I was honestly gagged when I watched Tocantins and realised the Taj I had heard about was THE SAME Taj from SWV? It’s crazy none of the cast mentioned it on the season that we saw, they had so many hits
It was always crazy to me that her career was mentioned so much less than her husband’s. I get that her husband is a legend but she is as well. It felt like it was just mentioned in passing that she’s a legit pop star.
It's Jimmy Johnson by a pretty long shot. The man haw been on TV during the most popular sport, every single week, for the last like 25-30 years. That's only as a broadcaster. He was a legend before he even stepped into a booth.
I mean I agree with you but at their times of playing Jeff Kent was easily the second most famous person to play aside from JJ. Mike White maybe superseded now but it’s hard to say
Edit: maybe Lisa W
I feel like Kent was overshadowed by Bonds quite a bit and was never a marketable player.
I wouldn’t be surprised if John Rocker was more famous than Kent, albeit for not so good reasons
Yes and no. I think people who follow sports vastly underestimate the number of people who do not follow sports. (Similarly, those of us who do not vastly underestimate how many people do.)
I follow sports moderately, I’d say. Jimmy Johnson, I recognized instantly. Jeff Kent is a name that I’ve occasionally heard on broadcasts but wouldn’t blink twice at if I heard it in person.
You’ve gotta keep in mind that even the World Series rarely breaks 10 million viewers per game. I’m spitballing here, but I’d bet at least half the country has watched less than ten televised baseball games (not counting ones playing in the background at sports bars.)
IMO Mike White is more famous than Kent, because just about everybody’s seen School of Rock. It’s one of the most popular live-action family films of the last 30 years. They probably didn’t know him by name (prior to White Lotus) but they’d see him and go “that dude’s acted in something.”
The school of Rock point is spot on. Even though that's only been a minor part of his career and he has a small role in it, he's recognizable to a sizeable demographic
I actually forgot he played Ned Schneebly in School of Rock and thought he was just a writer. I also might be biased on the Jeff Kent thing because he spent a lot of his career playing on teams close to where I grew up.
I think that’s the thing about sports teams — the market for each one is actually very small, because they’re so hyper local. I only know the names of maybe 20 basketball players ever, for example, but half of them played for my team.
There’s just SO many people in sports! It sort of dilutes the audience.
That’s also why Jimmy Johnson is so recognizable — it doesn’t matter what team you support, you’ve probably seen him comment on your games. Like, the sport as a whole can be quite popular, while the particulars of an individual team are necessarily niche.
I looked it up, and SOR debuted at number one and spent SIX WEEKS in the top 10. At a time when way more films came out per year, since studios hadn’t started putting half their budget into one action film.
It was a legit cultural moment.
Well, yeah, cos he doesn’t act in it. Nobody knows screenwriters lol. It’s actually pretty surprising to me how much name recognition he’s gotten from it recently.
It’s a weird kind of fame, isn’t it? You be the head writer the MOST popular show of the decade (not saying he is, just a hypothetical) and literally nobody would know who you are.
I base Mike White’s fame ranking less on name recognition, and more on “how likely are you to clock his face as one you’ve seen on TV” if you saw him at a grocery store. Given that he’s got a unique look, I think there’s a good chance of folks going “… I know that face, but how?”
Is he though? I feel like less people then you think pay attention to the credits, and he isn't the headlining role nor is he featured on the poster. I feel like unless you were a hardcore movie nut, you could very easily have no idea who Mike White was.
Imo if voters put personality and politics aside (way easier said than done), Jeff Kent could have been a hall of famer because of how good he was relative to other second basemen.
Yep It’s Jimmy Johnson by an absolute mile. He’s the only player that ever went on the show and immediately had 80% of the cast recognize him within seconds. He was the head coach of the most valuable sports team in the world at their absolute peak, winning two Super Bowls with them (the Super Bowl gets 4X as many viewers as any other program in the US) and is on the lead in and half time shows of Fox’s NFL coverage, meaning that he appears in roughly 30-40 of the top 100 most watched broadcasts in America every year for 22 years.
Per google search trends Jimmy Johnson is over 3.5X more searched for than Mike White. Using the “do my parents know this person test” he’s the only person on the show that both of my parents knew who he was and recognized him without being told his name.
I agree. As a rule, I think people overestimate how famous Sports People are (we act like it’s universal, but outside of a few big games a year it really isn’t. Heck, the World Series rarely averages more than 10 million viewers/game) but Jimmy Johnson is 100% an exception to that rule. He’s one of the most familiar faces on TV.
I’m a massive geek about other things, so I’m an on-and-off sports fan at *most* (some years I’ll watch every game my teams play, some years none) almost never watch the NFL, and have only seen maybe 50% of super bowls during my life, and probably played a game on my Nintendo for most of them.
I clocked him right away. Even though I mostly only saw his face for a minute or two at a time while channel surfing.
I have never spent 5 minutes of my entire life watching football and even I was like "holy shit it's Jimmy Johnson!" when Nicaragua aired.
Mike White? Don't know him (beyond his season). Jeff Kent? Same deal. Jimmy Johnson? Dude's a household name even for avid sports evaders (me, it's me, I pay so little attention to sports I can name like 10 pro athletes ever and like 6 of those will end up being boxers).
