While Daniel Strunk prides his life and Survivor game on being quite literally unscripted, his journey across 11 days in Fiji has the highs and lows of an epic poem. Despite an early dislocation, Daniel found himself in a great location on his tribe, in the middle of two pairs. But an incredibly messy Tribal Council exposed his allegiances, voting against both sides in the process. The night put the law clerk from prosecution to defense, a case that he ultimately ended up losing a few days later. Despite his preseason strategy of appearing “goofy, not sneaky,” Daniel put himself in a position to represent Vati in the first challenge. Unfortunately, they lost, and to put injury to insult, a tumble in the sand caused him to dislocate his shoulder in the game’s opening minutes. Luckily, Vati’s winning streak in the early days got Daniel out of the immediate crosshairs. As the dynamics broke out, he found he and Chanelle Howell were set up perfectly, the go-betweens for the other tight pairs. For instance, it gave him a close relationship with Mike Turner, who revealed he had found an idol (once he was able to actually locate it again). So when Vati was summoned to Tribal Council, Daniel and Chanelle had a simple plan: Side with Mike and Jenny Kim to vote out Lydia Meredith. But nothing is truly simple in Survivor, especially in someone as paranoid as Daniel Strunk. Chanelle lost her vote on a journey that day. And with Mike having no vote, only Daniel and Jenny were left to tie the vote against Lydia and Hai Giang. So he was faced with a choice: Deadlock, or go to rocks. Having escaped a medevac days before, Daniel didn’t want to go out of the game via random chance. So he flipped on Jenny, voting her out. Unfortunately, from then on out, things were sunk for Strunk. He faced consternation from everyone left, including his formerly closest ally in Chanelle. People found his actions untrustworthy, especially with an assuming impending merge. And so, when Vati visited Jeff Probst once more, Daniel went from the man who had nearly everyone else’s fates in his hands to the clear target for elimination. Now out of the game, Daniel talks with Parade.com about why he felt blindsided by his ouster, everything that happened at that first Vati Tribal Council, and whether he truly looks back fondly on his eventful time in the game. I want to first congratulate you on getting engaged recently! Did you want to lock something down because you know in Survivor, nobody wants to date someone who doesn’t make the merge? (Laughs.) I scheduled the photographer in advance, and I probably should have given more thought to the episode that would have aired immediately before. If I had given more thought to that, I wouldn’t have done the proposal the Sunday after Episode 3. You laugh, but it probably wasn’t great. But I didn’t want to wait around. I had the ring, and I was ready. I wanted to propose as soon as I could. Mo is an angel. She actually doesn’t like Survivor because she doesn’t like lying and deceit. (Laughs.) (Laughs.) I love it. That entire week was about rocks, whether it was not drawing them in Survivor or putting one on your fiance’s finger. That’s exactly it. Actually, three! I got the side stones too. Well, let’s get into the game proper. You said in your final words you were blindsided, indicated by you not playing your Shot in the Dark. What made you convinced some configuration of Hai, Lydia, and Mike were going to keep you over Chanelle? I can easily answer this. I had a conversation with Hai on the beach. And I distinctly remember it. It was a day or two after the Episode 3 Tribal. And basically, I was at a low point; I knew I was on the bottom. I knew Chanelle and I were taking very different strategies playing from the bottom. But I had a moment with Hai where I basically expressed to him, “I’m so glad to be here. I want to represent kids who are sick.” And he was seemingly touched at that moment. And we hugged. I thought after that I was safe. I just had this great moment with Hai, and he knows why I’m here. I’m totally, totally safe. Because dude’s got my back. Hai is a great survivor player. I want to give Hai some credit. He was a bad social player up until Episode 3. He was totally on the outs; he and Lydia were very bad socially in the first seven days. But he is an excellent person at deception. My hat off to him; he’s a good guy. But I thought I was totally safe because of that. Working backward, what were your general tactics when you were recovering from that Jenny vote over those four days? I know you’re part of the Rob Has a Podcast community. I took an oldie but goodie. And I don’t know if it made the air; I