John on the Early Show
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Car54 | Monday, April 22, 2002 - 02:58 pm     From The Advocate: Coconuts and homophobia John Carroll, the openly gay contestant voted off the island in the April 18 episode of Survivor: Marquesas, talks about his sudden fall from leader of an unbeatable tribe to casualty of his former allies, about reforming his homophobic rival, Rob—and about Gabriel, the blond hunk whose good looks John found somewhat distracting By Jon Barrett An Advocate.com exclusive posted April 19, 2002 Of all the gay contestants on reality TV programs post–Richard Hatch, John Carroll looked like the most likely to succeed. On Survivor: Marquesas, the fourth version of the popular show in which contestants are marooned in remote locations, the handsome nurse quickly consolidated his power on the stronger of the two original teams and managed to engineer the elimination of both Gabriel Cade—a gorgeous male teammate whom John had begun to distrust—and John’s archrival, Rob Mariano, who liked to refer to John as a “queer.” Then came the coconuts. In the episode aired April 18, the coalition of players led by John inadvertently gave away their plans to eliminate other players in a contest that involved chopping ropes attached to bundles of hanging coconuts that represented each contestant. The last player remaining would win “immunity” and could not be voted off the island that night. John and company chopped down their competitors’ coconuts in roughly the order they planned to vote them off the island—first Sean Rector, followed by Vee Towery and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien. Then the two players whom John and friends were relying on to vote with them—Paschal English and Neleh Dennis—saw that they too were marked and switched sides. John, nominal leader of the cabal, was voted off the island. So what happened last night? I lost. We just got stupid in that immunity challenge. We showed our cards and it scared the hell out of everyone. The sleeping giants awoke, and off went my head. Looking back, would you have done the coconut thing a little differently? You know, what’s so crazy about that is that it’s probably the only challenge where we didn’t sit down and strategize. We strategized about everything else. And I think we probably should have gone after each other a little bit more. Instead, it was just a mob mentality. I think that was the beginning of our demise. Did the sleeping giants have it right? Is that the order they were going to get voted off? As far as Sean, Vee, and Kathy [the three players whose coconuts were axed first]? Yeah, is that the way you all planned to vote them off, in that order? Yeah. You were the first gay Survivor contestant who made a point of taking a leadership role. Did that result in your being targeted in any way? Richard Hatch [the $1 million winner of the original Survivor] was kind of the leader of his tribe, but he was kind of an invisible leader. I definitely came out of the woodwork. That’s for sure. To be honest with you, I don’t think I could have done it any differently. That’s just my style—to take point and take control of things and be a strategist. Obviously I shouldn’t have done it to the point that I did. My game plan was to go in and just charge through the middle and just see if anyone could stop me. I’m from Nebraska, we’re Cornhusker football [fans], and that’s just the mentality I have. It’s like, “Here I am, this is what I’m doing—stop me if you can.” And it worked for a while. Yeah, and all I needed was one more round and I was off to the races. We didn’t hear you say that you were gay until a while into the show. In fact, we didn’t know for sure until we heard Rob say something. Did you tell other people in the island before the camera picked up on it? When I went through my interview process they asked me if I was going to be out. I didn’t have any issue, I've been out everywhere in my life, but I said I had to wait until I got to the island and picked up the vibe. But once I got there I realized that my sexuality was inconsequential in the context of trying to win the game. However, I did end up using it strategically. I told one contestant that I used as a litmus test to see if I could trust that person. So I told them and then I kind of sat back to see if it made the rounds. And it never did. So that person I knew I could trust. That’s pretty much why it didn’t come up. And then the terrible twosome came over—Sean and Rob—and, for whatever reason, Rob has gaydar and he picked it up. My mom likes to refer to it as the sexual tension on the show. Between the two of you? Yeah, between Rob and me—all that sexual tension. He just didn’t know what to do with it. Who was the person you confided in? I can’t say. The only reason Rob outed you was that he figured it out on his own? Yeah, my perception is that the reason he did it was that you’ve got Paschal, who is a conservative Republican judge. Then you’ve got Neleh, who is Mormon [and close friends with Paschal]. And then you’ve got Vee and Sean, who are pretty much Bible-bangers. And so I think he thought one of them would become uneasy with the fact that I was gay and then turn on me. A lot of those people voted for you last night. Do you think that your sexual orientation played into their decision? No, not really. But Rob never tried to hide how he thought about me. It was just bugging him to no end. He was going to have