‘Survivor: San Jaun del Sur’ castaway spotlight: Does John Rocker actually have a chance?
John Rocker may be the most controversial first-time “Survivor” player of all time. He is coming on this show with a ton of baggage, whether you look at him being a celebrity, or look at some of the things that he said both during and after his career in baseball.
However, we’re not going to spend this whole article describing whether or not he should have been cast. We feel like we already dealt with that particular debate pretty well in this article. Instead, the focus of this article is more along the lines of trying to figure out whether or not he will be a good “Survivor” player, and how much he will be able to keep from running his mouth.
Name – John Rocker
Age – 39
Location – Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation – Former MLB player.
Strengths – He is obviously a big, strong guy, and someone with experience in high-pressure situations. He will not be intimidated by anything that he runs across in this game, and while there are so many reasons to get rid of him, he may be able to achieve a Phillip Sheppard effect here in that he is such a big target, it may be smart for some people to keep him around to either be a target or a goat later.
Weaknesses – Let’s see here … He is loud, he is brash, he’s said offensive things to numerous minority groups, and he is a big physical threat. Even he admits that his girlfriend Julie is going to most-likely do better in the game than he will, since he does not have a whole lot of confidence in his ability to keep his mouth shut.
Past “Survivor” comparison – We wouldn’t say Jeff Kent, since he was able to keep his job a secret. We’d go more with a combination of Jimmy Johnson (celebrity factor from the get-go, since he was already spotted via the TVGN preview show) and then someone like Shannon from “Nicaragua” or Judd from “Guatemala.” These two were both notorious for not being able to be quiet.
Prediction – It does make sense to keep Rocker a few weeks if you want to win challenges, even if he is a blowhard. Our feeling is that he last around as long as Brad Culpepper did a year ago, which is when everyone will decide that they have had enough of his shenanigans. With that being said, it may behoove someone who wants to win a million bucks to drag him even further. The guy’s got zero shot to win, and it never hurts to have a human shield, or someone you can beat in the end. The only risk you run into there is that everyone could try to make him into a goat.
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Photo: CBS