Rupert’s summer of love

Anybody else, and this piece of news would be taken as evidence of the latest reality-show loser trying to cash in on his glory before it fades away.

But this is the man called Rupert, the woolly mammoth in the tie-dye T-shirt, who endeared himself to millions with his no-holds-barred play on two different “Survivors.” He made it to Day 27 of last season’s “Pearl Islands” edition. Three days after he was eliminated, he flew off to compete in “Survivor All-Stars,” after which he was voted the fan favorite and given a $1 million prize.

And there he was last weekend in Dodger Stadium, which CBS had rented out for its summer press party.

He has done a lot in the two months since winning his million. (Boneham said that of the 38 million votes cast by telephone and Internet, he received 87.1 percent.) He has set up two companies: a for-profit company that operates camera gear for televised regional sporting events and the nonprofit Rupert’s Kids, which teaches life skills to wayward teens through rehabbing old houses.

Dodger Stadium, 7/19/04 (Jason Alexander, background, is in the batting cage)

“I just got a contract with the ABC college crews, carrying the sideline carts for college football,” Boneham said of his camera gear company. “And we’re about ready to get ‘Monday Night Football.’ Talk about opening doors. The last few years I was a worker doing that. Now I own the company.”

He has also gone into the entertainment business. The day before, he had appeared in a small venue in Warsaw, Ind., two hours north of his home in Indianapolis. He did two shows, essentially paid press conferences, charging $25 to audience members to answer questions.

“There’s a lot of things people want to know,” Boneham said. “And I’ve got a lot of stories.”

Boneham thinks “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett believed in him from the start.

“I got done with ‘Pearl Isles,’ I’d been home three days, and they called and asked, ‘Do you want to go back and do “All-Stars”?’ Uh, yeah.

“That was before anyone in America had heard of me. And I thought, ‘The only reason they would ask if I wanted to go back and do “All-Stars” is that they knew people were going to like me.’ That was when I got my first glimpse that I’d done well. While I was on ‘Pearl Isles,’ I thought I’d done pitiful.”

The key to his success, Boneham said, is that he wanted to win the game more than he wanted to be on television.

“The people who go out there to do reality shows, 90 percent of them are dying to be on TV and to be that star. So they want the camera in front of them, and they go overboard. Me, I see (the camera) and I don’t even think about it. It’s like looking at a rock.

“I wanted to show everybody in the world that I was the best survivor out there. I’m the guy who, on my honeymoon, took my wife to Hot Springs, Ark., and we mined crystals. I do backpack trips into Glacier Park, Montana. Stay there two weeks. I never really thought about winning it. I wanted to show people who I was.”

With a friend of his serving as promoter, Boneham is planning to line up a series of 2,000-seat venues across the country for the fall. He knows he needs to strike while the iron is hot. Just look at Jerri Manthey, the former “Survivor” vixen who was last seen storming out of the “All-Stars” reunion, upset that the crowd had booed her (or rather, her hard-earned TV persona). She showed up this week at the press tour to promote an “extreme dodgeball” program on some cable network that neither you nor I watch.

Fame is fleeting. But for Mr. Congeniality, it’s a blast while it lasts.

“I love having thousands of people come up to me and tell me they love me and hug me and kiss me,” Boneham said. “I love it. I’m living a dream. I hit our generation’s lottery. And it’s still payin’.”

One hit wonderful

Paget Brewster is a very talented actress who has appeared in some very short-lived TV shows. There was the wonderful “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and before that, the dreadful “Trouble With Normal,” and still earlier, “Love & Money” and “Godzilla: The Series.”

She’s now starring with Hank Azaria, Oliver Platt and Blythe Danner in a new drama for Showtime called “!Huff” (and no, that’s not a typo). The show doesn’t even air until November, but Showtime’s new head of entertainment, Bob Greenblatt, liked the 12 episodes he has reviewed so far and decided to renew the show for a second season.

Then he waited until the end of the Q-and-A Wednesday afternoon to break the news to the cast and the show’s creator, Bob Lowry. They all looked like they’d just won a million dollars (which they probably did).

While the cast high-fived each other, Greenblatt said, “We have time for one more question.” I grabbed a microphone.

“Paget,” I said, “is this the first show you had picked up for a second season?”

“Yes, my friend, it is!” she yelled. “Oh, the curse is over!”

And so is summer press tour.