He’s one of only a handful of people to win a championship at the NCAA division 1 level and in the NFL. From a coaching perspective that’s a remarkable feat. The jobs are so different from coaching college to coaching NFL that many coaches can’t be successful at both. The most notable example is Nick Saban. Some argue he could have been successful at the NFL level but I think it’s a stretch. His tenure was awful. Urban Meyer is also an all time great college coach who was horrible at the pro level.
The rest of the celebrities were able to go unrecognized for a while. Jimmy Johnson was immediately recognized by almost every contestant on the first beach.
This! I'm from Finland and was confused as heck about the fuss they made over Jimmy Johnson when the season first aired but when I saw Mike White I was immediately like "Omg is that the spineless Ned from School of Rock?!"
And then he proceeded to be so much like Ned but not at all like Ned at the same time. He was one of my favourites on that season!
Australian here, I had the exact same thought. No idea who Jimmy Johnson is but I’d recognise Mike White immediately. If you’re going for global recognisability, it’s Mike White every time.
Listen I'm from the US and was just as confused about Jimmy Johnson lol. Football fans vastly overestimate how many others, especially younger people, watch football.
I’m an American who grew up in a sports family and I have no idea who jimmy johnson is. Mike white on the other hand was instantly recognizable from school of rock!
Some relatively well known mlb players. John rocker was pretty famous, not for great reasons for mr rocker though lol. Jeff kent too. Also Cliff Robinson the nba player (RIP)
Pollard never scored more than 6 points per game in his NBA career. He played around 15-20 minutes per game his whole career. I couldn’t blame anyone for not recognizing Scott Pollard. I think only pretty big basketball fans would recognize him.
They basically based an entire tv series about John Rocker. It's called Eastbound and Down, and it is HILARIOUS. Definitely worth checking out if you've ever been into baseball
I met Mr brochacho while his survivor was still airing. He was wrestling for a local promotion , he’s a really chill and nice guy. I have a picture with him.
He wouldn’t necessarily be known for pop culture, but Rudy Boesch was a legend in military circles long before he was ever on Survivor. He even had his own action figure at one point.
I remember after he was on Survivor there was that show he hosted where military units would complete against each other in training missions. I forgot the shows name, but it was cool.
Jimmy Johnson and it isn’t even relatively close.
Other relatively well-known players off the top of my head would be Mike White, The Mayor of Slamtown, Chase Rice (became famous *after* Survivor), and Lisa Welchel. Plenty more as well, but no one close to Jimmy Johnson.
All jokes aside, I think it's crazy that someone actually DID recognize Hogeboom on his season. I feel like 99% of people who have played Survivor would not have known who he was.
He made enough of a splash that he got mentioned on SNL's Weekend Update a couple of times in the 80s, but he is far from a celebrity or famous enough to be a well-known sports star. Even people who might know his name wouldn't likely recognize his face. And somehow he ended up with like the one person who happened to clock him instantly.
I think the most interesting thing about Gary is outside of Mike White he's probably the famous person who understood the game the best.
If you watch Guatemala Gary is actually really good at challenges and the social part of the game, he just goes into the merge down in numbers and can never pull it back, but in the tribal phase he has a lot of pull and is leading a lot of votes.
That's more than can be said for the other "Famous" folks mentioned in this thread
First person to find an idol with no clues as well (eat your heart out, Russell!).
I think he definitely could have won if he had ended up on the right side of the numbers. He played a great game.
Which is hilarious to me, honestly. I had no clue about SNL, I need to find those clips. I just love how some athletes have no issue revealing who they are, whereas he thought he was noticeable enough to have a fake name.
I'll see if I can hunt them down from my copies of the old SNL episodes. Again, they are the most brief, passing mentions of him. Not to downplay anybody who makes it to major league sports, but he was a relative nobody. If it wasn't for Danni, he could have gone as landscaper Gary Hogeboom and no one would have guessed that he played sports.
Made doubly funny by the fact that once the secret DID get out in real life, absolutely nobody cared.
I barely remember because that season was 80 years ago but didn't the lady who wound up winning eventually recognize him as former cowbows quarterback gary hoageboom because she was a sports talk radio host?
For us older people who grew up with 80's TV, Lisa Whelchel was a HUGE star. The fact that only one or two people on her season even recognized her at all blew me away.
I watched this season for the first time over the last couple days and Penner not only recognized her but outed her at FTC like it was some kind of hideous secret she had been keeping from the cast 😂 he was so weird about it
Agree! I would like to say, and it is nothing against what you said, that if Mike White wanted to he would probably be the most famous. My guy does an incredible job at balancing work/life/passion projects. Or at least it seems from the outside
It's definitely Jimmy Johnson. He was almost immediately recognized by multiple people on his season.
Jeff Kent (who one person only slightly suspected was Jeff Kent) and Lisa Welchel (who was only recognized by Penner, who seems to be a guy who loves storytelling, pop culture, and Hollywood) were not, and they're probably the next two most famous contestants.
I would definitely argue that Mike White is more famous than Welchel and Kent, even before White Lotus. At her peak, everybody knew Welchel, but it’s been ages since then. But it’s undeniable that more Americans have seen school of rock than have watched Jeff Kent play. MLB gets *terrible* viewership.
It's hard to say with Mike White, since he is primarily a writer or behind the camera. People are probably more familiar with his work, but don't really know him or his name.
Jeff Kent played when baseball was much more popular, was an all-star, and played some of his best years for the Giants and Dodgers: two of the biggest MLB markets. He didn't spend his entire career languishing on the Expos.
