CBS Survivor: South Pacific cast
On Survivor, tempers run hot — it’s a high-pressure environment fueled by a lack of food, sleep deprivation, and paranoia. So when a blindside happens, the castaways who were on the outside often do not take it very well. Case in point — Jim Rice said in a recent interview that he went on a “tirade” against John Cochran that he’s thankful didn’t make it on the air.
Rice Even Brought Cochran’s Mom Into It
Travel back to a classic episode from #Survivor: South Pacific to determine who was acting the shadiest—@JohnMCochran, @OzzyLusth, @whitneyduncan or @jamesloganrice?
What happened was that once the tribes merged on Survivor: South Pacific, there was an even split between the Savaii and Upolu tribes. Cochran didn’t that close with his Savaii tribe, so he flipped sides and sent Rice’s ally Keith Tollefson to Redemption Island where he lost a duel to Ozzy Lusth and was sent home. After that Tribal Council, apparently, Rice was so mad that he absolutely laid into Cochran back at camp.
“After Cochran flipped, I went on a 30-minute tirade when we got back to camp that included references to his mother,” Rice told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. “So embarrassing in hindsight… I’m glad that was edited out.”
In his Entertainment Weekly post-elimination interview at the time, Rice added, “It was heat of the moment. It’s hard to be angry because I have a good life. It’s hard to harbor any ill will towards [Cochran]. You’ll find a lot of people that disagree with that, but I’ve spoken with Cochran since then. He’s a great guy to go have a beer with at the bar, but I wouldn’t want to be his roommate. I told him this, as a friend, that self-deprecating turns into a little bit annoying after a while.”
As for how the two made it right, Rice revealed in his recent interview that they patched things up about a year after the show aired.
“About a year after the show, John Cochran and I had a 3-hour phone conversation to catch up and he said sorry for flipping. The answer I gave him then is the same one I’ll give now: I am so happy with my life that there is nothing I regret about the show because if anything were to have played out differently, who knows where I would be, but I couldn’t imagine it being somehow better. That’s the magnanimous answer, and not untrue, but still… I should have pushed harder to flip Rick [Nelson], and why the **** did I trust Cochran?!” said Rice.
Rice Is Still Tight with Tollefson and Whitney Duncan — He Even Officiated Their Wedding
Two of Rice’s closest allies on the show were Keith Tollefson and Whitney Duncan, who met and fell in love on Survivor: South Pacific. They later competed on The Amazing Race and were married in July 2014 — and Rice was the officiant.
“I talk to Keith almost every day… and Whitney, when she insists on knowing who Keith is talking to,” Rice revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “I even officiated their wedding ceremony 6 years ago! We weren’t really close on the show, but hanging out at Ponderosa for a couple of weeks definitely started the lifelong friendship. We vacation together, are in a fantasy football league together, and they’re coming out here to Denver in a couple of weeks.”
Survivor hopes to film season 41 in the spring of 2021 for a fall 2021 premiere.
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‘Survivor’ Castaway Embarrassed by How He Treated John Cochran