to go back to South Boston and explain how he let the gay boy beat him. But you two are friends now? Yeah, he called me after the episode where he called me the “big-time queer” and we had a nice long conversation. I explained to him how damaging those words are. The first thing he said was that he didn’t realize the word “queer” was bad. He thought that gay people referred to each other as “queers.” I said, “Yeah, there is definitely a faction that does that, Rob. But the difference is that they’re gay themselves. But you use the word ‘queer’ as if it were a derogatory word for any number of ethnicities.” He has true remorse about it. And I told him, “When it’s all said and done, don’t be surprised if I haul your ass onto MTV for a PSA.” You’ve talked about wanting to use Survivor as a platform to talk about gay rights. Are there any issues want to focus on specifically? Adoption. Pretty much any right that a straight person has that I don’t—I want. I don’t need the m word, but I do want legally sanctioned rights that are associated with being in a long-term relationship. And adoption, foster care, hate crimes, you can go on and on. I really want to speak out on these things. Luckily for me, I have this wonderful opportunity of doing this show and now I’m one of the handful of openly gay people who have ever appeared on television. We’re talking an average of 24 million people who watched this show weekly. And my goal was to not be a stereotype. I definitely had my “gay” moments. I can be as campy as the next boy. But who I am as a person is really important. Brandon [Quinton, from Survivor: Africa] fulfilled a role, Richard [Hatch] fulfilled a role, and I’ve fulfilled a role. I think it’s really important that people see that there is a spectrum and that we’re not all drag queens or leather this that and the other. Are you hoping to adopt someday? I would like to. I’ll be 37 in June, so I can’t wait too much longer because I don’t want to be an old dad. I don’t want to be 65 and have a 15-year-old. Nebraska is one of the tougher states on gay adoption, isn’t it? Well, you can’t [adopt in Nebraska]. And so I would have to leave my home state in order to do it. Is that something you’re considering? Yeah. Do you have a partner right now? Nope, I’m single. So if I was to adopt, it would be as a single person, and in Los Angeles you can do that. I have a friend who has two great kids. They’re brothers and he’s had them for a couple years now. They’re just the most wonderful kids you’ve ever seen. They are just so happy. So you might move to L.A.? I lived out in L.A. for almost eight years, working in the HIV arena. But I just got burned out and decided to go back to school. That’s why I moved back to Omaha. But with Survivor and all that, there are so many things I want to do, and being based in Omaha is just not going to work. You’ve also talked before about an antigay attack you faced in Nebraska? Yeah, I was a victim of a hate crime when I was out with some friends. I was at Creighton University for law school for three weeks and then I left to go do the show… Law school for three weeks or three years? Three weeks. That’s a funny joke. Whenever anything legal comes up I say, “Excuse me, I was in law school for three weeks, I can handle this.” So we were at a bar and two guys were behind us and they were eavesdropping. We were talking about what it was like being gay in Omaha. Our conversation continued outside, and then they pretty much followed me in my car. Ultimately what happened is that the driver whipped out a switchblade and threw it at me. It ended up hitting the front of my car. So you have firsthand knowledge of some of this stuff you want to talk about. Yeah, and when I talked to Rob about the “big-time queer” comment, I said, “You put a face on homophobia.” And I want to capitalize on that and say, “Yeah, it’s the face of homophobia, but it’s also the face of tolerance,” because of the conversations that Rob and I have had since. Did you share the story about the attack with other people on the island? Yeah, I did. For them, they didn’t understand. And now they really do. And it made them very angry. Were there any people in particular who you saw had a change in feelings about gay people—other than Rob? I think Paschal and some other people in my tribe. I don’t think they had ever socialized with a gay person before-—or at least not as much as we did on the island. And I know that when I went to visit Neleh and her family, they welcomed me with open arms, even though they are Mormon. We’ve heard rumors that there was a lesbian on your island. Do you know anything about that? No, that’s not correct. There’s no lesbian. [Whoever told you that] needs to change the batteries for his gaydar. What about your gaydar? Was there anybody on the island who set it off? I was hoping that Gabe would be gay. I had the biggest crush on him. He is just as adorable as the day is long. He is a beautiful person inside and out. If I was looking, which I’m not, Gabe has all the parts. He’s smart, he’s kind, and generous, and he’s got this great personality. And he’s beautiful. He’s all there. It was like I was in a candy store and I had no money. Did you read his bio on the official Survivor site? Well, yeah. His bio was more gay than mine. He was a chauffeur for an “elderly gentleman”? Exactly. Exactly. Turned out it was just some old guy he drove around. When the show started, those of us in the office were hoping