Johnny Impact Says He Was ‘Overconfident’ Before Survivor Elimination

– Johnny Impact spoke with Parade about his elimination on Wednesday night’s episode of Survivor. Highlights are below:

On his elimination: “I was pretty overconfident that night. You’re right; I did seem very jovial. But I’m the type of person who would rather laugh than cry at the situation. It was actually pure shock. In retrospect, it seemed pretty obvious that I should have expected someone to vote for me. I didn’t expect to get voted, but I should have been more proactively prepared. I’ve watched a lot of Survivor, and people get blindsided every vote [laughs]. I was having a good time at the merge and genuinely liked everybody that I played with. You just get out of strategic mode. My strategy was based on forming relationships and reducing my threat level. Coming in as a career pro wrestler, I thought my threat level would be high. I worked really hard not to appear strategic and have people be comfortable with me. I felt authentically close to everybody out there.”

On the two immunity idols being played, leading to his elimination: “Yeah, we talked about that as a group. I wasn’t aware that Dan was conflicted about playing it on her. My belief going into Tribal was that if someone played an idol, Dan would play an idol on Angelina. It’s funny thinking back. What did I think would happen if two people played the idols? I thought there would be some split vote and we’d figure it out and re-vote. But clearly, Nick and Davie were one step ahead.”

On the series showing a new side of himself to audiences: “This is a sentiment that I think is common to a lot of people in the wrestling business, and the entertainment business as well. I’m currently IMPACT Wrestling world champion. I just got done doing six weeks of TV taping in Las Vegas. In the context of being the Mayor of Slamtown, I commonly get into the wrestling ring and talk to a couple of thousand people. I feel comfortable doing that. What I was talking about in the game was, in those smaller groups, it’s a different type of communication. For some reason, I get more anxious about small groups than big groups. It felt cool to be stripped away from everything. No cell phone, no outside communication, no internet. No Instagram or Twitter, just you and other people. It was weird for me to be that naked, literally and metaphorically. In real life, I’m never in a position where I have nothing to do all day. Usually, I’ve got 15 minutes then I have to go to my next thing. But in the context of Survivor, you talk about everything because you’re just sitting on the beach. It takes courage to be vulnerable and open up.”

On his tribe almost being named after his movie: “I wrote, produced and starred in a movie last year on Netflix now called Boone: The Bounty Hunter. We were so close to naming the merged tribe “Boone.” We actually took a vote and “Boone” won, and then the decision got overturned.”