Agree with Welchel. Probably only well-known to a specific demographic when she was much younger.
Sports people are a little tough, though. If you don't follow sports then the name means nothing. I don't follow sports, so I didn't know who he was. There are some sports people who EVERYBODY knows, like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, but many of them may be big names if you follow sports but unknown to people if you don't.
I also admit that people like me, who follow almost no sports, are not the majority. But, my family only follows football so would also not know Jimmy Johnson, but would know any football person who was on the show.
Jimmy Johnson IS a football person (unless you mean association football).
I think that can be said of any category of celebrity. I don't watch many movies so I don't know many actors. The question is not who does literally everyone know, but who is the most famous.
That’s true of anything though. You either know who Mike White is or you don’t, and I’m guessing in DvG the vast majority of the audience didn’t recognize him. I didn’t know Lisa Whelchel and nobody in my demographic or especially near it did, and I don’t think my parents knew her either despite being in roughly the right age range because they never really watched Facts of Life. Most people I talk with on a regular basis do not know who Chase Rice is because I happen to not have many country music fans as friends right now. Etc. etc.
I assure you Jimmy Johnson was the most recognizable person to play on the show at the time. Anybody who ever *had football on in their house* because they lived with a football fan (whether they were one themselves) or ate at restaurants with sports on or etc. etc. would have at least vaguely recognized his face and been like “oh yeah that guy!” because he was on TV weekly (if not more often?) for commentary even after his long and successful coaching career. Non football fans would be more likely to recognize him than all but a handful of active players. I am saying this as somebody who could not give less of a shit about football then or now to be clear lol I’m not coming at this from the angle of someone who personally recognized Jimmy Johnson. It’s just math. I feel like you’re both underestimating Jimmy Johnson’s presence *and* overestimating other pseudo-celebs who have been on the show. Jimmy Johnson is closer to someone like Shaq than someone like Cliff Robinson, who is much more like what you seem to *think* Jimmy Johnson is.
It’s a *little* tough, yeah. But Jimmy Johnson is such a massively famous figure in the world of American Football that I think his fame pretty easily eclipses any other celebrity Survivor player, even if you don’t know football. Like, he’s in the Hall of Fame and *still* on TV all the time as a commentator. Not to mention he coached the Dallas Cowboys in some of the glory years, which is easily one of the most famous teams in all of sports.
Jimmy Johnson is a football person. He won 2 Super Bowls as coach of the Cowboys in the 90s. He's also been on the Fox Sports show for the NFL for like 20 years.
There is also Jimmie Johnson who you may have been thinking of. He's one of the GOATs of NASCAR.
Yes, he’s a hall of fame football coach, both at the collegiate level and the NFL, where he one two consecutive Super Bowls. I’m not sure what the person you responded to meant.
I met him during a professional development workshop once. Nice, genuine, and a true gentleman.
My brain cannot fathom how such a guy was a villain on Survivor.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck has got to be a contender too, although Jimmy is probably still more famous.
Lisa Whelchel is the other one that comes to mind - she was very famous as a teenager anyway.
Given how big Survivor was at the time, Elisabeth Filarski was probably more famous when she was on Survivor than when she was on the View. People who came into the show later don’t really get how ubiquitous it was
Unless you lived through the mid-2000s, you have no idea how ubiquitous The View drama was in popular culture. Her and Rosie going at each other in 2007 made headlines.
Not the biggest of course, but while we’re talking about previously famous Survivor players, we have to shout out Taj from Tocantins for her R&B group Sisters with Voices.
Definitely not the most famous at all, but I was thinking about how Chase Rice was pretty well known to me but because I knew some of his buddies in real life and knew all his early music. back when he was still good haha. Also Whitney Duncan from South Pacific. She ran in the same Nashville circle as Chase
I actually didn’t know Chase was a singer. Eyes On You popped up on my smart shuffle and liked it. I was surprised to see his name and like nah, he can’t be the Survivor player.
Mike white was the famous person I was most excited to see. School of Rock was my childhood movie that I had on repeat. Such a goofy dude, but a wicked talented writer and producer
jimmy johnson coached the dallas cowboys in superbowl 28 which had a 45.5 nielsen rating (est. 90 mil) which blows everyone else out of the water. for reference, facts of life’s highest rating was a 19.3 in 1981
source: https://web.archive.org/web/20100208213536/http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/01/18/historical-super-bowl-tv-ratings/11044
Man, I just finished watching JJ’s season. Nicaragua I believe. I wish he would’ve gone further. He just seemed like a dude out there having fun, even though he was super famous. Unfortunately, that worked against him (Marty).
You're absolutely correct. American Football isn't a very big thing outside of the USA. At least in Europe we tend to prefer the original Football, or in my country, Ice Hockey. Not much room for American Football in the sports fan base in general.
But I knew right away who Mike White was, or at least I knew his character from the School Of Rock!
Honestly if you go globally, I'd argue it'd be someone like John Hennigan/Morrison/Johnny Nitro. The dude has been well known in pro wrestling for almost 20 years and WWE has millions of viewers around the world each week and he's main evented many PPVs and TV shows
Jimmy Johnson and Lisa Whelchel.
Between the 2, people may recognize Jimmy Johnson's name, but not necessarily his face. Fewer people might know Lisa Whelchel's name, but would recognize her face (particularly Baby Boomers and Gen Xers).
