Read on for my interview with Daniel, and make sure to check in with Parade.com every day for interviews with this season’s contestants and other tidbits. Survivor 42 premieres on March 9 with a special two-hour premiere on CBS.
Interview with Daniel from Survivor 42
Tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Daniel Strunk. I am 30 years old. I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio, where I grew up all my life before I left for college. And I’m technically a lawyer because I passed the bar and can practice. But right now, I’m working for a federal judge in Michigan as a law clerk. So I basically help him decide the outcome of cases, which sounds way more important than it is. I am very much a peon who just does legal research. And he is the Yoda of the law, and I am merely a padawan. Why are you here on Survivor? I mean, I love Survivor. Why would I not be here on Survivor? If someone’s giving you a life opportunity, you have to take it. I watched the show from the get-go. I remember being a little kid and watching it with my parents. In fact, one of the things I remember is in fourth grade, we had to write an essay on a family tradition. So everyone was writing about Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, or whatever. But I wrote about how Thursday nights were Survivor night in my family. And we would have pizza and cookies and watch the show, and we absolutely loved it. On top of that, I’m a childhood leukemia survivor. And Survivor helped me get through that process. So it is very much something that I’ve loved. So I applied every time I could since I was 18. And I came this close on season 33. I was Adam Klein’s alternate. I got the call on March 8, 2016, letting me know that I would not be on the show. This was back when I was working for the Jeb Bush campaign. And then that went south, unfortunately, both the campaign and the season 33 application process. So then, of course, I kept applying. Then I was this close last year on season 42. But then COVID happened. And I had to apply again for season 42. And luckily, I just like finally have made it I’m finally here. It’s finally happening. So I’m either going to be finally fulfilling the dream or epically flaming out. But either way, I’m getting it over with. The itch will be scratched, hopefully. What’s your history with watching Survivor? As I’ve said, I have watched every episode. I keep a content consumption spreadsheet on my Google Sheets. I keep track of every podcast I listen to, every TV show I watch, and every movie I watch. I input all sorts of data, especially on the movies, which I give a rating to. I’ve done that since 2016. So if you were to ask me how many times I saw season 28 episode 11, I would be able to tell you the exact dates I watched it all five times. Or same with all the podcasts I’ve ever listened to, especially with Rob Has a Podcast. I can let you know when I listen to that. So I’ve been watching the show. I’ve been listening to podcasts. I’ve been reading the Dalton Ross articles. I love Josh Wigler. I love Mike Bloom. I love them all. I’m so excited to finally be on the other end of things where I’m actually part of it. Please, I hope they don’t roast me to death. I will probably give them plenty of material to use to do so. But I am very, very excited. I’ve been a lifelong watcher and a lifelong listener of all the discussions about the show. Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. One non-winner I identify with the most is easy because I’ve been saying it repeatedly: Zeke Smith. You just think about Zeke, and you think that is a guy who had fun on the show. He was living out his dream going on the show. He was probably the most intelligent person in his season. But when you think about Zeke Smith, you don’t think brainiac like Yul Kwon. And I think that is to Zeke Smith’s credit. Because he was so good at social gaming and was just having such a good time, it shielded the degree to which he was a hyper genius. So if I can have a fraction of as much fun as Zeke Smith out there, that would be great. And then, in terms of a winner I identify with, goodness… it’s hard because I don’t really think I’m going to win! (Laughs.) So it’s hard for me to pick a winner. I mean, Todd Herzog is the classic example of someone of my archetype who’s won the show. I don’t think that archetype, though, is going to fare very well in the current era of Survivor we’re in. It’s not the Todd Herzog time to win, even though I’m sure Todd could win again. In the current era of the show, there are too many twists and too many hijinks that make it very difficult for the strategic players to really plan things out. Maybe the 26 days will change that up. But I guess I would go with Todd. But I don’t want to claim to be even a fraction of Todd’s greatness, frankly. What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game? So I’ll start with the answer I’ve been giving, which is going through three years of chemotherapy. Going through suffering of that degree, I’m sure it will be different, but it will be similar. The mental mindset I’ll have to put myself in will be similar. You just have to shut your mind off