by Staci Krause

IGN.com - 12.11.06


Jonathan's twisting and turning finally led to a dead end when he was voted off by his tribe on Thursday's Survivor: Cook Islands. It came as something of a shock, after Yul had made such a strong showing of trying to stay true to all agreements he made in the game. The honest Asian betrayed the ultimate betrayer and Jonathan's fire was put out.

We talked to Jonathan about all the ultimate game of survival and the mutiny. He spoke about living outdoors, providing for himself and his tribemates.

IGN TV: How did you come to be on the show?

Jonathan: I was at a party. A lot of people were there. Somebody said somebody would like to meet you. I guess they'd seen me acting like an ass across the room, I don't know. And it was somebody from Survivor and The Amazing Race. They asked if I watched the shows and if I might be interested in trying out. I said yes I would be. They said, well here's the website address. You have to download the application and you have to send in a tape. Which I did. And then it took off from there. And my wife thought I was nuts. And I said 'are you crazy, I love the show. It'd be an awesome adventure. It'd be the most fun thing I ever did. And let CBS decide they don't want me to do it. If they keep saying yes, I'll keep saying yes. Why not?' And they kept saying yes. Now I did it.

IGN TV: When you got there, was it what you expected?

Jonathan: It was better. There was a lot of food. It was the most beautiful place I'd ever been. And it was more fun than I ever had. I lost 30 lbs and it was awesome.

IGN TV: What was your initial reaction when you found out about the division along racial lines?

Jonathan: Uhhhh. I was ummm. Honestly? I was bummed more because when I thought about all the white folks that were going to be on my team that I'd seen sort of walking around me. We could look at each other but we couldn't talk to each other for the day before the game. I realized that I was not going to be with anybody my own age or close to my own cultural background. I'm a 44-year-old New York, Jewish screenwriter, with a certain sensibility, a certain volume, a certain erudition, all those things, and I wasn't going to have any like-minded people around me for quite a while. That was one of the reasons when I had an opportunity to choose Yul in the initial merge or the initial division from four tribes to two, I jumped on him because he looked like the smartest guy out there. At least somebody I could talk to a little bit.


IGN TV: Were you surprised about the public reaction when the twist was announced?

Jonathan: No, I wasn't surprised, but I also knew, because I'd been in the game, that it was essentially going to be much ado about nothing. I thought it was a pretty smart move on Burnett's part to get a lot of people to tune in, or try to get people to tune in, because I knew that it only lasted a week or two, and in fact, race didn't have hell of a lot to do with the ultimate outcome.

IGN TV: Were you worried about being stereotyped, such as being the Jewish man?

Jonathan: No. In fact, Burnett and I had laughed about that, when he said 'we're doing this along racial lines' and I'm like 'what am I, a tribe of one?' So, the stereotyping, no, I really wasn't worried about it.


IGN TV: How do you think the show represented you and your personality?

Jonathan: I think it represented me fairly. I mean, it represented the way I played Survivor for 39 days fairly. That's not who I would be 39 days in my house, but the fact is that if you film anybody for 39 days, they are going to look at that TV show, and they are going to say 'I wish I'd been a little nicer there, I wish I'd been a little stronger there, I wish I'd been a little quieter there, I wish I'd been a little louder there.' Just like anything. 39 days is a long time. And if you are honest with yourself, you are going to have some regrets about how you live your life. 'I could have handled that phone interview better, I could have talked to my mother nicer.' Whatever it is. I felt that I was fairly edited. I thought the show was fair. The only time I ever felt that they were gaming the footage was in the auction when they moved the timing around a little bit and they didn't show that other people had won food who had won food. But you know, they can only fit so much into each 44 minutes. And honestly, I thought that I was presented as a fairly intelligent, rational player who made some big moves, made some hard, fast moves, who suffered the consequences for my own mistakes, who got lucky on a number of occasions both good and bad, and went pretty far in the game. Certainly went further than anybody else in their 40's. I have no shame in how far I went in the game. Who the hell would have thought I would have made it that far? You want to hear something funny? My mother-in-law, who I adore, said 'I thought you'd be the first one voted out because you are too nice and honest.' It's true. I don't lie to people. I'm extremely forthright, I'm an honest person. I speak my opinions as succinctly, I know I talk a lot, but I do try to speak my mind clearly. And she thought I would never survive out there.

IGN TV: So there were other people eating in the auction that we didn't get to see? They made it seem like you were the only one really eating.