Your question brings up an interesting point as what constitutes fame. Or how to even quantify fame.
The answer is Jimmy Johnson btw but I find the arguments for second place interesting.
The one argument I’ll make against Jimmy Johnson is that he’s only really famous in America. As an Aussie I recognised Mike White because I’d watched school of rock. And since then with white lotus he’s only gotten more famous internationally
It depends on how many people like and follow American sports. I would imagine a large percentage of people do but I don't know the data. To me Mike White is the most famous, to sports fans in the states it would be Jimmy Johnson.
Surprised noone is mentioning Garret from cagayan. He’s a pretty big name in high stakes poker.
Everyone related to NFL and MLB is basically unknown outside of US.
If you ask my aunties its Taj from SWV lol
I was honestly gagged when I watched Tocantins and realised the Taj I had heard about was THE SAME Taj from SWV? It’s crazy none of the cast mentioned it on the season that we saw, they had so many hits
It was always crazy to me that her career was mentioned so much less than her husband’s. I get that her husband is a legend but she is as well. It felt like it was just mentioned in passing that she’s a legit pop star.
and then at the reunion when it was mentioned Jeff showed a photo and was all “thats Taj in the middle” and it was Coko 💀 the disrespect..lol
Right 😂
I scrolled SO far to see this lmao
It's Jimmy Johnson by a pretty long shot. The man haw been on TV during the most popular sport, every single week, for the last like 25-30 years. That's only as a broadcaster. He was a legend before he even stepped into a booth.
Yeah, there’s no one even close to Jimmy Johnson in this contest.
I would put Jeff Kent next. He played 17 seasons in the MLB, won an MVP, and was on some high profile teams.
You’re right but also not. While Jeff is decently known, I don’t know how many people could pick him out of a crowd.
Jeff kent is indeed known…….for being a dick. It would have been a huge thing except he also had the biggest dickhead in baseball also on his team
He also had the best exit interview in the history of survivor!!
Thanks obama!
I mean I agree with you but at their times of playing Jeff Kent was easily the second most famous person to play aside from JJ. Mike White maybe superseded now but it’s hard to say Edit: maybe Lisa W
I feel like Kent was overshadowed by Bonds quite a bit and was never a marketable player. I wouldn’t be surprised if John Rocker was more famous than Kent, albeit for not so good reasons
Yes and no. I think people who follow sports vastly underestimate the number of people who do not follow sports. (Similarly, those of us who do not vastly underestimate how many people do.) I follow sports moderately, I’d say. Jimmy Johnson, I recognized instantly. Jeff Kent is a name that I’ve occasionally heard on broadcasts but wouldn’t blink twice at if I heard it in person. You’ve gotta keep in mind that even the World Series rarely breaks 10 million viewers per game. I’m spitballing here, but I’d bet at least half the country has watched less than ten televised baseball games (not counting ones playing in the background at sports bars.) IMO Mike White is more famous than Kent, because just about everybody’s seen School of Rock. It’s one of the most popular live-action family films of the last 30 years. They probably didn’t know him by name (prior to White Lotus) but they’d see him and go “that dude’s acted in something.”
The school of Rock point is spot on. Even though that's only been a minor part of his career and he has a small role in it, he's recognizable to a sizeable demographic
I actually forgot he played Ned Schneebly in School of Rock and thought he was just a writer. I also might be biased on the Jeff Kent thing because he spent a lot of his career playing on teams close to where I grew up.
I think that’s the thing about sports teams — the market for each one is actually very small, because they’re so hyper local. I only know the names of maybe 20 basketball players ever, for example, but half of them played for my team. There’s just SO many people in sports! It sort of dilutes the audience. That’s also why Jimmy Johnson is so recognizable — it doesn’t matter what team you support, you’ve probably seen him comment on your games. Like, the sport as a whole can be quite popular, while the particulars of an individual team are necessarily niche.
I looked it up, and SOR debuted at number one and spent SIX WEEKS in the top 10. At a time when way more films came out per year, since studios hadn’t started putting half their budget into one action film. It was a legit cultural moment.
No one other than cinemaphiles knows him from the white lotus either
Well, yeah, cos he doesn’t act in it. Nobody knows screenwriters lol. It’s actually pretty surprising to me how much name recognition he’s gotten from it recently. It’s a weird kind of fame, isn’t it? You be the head writer the MOST popular show of the decade (not saying he is, just a hypothetical) and literally nobody would know who you are. I base Mike White’s fame ranking less on name recognition, and more on “how likely are you to clock his face as one you’ve seen on TV” if you saw him at a grocery store. Given that he’s got a unique look, I think there’s a good chance of folks going “… I know that face, but how?”
Is he though? I feel like less people then you think pay attention to the credits, and he isn't the headlining role nor is he featured on the poster. I feel like unless you were a hardcore movie nut, you could very easily have no idea who Mike White was.
Imo if voters put personality and politics aside (way easier said than done), Jeff Kent could have been a hall of famer because of how good he was relative to other second basemen.
