If you are looking for a Survivor recap with a specialized focus on the weekly exploits of one John Hennigan, you’ve come to the right place. After each episode, until Hennigan either wins the show or is eliminated, we’ll recap his best moments and highlights in a column we like to call, “Johnny Survivor.”
Weather and alliances.
Those were the two prevailing themes of episode two of Survivor: David vs Goliath. Both teams were shown attempting to cope with the former and secure their spots with the latter. On the Goliath side, John Hennigan opted for an alliance that as he noted, was one that nobody would have expected.
Hennigan made a risky move telling Natalie that Dan and the others were gunning for her as the first person to be put up for elimination when the Goliaths faced tribal council. Hennigan told Natalie to keep things between them but of course, Natalie confronted just about every member of the tribe as to why they want her gone. So while Hennigan may have earned himself an ally with one of the more disliked players in the game, only time will tell if that’s worth it in the end.
Also on the Goliath side, Natalia, Angelina and Kara solidified an alliance of their own, one that involved Hennigan, Alec and Dan. As was established in episode one, Dan and Kara have been involved in somewhat of a showmance, something Angelina has suggested the ladies use to their advantage. Kara had Dan, Natalia and Alec were close and Angelina would then take John. Together, Angelina’s idea was that the three of them would run the game with their male objects of flirtation following in line.
While plans were set into motion, the need for this super alliance didn’t come until a week later, when the Goliaths shockingly lost their first immunity challenge since coming to the island.
The third episode started on a positive note as Hennigan caught Goliath’s first fish, courtesy of the fishing equipment the team won at the last immunity challenge. As the Goliaths happily got along, Hennigan was featured in a video confessional talking about the social game of Survivor and how he planned to play his.
“When you’re winning, like Goliath has been doing, everybody is in a really good mood so right now I feel the game for me is about connecting with people. Out here, I’m not the Mayor of Slamtown, I’m not a pro wrestler. I’m me…It’s not just about scheming and figuring out who is gonna get voted out next. It is about growing as a person and connecting with people.”
As the segment continued, Hennigan talked about his alliance with Natalie, saying “she is someone I think I can work with if we can just find a way to get her past the next couple of tribals and down the line.”
Funny enough, while Hennigan was interested in leaving the Mayor of Slamtown persona behind, it was Gabby and Christian over on the David side, who were envisioning what this make-believe town actually looked like.
“What are the logistics of Slamtown?” Gabby asked as the two sat together. Christian then proceeded to come up with an entire narrative, describing how one gets to Slamtown and what its residents are called, Slamtonians, to which Gabby said he was “obsessed” with Slamtown. As the segment transitioned into a video confessional, Christian admitted that he found John to be “endlessly fascinating,” because he grew up in Slamtown and serves as its mayor.
“I can’t wait to hear what it’s like,” Christian said excitedly.
Back over in Goliath, the ladies’ alliance was playing out on all fronts as Angelina was seen walking with Hennigan, Kara with Dan and Alec sitting and talking with Natalia. Another clip showed Hennigan and Angelina talking about Jeremy, whose paranoia was on display throughout much of the episode. In order to take himself off the chopping block, Jeremy tried to refocus the attention of eliminating Natalie and from there, to take down the showmance of Kara and Dan. As he later claimed to the media after his exit interview, it was mention of another perceived showmance that led to Jeremy’s elimination from the island.
Jeremy made an off-the-cuff comment about Angelina and Hennigan being involved in what he called a mixture of “island love” and “strategic gameplay.” Of course, Hennigan was engaged to fellow pro wrestler Taya Valkyrie at the time of filming and Angelina was newly engaged as well. Both haven’t put any stock into Jeremy’s comments and denied any involvement in any sort of showmance, something Jeremy alleged occurred in a scene that producers chose not to air. Given the nature of reality TV, a juicy scene like that being kept off TV seems highly unlikely it even happened in the first place.
Before his eventual elimination, Jeremy worked overtime to try to convince people that Dan should be eliminated because Dan has the idol, something Jeremy discovered by looking through his jacket pockets. This admission didn’t exactly endear Jeremy to any of his fellow contestants and while his strategy backfired, the power of information was bestowed to several other members of Goliath, including Hennigan.
“Jeremy claims he found an idol in Dan’s jacket but it makes me a little leery of what Jeremy has up his fancy sleeves. Only someone who’s running around scheming is going to be paranoid enough to tell everyone that ‘hey hey, stop having side conversations, let’s stay tent strong’ which is crazy. He’s playing the game hard. Do I blame him? No. Do I trust him? No.”
Hennigan wasn’t the only one who distrusted Jeremy and wanted him gone. In the first blindside of the season, Jeremy was unanimously voted out. Meaning that at least for another week, Hennigan’s alliance with Natalie remained intact.
Make sure to check back soon for the episode four recap and then tune in to Survivor, every Wednesday at 8 PM ET on CBS.
Missed anything? Want to catch up? Check out our episode one recap here.
