J. P. Calderon

'''John Paul "J.P." Calderon''' (born September 5, 1975 in Santa Monica, California, U.S.) is a professional volleyball player, model and reality television participant. He first appeared on television as a contestant on the controversial racially segregated Survivor: Cook Islands, the 13th season of the (CBS) reality show. Later, he returned to television by appearing on several episodes to date of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, and as part of his experience there he made an appearance in the February 2007 cover story in Instinct magazine.

Calderon grew up in Marina del Rey, California and attended California State University, Long Beach, where he played for the school's nationally-ranked men's volleyball team. He graduated with a degree in speech communication in 2000.

Calderon was an assistant coach for the Long Beach State University women's volleyball team for five years. He began his professional volleyball career in 2004 and became a nationally ranked Association of Volleyball Professionals player.

On Survivor: Cook Islands, Calderon started off as one of five members of the Hispanic "Aitutaki" tribe. After the tribes were merged on day eight he became a member of the "Rarotonga" tribe. Calderon was the fourth cast member voted off in a 7/2 split.

In 2007, Calderon joined the cast of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. Stating that he had for a long time wished to model, Calderon came to an open casting call held in the first episode of season 2. He was called back in episode 2 and signed to the agency. In episode three, Calderon was approached to appear on the cover of Instinct magazine, a magazine that requires that its male cover models be openly gay. Calderon came out as gay on the cover of the February 2007 issue, including the cover, a photo spread, feature story and interview. "All of my fears, everything that I was scared of ... it was the complete the opposite,” he said. “It’s been great. All of my friends, the volleyball world, absolutely everybody has been supportive. No one has shut me out."

Calderon is signed to KULT Model Agency in Germany.