to the pain you’re experiencing and just take one step at a time, one day at a time. I really am not concerned about the suffering elements of Survivor at all. But here’s an exclusive juicy tidbit. Yale Law School is the place I went to law school. It produces a whole lot of politicians—some of my best friends I made at Yale Law School. But frankly, to quote Star Wars, it’s like a Mos Eisley. “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” You’ll find angels there, but you’ll also find a whole lot of future politicians there. Weaving your way in and out of the future president factory. I can name fifteen people I’ve met over the last three or four years at law school who had their eye on some degree of a higher office. There’s some degree of learning the social ins and outs of an environment of that sort that I hope will translate into Survivor. Will it? Probably not. Probably nothing in my life will translate over into the game of Survivor other than the suffering from chemotherapy. But I keep my fingers crossed there’s something in my past that will be of use to me out here. What do you think people will perceive you as? I’m doing my best not to be perceived as a sneaky person. I have three strategies, and one of them is “goofy, not sneaky.” This is part of why my hair is out of control right now. And I should have gotten a haircut if I wanted to look hot. But I don’t look hot at all, because my hair is nuts. And I’m borderline Martin Van Burening it. If you Google Image Martin Van Buren right now, that’s what I’ll look like if I last 26 days. But part of the reason is I want to look a bit goofy, and I want to look a bit younger. If someone asked me, “What’s up with the scar?” and there is an older adult, and I say, “Oh, I’m a childhood leukemia survivor,” I want them to look at me and not see a 30-year-old lawyer guy. I want them to look at me and see my like juvenile hair and say, “That reminds me of my kid. Wouldn’t it be terrible if my kid had cancer?” And then I have a bond with that person. That’s rooted in truth. So I’m trying to be perceived as goofy, not sneaky. I’m avoiding reading books. Like there’s lots everyone’s reading books. There’s a Ryan Ulrich type here who’s just doing sudoku and reading books and all sorts of stuff. And it’s like, I get it. You’re probably very smart. I don’t want people to look at me and think smart. I want them to look at me and think goofy. But to be honest, I don’t think I’m pulling it off. I don’t think I can really hide it. So I’ll do my best, but we’ll see. What will the other players dislike about you? There’s a lot to dislike about me! I mean, if you polled my family or my prior law school enemies, they’d probably give you a long list. I would like to say I’m very principled to a fault. They would probably say that I’m obstinate and stubborn. I’m unyielding when it comes to certain political and ideological values. I’m going to try as much as possible not to bring up any form of politics or ideology in this. I’m a good classical liberal. That’s not very popular nowadays. We’re kind of a dying breed. I doubt there are any others out here, so I wouldn’t have many friends in that front. So I’m just going to avoid that. What else? What other weaknesses do I have? I’m not exactly the sort that you’d look at and say, “He’d be great in challenges.” Now maybe I will be! That’s the odd thing; you don’t really know until you do it. Look at Wardog. He totally sucked. Even though I like you, Wardog, if you’re reading this. But you suck at challenges, man; why do you suck so bad? I could be the inverse Wardog. I hope people look at me, and they’re like, “Wow, he’s gonna suck at challenges.” And then they’re shocked at how great I am. Wouldn’t that be great? That would be the best. I hope that that is what happens. What do you desire in an alliance partner? You just know it when you see it; you just get a vibe of trust there. I think I generally am going to want to align with one person who is younger than me, who is from a different life background from me. Because I think that we have the most to learn from each other. And that’s part of Survivor! That’s part of why I’m out here; I want to learn about these people and grow as a person by learning about their life experiences. I think that’s one of the best parts about the show. Winning is great. It’s bizarre that the world is so messed up right now in terms of people not wanting to communicate with each other. That one of the best places you can get along and meet someone of a different variety of views, life, backgrounds, or whatever, is a cutthroat reality television show. How messed up is that? (Laughs.) But this is all to say I want to find someone of a different life experience that I can learn from. I think that will be advantageous to me because that person will see the world differently for me. So they’ll see Survivor differently for me. By virtue of coming at things from a different perspective, we will reinforce each other’s blind spots. Basically, I don’t want a young white nerd lawyery type in an alliance partner. I’m looking for something else. Next, check out our interview with Survivor 42 contestant Chanelle Howell.
