Daniel Strunk

Daniel Strunk is a contestant from Survivor 42.

Self-deprecating with a tendency to overplay his hand, Daniel relinquished his once-powerful position on the Vati tribe due to flustered conduct at his first Tribal Council, where he simultaneously betrayed all five of his tribemates and failed to rebuild those connections in the fallout. Trust in Daniel was further broken when he went spearfishing despite highlighting his shoulder injury. This distrust resulted in his tribemates voting him out before the merge.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 30
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
Current Residence: New Haven, CT
Occupation: Law Clerk
Favorite Hobbies: Movie fanatic, LEGOs, keeping track of things, and Survivor
Words to Describe You: Ebullient, driven
Pet Peeves: People who are so convinced they are right that they foreclose debate; people who are disruptive in movie theaters; when people try to talk to you even though you are wearing headphones; oatmeal raisin cookies masquerading as chocolate chip cookies.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? I wrote in my journal a personal philosophy on what I think the purpose of life is, influenced by my battle with cancer, my religion and my ideological beliefs.
What is something we would never know from looking at you? I collect signed pocket U.S. Constitutions. Among others, I have one signed by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Sotomayor, and the former U.S. ambassador to Estonia.
Who is your hero and why? George Washington, for being one of the few to ever resist power of that magnitude. Roddie Edmonds, for putting his life on the line to do what was right.
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? In order for me to win, I will need to lower my threat level from the get-go. The most natural way is to embrace my inner goofy, like Fabio. And then, obviously the winners I would model my game after are Yul and Todd.
Why do you believe you can be the Sole Survivor? I truthfully think the odds are against me. It is all going to be a matter of threat management. I'm going to leave it all on the table. I will play my heart out because it will probably be the one shot I get – I've been waiting years, and I want no regrets. I can't promise you I will win, but I can promise you I will have fun and make the most of this opportunity. Cancer survivors don't go anything less than full throttle.^[2]

Survivor[]

Daniel sustained a dislocated shoulder injury during the first challenge of Survivor 42, which he would use as reasoning to sit out many of Vati's subsequent challenges. As the rest of the tribe split up into pairs, that left Chanelle Howell and Daniel to become one as well, and they found themselves in the middle of this power struggle. Daniel also initially gravitated toward Mike Turner, as they found the Beware Advantage together. Daniel initially wanted Mike to hold off on saying the phrase that activates the Hidden Immunity Idols. While Daniel's habit of losing and forgetting various items annoyed his tribemates, they looked passed it as he was a swing vote. Daniel's vote became even more crucial as both Mike and Chanelle lost their vote ahead of Vati's initial Tribal Council visit on Day 7. Sticking with his alliance's intentions to vote out Lydia Meredith, the lost votes caused a 2-2 tie between Lydia and Jenny Kim. Following a tie in the revote, Daniel immediately stated that he did not want to draw rocks. This gave Hai Giang all the ammunition he needed to get his way in the negotiation, resulting in Jenny's elimination. Daniel also threw Chanelle under the bus in the process.

The events of that Tribal Council caused Lydia, Hai, and Mike to distrust both Daniel and Chanelle. The distrust in Daniel grew when they observed him spear fishing, despite his apparent injury. This annoyed the tribe because that injury is the primary reason why Daniel sat out of multiple challenges. That trend continued as Daniel claimed he wouldn't be helpful ahead of Day 11's Immunity Challenge, but ultimately Vati lost. Daniel used his concrete role in saving Lydia (despite initially voting for her) as his main argument for staying over Chanelle. He continued to reinforce his loyalty and friendship with his tribemates even through Tribal Council. It was all for naught, as Daniel was voted out that night finishing the game in 13th place.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Vati	Marooning	Reward	No	Lost
1		Forty Two	Immunity	No	2nd
2		Can't Find My Way Home	Reward/Immunity	Yes	1st
3		Spiral Architect	Reward/Immunity	Yes	Lost
4		Tangled Up Sled Slide	Reward	No	Lost
4		Beyond the Tuna	Immunity	Yes	2nd
5		Ramplified	Reward/Immunity	Yes	Lost
Voted Out, Day 11

Episode	Daniel's Votes	Voted Against Daniel
1	Vati Tribe Immune
2	Vati Tribe Immune
3	Lydia; Lydia; Jenny¹	-
4	Vati Tribe Immune
5	Chanelle; Ineligible	Hai, Lydia; Hai, Lydia, Mike²
Voted Out, Day 11

^1 In "Go for the Gusto", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Jenny and Lydia, forcing a revote. Nobody changed their vote on the revote, forcing a unanimous decision tiebreaker. Daniel changed his vote to Jenny on the tiebreaker.
^2 In "I'm Survivor Rich", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Daniel and Chanelle, forcing a revote. Mike changed his vote to Daniel on the revote, eliminating him from the game.