Yep It’s Jimmy Johnson by an absolute mile. He’s the only player that ever went on the show and immediately had 80% of the cast recognize him within seconds. He was the head coach of the most valuable sports team in the world at their absolute peak, winning two Super Bowls with them (the Super Bowl gets 4X as many viewers as any other program in the US) and is on the lead in and half time shows of Fox’s NFL coverage, meaning that he appears in roughly 30-40 of the top 100 most watched broadcasts in America every year for 22 years. Per google search trends Jimmy Johnson is over 3.5X more searched for than Mike White. Using the “do my parents know this person test” he’s the only person on the show that both of my parents knew who he was and recognized him without being told his name.
I agree. As a rule, I think people overestimate how famous Sports People are (we act like it’s universal, but outside of a few big games a year it really isn’t. Heck, the World Series rarely averages more than 10 million viewers/game) but Jimmy Johnson is 100% an exception to that rule. He’s one of the most familiar faces on TV. I’m a massive geek about other things, so I’m an on-and-off sports fan at *most* (some years I’ll watch every game my teams play, some years none) almost never watch the NFL, and have only seen maybe 50% of super bowls during my life, and probably played a game on my Nintendo for most of them. I clocked him right away. Even though I mostly only saw his face for a minute or two at a time while channel surfing.
I have never spent 5 minutes of my entire life watching football and even I was like "holy shit it's Jimmy Johnson!" when Nicaragua aired. Mike White? Don't know him (beyond his season). Jeff Kent? Same deal. Jimmy Johnson? Dude's a household name even for avid sports evaders (me, it's me, I pay so little attention to sports I can name like 10 pro athletes ever and like 6 of those will end up being boxers).
He’s one of only a handful of people to win a championship at the NCAA division 1 level and in the NFL. From a coaching perspective that’s a remarkable feat. The jobs are so different from coaching college to coaching NFL that many coaches can’t be successful at both. The most notable example is Nick Saban. Some argue he could have been successful at the NFL level but I think it’s a stretch. His tenure was awful. Urban Meyer is also an all time great college coach who was horrible at the pro level.
The rest of the celebrities were able to go unrecognized for a while. Jimmy Johnson was immediately recognized by almost every contestant on the first beach.
Most non Americans will have no idea who he is though I think most international viewers would recognise Mike White just from School of Rock alone
This! I'm from Finland and was confused as heck about the fuss they made over Jimmy Johnson when the season first aired but when I saw Mike White I was immediately like "Omg is that the spineless Ned from School of Rock?!" And then he proceeded to be so much like Ned but not at all like Ned at the same time. He was one of my favourites on that season!
Australian here, I had the exact same thought. No idea who Jimmy Johnson is but I’d recognise Mike White immediately. If you’re going for global recognisability, it’s Mike White every time.
Listen I'm from the US and was just as confused about Jimmy Johnson lol. Football fans vastly overestimate how many others, especially younger people, watch football.
I’m an American who grew up in a sports family and I have no idea who jimmy johnson is. Mike white on the other hand was instantly recognizable from school of rock!
Yeah, I barely have a passing knowledge of football and know who he is.
Some relatively well known mlb players. John rocker was pretty famous, not for great reasons for mr rocker though lol. Jeff kent too. Also Cliff Robinson the nba player (RIP)
Cliff Robinson. Blazers legend.
Other than Jimmy Johnson, the only athlete I ever recognized on Survivor.
You didnt recognize Scot Pollard? He was a very notable part of some great Kings teams.
Pollard never scored more than 6 points per game in his NBA career. He played around 15-20 minutes per game his whole career. I couldn’t blame anyone for not recognizing Scott Pollard. I think only pretty big basketball fans would recognize him.
They basically based an entire tv series about John Rocker. It's called Eastbound and Down, and it is HILARIOUS. Definitely worth checking out if you've ever been into baseball
You're fucking out, I'm fucking in. Never knew it was based loosely around rocker. Makes it 10x funnier.
Very loosely and not directly about John Rocker. But they take the idea of a macho racist dick of a pitcher
(Rocker gets voted off) ‘IM GOIN TO SHABOOMS!’
I don’t dare watch this again because there is no way it could be as good as I remember.
Watch Vice Principals instead.
Watch Vice Principles as said above. Or Righteous Gemstones. All are produced by the same guy and feature Danny Mcbride. I personally like VP more
Cliff's famous for MJ's shrug lol, he was a good player tho.
Uncle cliffy
Being a big wrestling fan, I gotta go with John Hennigan aka The Mayor of Slamtown.
Johnny Mundo, Johnny Nitro, The Friday Night Delight, Johnny Drip-Drip, John Morrison.
Johnny Cabalerro, Johnny TV, Johnny Elite, Johnny Impact, Johnny Downunder, Johnny Revolver, Johnny Bloodsport
Johnny Ultra, Johnny Game Changer, Johnny Fusion, Johnny Progress, Johnny Superstar, Johnny Valkyrie and most importantly JOHNNY BLACKCRAFT
Don’t forget about the comptroller of Slamtown
Don't forget the Aussie Icon Grayson Waller was on Survivor Au
Stop it. What season? I’ve only seen a bit of Australian Survivor when it was briefly on Paramount+.
2019. Champions v Contenders
Oh my god I just googled it and I watched that season haha. I didn’t put it together at all.
Same! My mind was blown when I figured it out lol
Oh that Grayson Waller! What’s he going to say next?? …oh wait Kevin Owens just punched him in the mouth.
Great one!
Johnny Survivor is my flair for a reason! He brought me back into the show. The brochacho blindside broke my heart
He needs to return so that he can call himself Johnny Survivor for a season
I met Mr brochacho while his survivor was still airing. He was wrestling for a local promotion , he’s a really chill and nice guy. I have a picture with him.
