between opponents and advocates of capital punishment. <mask>'s trial was reported widely in the newspapers, including The Tioga Eagle of June 13, 1849, published in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, which carried a brief notice of his hanging:

<mask>,a colored man, was hung
at Boston on Friday, for the murder of Thomas
Harding. He made a desperate attempt the
night previous to commit suicide by cutting the
veins of his arm with glass, and swallowing tobacco
and tarred rope. Goode was only 20 [sic]
years of age, and was with General Taylor
through all the Florida War. He protested
his innocence to the last.Life

<mask> was born in 1820 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He lived for a time in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. <mask> reportedly fought for General Zachary Taylor who would eventually become the twelfth president of the United States in the Florida war. There is some discrepancy to the date and place of <mask>'s birth. While <mask> claimed to have been born in Pennsylvania, his uncle George Myres claimed that <mask> was born in Baltimore, Maryland and was 28 years of age in 1849 which would have made his birth year 1821. His uncle also claimed that 15-year-old <mask> accompanied him to Boston in 1836 and after settling among the city's small black population, began working as a servant on board ships that sailed from Boston. Myers rarely saw his nephew while he was in port in Boston as Goode preferred to hang out in the North End section of Boston known as the "Black Sea."By 1848, Goode was a seaman who had reportedly served as second cook on board the steamer William J. Pease and also as a cook aboard the barque Nancoockee. While in port in Boston, it was known that Goode was friends with Mary Ann Williams, whom he considered to be his girlfriend although she was married. At the same time, another black seaman, Thomas Harding was friends with Williams and also considered her to be his girlfriend. On the night of Wednesday, June 28, 1848, an argument broke out between Thomas Harding and <mask> regarding a handkerchief that Harding had given to Williams. Sometime thereafter, Thomas Harding was dead of a blow to the head and a knife wound between the ribs. Goode was promptly arrested for the murder of his fellow seaman. Trial

Goode's trial began on January 1, 1849.As it was a capital case, it was tried before the Supreme Judicial Court presided over by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, one of the most influential jurists in nineteenth-century America. The evidence used by District Attorney Samuel D. Parker to build his case against <mask> was largely circumstantial. Although no one saw Goode crack Harding's skull or stab him between the ribs, several witnesses at the trial testified that they saw a person fitting <mask>'s description in the area of the crime. Also, when he was arrested Goode had in his possession a knife whose blade measured ten or eleven inches. Harding's stab wound was measured at nine inches deep. Goode was defended by two young distinguished attorneys, William Aspinwall (who had not previously defended a capital case), while Edward Fuller Hodges (his name is erroneously given as E.F. or Edgar F.) assisted Aspinwall. The two attorneys argued that their client was innocent, denouncing the testimony of the prosecution's witnesses and casting doubt on the circumstantial evidence presented by Samuel Parker.In his closing argument, Hodges began to discuss the inappropriateness of capital punishment in Massachusetts when Parker objected and was told by Chief Justice Shaw that he was out of order to discuss the appropriateness of justice of the death penalty. The jury deliberated for only thirty-five minutes before finding <mask> guilty of murder and on January 15, 1849 he was sentenced to death by Chief Justice Shaw. He was to be hanged on May 25, 1849. Debate over capital punishment and petitions for clemency

<mask>'s case came about in the midst of a national debate over capital punishment and served as a rallying point for Boston's opponents of the death penalty who hoped to save Goode from the gallows. By most accounts, the community's opposition to the death penalty was solid and widespread. Meetings were held in several Massachusetts cities and towns in support of <mask> with a committee being appointed by the Massachusetts Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment to advocate on his behalf. Those volunteering to serve on the committee included his attorneys Aspinwall and Hodges, as well as Wendell Phillips, Walter Channing, Samuel May, Robert Rantoul, Jr.,  James Freeman Clarke and Frederick Douglass, among other politicians, ministers and reformers.One such meeting was chaired by Amasa Walker and took place on Good Friday, April 6, 1849 at the Tremont Temple. Attendees of the meeting were addressed by several prominent figures of the time including Reverend William H. Channing, Wendell Phillips and Reverend James Freeman Clarke. Each speaker implored attendees of the meeting to sign a petition to have Goode's death sentence commuted on the grounds that society, by its neglect, prejudice, and injustice, had in fact made Goode into a murderer and was now using him as an example. While others who had been given the same sentence had already been pardoned, Goode's sentence was still scheduled to be carried out even though the evidence presented against him was not clear and conclusive. Committee meetings were held in all the principal towns throughout the state to collect signatures from those who opposed Goode's impending execution. More than twenty four thousand signatures were obtained. In all, 130 petitions from Massachusetts communities were compiled.A document entitled "Protest of 400 inhabitants of Concord against the execution of <mask>" is preserved at the Institute at Walden Woods as a document of vital historical interest in the history of human rights. In the effort to save <mask> from execution, 400 citizens of Concord, Massachusetts, including Henry David Thoreau, two of his sisters, Sophia Thoreau and Helen D. Thoreau, and his mother, Cynthia D. Thoreau, as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson, signed the petition now known as the "Protest of 400...against the execution of <mask>." William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator, became involved in the debate over the commutation of <mask>'s death sentence. In The Liberator Garrison argued that the verdict relied on "circumstantial evidence of the most flimsy character..." and feared that the determination of the government to uphold its decision to execute Goode was based on race. As all other death sentences since 1836 in Boston had been commuted, Garrison concluded that Goode would be the last person executed in Boston for a capital offense writing, "Let it not be said that the last man Massachusetts bore to hang was a colored man!" Parker Pillsbury also used the pages of a prominent newspaper, the Semi-Weekly Republican as well as The Liberator to plead for commutation of <mask>'s sentence. The activists involved in the protest relied heavily on the question of race to play a large role in saving Goode from the gallows.Through his case, reformers not only sought to express their opposition to the death penalty but also to racism. Despite the powerful and numerous appeals to spare <mask>'s life including an application by his counsel to commute his sentence, Governor George N. Briggs adamantly refused to commute Goode's death sentence. Goode's execution marked a turning point in the early 19th-century campaign to abolish the death penalty in Massachusetts. As no person had been hanged in Boston since 1836, those opposed to the death penalty thought this showed a shift in the public's attitude away from capital punishment. However, Goode was to be hanged as scheduled on May 25. Hanging

In the days before the scheduled hanging, Goode repeatedly professed his innocence to the clergymen who entered his prison cell. On the night before the hanging, Goode attempted suicide by swallowing large pieces of tobacco and paper and slashing the veins in his arms with a piece of glass.When the prison guards entered his cell, he had already lost a considerable amount of blood. However, the prison doctor stopped the bleeding thus saving his life so that he could be put to death the next day. Exhausted and weakened by the loss of blood, Goode was carried to the gallows at 9:30am on May 25, by prison guards who had strapped him to a chair. A large crowd had gathered in the rain to watch the event that took place inside the walls of the Leverett Street Jail. At 9:45am Goode was placed still strapped to the chair on the platform over the drop, the sheriff placed a white hood over his head and the rope was adjusted around his neck. The sheriff then read the warrant signed by the Governor after which the trap door sprang open and Goode plunged several feet. Twenty-five minutes later, doctors examined the body and pronounced him dead.His body was then turned over to his uncle George Myres who took his body back to his house to prepare for the funeral. Perhaps as a testament to their continued opposition to the death penalty, over one thousand people paraded through the tenement where <mask>'s body laid, escorting it to the South Burying Ground where it was laid to rest in one of the city's tombs. General references

