MONDO EXTRAS

After the commercial, a torch-surrounded Peachy tells us that you can’t spend weeks in the Outback without developing strong feelings about the various personalities you’re stranded with. This leads to the revelation that the majority of the tribe would least like to be stranded on a desert island with Jerri. I don’t think they needed to take a ballot to learn that. Ironically, Peachy points out, the S16 also voted for Jerri as the Survivor who got the “worst rap.” I don’t think that means anything except that they were confused by the question. Jeff and Mike are the two members of the S16 with whom the others would most like to be stranded. Peachy doesn’t bother to tell us who voted for whom, which is the most fun part.

We’re now onto Mike, who tells us that before he went on Survivor he was all about making money. His wife Peni tells us that “pre-Survivor Mike” was “go go go” and “all about having fun.” How do we get hold of that guy? Michael tells us he started to pray and develop a relationship with God that he never knew before while he was in the Outback. He says the most “significant point of his spiritual journey” was falling into the fire, although he didn’t understand it at the time because he thought he might have won otherwise. Then Michael in a semi-priest uniform stands before a congregation and preaches that “what I’m here to tell you wasn’t about Survivor and it wasn’t about a million dollars and it wasn’t about a TV show and it wasn’t about the healing in my hands. It was about the healing in my heart.” Mike tells us that no one would listen to him before when he was a non-God-fearing nobody, but now he has speaking gigs and uses his Survivor fame to get the message out. Next we see Mike standing in front of a group of kids and explaining that they’ll make decisions in their lives a lot more critical than winning a million dollars -- it sounds like an anti-drug campaign, but maybe it’s a most appropriate anti-falling-into-fire campaign. Michael’s kids bounce on a trampoline in their backyard, and one of them swings crazily on a rope. I think his kids inherited the crazy gene. Peni says Mike was always a good father and husband, but “he’s more of a centered father now.” He tells us he no longer defines his success by his income but by his relationships with God and family . He then starts preaching to the cameraman about setting priorities.