Survivor Guatemala: Survivor Live Recap, Episode 11

This week’s castoff guest is ex-NFL quarterback Gary Hawkins, nee Hogeboom. My own occasional comments are enclosed in square brackets like this [I see the headlines – Bootlegger Booted!]

Before we get going, I should let you know that the entire episode is up on the CBS website. You can see it here. So if you missed it because your aunt insisted on watching the Hallmark special or your uncle needed to see his alma mater lose the Turkey Bowl, here is your chance to get caught up. Maybe if you do, this recap will make a little more sense!

Proceedings begin with Dalton welcoming Gary to the show. Cowboy-hater Dalton asks him, which is worse: being eliminated from Survivor or losing the 1983 NFC Championship game on his interception? It’s the game. Jenna was afraid there’d be football talk where she’s completely out of the loop. Dalton helpfully tells her the story, and she does a fine job of pretending to listen.

Dalton asks Gary to explain his thought process about not telling the other players who he really was. Gary says, “I love Survivor and wanted to play the game and be judged on how I played it, not what I’d done in the past, or how much money I made.” He’s sure that he would have been ousted early if it had been known who he was.

Jenna thinks he was smart for lying and agrees with him. She’d have voted him out because in the early days, it doesn’t take much to become a target and seeming to be less deserving of the prize, that would suffice for many.

Dalton asks if he expected to get recognized, and he says, “I really didn’t. It was so long ago and my hair color’s changed, but on day two… boom!” Dalton notes that of the guests who have been on earlier, no one was absolutely sure Gary was an ex-NFLer.

Gary had planned to defend the lie all the way, even though Danni was very sure who he really was. Danni brought it up several times, but after the first few days, no one much cared about his background. When they merged, he talked to her alone and to her, said she must be mistaking him for somebody else. She shrugged and it didn’t come up again – either he convinced her, or she decided to “stop playing that card.” Gary isn’t sure which!

It was always Gary’s intention to make his life-story as close to the truth as possible, because Brian remembered everything. It slipped out that he said he went to Central Michigan [which he did]. That was a little too specific, he meant to name a more “common” school. The “landscaping” was another lie, though he claims he does own a tractor!

Dalton asks about Amy, who said most forcefully, “I’m gonna beat you down!” if he was, in fact, an ex-pro football player. Dalton loves that clip and it runs again. Gary jokes that he’s worried he might have to defend himself from Amy.

Our first caller today is Joanne from California. She wants to know how Danni became an ally after being the one to “out” him as an ex-NFLer. They got close after the tribe swap because they had many common interests [obvious respect for Danni here].

Jenna notes that Danni wasn’t shown working to save Gary and wonders if she has something going on with someone in “the upper part of the alliance.” [Hmmm??] Gary tells us he told Danni to vote for him to save herself.

Linda from Texas says, “How ‘bout them Cowboys?” and asks why didn’t they vote out Stephenie and Bobby Jon right away? Gary wishes they had, but they were well-liked initially [I think he’s trying NOT to say “star-struck”]. His initial tribe was not strong, so they needed Stephenie’s strength. Before too long, he thought she’d had her chance last season.

A partial Tribal Council clip is run, including his digs at Steph and Gary calling Judd a liar. Dalton thinks that the former players had an unfair advantage. Gary reiterates that they should have been voted out sooner, but that’s the fault of the other players and not the two returnees.

Jenna wonders if Rafe is over-thinking the game, and Dalton opines that Rafe doesn’t seem to like conflict [Boy, if so, he is REALLY on the wrong show!].

Discussion moves on to the second part of the clip, Judd. Dalton admires how, after getting busted by Gary and Probst, he simply says, “All right, I lied.” Dalton admires that Judd probably did the best thing, just admit he lied and try to sweep it under the rug. Jenna says that Judd has a tendency to say the things out loud that you should just say in your head.

[In last week’s show, Jamie accidentally spilled this story. I thought it odd that it wasn’t on the show or on Insider. I guess he forgot which set of bleachers he was sitting in when that went down.]

Dalton says, “That’s why we love Jenna Morasca, she NEVER says anything out loud that she should keep to herself.” Jenna responds incredulously, “No!” and adds, “Hey, I probably wouldn’t be sitting right here today if I wasn’t a little bit dicey some times about stuff like that.” All laugh, as Jenna anticipates a clip montage next week. [It’s true! Not holding back is key for an interviewer.]

Barbara calls from Louisiana. Great accent! She asks when he found the Hidden Immunity Idol, and where. He says he found it a couple of days before he had to use it. [Wow, Jamie was right! The editors fooled me on that one!] He found it in a tree the Mayans worshipped. He didn’t tell the others he had it because they’d have targeted him immediately and forced him to use it. Gary told the others he found it right before tribal council, though.

Jenna says that Ethan told her Gary would find the Hidden Immunity Idol, because of the high level of focus a pro athlete has. Even after Gary found the Idol he went out and pretended to hunt for the Idol, because he knew it’s what the others would expect if he hadn’t already found it.

Gary thinks it was a good move of Judd’s to be deceptive and say that the Idol was on the ground. The hosts don’t see that, they think it was an unnecessary lie that could only come back to hurt him. In fact, he’s even lied to people who were in his own alliance. Gary sees that point, and now figures that for Judd, saying nothing was better. [And I’d gained so much respect for Gary’s play until just then!]

Jenna says that the people that were mislead by Judd just found out where they stand in the pecking order, but Gary clarifies it that none of them knew he told Steph.