Boo. Evil Jonathan Penner was sent to the
jury — without his hat! — on "Survivor: Cook
Islands" last night. Other than Yul Kwon, he was probably
the smartest person on the island (and least loyal). He took
the chicken. He mutinied. He turned on his alliance. And he
didn't give them any fish! We decided to find out if Adam
Gentry was right and see if Penner is a cancerous rat in our
cast-off interview. Reserve your judgment, Jonathan haters.
Jonathan Penner: Hi, Derrik. I'm not excited to be
talking to you.
The Slug: Hi, Jonathan. I'm
very excited to be talking to you. I'm more excited to talk to
you than anybody else. Why do you think they voted for you?
Jonathan Penner: 'Cause
they're not stupid. They knew I was the last potential threat
of them going all the way to the final four.
The Slug: What was your
strategy out there? Obviously it wasn't to be under the radar.
Jonathan Penner: I'm not an under-the-radar kind of
person. I wasn't an under-the-radar kind of person within the
first two minutes of the game because I stole the chicken and
Yul saw me do it and then Jeff asked him about the chicken and
I was outed in front of everybody. My role was established
within a day. I'm not blaming them. That's who I am, and
that's how I played the game. My strategy was to stay ahead of
everyone. If there was a move to be made, make it before
anyone else could make it.
The Slug: I thought you
were going home every week you were at Tribal Council.
Jonathan Penner: We all
knew. You can put this in is or not. It's edited. I think I
was edited fairly, but the show is edited to generate suspense
at the Tribal Council. I knew how every vote was going to go
down.
The Slug: Except last
night?
Jonathan Penner: No.
Including last night. I knew was going home.
The Slug: Then what were
your parting words all about? You said you wish you had been
told.
Jonathan Penner: Nah, come
on. Sure, one wishes one gets told because one's feelings get
hurt when one is talked about behind one's back. I think what
I was talking about was I understood why they didn't talk to
me. The only reason you say that is because you're prepared to
have a dialogue with the person you're talking to. And that's
why the person who gets voted off never — or rarely — gets
told because you give them an opportunity to say, "Don't
make it me. Make it them!!!"
The Slug: Right. Why were
you the villain? Were you the villain?
Jonathan Penner: I don't
see it that way. Maybe I'm stupid. I think the moves that I
made were antagonistic, but I think I was cut more like the
comic relief or the narrator. I'm the Phil Silvers or
something. Honestly, I don't think I was being mean. Yeah, I
talk a lot — as you now know. But I was not a liar out
there. I'm a pretty straightforward person.
The Slug: You have some
acting experience. Were you playing a role or being yourself
out there?
Jonathan Penner: I was not
playing a role.
The Slug: What do you think
about all the other competitors who had experience in
"the business"?
Jonathan Penner: Let me
give you a more complete answer. All I can say is I was as
alive and as real and in my body and present as I could be. It
was an extraordinary experience. In no way was I doing
anything that I thought would be better for the camera. I was
literally thinking about my time out there. Yes, I'm an actor.
But Nate is a shoe salesman. Was he playing a shoe salesman
out there? He is a shoe salesman! I'm an actor. I was
attracted to acting because I have a certain personality and a
certain voice. I like to be entertaining, be funny. So that's
what you saw. You saw the person who become an actor. Fair?
The Slug: Fair. What did
you think about the racial divide?
Jonathan Penner: I
think the strongest racial aspect of the game has been the
wonderful connection between Yul and Becky. The two of them
both understand each other. I think the racial part of it was
a small part. I'm a 44-year-old actor-writer-producer, married
with two kids. Had I had on my original Raro tribe a
41-year-old married female writer-producer-actress with two
kids as Yul is a 30-some-odd-year-old lawyer and Becky is a
30-some-odd-year-old lawyer with very similar cultural
backgrounds, my game might have gone differently. My closest
ally was 21 years younger than me. She's much closer in age to
my kids than me. She's an unmarried Southern genius med
student. And as it turns out in the long run, she mutinied to
get back to some Southern college student.
The Slug: I never thought
of it like that, but you're totally right. Did you ever get
your hat back?
Jonathan Penner: Can't tell
you, but yes I did. Apparently, it is part of the show.
The Slug: How did you get
on the show?
Jonathan Penner: Someone
recruited me at a party. I love the show and do watch the show
with my kids. Someone said, "Would you be interested in
being on 'The Amazing Race' or 'Survivor'?" They said,
"OK. Here's where you download the application."
Basically, my wife was like, "Are you crazy?" I
said, "Let them say no to me." It's something I'd
love to do, to be Robinson Crusoe and get a paid vacation to
be on "Survivor."
The Slug: Let's talk about
your wife. We got to see her last night. Boy, she was
va-va-vooming it out there.
Jonathan Penner: I know! Is
my wife hot or what? My God. She is a dynamo. I cried and
cried and cried tears of joy, which I don't get to do very
often.
The Slug: Yeah, I was
hoping you'd both be sent to Exile Island.
Jonathan Penner: How hot
would that have been?
The Slug: That would've
been pretty hot. Why do yo think it was so hard for people to
trust you?
Jonathan Penner: I'm
honestly not sure. You're gonna have to ask them. I never made
it personal. I was always extremely rational. There were
plenty of people who were voted off for the wrong reason. I
think I was probably voted off for all the right reasons.
The Slug: Like who?
Jonathan Penner: I still
don't understand why JP was voted off, Christina, Brad was
voted off before me, Rebecca was voted off before me. Those
fish were there for everybody to catch. I never caught any
fish before. I'm a 44-year-old Jew from New York. I went out
there with a spear. I went out there because I wanted to do.
It was surprising on the show to see they were enjoying my
forced labor. But I never saw it that way. I would've caught
the fish, anyway. That was one of the happiest times for me,
alone out there on the reef fishing. The way I saw it is that
I had a one-in-20 shot of winning a million dollars. Those are
pretty good odds. But I had a 100-percent chance of having a
fantastic time out there. I was determined to do that every
frickin' second.
The Slug: I love it. Well,
Jonathan, you're definitely not a cancerous rat. I'm not sure
if the show will be as exciting to watch now. Good luck with
everything.