that there might be some romance between you and Gabe. That’s funny, because it was rampant on the Internet too. Some girl for her college English project wrote a 30-page novel, a work of fiction, about Gabe and my love affair. What’s so frightening about the whole thing is that there really were many times where Gabe and I would go off hiking and I had to tell myself, “Don’t pounce, don’t pounce, don’t pounce.” Gabe read this novel and said that he cried at the end. So maybe he would have been open to the idea. Well, we had talked about it. He’s definitely heterosexual, though. He’s very liberal, he’s very open, but he’s definitely very straight. Much to my chagrin. So I heard Brandon is on the cover of The Advocate. Does that mean my ass gets to be on the cover too? I’ll have to talk to the editors about that one. You tell them that I want to be on the cover. I'll be sure to do that. |
Seamonkey | Monday, April 22, 2002 - 04:02 pm     Verrry interesting.. I'm sure elsewhere he said that Tammy was the person he confided in that he was gay. |
Gina8642 | Monday, April 22, 2002 - 07:13 pm     I saw this question highlighted over at the SS board. I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention here. From the Adovate interview Car just posted. Q. Looking back, would you have done the coconut thing a little differently? Answer. You know, what’s so crazy about that is that it’s probably the only challenge where we didn’t sit down and strategize. We strategized about everything else. And I think we probably should have gone after each other a little bit more. Instead, it was just a mob mentality. I think that was the beginning of our demise. Notice John using the first person plural to describe the actions at the IC. Espcecially the last sentance. "Our" demise. John seems to be clearly indicating that more then just John lost out here. T or R or Z are likely goners in the near future. I realize this may be stating the obvious to some. If so, just consider it more evidence. |
Urgrace | Monday, April 22, 2002 - 09:09 pm     John's on Letterman tonight. |
Whoami | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 12:13 am     I caught that too Gina. It does look like the Rotu alliance is finished. |
Car54 | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 12:15 am     Gina, he also says he knew he angered the other TWO alliances- which tells us that there are probably two alliances of two plus two swing votes (Kathy and Zoe) instead of one solid block. |
Squaredsc | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 06:17 am     great articles/chats. i will miss john and his scheming but it was time for him to go. love the tatoo(sp) but wish it had some more color to it. |
Marysafan | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 09:59 am     Did Rosie snub John????? Is he going to be on her show or not? does anyone know? |
Luvmom | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 11:30 am     John was just on Rosie and boy did he make an impact.He gave back the trip so the proceeds can go to gay couples who are trying to adopt kids.Something rosie is really into.She was left speechless.I think i saw tears welling up. I really got a new found respect for him. |
Seamonkey | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 11:52 am     I thought they'd click Rosie was pre-empted here because of a train wreck. Did he say anything of interest?? I have a feeling he's going to do some good things with his "15 min" He was funny on Letterman, actually got in a couple of jokes on Dave.. of course they concentrated on asking him about the peeing incident, even showed a clip. He did make a face about Kathy when she was mentioned. Dave said wouldn't it be funny if Kathy won, after peeing on you.. and John kinda grunted. He was very good and relaxed in this situation!! I expect that of Sean, but was pleased to see how at ease John was too. |
Whowhere | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 12:24 pm     That's great Luvmom! I'm sure Rosie was speechless. I, like you, have a new found respect for him. What a nice thing to do.
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Marysafan | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 01:00 pm     Well, I was lucky... I had some inside info. My daughter knows John and said that he is a super nice guy. So I trusted her judgement, and didn't buy into his "on the island" persona. I knew this was a very giving and caring individual. I am glad to see that he is also outgoing, friendly, and witty! I look for lots of good things to come his way. I am beginning wonder if he will be going back to Creighton law school as he had planned ...or pursue other avenues. Luvmom, Thanks for the info! Rosie is coming on right now! I would have missed it! |
Moondance | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 01:07 pm     Great post Mary |
Webkitty | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 01:25 pm     I'm watching it right now. He knew he was being voted off. He tricked Kathy and Nelah into telling him! He told them that Pascal had told him he was being voted off and they confirmed it not knowing he was bluffing. He said he brought massage oils as his luxury item and it came in handy because he had an excuse to give massages and "bond" Rosie gave him a trip to the Bahamas for two and he donated it. I thought he was going to start crying again! (but he didn't) |
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