One of reality television's prototypical square-jawed and muscle-bound Middle American heroes, Hunter Ellis entered the limelight thanks to his involvement in season 4 of CBS's Survivor. A native of Alexandria, VA, Ellis grew up in nearby Virginia Beach, then hit the west coast after high school and enrolled in the University of Southern California, where he earned his B.A. in political science. After graduating from USC, Ellis entered the United States Navy as an Ensign and attended Naval Flight Training in Texas. The upstart received a series of military deployments around the world, ultimately logging an estimated 2,000 flight hours and 433 carrier landings; on the side, he also held a post as an F/A-18 tactics instructor in San Diego.
Following Ellis' retirement from the navy in July 2001, he accepted a position as a FedEx pilot, but drew far greater attention and maintained a higher profile (as indicated) on Survivor season 4 conducted and shot on the island of Marquesas in French Polynesia in 2002. Ellis was officially the third contestant, among 15 hopefuls, to be voted off. That assignment, however, led to emceeing roles for Ellis on two additional series: the Discovery Channel's Tactical to Practical (2003), which provided overviews of military history, and In Harm's Way (2008), on the CW, which provided on-camera views of men and women engaged in dangerous jobs on a daily basis.