User blog comment:Sprinklemist/Sprink Talks About Stuff/@comment-1874924-20110702041147/@comment-1874924-20110702051303

One angle you might consider is that, because he has been able to adapt over the years, his deformity might lead opponents to underestimate him in certain challenges. For example, I envision him being able to paddle a canoe effectively, but it would probably be a more tiring process for him because he would have to put his torso into it more than a normal person would, but his good physical condition (as noted in his bio) might compensate. Likewise with other physical tasks--he's in excellent condition from all that exercising, which might compensate for the more energy-intensive workarounds he has devised for certain tasks.

His leadership aptitude could also be significant here. I see him possibly forming/joining an alliance, not only for strategic reasons, but because allies would be more likely than other contestants to be willing to cover for him in challenges that are clearly beyond his capabilities. Likewise, his teammates (in the team phase) might be inclined to cover for him in these situations if he has demonstrated his worth in other ways. As part of an alliance, he could be a protagonist, a sneaky antagonist, or anything in between.

On an unrelated note, Rhonda asked how I came up with the idea for "Richard", so I might as well reveal it here:

I know, albeit mainly by reputation, how much you love adversity in your character backstories. (Presumably, Chris and the producers actively screen for such people in the Sprinkverse.) While I don't really know exactly how I made the connection, something reminded me of an incident at a movie theater in the year 2000. My wife and I had just seen the Disney animated movie, Dinosaur. The main "villains" of this story were a tyrannosaur species called "Carnotaurs", so named for their bull-like horns. Being tyrannosaurs, they had tiny arms. As my girlfriend (later my wife) and I came out of the theater, we saw a young boy who had this birth defect. He was making monster noises at his parents and said, "I'm a carnotaur, with my short arms!"