Author Topic: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn  (Read 3659 times)

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Offline puddin

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365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« on: April 01, 2004, 01:24:25 AM »
365 INTERVIEWS
 
 
 
 

 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn 30/03/04

Former pro soccer player and the inaugural ‘survivor,’ Ethan Zohn took a moment to speak with Soccer365 about his time on the show, the other players, getting voted off in addition to his work with Grassrootsoccer, a charity group helping to educate people in Africa about AIDS.

365: Let’s talk about “Survivor” first.
 
Ethan Zohn: Alright, bring it on.

365:  How enjoyable was this experience.  The conditions were a little bit better than the last time you were on the show, but you lost this time.

EZ:  Well actually, in terms of the conditions, yes, it was a little more enjoyable.  Africa was tough.  We were basically sitting on the surface of the sun, there’s no water, no food, we had to be stuck in that little circle of branches.  In Panama, there was a nice beach, we could fish.  It was a little cold and rainy at times, but yeah, Panama environmentally was a lot easier, but mentally, Panama was a lot more difficult.  Everyone there was an expert, you know a student of the game because this was all-stars, so it was more difficult in that sense.

365:  Looking back now, was there anything you feel like you could have done any differently to not get voted out when you did?

EZ:  No.  I have no regrets.  I mean, I have looked back and said well if I had done this or had done that, but from the first day, I felt basically targeted.  All the winners in this game basically had a huge target on their back, because no one wants to see a winner win again, and on principle alone, no one wants to see me get far in the game because I already won it once.  So I felt it would have been difficult to win and I did everything I possibly could to stay in that game.  The one thing that makes me feel good is that I was the last winner standing, you know, all the other former winners were voted out and I lasted longer than them, so that’s something to be proud of.

365:  There are a lot of viewers that hate Jerri (Manthey).  Are the viewers right?

EZ:  They have good reason to be right, yes.  However, when you play the game, you might do things differently than how you would play normal life.  I can’t say that goes for everyone, you know, I kind of feel like I play the game like I play life, but some people go out there and they’re a different person and they just want to win and they’ll do anything they possibly can to win.  In that sense, during the game, everyone has a right to be upset with Jerri, out of the game, she’s a nice girl, she’s great.

365:  Really?

EZ:  Yeah, she’s just like everyone else.  But when she’s playing the game she’s got her mind set on what she’s going to do and what she wants to accomplish.  I mean I actually didn’t see her accomplishing anything (laughing), she seemed lazy to me, but who am I to say what person deserves to be there over another?  Obviously, she’s still in the game and I’m not, so she’s obviously doing something right.

365:  Jerri said when she was on the CBS Morning Show after she got voted out of her first appearance on “Survivor”, she was at the hotel the night before, and when she was voted out, she heard people cheering all through the hotel she was in.

EZ:  Oh really!  Oh my god.  It does kind of, it is hard to hear.  People think we’re not human, we’re just TV characters, but it does kind of suck when people don’t like you.  People kind of like, cheer when you get voted off.  It kind of hurts a little bit.

365:  We’ll, did you watch the most recent episode of the show? 

EZ:   Yes.

365:  Boston Rob did an impression of you.  What were your thoughts on that?

EZ:  Hey, that kid will do anything or say anything to get on camera.  Stuff like that, as a viewer I’d be kind of annoyed.  That’s not reality TV.  Do you really think those guys would be doing that if the camera was not there?  But you know obviously they were having fun and just playing up to the camera and doing this whole mock tribal council, but that’s not reality TV, that’s like, “let’s see if I can get more camera time”.  So that kind of pisses me off.  I played the game, I went out there to play, I went out there to see how far I could push my body. If the camera is there great, but if the cameras weren’t there I probably still would have still acted the same and done the same, but I feel a lot of those guys were on it for the wrong reasons.  To further their career or to become more famous or whatever it was, you know, Rob, obviously he’ll do anything to be on TV more.

365:  Is there anybody on the show you do keep in touch with?

EZ:  I keep in touch with Lex and Tom, there my good friends anyway.  I keep in touch with Jenna Morasca, Rob Cesternino, Colby, Tina.  All of those people.  All the good players who got voted off early, I keep in touch with.

365:  So you and Lex are alright then?

EZ:  Yeah, Lex and I, we’re buddies.  It was a game and I’m ok with that.  He had to do what he had to do, and we just had a little difference of opinion.  I wanted to stay and he wanted me to go.

365:  And I’m reading you are more than just keeping in touch with Jenna, but I’m not a tabloid reporter, so we’ll just leave it at that.  Here are a couple of technical questions about the show.  First of all, how hard is it to keep the secret of what’s still to come on the show from anybody back here at all?

