First things first: how are you today?
The recovery process was a little longer than I expected, but honestly, I’m feeling really great now.
Break down what you were going through and what you remember from that day.
I remember the entire challenge — digging for the balls, running, rolling them like skeeball. I felt like I was at Chuckie Cheese! Everything was great. I remember when I won and fell to my knees. But walking to shade, I don’t really remember. At that moment, my eyes starting getting blurry. I started getting dizzy. I didn’t know what the heck my body was doing, but I figured heat exhaustion. After I fell in the shade, that was it.
How did you feel watching back?
I’m the kind of person that when I see an emotional face in my family, I get emotional. My mom was bawling; just watching and seeing what I went through was shocking. It was like ‘Gosh man, I almost died! I had IVs in me!’ Having to watch myself having a hard time breathing, it was a shock. The most emotional moment was when Nick called me invincible. We were all close, closer than any of those tribes, and it showed, and we really bonded.
You would have been in a huge spot going in to the merge with your tribe intact and would have had a huge alliance. Do you feel being evacuated cost you the million dollar prize?
Yes. I do. It’s not only because I felt like I was in a good position. I’m that type of person; I have that heart and ambition and drive to go all the way. Being in a good position at that moment was good, but you never know. I feel like I could have went all the way to the end.
Physically Survivor is obviously a harder game than Big Brother. How does it compare mentally?
On the mental scale, I would say it’s not as mentally challenging as Big Brother. You’re not locked in a house. When you want to go somewhere and just clear your head, you can. You don’t have to sit with everyone else in a little square. It’s demanding, but you do have a whole island.
Obviously Survivor would love you back. So would you do another season? Maybe bring your fiancée on?
Oh yeah. Anytime I have someone that I am madly in love with or someone that I’m close with on an experience with me, I say come with me and let’s do this together. However, it would be so rough if something happened to her with me there. But yes, if the opportunity arises, we’re in.
And Amazing Race?
Everyone wants us on Amazing Race! I would do that one too. A lot of people don’t even know, [but] that was the first show I applied to with my sister who passed away while I was doing Survivor. So doing it would mean so much for me, because I’d do it for her. If that opportunity arises, we’d say ‘Let’s go.’ We don’t do anything half-way. If we could do it together, we’ll give it all we’ve got. You’ll see me alone.
Do you have any regrets?
No. I honestly don’t. That’s who I am, it’s my story. I have grown up with regret before, because of wrestling in high school. It was because I never laid it all out. There was one particular wrestling match in high school when I went in scared, knowing I was going to lose. I didn’t give all i had because it thought I knew the outcome. From that point on, I bring nothing back. Every challenge I did on Survivor or Big Brother, I had went at it with all I can give. I can honestly say, on Survivor, I gave it my best, my all, 110% to the point where I almost killed myself. I proved myself. I said I don’t quit, and it’s hard to outlast me.