Drew Basile has attained the great feat of appearing on two unscripted TV competitions in one year - Jeopardy! and Survivor .
The Jeopardy! champ went on to win seven games in a row, securing his spot in the coveted Tournament of Champions. Prior to that, he was on season 45 of Survivor. While he didn't win the CBS reality TV competition show, he did manage to get sixth place out of 18 contestants. Additionally, he made it just short of the five-person finale when he was blindsided at the preceding tribal council.
Drew partly chalks up his success on Jeopardy! to his time on Survivor.
Join the Mirror's SMS news service to get the biggest breaking stories delivered straight to your phone. Click here to subscribe.
READ MORE: Jeopardy! fans think Drew Basile 'threw in the towel' after losing over 'easy' question
READ MORE: Jeopardy's Drew Basile admits he wouldn't have won 'by playing safe' after final round backlash
Drew explained that Survivor helped him prepare for Jeopardy! - but not in a way fans might expect. He explained that Survivor helped him get used to the cameras during an interview with EW .
"The main thing that Survivor might have prepared me for is a kind of comfortability in front of the camera. I did have some experience being on TV in a high stakes thing and being okay with the idea that this would reflect back on me in the public sphere," he explained.
He also got used to the experience of being in the public eye and reading what fans thought of him online from his time on Survivor.
He shared: "Secondarily, it makes interacting with the fans a little bit easier, because whenever you go on TV, there's like a sense of, 'Oh my gosh, people are going to judge me. They're going to pick up on my mistakes. I won't be able to defend myself.' That's very disconcerting for a lot of people. I had already kind of gone through that, so with Jeopardy, it didn't phase me."
Drew also took a moment to reflect on the main differences between the two competition TV series. When asked which one he found to be harder, he had a difficult time - citing that each had their own set of challenges.
"The physical toll of Survivor can't be overstated. You're losing an insane amount of weight. You're really in the elements. I mean, it is true to life. If anything, on TV, they hide the most intense survival moments, because that's how real it is. At the same time, Jeopardy was demanding and rigorous on the level of the mind, in a way that I have not been challenged in a long time," he said.
However, his wins on Jeopardy! did help him regain confidence behind a bold statement he made on Survivor. He threw out the first line of the entire season 45 with a confident line, stating, "I'm one of the smartest people you ever cast to play the game." After winning seven games of Jeopardy!, he now feels he has the merit to back those claims.
When asked if he now felt he was one the smartest people to play Survivor, he replied, "I certainly think so. I mean, seven [Jeopardy] wins is nothing to sneeze at."
Most Popular
Comments / 0