 Masur, Louis. "Ritual and Reform in Antebellum America," Rites of Execution Capital Punishment and the Transformation of American Culture, 1776-1865 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, ©1989). Rogers, Alan. "Under Sentence of Death": The First Effort to Abolish the Death Penalty, Murder and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts. (Amherst & Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008).Profile of case, walden.org; accessed March 30, 2017. The Inquirer. Vol. 29, Issue 65. June 1, 1849. Page 2. Levesque, George."Black Crime and Crime Statistics in Antebellum Boston." Australian Journal of Politics and History. Vol. 25, Issue 2. Pages 216-227. Barre Gazette. Vol.XVI, Issue 3. June 1, 1849. "The Execution of <mask>e, at Boston." The Weekly Herald. Vol. XV, Issue 23. June 2, 1849.Page 175. "Enthusiastic Meeting at the Tremont Temple." The Liberator. Vol. XIX. No. 15.April 13, 1849. Pages 58–59. "Shall He Be Hung?". The LiberatorVol. XIX. No. 13.March 30, 1849. Page 52. 1820 births
1849 deaths
Murder in 1848
Executed African-American people
People executed by Massachusetts by hanging
People convicted of murder by Massachusetts
American people convicted of murder
19th-century executions by the United States
Executed people from Pennsylvania
People executed for murder
19th century in Boston
People from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
19th-century executions of American people
1840s murders in the United States

masks:
Washington Goode
Goode
Washington Goode
Washington Goode
Goode
Goode
Goode
Goode
Washington
Washington Goode
Goode
Goode
Goode
Goode
Washington Goode
Washington Goode
Washington Goode
Washington Goode
Goode
Goode
Goode
Goode
Washington Good


texts:
Princess <mask> of Prussia (3 July 170914 October 1758) was a princess of the German Kingdom of Prussia (the older sister of Frederick the Great) and composer. She was the eldest daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and granddaughter of George I of Great Britain. In 1731, she married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. The baroque buildings and parks built during her reign shape much of the present appearance of the town of Bayreuth, Germany. Early life

Born in Berlin, Wilhelmine shared the unhappy childhood of her brother, Frederick the Great, whose friend and confidante she remained all her life, with the exception of one short interval. She was fiercely beaten and abused by her governess during her childhood. Wilhelmine later wrote: "Not a day passed that she [the governess] did not prove upon me the fearful power of her fists."The mistreatment continued until the prince's governess finally said to their mother, who had been oblivious to the abuse, that she would not be surprised if Wilhelmine was eventually beaten until she was crippled. After this, the governess was promptly replaced. Being the eldest daughter in her family, she was early the target of discussions about political marriages. Her mother, Queen Sophia Dorothea, wished her to marry her nephew Frederick, Prince of Wales, but on the British side there was no inclination to make an offer of marriage except in exchange for substantial concessions that Wilhelmine's father would not accept. The fruitless intrigues carried on by Sophia Dorothea to bring about this match played a large part in Wilhelmine's early life. Her father, on the other hand, preferred a match with the House of Habsburg. Marriage
After much talk of other matches came to nothing, Wilhelmine was eventually married in 1731 to her Hohenzollern kinsman, Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.Frederick had been engaged to Wilhelmine's younger sister, Sophie, but at the last moment King Frederick William I decided to replace her with Wilhelmine. The groom was not consulted in this decision. This marriage was only accepted by Wilhelmine under threats from her father and with a view to lightening her brother's disgrace. It was initially a happy marriage, but was eventually clouded first by limited financial resources and then by a love affair of the future Margrave with Dorothea von Marwitz, whose rise as an official mistress at the court of Bayreuth was bitterly resented by her brother Frederick the Great and caused an estrangement of some three years between him and Wilhelmine. Margravine

When Wilhelmine's spouse came into his inheritance in 1735, the pair set about making Bayreuth a miniature Versailles. Their building projects included the rebuilding of their summer residence (now part of the Hermitage Museum); the rebuilding of the great Bayreuth opera house; the building of a second, new opera house; the building of a theater; and the reconstruction of the Bayreuth palace. The so-called Bayreuth Rococo style of architecture is renowned even today.The pair also founded the University of Erlangen. All of these ambitious undertakings pushed the court to the verge of bankruptcy. The margravine made Bayreuth one of the chief intellectual centers of the Holy Roman Empire, surrounding herself with a court of wits and artists that accrued added prestige from the occasional visits of Voltaire and Frederick the Great. Wilhelmine's brother Frederick granted her an allowance in exchange for troops, following the same procedure with her sisters. With the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, Wilhelmine's interests shifted from dilettantism to diplomacy. Austrian diplomats were trying to influence the court of Bayreuth to take their side against Prussia. In September 1745, during the Silesian war, Wilhelmine met with Maria Theresa of Austria.This almost destroyed her intimate relationship with her brother. In 1750 Wilhelmine visited the Prussian court for several weeks and met famous contemporaries such as Voltaire, Maupertuis and La Mettrie. In June 1754, the siblings met for the last time, after which Frederick swore her his eternal loyalty. She acted as eyes and ears for her brother in southern Germany until her death at Bayreuth on 14 October 1758, the day of Frederick's defeat by the Austrian forces of Leopold Josef Graf Daun at the Battle of Hochkirch. Although Frederick had lost many friends and family to death throughout his life, Wilhelmine's hit him the hardest. He suffered from severe illness for a week following news of Wilhelmine's death and fell into a depression from which he never fully recovered. On the tenth anniversary of her death, her devastated brother had the Temple of Friendship built at Sanssouci in her memory.Works

The margravine's memoirs, Memoires de ma vie, written or revised in French between 1748 and her death, are preserved in the Royal Library of Berlin. They were first printed in two forms in 1810: a German translation down to the year 1733 from the firm of Cotta of Tübingen; and a version in French published by Vieweg of Brunswick, and coming down to 1742. There were several subsequent editions, including a German one published at Leipzig in 1908. An English translation was published in Berlin in 1904. For the discussion on the authenticity of these entertaining, though not very trustworthy, memoirs, see G. H. Pertz, Uber die Merkwürdigkeiten der Markgrafin (1851). See also Arvede Barine, Princesses et grandes dames (Paris, 1890); E. E. Cuttell, Wilhelmine, Margravine of Baireuth (London, 2 vols., 1905); ' and R. Fester, Die Bayreuther Schwester Friedrichs des Grossen (Berlin, 1902). Writer William Thackeray recommended the memoirs to "those who are curious about European Court history of the last age".In addition to her other accomplishments, Wilhelmine was also a gifted composer and supporter of music. She was a lutenist, a student of Sylvius Leopold Weiss, and the employer of Bernhard Joachim Hagen. Keyboard Concerto in G minor

 Allego, G minor. Cantabile, B flat major. Gavottes I & II, G minor. Cembalo, Fl, Strings

The obbligato flute part could have been played either by her brother or her husband, as both were flautists (and pupils of Quantz). Each movement takes wing from solid and vigorous openings.There is a stubborn insistence about the first tutti's repeated octave jumps, offset by the buoyancy of its striding sequences. She has a Bach-like flair for phrase extensions, which is also evident in the final gavotte where the solo shadows the orchestra and emerges to take the lead. Some of the ideas in the 34 bar slow movement are more son-of-Bach in style; and in the D minor second gavotte, which serves as a central "trio" to the first, there is a delicate episode of rather French, languishing descents. Argenore: opera c. 1740. Seven soloists (3 sop., 1 mezzo-sop., 2 alto, 1 baritone or mezzo-sop. ), and orchestra (1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets, strings, continuo). Performed in 1740 for her husband's birthday.Cavatinen: short songs; voice, strings, harpsichord. Flute Sonata: flute & keyboard, c. 1730. Some chamber music still survives. Issue

Wilhelmine's only child was Elisabeth Fredericka Sophie of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, born on August 30, 1732. Described by Casanova as the most beautiful princess in Germany, she was married to Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, in 1748. She died on 6 April 1780 without surviving children. Memoirs
An earlier English translation from the French of her memoirs was published in a two volume edition in 1828 by Hunt and Clarke, York St., Covent Garden.Scribner and Welford published Princess Helena of the United Kingdom's German-to-English translation of Wilhelmine's memoirs in 1887. In fiction
Princess <mask> is the main character of the 1909  historical novel A Gentle Knight of Old Brandenburg by Charles Major. Ancestry

Notes

References
 G.P. Gooch, Frederick the Great. The Ruler, the Writer, the Man (Alfred A. Knopf, 1947). pp 217–247. Thea Leitner: Skandal bei Hof.Frauenschicksale an europäischen Königshöfen, Piper, München 2003,
 Uwe A. Oster: Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. Das Leben der Schwester Friedrichs des Großen, Piper,  München, 2005,

