Monty Brinton/CBSAlliances.
Everyone knows you can't win Survivor without them.
So why did a brilliant strategist ignore this doctrine, effectively snuffing his own torch in Nicaragua?
We managed to stop crying over last night's elimination long enough to get the shocking details from the great man himself...
Q&A With Jimmy Johnson
Did you try to organize a group to vote out Dan?
No, and looking back on it I should've, but I thought I had convinced everyone I wasn't a threat. I told them up front I'm not gonna win a million bucks, [but] I can help you win a million bucks. Nothing would make me happier than to see you win a million dollars. I said I'm here for the adventure. Looking back on it I know I could've gotten an alliance with the women in particular and possibly Tyrone. I probably could've prevented this. Again, I didn't realize Marty was scheming and considered me a threat and wanted me off.
But you're a Survivor expert—what happened?
I don't know. The strategy I had was a little different because of my celebrity status...I think people would've been a little skeptical if I had right off the bat starting forming alliances. And I wanted to get into the game and see who I could really trust and who I could bond with before I got an alliance. I think we were starting to get that, with Holly and Yve and Jane in particular, and possibly Tyrone—I probably could've formed a strong alliance. But I didn't think anybody considered me a threat at that point.
Is Holly as crazy as she seems?
Not really. She had an experience there. First of all she had the alliance with Wendy and she regretted that. When I convinced her to break the alliance on day one, it really affected her because she just didn't like going against her word. Then her and Daniel kinda got into it with the shoe thing, but after that she was fine. And in fact, [when a] couple of 'em said we're talking about voting Holly off, I told Marty, I think she's going to be OK—she got over that initial breakdown.
Going into Tribal did you think people were voting for Dan? Did they tell you who they were voting for?
They didn't really say, I thought Daniel might be the direction we'd go, because I thought he was the weakest player. When they started asking about weak players, I raised my hand and said, Yeah, I'm 67 years old, but I contribute with fishing and the strategy, and I do work around the camp. And then they ask Daniel if he was a weak player, and he said no! (Laughs.) Even though he sat out challenges and he didn't do anything around camp.
The man can barely walk.
I know it. I was kinda shocked when he said, "I'm not a weak player."
He might be one of the weakest players in Survivor history.
You know how Survivor is. I'm always amazed—if you're not a threat, even though you don't work around the camp and you don't do anything—if you're not a threat, you're liable to get right to the final three. It's always surprising to me that some slackers can go as far as they can go. But people carry 'em with their alliance for the simple reason they know they can't win it. I was hoping to convince everybody that I couldn't win it either. Evidently I didn't convince them well enough.
What happened to your plan of staying under the radar?
That lasted about two days.
I think it lasted about one day, because you were already leading a pep talk when I visited camp on day two.
I told 'em, Listen, I don't want to be a leader, I don't want to be your boss, I'm here for the adventure—just let me enjoy it. They got to arguing over the shelter—in fact we redid it twice—and they said, "Coach you gotta at least give us some ideas or let us put our ideas to you and you make a final decision." I told you I didn't want to be the leader because the leader's usually the guy voted out first. They said, "Help us along this line, help us with the strategy on the challenges." I said, "I'll do what I can do, but again I don't want to be the boss." So my idea of being under the radar lasted like you say about one day.
Do you regret taking that leadership position?
No, that's just my personality—I'm going to do that. I probably was foolish to think that I would not go ahead and try to be a leader. Although I think Jimmy T would've preferred if I hadn't been the leader. He wanted to be the leader, which would've been fine with me, but I don't think the rest of them wanted him to be the leader. In fact, they wanted him off the first week. He's a little volatile at times.
Who's the smartest person on the tribe?
I don't know. I know Jill's an intelligent gal. They're all pretty good. I'll tell you who impressed me was Jane. When I first saw Jane I thought she'd be one of the first ones off. She is good. She started a fire, she's an outdoors person, camper anyway, she knows how to do that stuff. She is a worker, and at her age, she was going from daylight to dark. She was very impressive.
Who would you like to see win?
I'd like to see anybody on my tribe win. Of all of 'em, they all contribute in some way. Daniel's riding the coattails, but other than Daniel, any one of the other ones would be deserving.
Even Jimmy T?
Oh wait, I take it back. [Laughs.] Let me back up. So anyone other than Daniel and Jimmy T.
Speaking of volatile characters, what's your opinion of Shannon and NaOnka on the other tribe?
Oh man. Of course I watched last week with Shannon. To me, it was almost comical, and he just wouldn't stop. If he would've just not said one word for six days, he would've probably still been there. But he was trying to orchestrate everything. Oh man, the gal, she's a piece of work. I don't know where she's coming from. I'll say this, looking back on it—I said I wanted to be with the young group [but] watching this young group, I'm glad I wasn't part of it! Boy some of them are off the wall.
Was part of you relieved to go home?
Oh yeah—I was ready for a soft bed and cold beer for sure. There's no way that watching on television—and I watched every minute of every episode, and you'd think I'd know better—there's no way you could ever, ever feel the impact of the no sleep and the no food and the no clean water. We were boiling that water and drinking it hot just because we were dehydrated and couldn't wait till it cooled down. There is no way that you can ever really get the full impact of how difficult it was. If I was 27 it'd be a different story, but at this age it was tough for me.
OK, I'm going back to crying in my Kleenex now.
I'm sorry, I wished I'd been there a little bit longer. I miscalculated what they were thinking about. I didn't realize they actually thought I was a threat.