EZ:  Yeah, nobody can know.  For me, it’s fun.  I mean, I like that.  I like having a leg up on everyone who’s watching.  I can lie to my brothers and my mom and say “Hey, you’d better watch tonight, I might be getting voted off!” or “You gotta watch this one, it’s really good”.  I like kind of having that little secret for me.  I think it would spoil it if I told everyone what was going on, if I said listen these are the final two and this is when I get voted off and this is when I blew the challenge, then there’s really nothing to look forward to and there’s no surprise element, which is the greatest part about this show, you know, the twists and the turns and all that stuff.

365:  The other question is, I always worry that the people at tribal council can hear you when you’re voting and you’re talking about who you are going to vote out.  Are they far enough away that they can’t hear you?

EZ:  That’s a good question.  In Africa the distance between where the tribal council people were sitting and where you made your vote was pretty far, so you could talk in your normal voice.  In Panama, it was a little close actually, so I ended up kind of whispering a little bit.  I was trying to listen to what people had to say and you know, when the votes come up I always try to look at the handwriting and see who was writing what.  I changed my handwriting every single time.  I’d write it small, or all caps, or lower case or script, just no one knew who the hell I was writing for.

365:  Let’s jump over to the charity.  I guess people who didn’t know about Grassrootsoccer maybe knew a little bit more about it because you wore the shirt in every episode.

EZ:  Yeah, you like that?  I was the only one they let wear a logo.  I had special permission for that.  It was a strong selling point for me to go back and do the all-stars to wear that t-shirt.  In the past five days since I’ve been voted off we’ve had 87,000 page views on the website.

365:  So tell people who don’t know about grassrootsoccer what it is.

EZ:  Grassrootsoccer is an organization I started with the money from “Survivor: Africa”.  What we do is we do AIDS education through soccer in Africa.  To be a little bit more specific, we take professional soccer players from that local area, let’s use Zimbabwe for example.  We take professional soccer players in Zimbabwe, we train them about HIV and AIDS, and then they go into the schools and teach the youth about AIDS prevention.  It’s a simple concept, using a positive roll model from the community, a person that these kids look up to and respect.  When these guys go into a classroom, these pro soccer players, and deliver this message, it’s so much more effective and has a much more lasting impression and effect on these kids that will stay with them forever.  Imagine Michael Jordan going into the middle of Harlem and giving kids a presentation on the dangers of drugs.   It’s that same concept.  These soccer players are idols over there.  They are the gods of their communities and we just had to tap into it.  A simple concept but no one’s doing it.

365:  I understand that just talking about AIDS is something people don’t even do in Africa, let alone doing what they need to do to avoid it.  They don’t even talk about it so they can’t pass on the information to prevent it.

EZ:  That’s absolutely right.  It’s a taboo.  Here’s a true story.  I lived in Zimbabwe for a year and played pro soccer there.  I’ve had people, a kid on the team, actually has passed away now from AIDS.  You asked “How did he die” and they’re like you know “He was sick man, he was sick”.  No one will mutter the word.  It’s like there’s an unofficial gag order on the word AIDS and HIV.  Everyone’s afraid to talk about it and that’s why we go in there, if these guys go in there and they’re not shy about talking about it, maybe the kids will not be shy.  We’ve got to start getting these kids started talking about it, because it is part of the culture.  It’s not going away.  If anything it’s on the rise, and that’s why we’ve to nip it in the bud.  We target the kids maybe 12 to 14 years old, before they start to engage in sexual activity.  We provide them with the correct information and then they have to make the choice to lead a healthy lifestyle.

365:  How has it been going?  Do you think there’s been any kind of impact?

EZ:  Oh my god yes.  It’s incredible, from an idea two years ago, now were a full fledge organization in Zimbabwe.  We’ve graduated 2,500 kids from the program.  We’re expanding into Ethiopia, Zambia and Botswana this fall.  We’re working with Bono and his organization DATA.  We just got a huge sponsorship from Hummel, which is a big soccer company.  Everyone’s excited.  Everyone wants our program in their country.  Unfortunately we don’t have the funds to do it, but everyone wants our program in their country.

365:  You were just on “Regis and Kelly” and Donald Trump was a co-host when you were on.  Did you hit him up for a contribution?

EZ:  No I haven’t hit him up for money or Mark Burnett.  One of the things, for me that’s an easy way out.  But I think that Mark Burnett, who is the creator of survivor, I think he respects the fact that I went out and did it on my own.  It would have been an obvious choice to go to him and say listen, give me some money for my charity, but he provided me with this opportunity.  He picked me for this show, he let me participate in Africa and CBS and Mark Burnett are pretty much responsible for my fame and fortune, so it’s almost like I didn’t approach them.

365:  If people want to contribute, what’s the best way to do it?