didn’t watch last night’s episode. But I took the Rob Cesternino strategy of being honest about your dishonesty. So I had a conversation with Hai where I was like, “I’m going to tell you everything that happened from Day 1 through Day 7. I was not loyal.” Chanelle and I were in an alliance. But the difference between the two of us is she tried to play it as she betrayed me and everyone else, whereas I just betrayed everyone else. But at least I was loyal to Chanelle. That was the pitch. We can get into why I think that is a factually true pitch because I’m sure people would have qualms with that. But I was just honest about my dishonesty, and I leaned into, “You don’t need to worry about me. I am loyal. I am going to be true to Vati at the merge. Don’t worry; I’m chill. I’m not scheming. In fact, I’m so not scheming, I’m going to go fishing.” The fishing was purposeful in that way. And Chanelle did the other strategy. She was very much working on it and, I think, probably saying some mean things about me and trying to manipulate. Chanelle is a very good player, too. She is a totally underrated social player. The internet should stop hating on her, because she’s an excellent Survivor player. She made one bad decision. In 40 other seasons of Survivor, she would have sailed through that Jenny vote no problem. She was one of the best social players on Vati, just throwing that out there. Speaking of Chanelle, what drew you two together in the first place in those opening days on Vati? So I really like Chanelle. I said in the premiere episode, “There are no duds on this tribe,” and I meant that. I generally liked everyone. I felt really tight with her. The best example of this that I can give you is when I found out Mike lost his vote. I told her that, and the internet, for whatever reason, thought that was a good thing that I did. That totally could have been a terrible thing to do! I gave her the ability to go to hai and Lydia and vote me out. And then she’s in between two groups of two. I basically gave Chanelle the opportunity she needed to vote me out by telling her that Mike lost his vote. But I told her anyway because I trusted her, I really liked her, and I wanted to go to the end with her. So I totally was all in on Chanelle. So when you come back from that first Tribal Council, and she is vehemently denying she ever put Lydia’s name out and accuses you of throwing her under the bus, does that hurt you, given your relationship up to that point? I think Chanelle is just a good Survivor player. Again, I think the internet is being too mean to her. Before we went to the Immunity Challenge in Episode 3, Chanelle and I had a convo one on one. And we both agreed, under no circumstances would either of us risk our vote. So when she gets off the boat after going to the summit and tells me she lost her vote, that’s really the key moment people should focus on in the analysis. That’s it. I have half an hour before I go to Tribal. I haven’t eaten anything except maybe 600 calories in coconut in seven days. And what do you do in that half-hour when you hear from Chanelle that she lost her vote? That’s it. That’s the whole ballgame. Everyone wants to talk about the Tribal. They’re way too late. That’s not where the focus should be. It was already lost by the time we got to Tribal. What should I have done at that moment? I think, in hindsight, I should have just turned on Chanelle. I remained loyal to Chanel at every single step of the way until I was just totally and utterly alone. And I should have just gone to Hai and Lydia at that moment and said, “Look, Chanelle’s playing you. Let’s vote her out.” And I didn’t, and that was a mistake. Another person you had a tight bond with was Mike, to the point where he told you about his idol. What was that relationship like? Yeah, we totally clicked. I love Mike. The two of us are friends to this day. I’ve met his kids. He’s just a good human being. And like I loved working with him. So, again, it was jarring at the moment when that Tribal happened. Will you be able to attend his 117th birthday party? (Laughs.) (Laughs.) That was not a lie. I hate that Chanelle called it out as gameplay. That was totally genuine. Well, let’s finally get into that Tribal Council you keep speaking about. Give us your side of everything that happened, specifically when it came to deciding not to go to a rock draw. So it’s been described as a game of chicken, which is what it is. But I didn’t think it was at the time. Everyone describes it as negotiation. I saw it as a discussion. But when discussion opens, the very first thing I do is clarify with Jeff if Mike and Chanelle would also draw rocks. If it