Interviews

JJ Web: Did you enjoy the amusement park mission?

Dan: It was terrible! I couldn't believe Anne was doing it, first of all.

JJ Web: She had just gotten over the flu.

Dan: She was puking her guts out just two days before that! But she still did the mission. It was unbelievable. That was kind of nuts that we had to do that puking mission.

JJ Web: Did you all puke?

Dan: No. Actually, Anne was the only one. I tried to make myself puke. I was cool for the first two rounds. I was having a blast. And then on one of the rides I closed my eyes, and that's probably the worst move to do. That's what got me sick.

JJ Web: Later that afternoon, you hike to the summit of the castle grounds and discover your final reward. What did you think of the final reward?

Dan: I thought it was great! But I would have taken anything. I really would have done this without a final reward. Looking back, originally I didn't know we were going to get "paid" for this stuff. So everything that was given to me was just incredible. It just added to the experience. The trip to Greece, that's cool as hell.

JJ Web: You uncorked the champagne and you're pouring for everyone. What are you thinking?

Dan: I was thinking it's damn cold! It was like thirty degrees on top of that mountain and we hadn't used our winter stuff the whole time. We brought it all out, but nobody had kept theirs -- I was the only one who kept all my stuff, so I gave it away to the others, so I was freezing. I didn't have any gloves or a hat on. It was cold! But as far as feelings, I was very sad. And happy too.

JJ Web: Why were you sad?

Dan: I was sad because that group was never going to be together again in that situation. There will never be a similar experience. We'll get together, but it will never be that group, cast, and crew. So I was said because of that.

JJ Web: And why were you happy?

Dan: I don't think I figured it out then, but afterwards I was happy because the trip was complete. It was our goal of the summer to complete the trip and we did. Looking back we had worked our way all the way to that point, and we could look back on it and look back and say we learned so much from it and we can take those experiences with us. But it's got to end somewhere. It might as well have been then.

JJ Web: Is there one thing that sticks out in your mind that you've "learned"?

Dan: Yeah. The things that I learned mostly were about relationships with people. When you're back home, you don't realize how some of the things you say and do affect people. Because you can be talking to someone on the phone, and they can hide how they're feeling from you. Or if you have a conversation with somebody, they can hide it for an hour or two and then leave. But when you're with these people 24 hours a day, and you're with them for such an intense thing, you can't get away from how they're feeling. I really understand now how things I do and say affect people. And how it can affect relationships that I have.

JJ Web: Can you give me an example of one of these realizations that you had?

Dan: Last week's episode was a perfect example.

JJ Web: The trip to Harlem.

Dan: Going into New York, I kind of felt Roni didn't want us there. Or, she was kind of apprehensive about having us in her home. She obviously wasn't apprehensive, because she really wanted us to.

JJ Web: But you felt that she was.

Dan: Yes. She had made some comments. The one that sticks in my mind is she said something about us disrespecting her house by leaving it dirty. She said something like "you better not come into my house and leave it messy and disrespect my house like that." And there was maybe another comment like that. And just kind of the feeling that I got. She was staying in her house and we were staying in the hostel. There was just that feeling. So when it came down to the time we were supposed to meet up with her friends and stuff like that, it didn't dawn on me that it was such a big deal to go and meet her friends. Which of course it is. A decision like that, a decision I made affected the friendship. Roni and I are still on great terms, I just saw her, and we love hanging out with each other. She can get past it, but there will always be a scar. We had the chance to show her how much we care for her, and we didn't.

JJ Web: It seemed to me that it was a very large miscommunication.

Dan: I really feel that way. But still, I look back on it and I'm pissed at myself. We should have realized that's her home and family and friends. That was too big to cancel.

JJ Web: You regret this decision you made regarding Roni. Looking back over the entire trip, the whole ten weeks, is there anything else you would do differently?

Dan: I wish I had taken more time to get to know Noah. As much as I didn't get along with Noah, and I really didn't get along with Noah, I didn't really talk to him ever, for the majority of the trip I pretty much just kind of said screw that guy. He's not worth my time. And I think I didn't give him a good enough chance. I still talk to him and he still says things that I can't believe! But I think he deserved a chance and I deserved a chance for us to try to at least work something out where we had an understanding about things. But we just kind of let it go and it didn't work out.

JJ Web: We never saw you and Noah fight.

Dan: The reason is, if someone pisses me off I don't come out and say it.

JJ Web: So how do you handle it?

Dan: The way I handle it is I shut up for a while and I kind of sit back and I don't react to it for a while. Because I don't know how to. I have to come to terms with it for myself. And for Noah, that's how it started if off. He had all this stuff coming out of his mouth that I just wanted to like say "hey Noah, what the hell are you saying?!" But there was so much of that, I just shut up and didn't say anything to the kid because I really felt it wasn't worth my time. When someone pisses me off or does something that I think is terrible, my first reaction is to think about it and usually what I come up with is it's not my place to tell them how to run their lives. You never see me in a fight because we never come to conflict.

JJ Web: And you felt this way about Noah right from the beginning?

Dan: Yeah, I did. I met Noah before the show. We ran across each other in a hotel in Detroit for semi-finals. He was with another semi-finalist and he was obviously kind of annoyed by her. She was really talkative and he had been with her the whole day, so he was rolling his eyes at her. So when I met him he was like [Dan imitates a gruff voice] "s'up." So when I saw him on the show, it started off from there. So from the very beginning, the things he said, I couldn't understand.

JJ Web: When you say you couldn't understand the things he said, are you referring mainly to his attitude towards women?

Dan: No. Pretty much everything.

Dan: Not his opinions, but the way he expresses them. I think he tries to manipulate people. He's a smart kid. He knows what he's saying. And he tries to manipulate things. And I think he shows off at times. And I just don't understand it. I mean, I see where it comes from, and I'm not going to comment on that, but I see where it comes from and it's kind of sad. But that's just how he is. We have a decent enough relationship where we can talk and it's cool and we can be honest with each other about things so that's fine with me.

JJ Web: Dan, I appreciate these last few calls we've had. Thank you for making the Web site something interesting for the fans to read.

Dan: Cool. I appreciate it. I'll talk to you.