 Attribution

 Some of the information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent. External links

 Argenore (opera) from the Hamburg Opera House

1709 births
1758 deaths
Margravines of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
Musicians from Berlin
People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg
People from Bayreuth
House of Hohenzollern
German Baroque composers
Women classical composers
German memoirists
18th-century German people
Prussian princesses
German lutenists
Women memoirists
18th-century classical composers
18th-century German women
18th-century German women writers
18th-century German composers
18th-century German writers
Daughters of kings

masks:
Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine
Wilhelmine


texts:
<mask> (born 12 April 1949) is a politician and anti-apartheid activist who has held various ministerial posts in the Cabinet of South Africa. He served as Minister of Finance from 2009 until 2014 and again from 2015 until 2017, as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs from 2014 until 2015, and as Minister of Public Enterprises since February 2018. Early years
<mask> was born in Durban, and matriculated from Sastri College in 1967. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Durban-Westville with a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree. Gordhan became associated with members of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) In 1971 and was elected to its executive council in 1974. During the 1970s, <mask> helped establish grassroots organisations that became involved in underground activities and associated with the African National Congress (ANC) and later the South African Communist Party (SACP). He completed his pharmacy internship at King Edward VIII Hospital in 1974 and worked there until 1981 when the Natal Provincial Administration dismissed him for his political activities while he was in detention.He was released from jail in 1982 and received banning orders effective until June 1983. <mask> attended the launch of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Cape Town 1983 where the also NIC became an affiliated organisation. <mask> attended the preparatory meeting for the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) in 1991 as a joint NIC/Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) representative, and was appointed NIC/TIC delegate to the steering committee responsible for organising Codesa 1. In 1993 he was appointed to the panel of chairpersons on the planning committee of the multi-party negotiation process. Career
<mask> was previously the Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service from 1999 to 2009. From 1991 and 1994, he chaired the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, and he was the co-Chairman of the Transitional Executive Council, which prepared South Africa for the country's first non-racial election in April 1994. As a member of parliament from 1994 to 1998, <mask> chaired the parliamentary committee that focused on the implementation of the new Constitution and the transformation of local government in the post-apartheid.<mask> was chairman of the World Customs Organization in from 2000 to 2006. On 10 May 2009, President Jacob Zuma appointed <mask> as Minister of Finance, succeeding Trevor Manuel. On 25 May 2014, he was replaced by Nhlanhla Nene as Minister of Finance. In 2014, <mask> was appointed as the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, succeeding Lechesa Tsenoli who became Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa. On 14 December 2015, <mask> was re-appointed as Minister of Finance, replacing David van Rooyen who had been minister for 4 days. In 2018, <mask> was re-appointed to the Cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa as Minister of Public Enterprises, taking over from former Minister Lynne Brown. He would oversee state-owned enterprises including the likes of Eskom, SAA, Denel, and others.Controversies and court cases

South African journalist Pieter du Toit has written that <mask> has become target of a smear campaign by people involved in state capture related corrupt activities due to Gordhan's efforts to fight corruption; du Toit names people associated with the Gupta family, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and factions within the ANC as being amongst Gordhan's harshest critics whilst also being implicated themselves in possible corrupt activities. Other people and organisations, including the Kathrada Foundation, author Pieter-Louis Myburgh, and journalist Ferial Haffajee. have also stated that <mask> is the target of smear campaigns. Since becoming Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, <mask>'s middle name, Jamnadas, has been used extensively by critics, most notably on Twitter, as a pejorative term and dog whistle to highlight his Indian ethnicity in a racially prejudicial way. Rogue unit
On the eve of the 2016 Budget Speech that was to be tabled on 24 February 2016, a list of questions from the Hawks was sent to Gordhan. In total there were 27 questions around the alleged "rogue unit" at South African Revenue Service (SARS). <mask> Mantashe, the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC). <mask> himself was baffled by the questions, having the following to say "Once again, the Hawks and those who instruct them, have no regard for the economic and social welfare of millions". He then sent a letter to the Hawks through his department that he would be unable to meet the deadline imposed. The letter from his office stated that "He will respond in due course, once he has properly examined the questions and ascertained what information, of the information you request, he is able to provide". He also wanted to know from what authority the Hawks asked these questions of him. On 30 March 2016, he replied to the questions put to him by the Hawks.<mask> was quoted, "I believe this was meant to intimidate and distract us from the work we had to do in preparing the 2016 Budget". In September 2017, international auditing firm KPMG abruptly withdrew all of its findings‚ recommendations, and conclusions around its report into the SARS "rogue spy unit" which had implicated <mask>. SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane disputed KPMG's withdrawal of the report withdrawal, calling it "unethical conduct", and claimed that the report is not flawed. Hiring practices
In October 2016, South Africa's state prosecutor levied fraud charges against Gordhan for allowing a former colleague at SARS to take early retirement and then re-hiring them as a consultant. Charges were dropped a few days later. In October 2016, <mask> lodged an application in the North Gauteng High Court to rule that he may not interfere with the major banks' decision to close the Oakbay Investments accounts. In August 2017, the court ruled against his application deeming it unnecessary.Public Protector
In May 2019 Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane released a controversial report recommending that the presidency take disciplinary action against <mask> for past allegations of fraud at SARS. Gordhan's legal team challenged Mkhwanbane's findings as being "totally wrong both in fact and in law". Mkhwabane publicly denied that it was part of a larger political struggle to target and discredit <mask>. In July 2019 the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa ruled that Mkhwebane's action as Public Protector against Gordhan be suspended, pending a judicial review of Mkhwabane's report on the SARS "rogue unit". The judge stated that a number of Mkhwebane's assertions were "vague, contradictory and/or nonsensical". Awards

Honorary degrees
University of South Africa, Honorary Doctor of Commerce, May 2007
University of Cape Town, Doctor of Law (honoris causa), June 2007
Central University of Technology, Doctor of Technology (honoris causa), March 2009
Sunday Times Business Leader of the Year, November 2016
Henley Business School (University of Reading, UK), Doctor of Business Administration (honoris causa), November 2018

References

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1949 births
African National Congress politicians
Finance ministers of South Africa
Living people
Members of the National Assembly of South Africa
People from Durban
University of Durban-Westville alumni
South African politicians of Indian descent
South African people of Gujarati descent
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in public affairs
Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

masks:
Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan
Pravin Gordhan
Gordhan
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<mask> (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez (R-Florida) were the first Hispanic U.S. Senators since 1977; they were joined by Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) in 2006. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as Attorney General of Colorado from 1999 to 2005. On December 17, 2008, President-elect Obama announced he would nominate <mask> as U.S. secretary of the interior.The environmentalist movement's reaction to this nomination was mixed. Previously, <mask> supported the nomination of Gale Norton to Secretary of the Interior, President George W. Bush's first appointee who preceded <mask> as Colorado Attorney General. On January 20, 2009, <mask> was confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate. On January 16, 2013, it was reported that <mask> planned to resign his post as Secretary of the Interior in March 2013, but his resignation was delayed pending Senate confirmation of his successor, Sally Jewell. On June 10, 2013, he became a partner in the major international law firm of WilmerHale, and was tasked with opening a Denver office for the firm. On August 16, 2016, <mask> was appointed to head presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's transition team. In May 2021, President Joe Biden nominated <mask> as the United States ambassador to Mexico.His nomination was confirmed by a voice vote in the United States Senate on August 11, 2021. Early life and education
<mask> was born in Alamosa, Colorado, the son of Emma Montoya and <mask>. His elder brother is former Congressman <mask>. He grew up near Manassa, in the community of Los Rincones in the San Luis Valley area of south-central Colorado. <mask> attended St. Francis Seminary and Centauri High School in La Jara, graduating in 1973. He later attended Colorado College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981. Later <mask> was awarded honorary degrees (Doctor of Laws) from Colorado College (1993) and the University of Denver (1999).After graduating, <mask> started private law practice. <mask>'s Hispanic traces back to the Hispanos of the Southwestern United States. He has been identified as a Mexican American saying, "I've been taunted, called names—from 'dirty Mexican' to lots of other names—as I was growing up, and even now as a United States Senator." Career