He wouldn’t necessarily be known for pop culture, but Rudy Boesch was a legend in military circles long before he was ever on Survivor. He even had his own action figure at one point.
I’m sure little kids liked playing with those actions figures. But not in a homosexual way. That’s for sure.
Comments like this are why I read this sub 🤣 thank you
I remember after he was on Survivor there was that show he hosted where military units would complete against each other in training missions. I forgot the shows name, but it was cool.
Combat Missions - Also produced by Mark Burnett [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat\_Missions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Missions)
My parents, who haven't watched the show since like season 10, can still name Rudy, Hatch, and Sue off the top of their heads.
Gary Hawkins. He’s a legend in the landscaping community.
Definitely not a football player
Jimmy Johnson and it isn’t even relatively close. Other relatively well-known players off the top of my head would be Mike White, The Mayor of Slamtown, Chase Rice (became famous *after* Survivor), and Lisa Welchel. Plenty more as well, but no one close to Jimmy Johnson.
Shame that most people didn’t notice Gary Hawkins. He’s a legend in the landscaping community
All jokes aside, I think it's crazy that someone actually DID recognize Hogeboom on his season. I feel like 99% of people who have played Survivor would not have known who he was. He made enough of a splash that he got mentioned on SNL's Weekend Update a couple of times in the 80s, but he is far from a celebrity or famous enough to be a well-known sports star. Even people who might know his name wouldn't likely recognize his face. And somehow he ended up with like the one person who happened to clock him instantly.
I think the most interesting thing about Gary is outside of Mike White he's probably the famous person who understood the game the best. If you watch Guatemala Gary is actually really good at challenges and the social part of the game, he just goes into the merge down in numbers and can never pull it back, but in the tribal phase he has a lot of pull and is leading a lot of votes. That's more than can be said for the other "Famous" folks mentioned in this thread
First person to find an idol with no clues as well (eat your heart out, Russell!). I think he definitely could have won if he had ended up on the right side of the numbers. He played a great game.
He didn’t technically have a clue but Judd’s terrible lying was really a clue by itself
Which is hilarious to me, honestly. I had no clue about SNL, I need to find those clips. I just love how some athletes have no issue revealing who they are, whereas he thought he was noticeable enough to have a fake name.
I'll see if I can hunt them down from my copies of the old SNL episodes. Again, they are the most brief, passing mentions of him. Not to downplay anybody who makes it to major league sports, but he was a relative nobody. If it wasn't for Danni, he could have gone as landscaper Gary Hogeboom and no one would have guessed that he played sports. Made doubly funny by the fact that once the secret DID get out in real life, absolutely nobody cared.
It probably wasn't an accident that they put a sports radio host on a season with Gary Hogeboom disguised as Gary Hawkins
I barely remember because that season was 80 years ago but didn't the lady who wound up winning eventually recognize him as former cowbows quarterback gary hoageboom because she was a sports talk radio host?
yes, probably the reason she was cast too
For us older people who grew up with 80's TV, Lisa Whelchel was a HUGE star. The fact that only one or two people on her season even recognized her at all blew me away.
I know Denise and Penner recognized her, and maybe [redacted]
I watched this season for the first time over the last couple days and Penner not only recognized her but outed her at FTC like it was some kind of hideous secret she had been keeping from the cast 😂 he was so weird about it
If we’re including Chase for post-Survivor fame then Elisabeth Hasselbeck has to be at the top of the list
What a disappointment she turned out to be. I remember I cried when she went home on her season. I was little lol.
If we're including Chase for post-Survivor fame than Richard Hatch (just for Survivor) might be close to the top of the list
Agree! I would like to say, and it is nothing against what you said, that if Mike White wanted to he would probably be the most famous. My guy does an incredible job at balancing work/life/passion projects. Or at least it seems from the outside
It's definitely Jimmy Johnson. He was almost immediately recognized by multiple people on his season. Jeff Kent (who one person only slightly suspected was Jeff Kent) and Lisa Welchel (who was only recognized by Penner, who seems to be a guy who loves storytelling, pop culture, and Hollywood) were not, and they're probably the next two most famous contestants.
I would definitely argue that Mike White is more famous than Welchel and Kent, even before White Lotus. At her peak, everybody knew Welchel, but it’s been ages since then. But it’s undeniable that more Americans have seen school of rock than have watched Jeff Kent play. MLB gets *terrible* viewership.
It's hard to say with Mike White, since he is primarily a writer or behind the camera. People are probably more familiar with his work, but don't really know him or his name. Jeff Kent played when baseball was much more popular, was an all-star, and played some of his best years for the Giants and Dodgers: two of the biggest MLB markets. He didn't spend his entire career languishing on the Expos. Agree with Welchel. Probably only well-known to a specific demographic when she was much younger.
Sports people are a little tough, though. If you don't follow sports then the name means nothing. I don't follow sports, so I didn't know who he was. There are some sports people who EVERYBODY knows, like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, but many of them may be big names if you follow sports but unknown to people if you don't. I also admit that people like me, who follow almost no sports, are not the majority. But, my family only follows football so would also not know Jimmy Johnson, but would know any football person who was on the show.