Jonathan: That's what I mean. It's quite unfair actually. I'm not saying that they had healthy food. Parvati spent all her money on a piece of chocolate cake but she was dying for a bath. Ozzy spent all of his money on ice cream. But Adam won a Power Bar and a full, beautiful breakfast with eggs and bacon and pancakes. And Sundra won some cheese and crackers or something like that. She ate also. The only people who didn't eat were unfortunately Candice, because she got exiled, and Yul and Becky, because they didn't spend any of their money. I couldn't understand it. I'm like 'bid for something, dude!'

IGN TV: Do you wish you could take back the mutiny?

Jonathan: The mutiny, no. I don't think that was the mistake, per se. The mistake I made was thinking Adam had the idol. Candice and I knew that we each didn't have the idol. I didn't believe Yul had the idol and he essentially told me that. It's not that he lied to me and said 'no I do not have the idol.' I sort of said 'you don't have the idol right?' and he said 'no.' I said 'ok' and I moved on from there. That was my mistake really, was not really pressing him, was assuming I knew where the idol was. And I was wrong. And a mistake like that, that's potentially a million dollar mistake. Certainly, you can't win a million dollars if you are going to make a mistake like that which would lead you or allow you to mutiny. But if I didn't think Adam had the idol, I would never have followed Candice. On the face of it, the mutiny wasn't necessarily a mistake. In hindsight, it didn't work out. But that's not to say it wasn't entirely a boneheaded idea. We were trying to follow the numbers, I was trying to follow the idol and I did follow my closest ally. Who would have ever imagined that with Raro, we couldn't win anything. That was ridiculous. But that's what happened.

IGN TV: Raro had trouble all along, did you think by joining them, you'd turn their trouble around?

Jonathan: I don't know. I guess I kind of thought that we'd have to win something. What I didn't understand was the degree of dysfunction that was going on over there. That they simply, and I don't mean this in a judgmental way, I'm saying that literally, they refused to talk about strategy or work together as a team. They distrusted anyone who did that and essentially got rid of them. It was the complete opposite of Aitu, who got rid of anyone who was not prepared to play the game, Cao Boi and Flica, these were outsiders who sort of wanted to have the experience. They probably would have had a much better time with Raro. I'm not saying they would have survived, but it would have been easier for them, whereas J.P. and Cristina and Jenny, who actually wanted to strategize, who wanted to work as a team, they were given the kibosh by these younger players who really just sort of wanted to hang out and have fun and imagine that somehow they were magically going to win these challenges without ever working as a team the rest of the time they were out there.

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IGN TV: Were you shocked when Yul was willing to put his trust in you again?

Jonathan: Well he put his trust in me only so far. He was a pragmatic person. He saw me as a pragmatic person. He had to make some kind of move. I trusted them, believe it or not, more than I trusted Raro. I was in a terrible position. Obviously, I'd screwed a lot of people over at that point. I didn't understand the degree of animosity that they felt, how personally they took it, because I never meant it personally. The moves that I made were boldly strategic, rightly or wrongly, it was never personal.

IGN TV: They seemed to hold more animosity towards Candice though?

Jonathan: She went first. And they saw, yes, he followed the numbers, he followed his ally. He wasn't prepared to do it on his own, which was true. They trusted me as far as they needed to, and then they realized either that I was an annoyance or a threat, some combination of the two, and Adam and Parvati were able to basically tell them they wouldn't vote for any of them if they didn't vote for me or something, I'm not sure what they said. It wasn't entirely shown and, I was on exile for two nights so I didn't hear it all. But I came back from exile that last time and it was clear that my goose was cooked. That being away for that length of time had been fatal to me.

IGN TV: So you knew you were going home?

Jonathan: Yep.

IGN TV: Did Yul tell you that you were staying?

Jonathan: No. Oh no, no. He didn't tell me I was safe because he's not a liar either. He would lie in the context of the game if he needed to, but he and I were friends and I would consider myself his friend now and vice versa. I never took it personally when he wound up voting for me. He was making the best course for himself and trying to keep his truer alliance happy.

IGN TV: What was the hardest thing for you?

Jonathan: The hardest thing was dealing with people that I didn't particularly like, even in the context of the game, for a prolonged period of time. Just as I'm sure it was hard for them to deal with me. I think what happens is, at this point in my life, as a 44-year-old father of two and a happily married guy, I don't have to deal with too many people that I don't want to deal with beyond people who cut me off on the road or rude check-out people at the supermarket or occasionally I'll wind up in some kind of business situation with somebody who rubs me the wrong way. But for the most part, I have been lucky enough or have worked hard enough in my life, I'm knocking on wood, that I don't have to deal with too many people that I don't want to. And most of the people in the game are the same way. So you find yourself not only having to deal with them, but work with them, try to engender trust from them, provide for them, be provided for by them, that was hard. That was the hardest thing.