Colorado cabinet
In 1986, <mask> became chief legal counsel to then Governor Roy Romer. In 1990, Romer appointed him to his Cabinet as director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. In this position, he authored the Great Outdoors Colorado Amendment, which created a massive land conservation program of which he became chairman. <mask> also created the Youth in Natural Resources program, giving thousands of Colorado's youth an opportunity to work and learn about Colorado's natural resources in public schools.The Great Outdoors Colorado program's success was a model for President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative to create a 21st-century agenda for conservation and outdoor recreation. In his cabinet role, he established reforms that forced mining and petroleum operations to better protect the surrounding environment and helped plan and promote Denver's South Platte River Valley redevelopment, transforming the area from an abandoned wasteland to a vibrant economic center. Colorado attorney general
In 1994, <mask> returned to private practice. In 1998, he was elected state attorney general; he was reelected to this position in 2002. Police operations were streamlined under <mask>, and several new branches of law enforcement were created: the Gang Prosecution Unit, the Environmental Crimes Unit, and the General Fugitive Prosecutive Unit, which targeted murderers. He also worked to strengthen consumer protection and anti-fraud laws, as well as to protect children through new policy designed to crack down on sex offenders. As Colorado Attorney General, he also led numerous investigations, including into the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.<mask> was awarded the Conference of Western Attorneys General Profile in Courage award for his work. During <mask>'s tenure, his office pursued several environmental cleanup cases around the state. In a water contamination case involving the Summitville mine in Rio Grande County, Colorado, <mask> helped broker a joint settlement in which the federal and state government shared the $5 million settlement proceeds. U.S. Senate
In 2004, <mask> declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. <mask> considers himself a moderate and has at times taken positions that are in disagreement with the base of his party. He opposed gay adoption for a number of years, although by 2004 he had reversed his position. <mask> fell behind to candidate Mike Miles early in the state's caucus process.The national Democratic Party backed <mask> with contributions from the DSCC, and <mask> came back to defeat Miles in the Democratic primary, going on to defeat beer executive Pete Coors of the Coors Brewing Company and win the general election for the Senate seat. He assumed office on January 4, 2005. <mask> was a leading member of a bipartisan group of Senators that developed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would have provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increased funding for border security, though the bill ultimately failed in the Senate. During negotiations, <mask> was quoted by The New York Times saying he wanted the new point system to be equitable: "We do not want to create a system that is just for the wealthiest and most educated immigrants." On May 23, 2005, <mask> was among the Gang of 14 moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the filibuster against judicial appointments, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. <mask> has skirmished with Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative Christian group of national stature, over his stance on judicial nominees.In 2005, <mask> voted against increasing fuel-efficiency standards (CAFE) for cars and trucks, a vote that the League of Conservation Voters believes is anti-environment. In the same year, <mask> voted against an amendment to repeal tax breaks for ExxonMobil and other major petroleum companies. In August 2006, <mask> supported fellow Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in his primary race against Ned Lamont in Connecticut. Lamont, running primarily as an anti-war candidate, won the primary. <mask>'s continued support of Lieberman, who successfully ran as an independent against Lamont, has rankled the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party. In 2006, <mask> voted to end protections that limit offshore oil drilling in Florida's Gulf Coast. <mask> introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Colorado Reps. <mask> and Mark Udall to limit natural gas drilling on the environmentally-rich Roan Plateau in western Colorado.The bill increased the amount of acreage on the Plateau designated too environmentally sensitive to drill for gas. <mask> worked in the Senate to give benefits to Rocky Flats workers who became ill after working at the former nuclear weapons plant in Colorado. The legislation would grant workers immediate access to medical coverage and compensation without the need to file individual health claims. In 2007, <mask> was one of only a handful of Democrats to vote against a bill that would require the United States Army Corps of Engineers to consider global warming when planning water projects. <mask> received a 25 percent vote rating for 2007 by the Humane Society of the United States, a zero percent vote rating for 2005–2006 by Fund for Animals, a 60 percent vote rating for 2007 by Defenders of Wildlife, and a zero percent vote rating on the Animal Welfare Institute Compassion Index. He also supported the Bush administration's release of lands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for emergency haying in Colorado's Yuma and Phillips Counties. <mask> has an 81 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters, including a 100 percent rating for the year 2008.<mask> resigned his Senate seat on January 20, 2009, upon his confirmation by the Senate to become Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama. Secretary of the Interior

<mask> accepted Obama's offer to join his cabinet as the Secretary of the Interior. His appointment triggered a Saxbe fix by Congress. On January 7, 2009, Congress approved a bill, , and President George W. Bush signed it into law, providing such a fix by reducing the Secretary of Interior's salary to the level it was prior to the time <mask> took office in January 2009. The Senate confirmed <mask>'s nomination by voice vote on January 20, 2009, shortly after Obama was sworn in as president. As Secretary of the Interior, <mask> was in charge of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other federal agencies overseen by the Interior Department. <mask> was one of two Hispanics serving in Obama's Cabinet, along with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis of California.<mask> is the second Hispanic Interior Secretary after Manuel Lujan, Jr., who held the post from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. As Secretary of the Department, <mask> began a large-scale effort within the Department to ensure that the country's national parks and national monuments were inclusive of America's tribal and minority communities. <mask> worked to create new monuments to honor Cesar Chavez, the Buffalo Soldiers, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Fort Monroe and sacred Native American sites like Chimney Rock in Colorado. Several prominent environmentalist groups were wary of <mask>, noting his strong ties with the coal and mining industries. Kieran Suckling, executive director of Center for Biological Diversity, which tracks endangered species and habitat issues stated, "He [<mask>] is a right-of-center Democrat who often favors industry and big agriculture in battles over global warming, fuel efficiency and endangered species." The nomination was praised, however, by Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. Upon the nomination, Karpinski said, "Throughout his career, Senator <mask> has campaigned on a pledge of support for 'our land, our water, our people.'With a perfect 100% score on the 2008 LCV Scorecard, he has lived up to that pledge. As a westerner, Senator <mask> has hands on experience with land and water issues, and will restore the Department of the Interior's role as the steward of America's public resources. We look forward to working with him to protect the health of America's land, water, and people in the coming years." Although Senate Republicans were expected to raise questions concerning <mask>'s stances on oil shale development and drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, <mask> was one of several Obama Cabinet appointees confirmed in the Senate by voice vote on January 20, 2009, shortly after Obama's inauguration. <mask> became the 50th Secretary of the Interior succeeding Dirk Kempthorne, who praised <mask>'s appointment. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter appointed Denver Superintendent of Schools Michael Bennet to finish <mask>'s term in the Senate, which expired in January 2011. On January 23, 2009, <mask> stated that he was considering reopening the Statue of Liberty's crown to tourists.The crown has been closed to the public since the September 11, 2001 attacks. "I hope we can find a way", <mask> said in a statement. "It would proclaim to the world—both figuratively and literally—that the path to the light of liberty is open to all." On March 6, 2009, <mask> agreed to move forward with the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove the Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the Endangered Species List in Montana and Idaho, but not Wyoming. Minimum recovery goal for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains is at least 30 breeding pairs and at least 300 wolves for at least three consecutive years, a goal that was attained in 2002 and has been exceeded every year since. (There are currently about 95 breeding pairs and 1,600 wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.) <mask>, a former rancher has come under criticism of groups like the Defenders of Wildlife for this decision, and lack of protection of wolves.On May 9, 2009, <mask> announced the upholding of a Bush-era policy that prevents the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions via the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a policy he pledged to reevaluate when he took office in January. The policy states that, despite the apparent negative impact global warming has on polar bears, an endangered species, greenhouse gasses cannot be regulated with the ESA. <mask> stated in a conference call announcing the decision that "The single greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change," but the Endangered Species Act "is not the appropriate tool for us to deal with what is a global issue." The decision was met with criticism from environmental groups and praise from energy groups including the American Petroleum Institute, some Democrats and many Republicans. <mask> contended in the same conference call that the ESA was never intended to be used for the regulation of climate change, while sidestepping questions of how this situation is different from that of the Clean Air Act, which is being used by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions. With Governor Bill Ritter's announcement on January 6, 2010, that he would not seek re-election as governor, speculation began to swirl about a possible <mask> candidacy that year. Congressman <mask>, <mask>'s brother, told local media that he thought his brother would likely run for governor.Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper indicated that while he was considering a run himself, he would "do everything [he could] to help him get elected." Both the Secretary's brother, John, and the Obama Administration urged him to run for Governor, but he ultimately declined and endorsed Hickenlooper's campaign. On April 28, 2010, <mask> approved Cape Wind, the first-ever commercial wind operation in public water, leading to initiation of the approval process for the first-of-its-kind Atlantic wind energy transmission line. During his time as secretary, <mask> successfully developed and implemented numerous renewable energy initiatives on public lands and helped lead the Obama Administration's "all of the above" energy strategy. Secretary <mask> prioritized the rapid, responsible development of renewable energy on America's public lands, greenlighting the development of over 11,000 megawatts of renewable energy on public lands, including approval of the first-ever solar energy projects on public lands, and creation of the first-ever roadmap for future solar energy development in the West. During <mask>'s tenure, the department also undertook new surveys to evaluate and identify innovative capacity and efficiency increases to help enhance hydropower generation at facilities of the Bureau of Reclamation, the nation's second-largest hydropower producer. He has dealt with criticism after pushing to impose tougher leasing rules and cancel a series of planned drilling operations in Alaska and elsewhere.<mask> has dealt with criticism over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, both because of the way his agency handled the permitting process for underwater drilling, and also because of the way the aftermath of the spill has been handled by the government. But <mask> also ushered in the most comprehensive offshore oil and gas safety initiatives and reforms ever in the United States, overhauling the government's antiquated and conflicted offshore oil and gas management program while approving millions of acres for oil and gas development offshore. <mask> also implemented a new five-year plan for responsible oil and gas exploration and development in America's offshore waters. In May 2010 <mask> testified to Congress that he had issued a "hit the pause button" order and that no new permits had been issued since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. However, a new deepwater well had been started in the Gulf since April 20, and the Department of the Interior under <mask> had "issued permits for at least seventeen other new offshore oil projects." As Secretary of the Interior, <mask> was the designated survivor for the 2011 State of the Union Address. <mask> created new partnerships between the Department of the Interior and American mayors and governors to create and revitalize a new generation of urban parks in cities such as New York City, Denver, Chicago and St. Louis.As secretary, the department also created seven new national parks, including Pinnacles National Park in California, and 10 new national monuments. In May 2012, <mask> spoke at the commencement ceremony for the 2012 class at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In November 2012, asked a question he did not like by a reporter for The Gazette regarding <mask>'s association with hauler who shipped wild horses to slaughter plants, <mask> told the reporter, "If you do that to me again, I'll punch you out". <mask> later apologized. In January 2013 <mask> announced that he would be resigning as Secretary of the Interior. His replacement, Sally Jewell, was nominated on February 6, 2013, approved by the Senate on April 10, 2013, and sworn in on April 12, 2013. Clinton transition team
On August 16, 2016, Hillary for America chairman John Podesta announced that Secretary Clinton had chosen <mask> to head her transition team in order to prepare for an orderly transition should she be elected as the 45th President of the United States.On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the election for President of the United States, and thus <mask> was not granted the opportunity to head the White House transition team. Biden administration

