Najai Turpin
Profile
Born	December 19, 1981
Birthplace	Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... , USA
Nationality	US American
Died
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Nickname	Nitro
Classification	Light/Middleweight Middleweight Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
Boxing Record
Fights	13
Wins (KO Ko Ko or KO may refer to:* Ko , a Tamil action movie directed by K.V. Anand released in April 2011* Ko , the romanization of the Japanese kana こ and コ* Ko Mountain, the second highest peak in Sikhote-Alin*Ko, Lamphun, Thailand... s)	11 (8)
Losses	2
Draws	0
Contender Results
First Round	Lost to Mora Sergio Mora Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora is a Mexican American professional boxer trained by Dean Campos. He is the former WBC Light Middleweight Champion and also the first champion of NBC's The Contender....  on points

Najai Turpin (December 19, 1981 – February 14, 2005) was a professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, USA.

He was a contestant on reality TV show The Contender. On the show, he was placed on the East Coast team and pitted himself against Sergio Mora

Sergio Mora

Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora is a Mexican American professional boxer trained by Dean Campos. He is the former WBC Light Middleweight Champion and also the first champion of NBC's The Contender....

, a man seven inches taller than he was, in the first round.

He committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 on February 14, 2005, while sitting in a car with his girlfriend and 2-year-old daughter. The motive for his suicide was not entirely clear. However, the fact that he had not been allowed to fight between the time of his elimination from the Contender and the show's finale (so as not to spoil the ending), along with the low self-esteem that may have resulted from his defeat on the show may have contributed to his suicide. Another contributing factor is considered to be the ongoing custody battle for his daughter.

Turpin was the first American reality show contestant to take his own life, but there have been examples elsewhere in the world. In 1997, Sinisa Savija, the first person ever voted off Expedition Robinson

Expedition Robinson

Sources-External links:* *...

 (the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 predecessor to Survivor

Survivor (TV series)

Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...

) killed himself immediately after the episode aired.
Najai Turpin's initials were imprinted on Ishe Oluwa Ali Smith

Ishe Smith

Ishe Oluwa Kamau Bhoduri Ali "Sugar Shay" Smith is a professional boxer, and was a competitor on the first season of the reality TV show The Contender....

's shorts during a match, and the episode in which Najai fought was dedicated to him.

External links

• Snopes.com entry