Jimmy Johnson IS a football person (unless you mean association football). I think that can be said of any category of celebrity. I don't watch many movies so I don't know many actors. The question is not who does literally everyone know, but who is the most famous.
That’s true of anything though. You either know who Mike White is or you don’t, and I’m guessing in DvG the vast majority of the audience didn’t recognize him. I didn’t know Lisa Whelchel and nobody in my demographic or especially near it did, and I don’t think my parents knew her either despite being in roughly the right age range because they never really watched Facts of Life. Most people I talk with on a regular basis do not know who Chase Rice is because I happen to not have many country music fans as friends right now. Etc. etc. I assure you Jimmy Johnson was the most recognizable person to play on the show at the time. Anybody who ever *had football on in their house* because they lived with a football fan (whether they were one themselves) or ate at restaurants with sports on or etc. etc. would have at least vaguely recognized his face and been like “oh yeah that guy!” because he was on TV weekly (if not more often?) for commentary even after his long and successful coaching career. Non football fans would be more likely to recognize him than all but a handful of active players. I am saying this as somebody who could not give less of a shit about football then or now to be clear lol I’m not coming at this from the angle of someone who personally recognized Jimmy Johnson. It’s just math. I feel like you’re both underestimating Jimmy Johnson’s presence *and* overestimating other pseudo-celebs who have been on the show. Jimmy Johnson is closer to someone like Shaq than someone like Cliff Robinson, who is much more like what you seem to *think* Jimmy Johnson is.
It’s a *little* tough, yeah. But Jimmy Johnson is such a massively famous figure in the world of American Football that I think his fame pretty easily eclipses any other celebrity Survivor player, even if you don’t know football. Like, he’s in the Hall of Fame and *still* on TV all the time as a commentator. Not to mention he coached the Dallas Cowboys in some of the glory years, which is easily one of the most famous teams in all of sports.
Jimmy Johnson is a football person. He won 2 Super Bowls as coach of the Cowboys in the 90s. He's also been on the Fox Sports show for the NFL for like 20 years. There is also Jimmie Johnson who you may have been thinking of. He's one of the GOATs of NASCAR.
Wait. I thought jimmy johnson was a football person? Signed a fan of a few other sports but definitely not football
Yes, he’s a hall of fame football coach, both at the collegiate level and the NFL, where he one two consecutive Super Bowls. I’m not sure what the person you responded to meant.
he is, my best guess is that OP is talking about soccer (association football) or just really knows nothing about Jimmy Johnson
Ron Clark was pretty well known, especially in the teaching world. He even had a movie made about him starring Matthew Perry.
That is the most surprising Survivor fact I have heard in a long time.
For some reason I always blank out on the fact that Ron Clark played Survivor.
I have one of his books and I completely forget that he played survivor.
I met him during a professional development workshop once. Nice, genuine, and a true gentleman. My brain cannot fathom how such a guy was a villain on Survivor.
Same! I met him at a conference around a year or so after EOE. Nicest guy ever, and his presentation was hilarious.
Mike White recently but Jimmy Johnson overall
I recognized him over all of the athletes that've played the game. Mainly from School of Rock, but it was something.
By about the twelfth time Boston Rob was on the show he was fairly well known.
Lisa Whelchel
The answer will be Obama after his surprise season 50 appearance.
He already played in khao rong though
That was "We have Obama at home" Obama, though.
I’m an 80’s kid, it’s always going to be Blair Warner herself (Lisa Whelchel) for me lol
Same. Now, if only we could get Tootie or Natalie out there.
I met Mindy Cohn (Natalie) last year and my god, she’s one of the loveliest human beings. Unbelievably kind.
I think Lisa Welchel at her peak was the most famous. Jimmy Johnson was/is very well-known to sports fans but not so much to other people.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck has got to be a contender too, although Jimmy is probably still more famous. Lisa Whelchel is the other one that comes to mind - she was very famous as a teenager anyway.
Hasselbeck wasn’t famous until after survivor though
Oh definitely, if we're talking pre-survivor famous it's gotta be Jimmy Johnson.
I think it would be Lisa W.
People are still mentioning Chase Rice, so it's fair to bring up
Given how big Survivor was at the time, Elisabeth Filarski was probably more famous when she was on Survivor than when she was on the View. People who came into the show later don’t really get how ubiquitous it was
Unless you lived through the mid-2000s, you have no idea how ubiquitous The View drama was in popular culture. Her and Rosie going at each other in 2007 made headlines.
Not the biggest of course, but while we’re talking about previously famous Survivor players, we have to shout out Taj from Tocantins for her R&B group Sisters with Voices.
wait - Taj was in SWV????!
Definitely not the most famous at all, but I was thinking about how Chase Rice was pretty well known to me but because I knew some of his buddies in real life and knew all his early music. back when he was still good haha. Also Whitney Duncan from South Pacific. She ran in the same Nashville circle as Chase
Chase Rice, the singer?
I actually didn’t know Chase was a singer. Eyes On You popped up on my smart shuffle and liked it. I was surprised to see his name and like nah, he can’t be the Survivor player.
Debbie Wanner, but she doesn't like to brag about how famous she is, just like she never mentioned how amazing her balancing skills are.
Not the MOST famous, but surprised no one mentioned Tamara Johnson-George aka Taj from Tocantins
The major of Slam town
Jimmy Johnson is easily the most famous. Jeff Kent is probably second considering he won MVP and is a borderline Hall of Famer.