On June 15, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated <mask> to be the next US Ambassador to Mexico. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings for his nomination on July 28, 2021. <mask>'s nomination was then reported favorably by the committee on August 4, 2021. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 2021. He was ceremoniously sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on September 2, 2021. On September 14, 2021, <mask> presented his credentials to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.Electoral history

See also
 Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
 List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress

References

External links

 Biography at the United States Department of the Interior

 Profile at SourceWatch

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1955 births
Living people
21st-century American politicians
Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico
American people of Basque descent
American politicians of Mexican descent
Colorado Attorneys General
Colorado College alumni
Colorado Democrats
Colorado lawyers
Democratic Party United States senators
Hispanic and Latino American members of the Cabinet of the United States
Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress
Obama administration cabinet members
People from Alamosa, Colorado
People from Manassa, Colorado
State cabinet secretaries of Colorado
University of Michigan Law School alumni
United States Secretaries of the Interior
United States senators from Colorado
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners

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<mask> (born October 10, 1972) is a television personality, best known for his appearances on the U.S. reality show, Survivor. He was the runner-up on Survivor: Samoa, and the second runner-up on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. He also competed on Survivor: Redemption Island and Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders, where he was the second player to be eliminated both times. <mask>'s performance on Survivor was very polarising. This controversy has resulted in ongoing media attention and appearances, along with acknowledgement that his particular brand of ruthless gameplay can result in wins for those who employ it. Most have strongly criticized his strategy, naming him one of the biggest villains in Survivor history.Nevertheless, on both Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, <mask> was voted by viewers the "Sprint Player of the Season", which came with a $100,000 cash prize. He is one of only eight contestants to ever make it to the finals in more than one season (the others are Rob Mariano, Amanda Kimmel, Parvati Shallow, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Tony Vlachos, Natalie Anderson, and Michele Fitzgerald). <mask> was nominated in the 2010 Teen Choice Awards for his performance on Heroes vs. Villains. In the CBS Watch "Greatest Castaways" viewers poll, <mask> came in second for "being willing to do anything to win. His villianous nature always made for great TV." After Survivor, <mask> starred alongside his older brother, Shawn, on the A&E reality documentary, Flipped Off. Survivor

