Disclaimer: I have never watched an episode of "Survivor", and have only seen a couple of photos from this season in TV Guide magazine...
I know Bruce Kanegai pretty well, as we are both black belts in the same Karate organization. I think it would be more accurate to say that Mr. Miyagi was trying a little too hard for the "Bruce" look!
Despite his small stature, Bruce is as tough a sumbitch as you'd ever hope to meet. In real life, he regularly out-runs, out-climbs, and out-fights pretty much everybody. I am constantly amazed at how much freakin' energy the man has. He's a mutant, I swear. It's like how kids have this infinite reservoir of energy, but Bruce somehow never lost that. And his Karate kicks ass, too.
True story (sorry if they covered it in the Survivor bios): Couple of years ago, Bruce somehow got himself nailed good in the lower leg by a rattlesnake. By the time he got to a hospital the venom had done a lot of damage, he was pretty well out of it, and the docs wanted to amputate. A whole posse of Bruce's fellow black-belts (including my current instructor) took the docs aside and, how shall I put this, strongly suggested to them that they reconsider.
Needless to say, Bruce healed up pretty good!