Former major league baseball pitcher John Rocker may have been raked over the coals over poorly chosen remarks made to a reporter in 1999 followed by several other incidents.
But it sounds like being on “Survivor: San Juan del Sur – Blood vs. Water” this season wasn’t much easier.
Rocker, over the phone Tuesday, said he’d never do “Survivor” again and that it was the harsh conditions there caused him to make poor decisions, leading to him being blindsided by his tribe in week three and voted out without having a chance to use the hidden immunity idol in his pocket.
Unlike most players on “Survivor,” he was not a longtime fan who was fulfilling a dream by participating in one of TV’s longest running reality competitions. “Partly invitation and the other part would be, I guess, insanity” Rocker said.
He said he mostly saw the show years ago when fellow Atlanta Brave pitcher John Burkett, who was a fan, would switch over to watch it on the clubhouse TV rather than watch tapes of other teams they were supposed to be studying.
Rocker boned up a little bit on the show before he went there this season with his girlfriend Julie McGee. “My main strategy going in, foolishly, was to remain as incognito as possible,” he said. “Just to remain as humble as possible, as friendly as possible — basically leave my normal personality back in Atlanta – and just be helpful, be as much of a team player, try to carry the team as much as possible as possible, and try to make myself indispensible as I could.”
He also says he “wanted to do as good as I could blending in,” which can be tough for an easily-riled, 6-foot-4, 210 pound hulk.
“I think probably two hours into the first day, I got called out,” he said.
But the man who was used to hearing taunts from opposing teams’ fans started getting similar taunts from the other tribe in last week’s show. First Natalie Anderson, upset that her sister Nadiya was first to be voted out, identified him as probable head of a men’s alliance that the women should break up.
Then Jeremy Collins, upset that Rocker didn’t live up to a promise to protect his wife, Val, who was the second to be voted out, piled on, bringing up his bigoted, homophobic comments from the past.
Rocker didn’t help his cause when he responded to Natalie that, “If you were a man, I’d knock your teeth out.”
Again, he blames the hunger and sleep deprivation, “I didn’t want to stand out as the a-hole especially, but you really kind of come to point where you look like a wimp or you look like an ass,” Rocker said. “I was forced to make a decision, I went out looking more like an ass than a wimp.”
The last player to be so directly and coarsely verbally abused by players was another ex-athlete Brad Culpepper in the previous iteration of “ Blood vs. Water.” But few ex-athletes do well on the show, Rocker said.
After the ouster, he says, “I’m getting so many suggestions on social media: ‘You should have done this’ or ‘You should have done that.’ It seems so obvious to fans watching at home, things do seem very obvious, if you had a good night’s sleep the night before, you just had a nice meal, “ he says. “When you’re out there a week or two weeks and you’re working on about three hours sleep a night, you’re working on 200 calories a day, you don’t think clear. It’s almost impossible. It’s like you’re stuck on stupid. I was trying to muster up as much intelligence and rationale as I could.”
Mostly, he sat, confident that Dale, the older member of the tribe would be voted out and that he’d be kept around at least another week to help with physical tasks at a time when they were losing so many challenges.
Rocker said he had told Josh Canfield he had the hidden immunity idol because of his reaction having heard of Val’s supposed idols was to keep her around. “He saw having the idol as a positive thing, so I assumed he’d have the same reaction to me,” Rocker said.
His saving grace in leaving – in addition to food and a good night’s sleep – was that his girlfriend Julie could continue on in the game.
“Once I left and I was no longer a factor, they would feel vindicated, they got their pound of flesh, and they’d keep Julie alone,” he said. “Julie wouldn’t have my big monkey sitting on her back and she could play her game and go through the rest of her time, however long it may be, and not have to defend me, or worry about what I’m doing on my tribe.”
Or worry about some other offhand thing he’d say.