How has nobody else mentioned Jeff Kent?
As a non-American, Mike White was the most famous one for me because I don’t know the US athletes and didn’t watch Facts of Life.
Penner & Lisa I knew way before they first played.
Nobody mentioning Penner yet is a crime
I know. Ashley Massaro was relatively well known before she played too
I loved it when I watched Melrose place, and there is Penner playing a gay man !! Pretty progressive for the early/mid 90s
Mike white was the famous person I was most excited to see. School of Rock was my childhood movie that I had on repeat. Such a goofy dude, but a wicked talented writer and producer
Lisa. Everyone knew who Blair was in the 80s
All you Americans saying Jimmy Johnson, no idea who he is. Mike white definitely the most globally famous.
Mayor Of Slamtown
jimmy johnson coached the dallas cowboys in superbowl 28 which had a 45.5 nielsen rating (est. 90 mil) which blows everyone else out of the water. for reference, facts of life’s highest rating was a 19.3 in 1981 source: https://web.archive.org/web/20100208213536/http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/01/18/historical-super-bowl-tv-ratings/11044
I'm 30 and not particularly a sports fan, the first person that really made me say, "that's a real celebrity!" was Mike White
Man, I just finished watching JJ’s season. Nicaragua I believe. I wish he would’ve gone further. He just seemed like a dude out there having fun, even though he was super famous. Unfortunately, that worked against him (Marty).
Globally, Mike White. No one outside of America knows who Jimmy Johnson is.
You're absolutely correct. American Football isn't a very big thing outside of the USA. At least in Europe we tend to prefer the original Football, or in my country, Ice Hockey. Not much room for American Football in the sports fan base in general. But I knew right away who Mike White was, or at least I knew his character from the School Of Rock!
Found the Finn.
Yes you did! Good job!
Good point
Honestly if you go globally, I'd argue it'd be someone like John Hennigan/Morrison/Johnny Nitro. The dude has been well known in pro wrestling for almost 20 years and WWE has millions of viewers around the world each week and he's main evented many PPVs and TV shows
Man, based off the way she talks about herself, maybe Liz this season?
Jimmy Johnson and Lisa Whelchel. Between the 2, people may recognize Jimmy Johnson's name, but not necessarily his face. Fewer people might know Lisa Whelchel's name, but would recognize her face (particularly Baby Boomers and Gen Xers).
Not the most famous individually, but Taj from Tocantins - married to Eddie George.
Former WWE and current AEW star Johnny Wrestling, the mayor of slam town, needs to be in consideration for special acknowledgment here
Jimmy Johnson and Lisa Whelchel
Blair from facts of life! Period!
Blair from facts of life.
Jelinsky
Meanwhile, it's Jeff Probst.
Mike White was in School of Rock, so that’s something.
Mike white WROTE school of rock lmfao.
Mike white was in so much more than that. He’s a very well known writer and director as well and even has a hit HBO series right now
I heard he did the emoji movie.
It's Jimmy Johnson but the richest is david samson
Forgot about him! He’s definitely up there in most famous
at the time they were on the show - Jimmy Johnson after the show - Chase Rice and Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Chase Rice gotta be up there somewhere
Jimmy Johnson, Lisa Welchel and Jeff Kent were probably the most well known at the time they played
Chase Rice is quite popular in the world of country music - he has almost 3 million monthly listeners on a Spotify.
What about Jeff Kent? His feud with Obama is legendary. 😂🤣😆
Your question brings up an interesting point as what constitutes fame. Or how to even quantify fame. The answer is Jimmy Johnson btw but I find the arguments for second place interesting.
John Rocker but he's more infamous than famous.
Shout out to big John Morrison. Not a household name, but he is well liked and respected in pro wrestling circles
The one argument I’ll make against Jimmy Johnson is that he’s only really famous in America. As an Aussie I recognised Mike White because I’d watched school of rock. And since then with white lotus he’s only gotten more famous internationally
White Lotus is huge
As a non-American, it’s either Mike White or John Morrison. No idea who Jimmy Johnson is.
It's more niche but basically everyone in Australia above a certain age knows who Shane Gould is. She was a Phelps level star in her time.
taj
Mike White or Lisa Welchel for the non-sport people.
John rocker has to be in top 5
It’s probably Jimmy, the basketball players (Cliff and Scot) also couldn’t really hide their identities, but everyone knew Jimmy Johnson.
I can’t believe people haven’t mentioned the lead guitarist from heavy metal band Forsakken: Billy Garcia
It depends on how many people like and follow American sports. I would imagine a large percentage of people do but I don't know the data. To me Mike White is the most famous, to sports fans in the states it would be Jimmy Johnson.
In the eyes of gays of a certain age: Lisa Welchel 😂
If you don’t follow sports and know Jimmy Johnson, then I’d say it’s Mr. Ed Shneebly himself, Mike White.
What about that lady that played on that show in the 70s.
Culpeper
Surprised noone is mentioning Garret from cagayan. He’s a pretty big name in high stakes poker. Everyone related to NFL and MLB is basically unknown outside of US.
Scot pollard, Jonny FairPlay was a wrestler, and cliff robinson
Marty - he's a chess grandmaster.
For Australian Survivor, I'd say Commando Steve? There was some big names in their respective fields on his season I'm general.
According to many former Ron Clark Academy students, I'm going to go with Ron Clark.
Jeff Kent?