IGN TV: When you were with the Aitu tribe, it seemed like Ozzy was the sole provider. Was that true?

Jonathan: No, I think that was actually unfairly portrayed. He certainly was the greatest provider of fish, but if you would have him tell that, he was the only provider out there. I did learn to how to fish by watching him and was not a very good fisherman at the time. I became a much better fisherman later on Raro. But I was out there clamming everyday and providing pounds and pounds of clams to the tribe. Certainly, I was trying to provide my fair share although I can't say I provided as much as Ozzy, there's no question that I was providing a lot of food. And I think anybody would say that.

IGN TV: What did you enjoy the most?

Jonathan: The fishing. The water. Being alone on a tropical coral reef clamming. Hitting fish, bring them home, cooking them, eating the food that I'd caught myself. It was awesome.


IGN TV: Did you form any lasting bonds?

Jonathan: Yeah, I think I did. I really do. I'm not sure I'm allowed to say [who with] honestly. Technically, people are still on the island.

IGN TV: Have you managed to smooth things over with the people who were angry with you on the show?

Jonathan: Well Candice and I smoothed things over. She actually revealed to me some stuff that happened that she, well I'll just leave it at yes, Candice and I have certainly smoothed things over. I have not spoken to Parvati or Adam or Nate, so I can't talk about that. But again, I try to give everybody the benefit of the doubt and hear what was said in the context of the game as being in the context of the game. If they feel good or bad about what they said, that's their business. Obviously, I didn't enjoy being called names, but I have to own the fact that I obviously pissed some people off. Even though it was all in the context of the game and I never meant it personally and I think they did mean it personally when they said it, at the end of the day they were really just trying to stay in the game longer than me. Two of them succeeded, two of them didn't. And when I get to see them outside the game, we'll see if they're still mad. We'll see if they say 'I'm sorry I called you a rat' and I get to say 'I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings by making the moves I did, I never meant to.

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IGN TV: Do you think the decision was made by Yul to vote you off because they were having more fun without you?

Jonathan: I don't think it was Yul's decision. I think that it was more Becky and Sundra's decision, honestly. I think that they were tired of hearing him referred to as the puppet master, which made them feel like they were being the puppets. They wanted to make sure that they had standing within that foursome. I think that he and probably the rest of them were threatened, we certainly saw that the week before, with the vote. I know that Parvati and Adam were playing to the jury during a lot of the tribal, essentially saying 'you guys should do the right thing and get rid of this guy who nobody likes, it will engender good will from the jury' which meant a lot to them because they were playing for a million dollars too. I didn't play to the jury because I didn't think I had a chance of winning the million dollars at that point. If I had stayed around long enough, maybe I would have been able to make a pretty strong argument that 'guys, I made it to the final two or three, whatever it is, by just sheer ass kicking hard work and game play. I deserve to win.' They probably wouldn't have given it to me, but I could have made a hell of an argument for it. And was it more fun without me there? Yeah, there was a cloud of dissension because I pissed off Adam and Parvati. And these people had nothing against Adam and Parvati. It was easy for everybody to blame me for what had happened and, at the end of the day, I'm gone and Adam and Parvati are sitting there two against four, they are going to get voted off, I have to assume. I don't know what magic they are going to work to not get voted off. But then at least the guy who stirred up all the pot was gone and the rest of them could go on with the game in relative peace and quiet. I don't think relative peace and quiet is particularly a reason to vote somebody off, but I wasn't playing an emotional game and they were.

IGN TV: What are you up to now?

Jonathan: Well I'm going to enjoy New York City with my family. We're all here together. Go to a Broadway show tomorrow and hang out with the kids. I have a lot of friends and family here in New York that I'm looking forward to seeing. And then we'll have the finale, which I'm looking forward to seeing everybody again. And then on with my life, back to my regular life. I'm writing and producing much more, I haven't really been acting. I haven't acted in anything in, oh yes, Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horrors. It's a feature film that my wife directed and I acted in. But other than that, it's going to be mostly TV and feature film scripts and producing.

IGN TV: Any last words?

Jonathan: I loved playing Survivor. I'm sorry if people had ill will towards me, I never meant to engender any of it.