Samoa
After applying to compete on Pirate Master, <mask> was called by casting two years later to appear on Survivor: Samoa.Assigned to the Foa Foa tribe, he began playing the game through lies and deceit, which included telling a false story about being a firefighter who survived Hurricane Katrina, and later burning his tribemates' socks and emptying their canteen water. In an interview with Andy Dehnart, Hantz explained that the idea behind this strategy was to psychologically weaken the other players in order to manipulate them. Early on, Hantz executed a successful plan to locate the hidden immunity idol before any clues were found. When the Foa Foa and Galu tribes merged, he attempted to use his idol as a bargaining chip with his new tribe mates in hopes of forming a coalition against Laura Morett. When she won the immunity challenge, the plan collapsed and word spread that <mask> possessed an idol. Unaware of anyone's real intentions, <mask> played the idol at Tribal Council, but no votes were cast against him. He later located a new idol, again without clues, and played it at the next Tribal Council, where he received seven votes, eliminating Kelly Sharbaugh (who received the other four votes).Later, Shannon "Shambo" Waters and John Fincher joined <mask>'s alliance and eliminated Morett. <mask> then arranged Fincher's elimination in the next vote. Due to the large number of Galu members on the jury, it was almost certain that Brett Clouser, Galu's last remaining member, would win the game if he won the final immunity challenge. <mask> narrowly won immunity and Clouser was eliminated by a 3-1 vote at the next Tribal Council. Ultimately, <mask> beat out fellow finalist Mick Trimming, but lost the title of Sole Survivor to his close ally, Natalie White, by a jury vote of 7–2–0, despite being "heavily favored" to win. Host Jeff Probst believed his loss resulted from bitter feelings towards him by the jurors, rather than a positive attitude towards White. <mask> complained that Natalie did not deserve the win, and insisted he did.During the results show, <mask> offered White $10,000 for the Sole Survivor title, and then increased the offer to $100,000, but she declined both times. Despite the loss, <mask> won the "Sprint Player of the Season" award, which included a cash prize of $100,000. Nine days prior to the Samoa live finale, Hantz registered russellgotscrewed.com where he thanked his supporters and asked them to purchase T-shirts and/or donate money to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Heroes vs. Villains
<mask> was invited back for Survivors 20th season, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, as a last-minute substitute for Survivor: Panama'''s Shane Powers, and was assigned to the Villains tribe. Since Survivor: Samoa and this season were filmed back-to-back, no other player had had an opportunity to watch <mask>’ game, although they were told by the production crew that he was considered "one of the five most notorious male villains of all time". During this season, an infamous rivalry developed between <mask> and "Boston Rob" Mariano. Early on, Mariano organized his alliance to split the vote 3–3 between <mask> and Parvati Shallow.The former then told Tyson Apostol that he also intended to eliminate her, which influenced Apostol to change his vote from <mask> to her. At Tribal Council, Hantz revealed an immunity idol and gave it to Shallow. The result was four votes for her, two votes for <mask>, and three votes for Apostol. Since Shallow's votes were negated, Apostol was eliminated. Later on, Jerri Manthey joined <mask>'s alliance with Shallow and Danielle DiLorenzo and aided in Mariano's elimination. The Heroes tribe began to blindly believe that there was an all-female alliance, headed up by Shallow, controlling the Villains tribe. James "J.T."Thomas, Jr., of the Heroes tribe, had found an immunity idol earlier, and gave it to <mask> during an immunity challenge with instructions to eliminate Shallow, but <mask> chose instead to vote out Courtney Yates. When the two tribes merged, <mask> gave his idol to Shallow, not knowing she already had an idol of her own. She gave the idols to Manthey and Sandra Diaz-Twine at Tribal Council. Manthey and Thomas received five votes each, but since Manthey's votes were negated, Thomas was eliminated. Later, DiLorenzo found a clue to an immunity idol on a reward and shared it with <mask> and his allies, but he ultimately discovered the idol for himself. He later showed it to Candice Woodcock in attempt to pull her into his alliance with the intention of eventually eliminating Diaz-Twine. At Tribal Council, he played the idol, but received no votes.Later, he arranged DiLorenzo's elimination in order to break up her strong alliance with Shallow. At the final immunity challenge, <mask> edged out Shallow and Manthey by a few inches. He then chose to vote out Manthey, assuming he would get her vote for the Survivor title. His game, however, was panned by the jurors, all of whom refused to vote for <mask> in the end. Diaz-Twine ultimately triumphed over him and Shallow in a 6–3–0 vote, thus winning her second Sole Survivor title. Despite his shutout loss, <mask>'s Reunion experience was similar to his last one in that he won the “Sprint Player of the Season” award and $100,000 for the second time. Redemption Island
<mask> returned for Survivor: Redemption Island, the show's 22nd season, to face off with his old rival, "Boston Rob."By a random draw, <mask> joined the Zapatera tribe, which later threw the third immunity challenge and immediately targeted him and his ally, Stephanie Valencia. Suspecting that something was up, <mask> devised a counter-strategy, but was ultimately voted out at the next Tribal Council and sent to Redemption Island. His elimination from the game was finalized upon losing the Redemption Island duel to Matt Elrod. Deeply saddened by the loss, <mask> stated that this season would be his last on Survivor, although at the reunion show he indirectly stated that he had changed his mind. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, <mask> threatened legal action against his tribemates for forfeiting the immunity challenge, claiming that they had breached their Survivor contracts by doing so. He also criticized Mariano, referring to him as a "Survivor whore". Australian Survivor: Champions vs Contenders
Competing at an international level, <mask> joined the cast of Australian Survivor: Champions vs.Contenders as a member of the Champions tribe, the first season to be filmed since CBS acquired Network Ten in 2017. Enjoying initial success in the first few days, <mask> grew frustrated of the laid-back mentality from his fellow tribe-mates and began actively searching for, and locating, a Hidden Immunity Idol. Wanting to cause paranoia, <mask> announced his intention to play the hidden immunity idol at their first Tribal Council. During this time he formed allegiances with Samuel Hinton, Monika Radulovic and Damien Thomlinson. After losing the second Immunity Challenge, <mask> attempted to orchestrate a split vote between Jackie Glazier and Shane Gould but a counter-alliance led by Moana Hope forced a tie in the event <mask>' hidden immunity idol was played. At Tribal Council, <mask> did not play his hidden immunity idol leading to a revote between himself and Glazier. At the revote, Thomlinson stayed loyal to <mask> with the rest of the vote eliminating him in a unanimous decision.He finished in 23rd place. Information leaks
In 2011, <mask> was accused of violating his Survivor contract by leaking information regarding the show's results. Late in the previous year, a man named Jim Early was sued by executive producer and Survivor creator Mark Burnett's DJB Inc., for successfully spoiling Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains on a Survivor fansite known as Survivor Sucks. The lawsuit accused Early of "misappropriation of trade secrets” and "tortious interference with contract." The charges were dropped on January 13, 2011, after Early provided to an attorney an email, which allegedly confirmed <mask> as source of the spoilers. Early claims that he had originally made contact with <mask> via telephone to warn him that someone had posted his private information online, but that Hantz had recontacted him later and begun revealing accurate information about the show's outcome, which Early posted to the fansite. Thus far, no legal action has been taken against <mask>, although contestants who reveal information regarding a season's results may face liquidated damages of $5 million.In an interview with USA Today, <mask> denied the accusations, commenting, "See, that's another thing. I am the villain, and its unfair that people perceive me that way, and they throw out things that's not fair to me or my family, and I guess I got to deal with it. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to comment on this or not, but it is 100% false." Other television appearances
On February 10, 2010, <mask> and ten other contestants from Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains made a special appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman to present the show's Top Ten List. As a promotion for Redemption Island, <mask> appeared on the cover of TV Guide Magazine for the week of February 14, 2011, alongside Rob Mariano. In 2012, <mask> was featured on Flipped Off, an A&E reality series about house flipping. The series followed <mask> and his older brother, Shawn, as they worked with a local real estate agent to flip houses in the Houston area in pursuit of profit.Taking place in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis, <mask> stated that he expected "to be one of the biggest house flippers in Houston," and that he was "here to bring Houston's economy back on its feet." He later told Rob Cesternino that he had turned down an opportunity to host Boston Rob's Around the World in 80 Ways in order to host Flipped Off. The show consisted of seven episodes and ran from April 28 to June 16, 2012. <mask> also expressed interest in competing on The Celebrity Apprentice. Personal life
In Dayton, Texas, <mask> is a part-owner of an oil outfit known as Hantz Tankering Service with his father and brother. He also owns a bar in Lafayette, Louisiana, known as Bootleggers, and he is a native of Vinton, Louisiana. <mask> currently resides in Dayton, Texas.He and his ex-wife, Melanie, have four children, including twin girls. <mask>'s brother, Shawn, has a son named Brandon, who was a contestant on Survivor: South Pacific and later Survivor: Caramoan. <mask> also has a younger brother, Willie, who competed on Big Brother 14 before being expelled from the show due to violence. Arrest
On April 23, 2010, at 2:15 am, <mask> was arrested for battery while partying near the bar he owns in Lafayette, Louisiana. A woman was involved in a verbal argument with <mask>, during which he allegedly shoved her to the ground, causing her minor injuries. <mask> was released later that day without bail but was given a misdemeanor summons and a court date scheduled for June 24. Filmography
Television

See also
 List of TV Guide covers (2010s)

References

External links

 <mask> biography for Survivor: Samoa at CBS.com
 <mask> biography for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains biography at CBS.com
 <mask> biography for Survivor: Redemption Island biography at CBS.com
 <mask> biography for Australian Survivor: Champions vs.Contenders'' biography at 10 Play. 1972 births
21st-century American businesspeople
American businesspeople in the oil industry
American people of Lebanese descent
Businesspeople from Texas
Living people
People from Dayton, Texas
Survivor (American TV series) contestants
Australian Survivor contestants

