From Hated to Favorite to Quitter: Jonny Fairplay Decides Not to Play ‘Survivor: Micronesia’

Jonny Fairplay has appeared once before here in the Reality TV Hall of Shame, for his infamous dead grandmother lie. When I heard Jonny would be back for Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites, I had some expectation we might see him back here again. It turns out I was right, though not at all for the reasons I was expecting.

Jonny has been playing the character of a jerk for so long that it seemed there was no dividing line between where the character ended and a real person began. I met Jonny once after the All-Stars finale, and, well, he was a jerk. Other stories indicate he was the same way to other people – as but one example, he apparently got into a heated argument with Jeff Probst’s brother at one post-finale party and was banned from all Survivor functions. Because of the way he acted, Jeff Probst didn’t want him back for this (or any other) edition of Survivor, but was overruled.

When Jonny walked into the game, he strutted and mouthed off just like we expected him to. He was obnoxious from the very first moment the camera was on him. He told us he played a perfect game last time and considers himself “the greatest player in they history of the game.” Please.

But before he could put his actions where his mouth was, he said his mind was overcome with thoughts of his pregnant girlfriend/fiancé (I’ll just say “girlfriend” from now on) at home. In my interview with him, he said, “I was just having really crazy dreams.” Those dreams and waking thoughts apparently outweighed his desire to be on Survivor.

But what does that all mean? And is it a legitimate reason for quitting? Most reality show quitters end up right here in the Hall of Shame. In the past, we’ve inducted Osten from Survivor, for example, and numerous others from a variety of shows. This season alone, we saw Vinny Pastore and Gene Simmons from Celebrity Apprentice in these Halls.

But there are a few who did not end up here, because there were legitimate reasons for quitting. Is Jonny’s case one of those?

In short, no (but you knew that, or else you wouldn’t even be reading this article!). Jonny’s situation was one completely of his own doing and, on top of it, all in his mind.

Jonny knew his girlfriend was pregnant when he accepted the invitation to be on Survivor. Indeed, he even told her that if anything happened, he didn’t want to know about it until he got back. Then he came on the show and took a spot that could have gone to somebody else.

Once on the show, he only lasted until the very first Tribal Council. It was a waste of a spot that could have gone to somebody who wanted to be there to play the game.

What makes it even worse is that, as the first episode progressed, Jonny was immediately playing the game and doing a pretty good job. Two groups of four had formed on the Favorites’ tribe and he was in the middle, telling both groups that he would side with them. Perhaps he could have shown everybody that he really was a great player. Until he got into his head that he needed to go home, he actually had a pretty good lock on deciding which alliance would move forward – he had a lot of control over his own destiny, at least for the near future.

What makes this all the worse is that after Jonny left the game, he didn’t get to go home to be with his girlfriend anyway! While Survivor guards information about production and what happens at loser’s lodge, Yau-Man slipped in his interview and said, “We spent a lot of time together at the loser’s lodge, and he turned out to be a pretty nice guy.” At least one other contestant who was voted out early also made similar comments.

So he went through all this drama about needing to be there for his pregnant girlfriend, he didn’t even leave! He was stuck in Micronesia just as surely as if he had still been playing the game.

Some people might criticize us for this induction, saying Jonny was finally overcoming his jerk persona and was just being a good dad. But let me again point out that he didn’t actually go home to his girlfriend – and even if he had, there was not a baby to be a father to yet! It was all in his mind. As I said in Why Jonny Fairplay Lost (and of Osten before him), “He allowed his emotions to overrun him and fell prey to despair even when it didn’t seem warranted.” I also noted, “In an incredibly ironic twist of fate, the man who tried to use the emotions of others to help him win ended up succumbing to his own emotions.”

Jonny might have gone on Survivor a second time to prove that he was indeed the best player ever. Instead, he proved he was a quitter. So for reasons very different from what we might have expected of him, Jonny Fairplay has been inducted into the Reality TV Hall of Shame.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Shame, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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