11 Survivor Competitors Who Had A Following Before The Show

Find out what these players were known for before the show…

Prior to taking part in Survivor: Tocantin, the show’s 18th season, Taj Johnson-George had made a name for herself as a singer and rapper. She was a member of girl’s R&B group, Sisters With Voices, which found popularity and had a series of hits in the ’90s. Looking back, Taj admitted that Survivor was actually easier than some of her music industry ventures -- especially citing the reality show SWV did with XSCAPE.

“I’d rather do Survivor than do a Season 2 [with XSCAPE],” Taj told The Daily Dish. “You go out there and they literally drop you off with absolutely nothing and tell you to make it to the end. Then you have people who are literally, their lives depend on this because they’re trying to get that million dollars, so if that means stabbing you in the back and eating your food before you can eat it, so be it. Good thing for me, I went out there with a goal to lose weight, so I was giving my food away. They loved me.”

Ashley Massaro was a contestant on Survivor: China but prior to her debut on the reality competition show, she had a career as a WWE star. In 2005, she won the WWE Diva Search and later went on to become a radio host, an actress and model for Playboy. While she didn’t last long on the show due to an illness setback, she says her experience in the WWE helped her out.

“I’m in a situation with WWE where I’m physically training all the time. So the physical parts, the challenges, there was one challenge that was right up my alley, you know? Minus the mud and the clothes ripping off,” Ashley told IGN.

She continued, “And then also being in the WWE Divas locker room, I work very closely with a lot of people who all have the same goals in mind and we’re on the road all year together. I travel a lot and I thought that would give me a benefit too…And then I was thinking with a million dollars at stake, it's like the same thing as the WWE Women’s Title; it’s not exactly the same thing, but we've got to make things work to get there.”

Lisa Whelchel had a successful career as an actress and musician before appearing on Survivor: Philippines. She was most well known for her role on The Facts of Life but she also appeared on shows like The New Mickey Mouse Club and The Love Boat. Lisa also received a Grammy for her Christian album, All Because of You.

Whitney Duncan was a contestant on Survivor: South Pacific but prior to the show, she had a career as a country artist and even appeared on Nashville Star, where she placed fifth. Since the show, she’s continued to pursue a music career and has released more music, including a song that ended up on the Footloose soundtrack.

As for what her followers thought of her appearance on the show, Whitney said, “My fans, they know who I am. I’m a nice person, but I have a little fire in me and I get a little spunky sometimes. I think they got a kick out of seeing my temper come out. They got a good laugh out of it. My family too, they’ve seen that side of me too.”

Mari Takahashi appeared on Survivor’s 33rd season, Millennials vs. Gen X. Prior to the show, she was known as a YouTuber and professional video gamer. She appeared on sketch comedy channel Smosh, hosting the Smosh Pit Weekly series, and later became an original member of Smosh Games.

“What makes Survivor the best game ever -- and I play a lot of games! I play a lot of games where lying is how you succeed, and there are a lot of great board games out there where you’re supposed to lie to win the game, and at the end of it, it’s like, ‘Yay! You’re so good!’ But out there, it’s a way of life. You’re so secluded. You’re so far removed from your way of life that in some ways, the line is blurred between real life and games. It becomes your life,” Mari told Parade.

John Hennigan appeared on Survivor: David vs. Goliath in 2018 but before that, he had a successful career in the WWE under the name John Morrison -- as well as a variety of other stage names. He wrestled in the WWE consistently between 2002 and 2011 before moving on to the independent circuit and then on Lucha Underground and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.

“I left for Fiji 36 hours after we wrapped Lucha Underground season 4. The producers of Lucha Underground had to bend over backwards to get me wrapped out of the season to leave for Survivor. So it was unusual for people to cut it that close…I just really wanted to do it so was happy they were able to make it work,” John told Entertainment Weekly.

He continued, “And then certainly I am the Impact wrestling world champion and I had just signed a deal with Impact wrestling at the time, and they had to bend over backwards to agree to let me miss two months of wrestling bookings based on a contract that I had just signed recently. So two wrestling organizations both bent over backwards to make the schedule work.”

Jonathan Penner has now appeared on Survivor three times, starting with Survivor: Cook Islands, but prior to reality TV, he worked as an actor, screenwriter and producer. He had roles on shows including The Naked Truth and Rude Awakening and made appearances on other series like The Nanny, Arrested Development and Seinfeld.

Mike White had a successful career in Hollywood before he appeared on Survivor: David vs. Goliath. He worked as a writer and producer on numerous projects including Dawson’s Creek and Freaks and Geeks as well as films like School of Rock and Nacho Libre. During his time on Survivor, Mike was unreachable to his Hollywood team -- but his agents still tried to track him down when an opportunity arose back at home.

“One of my agents just never got it,” he told IndieWire. “She was trying to figure out how they could get me on the island. And I was like, ‘If they pull you to take a call, they’re pulling you out of the game. It’s over.’ I got back and got these messages, ‘Tracey Jacobs almost pulled you from the game to find out if you’d do a rewrite for this Paramount movie.’ I would have literally killed myself -- and killed her!”

Before appearing on Survivor: The Edge Of Extinction, Ron Clark was a teacher who became a notable motivational speaker and wrote several books about education. He appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and received the Disney Teacher of the Year award. Ron later was the subject of a made-for-TV film based on his life starring Matthew Perry.

“[I’ve been a fan] ever since the first episode. I even remember seeing the previews while I was teaching in Harlem. I thought, ‘I think I’m going to watch this. This is going to be groundbreaking.’ I had a little 16-inch TV, black and white. I had a tiny little bedroom in New York City,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He continued, “I remember watching the first episode and I was hooked! It transformed me because I had never seen anything like it before. I knew I wanted to be a part of it but due to my life and work and commitment to my students, I was never able to actually apply to do it until a couple of years ago. I thought, ‘You only live once. I’m getting really old here.’”

Julia Landauer was a professional racecar driver before appearing on Survivor: Caramoan. She was just 21 and an undergraduate student at Stanford when she was cast on the show but had already been racing for a decade. Julia ultimately decided to keep her identity a secret on the show, hoping it would help her in the long run -- but she only made it halfway through the season.

“I didn’t tell other people that I was a Stanford student. I was thinking long-term, and if I made it to the final three, how likely were people to vote for me if I was a Stanford-educated race car driver? I didn’t think that I would get the most votes. I was thinking long-term. Now, whether or not that was the right decision, I’ll never know, but it was what I started out with, so I decided to stick with it,” Julia told The Stanford Daily.

Prior to Survivor: Panama, Dan Barry was a NASA astronaut who had gone to space multiple times. Like Julie, he also chose to hide his true identity and did not tell fellow players that he was an astronaut when he arrived on the island. He ended up telling several contestants just before getting voted off. While he mostly kept his career to himself, he says being an astronaut played a big role in his game.

“It’s not about the specific skills that you bring to that game, but what it really boils down to is the spirit. The sense of no matter how hard this is or whatever is going on, ‘I can do this and I can succeed at it,’” Dan shared with collectSPACE.

He continued, “The things that you get from the training to become an astronaut are perfect for that because when you begin you think, ‘There is no way I am going to learn this 3-foot pile of manuals and all these skills and things I need to go [to space], and look at these people that are walking around having figured that stuff out. How is that possible?’ As you go through the training, you find out that it is possible. You can do it and it’s just a matter of persevering. If you ask me what's the most important thing to bring to Survivor, it's that sense of ‘I can do this, never give up, keep up the hard work’ type of thing.”