LAST EDITED ON 11-30-05 AT 09:45 AM (EST)

Re: Gary on The Early Show Here it is, courtesy of James Barber and SurvivorFever.

I've been watching for this and no one has posted it. I'm not one to start threads but thought someone might not have seen it. If this has been posted and I missed it please lock it. And Please excuse me if I've made mistakes I'm still learning.

Not much indeed, in terms of spoilers, as LuckyDuck4U said above, but interesting nonetheless. Gary is a class act and was a great player, who fully understood the game. I will miss him.

Gary Hogeboom's Early Show Interview
Survivor: Guatemala
Episode 11 Boot
(SurvivorFever.net 11.28.05)
Transcript by James Barber

HARRY: Well, last week former NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom could no longer avoid the all-out blitz by Stephenie's powerful alliance, and he finally ended up getting sacked, but not before trying a last-minute Hail Mary play against Judd at Tribal Council.

(clips of Judd vs. Gary at TC, Judd voting Gary out)

HARRY: (laughs) Don't mince words. Gary Hogeboom is with us. Good morning. Good to see you. Thought we were gonna see you much later in the show.

GARY: I was working on it.

HARRY: You were a really good player. You know you were a good player.

GARY: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

HARRY: Let's start with the Judd business. You had opportunities before this to out Judd. Did you not do it because he was such a powerful presence in the game?

GARY: I really hadn't been with Judd at all in the game, and I wanted to try to make a connection with him. I told him I wasn't going to out him because I needed him on my side because their six people were so strong. I had to attack somebody and so I didn't out him until the end there when he started talking a little trash about me.

HARRY: Did you think you had a shot at Tribal Council? Sure, we don't get to see all of it, but did people respond to that, to his lie?

GARY: You know, I knew I was going home as I was going to Tribal Council, and then when he started kind of getting on my case, I was like, "What the heck, let's stir some things up here." So that's what happened.

HARRY: You were working it last week on poor Lydia. (Gary laughs) Poor Lydia's out there, you were trying to wrest her away from that group.

GARY: I was, I really was.

HARRY: How powerful is this gang of four - Judd, Stephenie, Rafe and Cindy? They were up there on the pyramid, they looked like they owned the place.

GARY: They were strong, and rightfully so. They won some challenges before the merge that gave them numbers. Realistically, if we had the numbers going in, we would have been strong. I don't know if we would've been sitting on the ruins the whole time, looking down on us, but it was interesting. All good people. Had a great time.

HARRY: It's interesting. Here you had an NFL career that lasted ten years. People are curious - why would a guy who played in the NFL even want to be on a show like this?

GARY: Yeah, Survivor's the only show I watch with my family. We sit down and watch every Thursday night, and if we're not home, we tape it and watch when we get home. Love the show, I've loved it since the beginning, and really, my kids have been trying to get me to apply to it for years. It just finally happened. I did it for the competition, the experience. I love outdoor survival stuff and I love meeting new people.

HARRY: Can you categorize what the experience was like for you? The fantasy of, "Boy, I wanna be on that show," versus the reality of being out there. Cause you lasted, what, 30 days?

GARY: Yeah. Watching it at home on your couch is totally the farthest thing than the reality of being in the jungle, starving. Low food, eating acorns, dirty water, hot water - it was amazing.

HARRY: What was the toughest part?

GARY: Starvation. You just can't train for it.

HARRY: How much weight did you lose?

GARY: 30 pounds.

HARRY: 30 pounds. You don't have a lot of weight to lose on you.

GARY: I really don't. Every time you stood up you were dizzy, lack of energy, so that was tough.

HARRY: Did people know when you were out in the game that you had played in the NFL? Or did that secret actually stay?

GARY: I didn't want to expose it the whole game because I didn't want it to hurt me. I believe Danni really knew about it, and she tried exposing me a number of times. I don't know if the other people knew for sure if I was or wasn't. They didn't put onto it if they did, so yeah, it was all good.

HARRY: Well, we'll be seeing you in the jury for the weeks to come. Thank you so much for being here, we enjoyed watching you.