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<mask> (born 25 May 1935) is an Austrian actor, and a dialogue director and script adaptor for English-language versions of foreign films and television shows. Born in Austria, Roubicek appeared in a number of small roles throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s, including the films The Bedford Incident, Billion Dollar Brain and The Dirty Dozen. In 1967, he appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen, a four-part Doctor Who serial. He played the part of Semenkin in The Champions (Reply Box No.666 episode, 1967). <mask> had a small role in A New Hope, the first Star Wars film, as the Imperial Commander Praji. He also appeared in two James Bond films, You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me. Although he continued acting in small roles during his later years, his later career was more focused on dubbing foreign films and television shows into English-language versions.He directed the dubbing of 13 previously unaired episodes of the cult Japanese series Monkey, a show he previously performed voice-acting for in the late 1970s. In 2008, he adapted the French animated film Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest to an English-language version. Early career
In 1958, <mask> appeared in the original cast of the Agatha Christie play Verdict, where he played the role of Lester Cole, the student of a professor who has fled from prosecution in his home country. The play was first staged at the Strand Theatre in London on 22 May 1958.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Christie |first=Agatha |author-link=Agatha Christie |year=1958 |title=Verdict (script) |location=London | publisher=Samuel French Ltd. | page=4 |isbn=0-573-61931-X |title-link=Verdict (play)}}</ref> <mask>'s first film roles were bit parts in the late 1950s, including as a German prisoner in the 1957 British World War II film The One That Got Away, and a police constable in the 1959 murder mystery Blind Date. <mask> continued performing in small roles in a number of films in the early 1960s. Among them were a cleaning service man in the 1962 British horror film Night of the Eagle, a Russian sentry in the 1963 British war film The Victors, and the character Lieutenant Berger in the 1965 American Cold War film The Bedford Incident. In 1967, he played Private Arthur James Gardner in The Dirty Dozen, an American war film and, to that point, by far his most impressive film credit.That year, he also appeared in the British espionage film Billion Dollar Brain, where he played the small part of Edgar. <mask> also appeared in The Tomb of the Cybermen, a four-part Doctor Who serial broadcast in September 1967. He portrayed Captain Hopper, the commander of a rocket that brought an archaeological expedition to the planet Telos to study the Cybermen, a race of cyborgs. Andrew Cartmel, a science-fiction writer who served as a Doctor Who script editor in 1986–1989, strongly criticized Hopper's dialogue in his book, Through Time: An Unauthorised and Unofficial History of Doctor Who. Hopper, who is supposed to be an American, frequently uses the word "guy" and what Cartmel called "odd fake American idioms" like, "It's not exactly peaches." Although Cartmel did not address <mask>'s performance, he said the dialogue was written "in a way that suggests the English writers have never travelled across the Atlantic and have paid precious little attention to the films or books that have flowed the other way". In 1976, <mask> was cast in Star Wars, where he played the small role of Praji, a commander with the Galactic Empire.He appeared early in the film, speaking with Darth Vader after the Imperial forces have seized the Rebel Alliance starship Tantive IV and captured Princess Leia. <mask>'s scene was filmed over a three-day sequence in July 1976, near the final days of principal photography. Roubicek did not anticipate at the time that Star Wars would become such a cultural phenomenon, and his first impression of the franchise was "What is this all about"? During a 2007 interview, Roubicek said, "I don't think anyone knew [what Star Wars was], except maybe <mask>, and I'm not sure he knew all the time! We certainly didn't know. I wouldn't say this was just another job – there's no such thing as just another job – but I didn't realize how special it was going to be at the time." Roubicek appeared in two separate episodes of the spy-fi television series, The Avengers, playing different characters both times.In "The White Dwarf", an episode broadcast on 9 February 1963, he played Luke Richter, the son of a prominent astronomer who was murdered shortly after discovering a star was going to collide with and destroy the Earth. <mask> also appeared in "Invasion of the Earthmen", which was first broadcast on 15 January 1969. In that episode he played Bernard Grant, a secret agent who is killed by a giant Boa constrictor while investigating a mysterious school called the Alpha Academy. In the late 1970s, Roubicek did some work on the English language dubbing of Monkey, a cult Japanese action/fantasy television series that ran from 1978 to 1980. He performed a few of the voice acting parts for the series and had a minor role in the technical dubbing aspects. Later career
<mask> continued some acting in his later years, including a small role in The Infiltrator, a 1995 film about a Jewish freelance journalist who travels to Germany for a story about Neo-Nazism. However, most of his later career focused on the script adaptation and dubbing of foreign films into English-language versions.In 1996, <mask> handled the English script adaptation of the 1991 comedy science-fiction film Roujin Z. The Japanese anime film by Katsuhiro Otomo focuses on an elderly invalid man and a futuristic computerized hospital bed which takes on a life of its own. In 2000, <mask> went on to voice several characters in the English version of the Croatian children's animated series Lapitch the Little Shoemaker as well directing the voices with Sean Barrett who also voices Lapitch's shoemaker Melchoir. In 2002, <mask> doubled as casting and voice director for the English version of the CGI animated series Spheriks. In 2004, <mask> was asked work again on Monkey, where he did some peripheral dubbing work in the late 1970s. He was hired as the director of the English-language dubbing for 13 previously televised episodes of Monkey, which were released on DVD that year. The episodes had been included as a bonus feature on past DVD releases, but were only subtitled and had never before been dubbed into English.<mask> was tasked with adapting the original Japanese scripts into English and directing the original cast in the dialogue for the dubbing. <mask> said both he and the cast enjoyed being brought back together for the project. However, he said it was also particularly challenging. The recording sessions require what he calls a "horrendous" amount of concentration, but the script adaptation process proved even more difficult. <mask> has to ensure the translation was not only accurate, but preserved the humour of the original Japanese scripts. Fabulous Films Ltd., the company handling the DVD releases, originally provided <mask> only with transcripts of the English subtitles for the 13 episodes, but Roubicek disregarded them and had to start writing from scratch because, he claimed, subtitle transcripts "never, ever bear any relation to a dubbing script". In 2008, <mask> worked with filmmaker Michel Ocelot to adapt an English-language version of Ocelot's 2006 animated fantasy film, Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest.which boasts what The New York Times described as a "flat, storybook style worlds away from the sculpture digital aesthetic pioneered by Pixar", tells a fable-like tale of two young boys in a mythic Middle Eastern setting. The original film's dialogue was in French with small portions in Arabic. During the adaptation, <mask> and Ocelot chose to translate the French dialogue into English, but preserve the Arabic without dubbing or subtitles. Michael Phillips, film critic with the Chicago Tribune'', said this was the correct decision because it allows the viewers to share the same "momentary confusion" as characters who do not understand Arabic and are suddenly thrown into "disorienting surroundings". Filmography

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1935 births
Austrian male film actors
Austrian male television actors
Austrian male voice actors
Casting directors
Living people
Austrian voice directors

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<mask> (born February 27, 1966) is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. <mask> and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans School; <mask> then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period. <mask> and Weinstein eventually penned a spec script for Seinfeld, after which they wrote "Marge Gets a Job", an episode of The Simpsons. Subsequently, the two were hired to write for the show on a permanent basis in 1992. After they wrote episodes such as "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)", "Bart vs. Australia" and "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", the two were appointed executive producers and showrunners for the seventh and eighth seasons of the show. They attempted to include several emotional episodes focusing on the Simpson family, as well as several high-concept episodes such as "Homer's Enemy", "Two Bad Neighbors" and "The Principal and the Pauper", winning three Primetime Emmy Awards for their work. After they left The Simpsons, <mask> and Weinstein created Mission Hill. The show was plagued by promotional issues and was swiftly canceled. They worked as consulting producers on Futurama, then created The Mullets in 2003. The two wrote several unsuccessful TV pilots, and were due to serve as showrunners on Sit Down, Shut Up in 2009. <mask> left the project over a contract dispute.He has since written for The Cleveland Show and Portlandia, without Weinstein. He also served as co-executive producer and writer on Portlandia, sharing a Writers Guild of America Award with his fellow writers in 2013. In 2018, <mask> reunited with Weinstein as co-executive producer on Disenchantment, Matt Groening's animated series for Netflix. <mask> is married to fellow writer Rachel Pulido. Early life
William Lloyd <mask> was born on February 27, 1966 in Westminster, Maryland and raised on a farm in Union Bridge, Maryland. He was a fan of Mad magazine from an early age, which helped shape his comic sensibility. He attended St. Albans School in Washington D.C., where he met and became best friends with Josh Weinstein in the eighth grade.The two created the school humor magazine The Alban Antic in 1983. Such would be the length of their partnership; the two often finish each other's sentences. <mask> later attended Harvard University, where he wrote for and served as Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon, working on the famous 1986 USA Today parody issue. He graduated in 1988 after studying American history. <mask> did not land a job on a major comedy series, as previous Harvard graduates who wrote for the Lampoon had done, despite writing numerous spec scripts for shows such as Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman; he thus moved back home. There, he worked in publicity, doing promotion for America's Most Wanted. In their free time, <mask> and Weinstein wrote for local comedy groups, such as Gross National Product.In 1989, they moved to New York City after being hired to write for a game show on Ha!, before writing for a variety show on the network featuring Denis Leary. The two also wrote for the National Lampoon and Spy. An editor of Spy was hired by NBC to run the variety show Sunday Best, and took <mask> and Weinstein to Los Angeles with him in 1991. When the show was canceled after three episodes, they were unemployed for a lengthy period, and Oakley lived on unemployment benefits. He later considered applying to join the United States Foreign Service. The Simpsons