were a true game of chicken, it would be Hai and me as the only ones drawing rocks. I clarified that, and that was super important to me. Because I thought to myself, “Chanelle and Mike have their games in my hand. I could force them to go to rocks, and that would be bad. I would be basically screwing over two of my allies.” So when I say, “I don’t want to go to rocks,” in my mind, I’m thinking it’s three versus one. And I need to communicate to Chanelle and Mike that I have their back and I’m not going to make them risk their lives. So join me in the discussion so the three of us could team up on Hai and get him to flip. At that moment, I turned to Mike, and I turned to Chanelle. And they weren’t even like, “I’ll join the discussion, but I won’t really take a side.” Both of them were like, “I’m not saying anything. Go away. This is not my problem.” Everyone hates on me for screwing over Jenny. But I will say this strongly: I am the only one that made any effort of any kind to try to save Jenny. Mike and Chanelle both totally ran for the hills. So at that moment, I felt very betrayed. And I had a human moment of emotion where I just was exasperated. My allies have abandoned me in my moment of need, and I felt totally screwed. You mentioned how Chanelle telling you to vote Lydia cemented what you needed to do. But did you already plan on doing that going into Tribal, or were you truly up in the air? I was 100% going to vote Lydia. And that was in part because Chanelle had already communicated to me that she wanted to vote Lydia out. I thought for my own gain, it was best for Lydia to go home. I don’t know why Chanelle whispered that. It was already done. We did not need any further confirmation. That was just risky. So, yes, it was good for my game to vote Lydia initially. I’m sure people debate whether I tried to take away agency for myself or whatever. No, I wanted Lydia to go home. I voted Lydia for that reason. But I also wanted to remain loyal to Chanelle. The two of us agreed that we should try to get Lydia out. I wasn’t going to be a turncoat, up until the very moment when I had no allies anymore, and everyone had abandoned me. And at that point, it’s like, “What am I going to do here?” You were very upfront about constantly being in a state of paranoia. And we saw your tribemates call you untrustworthy and squirrelly. Do you think being so candid about those things helped or hurt your overall perception? I don’t think the perception fits the reality. If I was squirrely, when Chanelle gets off the boat and says, “I lost my vote,” I turn on Chanel. If I’m squirrely, when the very first round of votes are read, I flip my vote. If I’m squirrely, I don’t go into the rock draw situation looking to Mike and Chanelle for help. I think there’s a difference between dispositional behavior and the actions that you take. I don’t think that my actions were squirrely. If people want to say that I’m squirrely, and point to actions, what they’re probably pointing to is what I would call playing Survivor. If I have to read a note to figure out what it says, I need to figure that out for my own strategy. If I’m talking to Hai and Mike and Jenny about strategy, that’s playing Survivor. In 40 out of 42 seasons of Survivor, Lydia goes home; it’s NBD. But I’m revealed to be that agent of strategy by the votes. What revealed me to be a strategist was something that I got no benefit from. Normally people are revealed to be doing stuff when the votes are read. I got no benefit from that because the votes disappeared from me. You spoke this past episode about making sure you enjoyed yourself out on the island. But your time was eventful, to say the least, between your shoulder injury, the tumultuousness of the tie vote, and your ultimate blindside. Do you look back on your time with the fondness that you prefer? I think I need time to reflect upon it. I’m not going to lie; it was a very painful experience on the whole. Quite literally and also emotionally. I think it was also very hard on my fiance. Over time, I will come to see it as good. You construct meaning out of all sorts of experiences. I play Words with Friends with Zack Wurtenberger’s grandma. Swati is visiting me in a few weekends. I’m probably going to invite Mike Turner and Zach and probably Jackson to come to my bachelor weekend. I formed lifelong friendships here. I have several decades’ worth of experiences with those people that will easily make up for any of the pain that I suffered out there on the show or any of the pain that suffered from reading anything about me. (Laughs.) Next, check out our interview with Swati Goel, who was voted out in Survivor 42 Episode 4.
