Old Ben

 is a person living in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281.

Background
Old Ben is right outside the entrance to the New Vegas Strip in Freeside when you first meet him. He warns the player not to go to the gate of the Strip without first talking with the gatekeeper Securitron first, or they'll get vaporized. After further questioning, he tells that he used to be in many jobs, such as a bodyguard, male escort, and a gun-for-hire, as well as a Butcher.

Interactions with the player character
During the quest Wang Dang Atomic Tango, the player can choose between him and Santiago to be hired as a prostitute for the Atomic Wrangler Casino. Old Ben can be persuaded through either a speech check or the Confirmed Bachelor/Black Widow perk.

(Note: If the Player has Chosen Santiago instead of Old Ben while also doing the Debt collection quest, Old Ben may be persuaded to join as well through a Speech-Check AFTER the quest is completed. He can then be found sitting at the Bar of the Atomic Wrangler, but still has the Speech Check dialog Tree available, providing an Infinite source of 50 XP, but if you have the confirmed bachelor perk the speech check will be replaced by the perk.)

Appearances
appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the story Ben tells about being a butcher, he states that people only develop the shakes from eating human flesh. This is because Cannibalism frequently spreads an incorrectly folded protein call a prion, or proteinaceous viron leading to such diseases as Kuru in New Guinea, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (aka: Mad Cow Disease) in Great Britain, Scrapie in the United States, and CJD (Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease). This is NOT a reference to 'The Book of Eli', but actually a documented real side-effect of cannibalism.