As a writer
After changing their agent, they wrote a spec script for Seinfeld, which was well received. Amongst those who liked it were Al Jean and Mike Reiss, showrunners of The Simpsons.There were no openings on the staff at the time, but <mask> and Weinstein were hired to write the episode "Marge Gets a Job", based on an idea by Conan O'Brien. The episode aired as part of season four. Their Seinfeld script and The Simpsons episode caught the attention of Diane English, and they were offered a job on a sitcom. Before they accepted this job, they were told that Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky were leaving The Simpsons, and then joined the writing staff on a permanent basis in 1992, in the third season of that show. They began as story editors. They were initially quiet and felt "intimidated", being in the same room as "10 of the greatest minds in comedy", but eventually started pitching jokes with confidence. They wrote their scripts together, working side by side at a computer.Their first episode as staff writers was "Marge in Chains", an existing idea that they were assigned. The first draft of the script was based on research about women in prison conducted by <mask> and Weinstein, making it "slightly more realistic" than the final version of the episode, in which many realistic elements were replaced. After season four, most of the original staff left the show. Before David Mirkin arrived to take over as showrunner for season five, <mask>, Weinstein, O'Brien and Dan McGrath were the only writers working on the show and spent a month mapping out most of the season's episodes. <mask> and Weinstein wrote several episodes for season five, penning the "Terror at 5½ Feet" segment of "Treehouse of Horror IV", "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)", "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", the show's 100th episode "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" and "Lady Bouvier's Lover". For season six they wrote "Sideshow Bob Roberts", basing much of the episode on the Watergate scandal, in which they had a great interest. They also wrote "Grampa vs.Sexual Inadequacy", and "Bart vs. Australia". The writing staff wanted to do an episode in which the Simpsons family traveled to a foreign country; they selected Australia because they thought that everyone in Australia had a good sense of humor and "would get the jokes", with the episode being intentionally inaccurate. The episode proved somewhat controversial; some Australian fans said the episode was a mockery of their country. Shortly after it had aired, the Simpsons staff received over a hundred letters from Australians who were insulted by the episode. The pair wrote the two-part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns? ", which was initially proposed by series creator Matt Groening.While deciding who the culprit was, <mask> and Weinstein pitched Barney Gumble because he was a character that could go to jail and it could change the dynamic of the show. Mirkin suggested Maggie because he felt it was funnier and wanted the culprit to be a family member. <mask> and Weinstein were initially unsure about having Maggie as the culprit, and it was decided that the episode would end with Maggie shifting her eyes and making it look like it was not a complete accident. As showrunner
<mask> and Weinstein were appointed executive producers and showrunners of the seventh and eighth seasons. They were chosen partly because they had been with the show since the third season and understood many of its dynamics. The showrunner is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the show's production. Each episode takes ten months to produce, so the showrunner must "oversee many different episodes in different stages of production all at the same time", with roles including head writer, making notes on the storyboards and working with the voice actors, animators, editors and composers.<mask> and Weinstein often set two script-rewriting rooms in motion at the same time, delegating leadership in the rooms to writers such as Steve Tompkins and David Cohen. Mirkin, who had suggested that the two take over, remained on the show in an advisory capacity, helping <mask> and Weinstein with technical aspects of the show such as editing and sound mixing. When they took over the series, they wanted many of the episodes to be realistic ones that focused more on the five members of the Simpson family and explored their feelings and emotions towards each other. They wanted to produce Treehouse of Horror episodes, episodes about Sideshow Bob, Itchy & Scratchy and several "format-bending" episodes such as "22 Short Films About Springfield", for which Oakley wrote the Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers scene, the latter being his favorite character. They aimed for "at least two episodes per season that 'pushed the envelope', [and] expanded the definition of what an episode could be." This was a style they employed for both seasons they produced. Season eight featured several episodes in which focus was given to secondary characters and in which new issues were explored, such as divorce.Their preferred choice of guest stars were those with unique and interesting voices, and several of their guest stars were "old grizzled men with distinctive voices" such as R. Lee Ermey, Donald Sutherland, Kirk Douglas and Lawrence Tierney. Oakley considered season three to be the single greatest comedic season of television ever produced and so attempted to recreate the feel of that season for the two he ran, focusing on stories with real emotions and situations, as well as some off-the-wall episodes. Season three was their basis for Homer: "We liked Homer the way he was in the second and third seasons. That was what we consciously used as our model. Dimwitted, loving, hyper-enthusiastic, creatively goofy, parody of the American father – drawn with real emotions, though admittedly amplified. This was exemplified in "Mother Simpson", "Lisa the Iconoclast", "Diddly-Dum-Doodly", and a couple others. In some of the less reality-based episodes, i.e.the Beer Baron one – usually Swartzwelder's, we'd treat this stricture with a certain amount of latitude." One of their most notable episodes was "Homer's Enemy", an episode designed to "push the envelope conceptually." The idea for "Homer's Enemy" was first conceived by <mask>, who thought that Homer should have an enemy. This evolved into the concept of a "real world" co-worker who would either love or hate Homer. The writers chose the latter as they thought it would have funnier results. The result was the character of Frank Grimes, a man who has had to work hard all his life with nothing to show for it and is dismayed and embittered by Homer's success and comfort in spite of his inherent laziness and ignorance. "Homer's Enemy" explores the comic possibilities of a realistic character with a strong work ethic placed alongside Homer in a work environment.In the episode, Homer is portrayed as an everyman and the embodiment of the American spirit; in some scenes, his negative characteristics and silliness are prominently highlighted. By the close of the episode, Grimes, a hard working and persevering "real American hero," is relegated to the role of antagonist; the viewer is intended to be pleased that Homer has emerged victorious. <mask> says the episode was "hyper-meta" and focused on "parodying to some degree the Homer we don't like. That's one of the things that episode is supposed to illustrate – 'Homer gone wrong'. Although, I would argue that in 'Homer's Enemy' he's not even really even all that excessively stupid or immature, actually." Weinstein said: "We wanted to do an episode where the thinking was 'What if a real life, normal person had to enter Homer's universe and deal with him?' I know this episode is controversial and divisive, but I just love it.It really feels like what would happen if a real, somewhat humorless human had to deal with Homer. There was some talk [on NoHomers.net] about the ending—we just did that because (a) it’s really funny and shocking, (2) we like the lesson of 'sometimes, you just can't win'—the whole Frank Grimes episode is a study in frustration and hence Homer has the last laugh and (3) we wanted to show that in real life, being Homer Simpson could be really dangerous and life threatening, as Frank Grimes sadly learned." When the episode was first broadcast, many fans felt it was too dark, unfunny and that Homer was portrayed as overly bad-mannered. On the DVD commentary, Weinstein considers this episode one of the most controversial of the seasons he ran, as it involves sharp observational humor which many fans "didn't get." Weinstein talks about a "generation gap"—the episode was originally panned by viewers, but has since become a favorite among fans who grew up with the show. Other episodes included "Two Bad Neighbors", which sees Homer meet former President George H. W. Bush, a reference to the show's feud with the Bushes in the early 1990s. Weinstein said that the episode is often misunderstood.Many audiences expected a political satire, while the writers made special effort to keep the parody apolitical. Oakley stresses that "it's not a political attack, it's a personal attack! ", and instead of criticizing Bush for his policies, the episode pokes fun at his "crotchetiness". <mask> described the episode as a companion piece to "Homer's Enemy", in that a character is juxtaposed alongside Homer and does not get along with him. Oakley considered working on the show to be similar to working in a bubble due to the lack of interference from the Fox

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