On paper, probably one of Survivor‘s most accomplished contestants (right next to Candice Woodcock), Gary Stritesky was forced to leave the game because of an allergic reaction. Gary opened up to me about Lisi, the Moto 5 and Dreamz in this compelling chat.
Murtz Jaffer: Hey Gary, how are you?
Gary Stritesky: Good, how about yourself?
MJ: Great. Are you ready to get started?
GS: Not a problem.
MJ: We have to get the generic questions out of the way first so we will start with how much you regret leaving the game?
GS: Unbelievably, I regret it. It was one of those things that I had to do, but it was a hard decision.
MJ: So you do regret it? Was it the right call? Obviously you were sick out there.
GS: It was a call that I think at the time had to be made by the bites that I was kind of getting. I was getting an allergic reaction to the ant bites.
MJ: Is that what the problem was and how serious was it after you left the game?
GS: It took actually probably a week before your head really totally cleared out. You know? Where you weren’t really spinning and things were kind of getting back together. Yeah, it became good after awhile.
MJ: Was it just the bug bites that were a problem because you seemed to have a lot of headaches on the show. Were the headaches associated with the bug bites?
GS: They were from it directly. If you look on the internet, it can cause lightheadedness and all that kind of stuff is all associated with those ant bites.
MJ: A lot of people have said that this season might be too easy on the castaways because of the shelter and amenities. I guess your injury proves that it was still a tough and real experience. Can you explain how tough it really was and do you think people are making too much of a big deal out of the shelter?
GS: I think that they are making a far bigger deal out of the shelter than what it is. The elements, as far as weather, whether you that shelter or not it’s nice to have if you can get into it but you could get into other things too that would do it. It’s still kind of a struggle to get by, even though it’s easier with the shelter. I think it makes for an interesting show myself!
MJ: Did you try to hold out for another day since that would have probably saved your tribe from having to vote Liliana out or was it just a case of ‘I can’t deal with this anymore and it doesn’t matter what happens to the team?’
GS: It was to the point where I wasn’t even coherent as to what was going on. I see it now and I don’t even really remember getting on the stretcher. By that point, I couldn’t really think of nothing. Like I said, I couldn’t even really think.
MJ: Now to lighten things up, can you tell me how did you got the Pappa Smurf nickname?
GS: When we landed on the island (all 19 of us), Boo came up to me and the first thing he said to me was ‘I’m going to call you Pappa Smurf.’ And I thought ‘oh okay!’ I didn’t even know Boo at the time and for some reason, I struck him as kind of a Pappa Smurf and uh
MJ: Well Boo sounds like a smurf name himself!
GS: (Laughs). Well maybe we were going to start a Smurfette program or something! (Laughs). It was good. I have been called a lot worse!
MJ: How much did you know about the five alliance on Moto and if you had stayed, did you have any plans to try and break it up?
GS: I knew they were kind of doing something. What I considered who was in it, I just wasn’t too concerned that it would last too long. They were inexperienced at what was going on, a lot of them didn’t even know what the game was about so those normally won’t last too long.
MJ: You seemed to really click with Dreamz even though he is so outspoken. Did you appreciate his honesty?
GS: I totally appreciated Dreamz. Dreamz is a person that a lot of people will take an offense to but myself, I hold the guy in high degree of respect because he tells you exactly what he thinks of you. He doesn’t beat around the bush and he’s honest. Honest to a fault almost. If you saw last week, he says ‘look I got nothing against Cassandra and Lisi but we’re looking at numbers here and you two are the most likely to go.’
MJ: Exactly.
GS: And I mean you can’t get anymore honest than that and I really kind of bonded with him. He was a very nice guy.
MJ: One of the things that I wanted to ask you about was the food challenge from last week when you were up against Anthony. Two questions about this. The first was how funny was it for you to watch on TV when Jeff said about you eating the pig snout ‘it looks like Gary has been doing this all his life ‘
GS: It was kind of hilarious because as a kid, we grew up and we butchered a lot of hogs in the Fall, and as kids, we had to kind of bone out and chop up the head of the pig and all that stuff and we’d cut it up and put vinegar in it. So I was just kind of going back to home, like it was a piece of cake.
MJ: And it seemed like you were taunting Anthony a little bit. Was that intentional?