EZ:  Yeah, I’d love to call everyone to action.  You visit our website, which is www.grassrootsoccer.org.  You can donate right there online.  If you donate $30 you get a free t-shirt just like the one I was wearing on the show.  It’s a tax deductible donation.  We’re trying to raise lots of funds right now, because of these expansions.  Another way is we’re launching a national fundraising this fall called the “Kick AIDS Juggle-a-thon”.  We’re targeting 550 high school soccer teams.  Basically, each team, it’s a team oriented event to see who can raise the most money nation wide.  You go out to mom and pop, aunt and uncle, you get sponsored to participate in the juggle-a-thon, maybe ten cents a juggle, however you want to get sponsored and then everyone raised money.  There are individual prize incentives.  If you raise $25 you get a Hummel hat, raise $50 you get a Hummel jacket, and if that’s something that high school coaches or soccer teams want to get involved in, please contact us.  We want to get as many people involved, and the good thing about it is we’ll have grassrootsoccer ambassadors visiting each team, giving them a little presentation on AIDS in America, AIDS in Africa, the importance of community service and most importantly the concept of kids helping kids.  We say to these high school teams, listen if you were a high school soccer team in Botswana, 15 out of 20 of you guys would be dead before the age of 35, and they’re like “Oh my god!”.  We ran a pilot program in Vermont and New Mexico and it went over incredibly well.  So, it’s the Kick AIDS Juggle-a-thon, get involved now, get your team involved.

365:  Are there people from the show involved with the charity?

EZ:  Yeah, actually we’re having a big fundraiser August 28th in Lancaster, PA.  It’s a soccer clinic during the day, a coach’s clinic during the afternoon, and then a big dinner at night.  Tom, Lex, Jenna Morasca, Rob Cesternino, Colby, Tina, they’re all going to be there, and then we’re going to have some big time soccer players, Mike Burns, Andrew Shue, were trying to get John Barnes over from England and Ben Olsen.  Tony DiCicco is going to be there.  A good soccer group, so that’s how the other survivor’s are helping me out with their time.

365:  Thanks a lot Ethan.  Good luck with everything.

EZ:  Thank you.
 
 http://www.soccer365.com/_365_Interviews/page_123_69774.shtml


{ article was found @ http://www.survivorfever.net/index8.html  }
« Last Edit: April 01, 2004, 09:20:44 AM by Puddin »

Offline WENDY

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2004, 08:35:06 AM »
I am so glad Ethan is such a good person..... And he hangs out with Tom still.... awwww. ...that is so nice. :)
Wendy Jean

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surviordude_JT

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2004, 11:50:29 AM »
For some one who is going out with Jenna Morasca sure doesn't say much

Offline puddin

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2004, 12:07:11 PM »
Quote
Yeah, actually we’re having a big fundraiser August 28th in Lancaster, PA.
Hey..I was just thinking.. 8)...Lancaster is only a hour or so from where I live..Maybe I could make plans to go to the fundraiser?? I would Love to meet all of the Survivors who are goung to be there!! :D :D..i'm getting goosebumps.. :)

Offline puddin

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2004, 12:49:45 PM »
Want to join me theresa?? :D :D..


Offline WENDY

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2004, 08:50:22 AM »
I do Puddin, if you go, I go..... I don't think it is that far from Pittsburgh, is it?
Wendy Jean

SURVIVOR 11- HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!

Offline WENDY

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2004, 04:51:15 PM »
I want to go just to see Big Tom.
Wendy Jean

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Offline puddin

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2004, 07:09:27 PM »
My B/F says that Lancaster is about a hour and a half from here..and I'm not sure about how far from where you are Wndy or Theresa..Anyway he has plans that weekend..his family reunion  :P...so really if anyone wants to go with me let me know..I'm going to ask my lil sister..she's a survivor freak too  :D!!
(Besides..I loathe my B/F's family reunions..I'd rather stick a needle in my eye  :P..)
« Last Edit: April 03, 2004, 12:14:50 AM by Puddin »

Offline Rob

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2004, 10:52:42 PM »
TELL EVERYONE ABOUT http://HTTP://FORUM.REALITYFANFORUM.COM

Have like an RFF membership drive. LOL. You must sign up 50 new members and 5 former survivors, or you are banned. LOL

Just kidding, I would never do that to you. LMAO

Rob

Offline puddin

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2004, 12:17:19 AM »
So that means that your coming with us Rob?? ;)
I'll make sure that I have plenty of doughnuts on hand  ;D!! lol


Offline Bathfizzy

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2004, 01:04:39 AM »
Someone must go with Puddin to Lancaster.  I do not want Puddin to put a needle in her eye!!!! :'( :'( :'( :'(.  How will she find all these great news stories, pictures to post.  So I am begging all RFF members that live close by to take Puddin to meet Lex, Tom, Colby ( :-* :-* :-*)Tina, Cesterino. Ethan and take lots of pictures and tell them to come here and post because we are a fun loving bunch. :D

Offline puddin

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Re: 365 Q&A with Ethan Zohn
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2004, 02:32:25 AM »
LOL......... ;D ;D The pain of the needle will be less pain than the family reunion.. :P ..trust me  ;D...How about you Bathfizzy?? Do you want to sign up?? Like I said..plenty of doughnuts for everyone..(In my best Homer Simpson voice " Doughnuts..Yummm..drool")