Pat Abbott of the San Diego State geology department recently experienced a dose of reality television during his stay as the “Professor” on TBS’ “The Real Gilligan’s Island.”

Abbott was actually sought by producers of the show who read comments about him on the Web site www.ratemyprofessors.com. They called him at his office and said if he was interested in applying, he would need to submit a digital photo of himself within one hour.

Abbott enjoys lecturing in various off-the-wall suits, so he created a collage of photos of himself to display his style for the producers.

The next phase of the application process required Abbott to submit a five-minute video of himself explaining why he was best suited to fill the shoes of the Professor. To do so, he hired Jake Rose, a telecommunications and film senior, to film and edit the video.

Finally, Abbott spent two days in Hollywood undergoing intense questioning from producers.

The scrutiny did not bother him.

“They give you some sleep deprivation, food deprivation, put you on a steel stool and start throwing really surprising and even rude questions at you to see how you handle it,” he said. “I’m perfect. I can do that.”

The show cast people according to their real-life occupations to correspond with characters from the show 40 years ago – the Skipper, Gilligan, MaryAnn, Ginger, the Millionaires and the Professor.

Two sets of each cast compete with their counterparts to stay on the island until only one cast of seven remains.

The final seven then compete in a “Survivor”-like setting, voting each other off to the “other side of the island.” The last castaway remaining will be “rescued” from the island.

Abbott was sent with the others to an island off the coast of Mexico where they lived for almost a month. During this time, he was constantly followed by camera crews.

“I didn’t mind the cameras,” he said. “It’s not a big deal to me.”

Abbott was grateful that the casting director put him onto a team with low maintenance people, as opposed to the other team, which seemed to contain high maintenance and emotional people.

“I’m very grateful for the fact that I was with a lot of supportive, relaxed people, and the jumpy, jittery people were on the other team,” he said.

The competition of the Professors was based mainly on rowing, a skill that Abbott excels in. He beat the other Professor – a track coach 28 years his junior – with no problem. This secured his place as the one and only Professor on the island.

Heather DeCou, a journalism senior and one of Abbott’s former geology students, said the lessons she learned from Abbott in her natural disasters class could have been valuable to him on the island.

“I believe the island they were on was hit by a big storm, and I could definitely see him using his knowledge on storms to his advantage,” she said.

The area Abbott was “marooned” in was exactly like the one he completed his Ph.D. dissertation on. He took the opportunity to explain his knowledge of the topic to his fellow castaways.

“The Professor on the original show was always explaining scientific things to the other characters,” he said. “So I did a little bit of that myself, but the cameras weren’t interested in it.”

The one character that everybody asks Abbott about is the “movie star,” Rachel Hunter. He said the former Sports Illustrated cover girl is not what people may expect. He described her as very low-maintenance and intellectual.

“If something needs to be done, she just gets up and does it,” he said. “She is somebody who solves and recognizes problems.”

Abbott said he enjoys watching the show now that he is back from the island. He doesn’t mind that they have dubbed in snoring and bone-popping sounds over footage of him, but he is nervous about the way his words might be edited.

“I don’t care about that stuff, it is just the words that come out of my mouth that I care about,” he said.

Since the show wrapped, Abbott has been flown to the Bahamas in a private jet for a promotion tour where he performed on stage with Bowling for Soup. He has even been interviewed on the television show “Extra.”

The castaways were in Hollywood the week of the show’s premiere, where Abbott got to taste fame on the red carpet.

“It was kinda fun,” he said. “I never walked down a red carpet before with all the paparazzi bulbs flashing and the TV cameras all lined up.”

So what happens in the end? Abbott isn’t telling.

“It is the same as how you wouldn’t tell a friend going to a movie the end of the movie,” he said.

“The Real Gilligan’s Island” can be seen 10 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays on TBS.