GS: No, you know it kind of looked that way but when I walked up and I did my little deke move you know Anthony, we’re pretty good friends and some of those things. There was a dead silence and Rocky and Boo had just done their whole thing so I thought to lighten the moment we’ll just do a little deke here. By no means was I trying to taunt him. If I’d have taunted him, I would have reached over and eaten one of his snouts. That would have really been it.
MJ: Just a couple of more questions.
GS: Sure, no problem.
MJ: Lisi took a really hard stance on you and said that she didn’t want to babysit and that you leaving would save her from at least one tribal council (which obviously didn’t happen). What was your take on her and her reaction to you?
GS: I was a bit surprised I guess. She came running up to me probably two hours after we landed on the island and she was like ‘we gotta form an alliance, you gotta help me, you have gotta do all this stuff,’ and then it comes out like that. So it was a bit of a surprise I guess. I wasn’t sticking my hand up to get out of challenges as she has done in a couple of them, three of them actually. As many as she could, she put her hand up and wouldn’t do it. So it seems to me, somebody who is worried about babysitting is just sitting on the sidelines herself. That’s kind of the way that I looked at it.
MJ: Given your experience as a carpenter, why did you let Sylvia take the lead on the shelter. Did you know that she would immediately be targetted as the leader?
GS: There’s a time when you don’t put a red x on your forehead. When you start jabbering that you can do this, this and this, people you could tell were getting annoyed almost immediately. She wouldn’t let go of the prints and she wouldn’t do this and people asked me if I could do anything. And you know, I have built I don’t know probably 1000 homes. Building a little shelter is no big deal but I wasn’t going to stick my neck out there and say ‘oh, I can do that!’ Then you’re just a typical old person trying to sound stupid, you know?
MJ: And finally People might not realize how suited you were to Survivor. You have worked many jobs where dealing with people is a priority including your stints as a school bus driver and a barber for 14 years. In addition, you also do a lot of biking, have coached your children’s soccer, basketball, baseball and football teams and have also done a lot of canoeing as well as being stationed in the military. On paper, aren’t you the prototype for what all Survivor players should be?
GS: As far as social skills, I think I am! (Laughs). If that’s what it takes and you just gotta get by with a few things and adapt to different types of people
MJ: But even your military experience
GS: Yeah. From Vietnam to California, the whole shot. It didn’t hurt me at all, I don’t think.
MJ: What’s tougher? Vietnam or Survivor?
GS: No one’s trying to kill you on Survivor. (Laughs). That would not really be a fair comparison. They are both tough in their own respects.
MJ: What’s next for you?
GS: For me? Back to driving the bus. I’ll probably take ‘er one day at a time and I’ll probably go get that Harley here this Spring and do a little ridin’.
MJ: Good to talk to you, thanks a lot Gary.
GS: You bet.
Born and raised in Silver Lake, Minnesota, Gary Stritesky attended Silver Lake High School where he participated in football, basketball, track and baseball. He then attended St. Cloud State University and also trained at Brooks Barber School which ignited a 14-year career as a barber. He also participated in a real estate program at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.
Stritesky currently works as a school bus driver and carpenter. He recently built a six-unit townhome complex for senior citizens in Silver Lake, Minnesota. He was previously in the military, stationed in Vietnam for eight months in 1971. He has also worked as a taxi cab driver and landscaper. In 1990, Stritesky spent a year living in Melbourne, Australia, with his family during his wife’s teacher exchange program. In 2002, they returned to Perth, Australia, for another year as a result of his wife’s second teacher exchange program.
Stritesky has competed in multiple inline skate marathons. He also enjoys biking, canoeing and coaching. He spent many years coaching his children’s soccer, baseball, basketball and football teams. At least once a year, Stritesky travels to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, taking part in portaging, canoeing, fishing and enjoying the solitude of the northern Minnesota lakes. He has biked in many areas of Minnesota, including leading a scout group to camp and family trips. He also participated in a cross-country biking adventure while in Australia.
Stritesky currently resides in Ramsey, Minnesota with his wife of 34 years, Diane. They have four children, Aaron, Alison, Leah and Kara and two grandchildren. His pet bulldog, Dobber, recently passed away. They have since adopted Harley and Blaze, two miniature dachshunds, and just returned their pet snapping turtle, Snappy, to the wilderness. Stritesky’s birth date is September 16, 1951.
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