Attorney Jud Nichols says his greatest survival tool is Google, which didn't do him a bit of good on a remote island in the Pacific.

Nichols, of Minneapolis, is a participant on Bear Grylls' "The Island," which aired the third of its six-episode-run on NBC Monday. According to People mag, Grylls wanted to see if men could survive without everyday luxuries in this "Lord of the Flies"-inspired survival show.

"He dropped us off a boat and we had to swim to the island with our equipment — cameras, three machetes, three knives and the clothes on our back," Nichols told me. "The concept of the show is that there is no camera crew, no production team, no one telling us what to do. Me and 13 other guys; four professional cameramen while the rest us [who also helped film] were plucked from society.

"Honestly, it was really cool. I think I probably would have done a lower-brow reality show, just because I was looking for excitement, but it ended up having some artistic value that I didn't expect, you know what I mean?"

I think so. What may surprise anybody who watches Nichols is that he's looking for excitement. He appears to have the same pulse rate as Joe Mauer.

Nichols addressed his laid-back nature in his audition video (http://tinyurl.com/nzsrca8): "Outwardly I seem sort of underwhelmed and bored. But I'm often analyzing things, ruminating on all kind of ideas that don't have to do with the situations right in front of me. I'm just all kinds of fun on the inside."

No joke Author and entrepreneur Margot Siegel died in Florida at age 91.

Nichols is the son of my old attorney pal Don Nichols and his wife, Lori. Jud admits in his audition that he came from a privileged background and followed his dad into law. He also disclosed that he does not exactly love the law, but likes the part where he gets to help people in tough spots.

"Yeah, I've done criminal defense for a year and a half and I think part of the reason they cast me was I'm at a little bit of a crossroads with it. I don't know if it's what I want to do forever. They want to have this corny reason for why everyone is going to 'The Island.' For me, it was I don't really know what I'm doing with my life," said Nichols. The last 10 words were said with mild energy. Really mild.

The show is "not a competition; we're supposed to work together, we're all supposed to survive," said Nichols, but "two people have dropped out [in the first two episodes] and not everybody makes it to the end."

Since Nichols can't give away the action, let's move on to island cuisine. The most exotic item Nichols had consumed before going to "The Island" was a smoothie in Venezuela with a cow's eye ground in it, an alleged aphrodisiac.

"In Episode 1, I was the first one shown eating a huge cricket. And we ate a boa constrictor," Nichols said.

Better than being eaten by a big snake. "That's going to be a huge part of the story line of weird crap we end up eating," said Nichols.

I asked if there was any fruit there. "Tons of coconuts. Then they have this other fruit; I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you," he said.

How much weight did he drop, not that young Nichols had a lot of fat on him when he got to "The Island."

"That's probably confidential," he said, "but a lot."

Belated farewell to Siegel

There's one practical joke PR guy Dennis McGrath can't pull anymore on his pal PR pioneer Dave Mona.

"I used to call and pretend to be Margot [Siegel]," McGrath said, nearly dissolving into giggles.

You know Mona and McGrath from their old PR powerhouse, Mona Meyer McGrath. Mona is also the longtime wrangler of Sid Hartman on WCCO-AM's Sunday morning "Sports Huddle." McGrath, now a senior counselor at Himle Rapp Communications, shared his favorite form of torturing Mona during a tour of the new Star Tribune digs.

The death of Siegel, the publicist, author, reporter and editor at Women's Wear Daily in NYC and real estate entrepreneur here and in New York and Florida for more than 65 years, escaped my notice in February. She died in Florida at the age of 91. Siegel was one of the great talkers, not to suggest that she talked more than PR guys I encountered when she lived here.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.