Survivor Micronesia: Jonathan Penner and Chet Welch

Serious injuries in the Survivor world have been few and far between. This season, though, two tribe members were sent packing from Survivor Micronesia when Jonathan and Chet found themselves unable to continue. Although both survivors had to leave, Jonathan and Chet both left their own unique footprints on the game, which might have a ripple effect with their former tribe members as the season continues. On a conference call the day after last week's tribal council, Jonathan and Chet came together to shed some light on their injuries, their original strategies, and their former tribe mates.

Jonathan Penner on the condition of his leg injury:

"The leg is getting better, certainly a lot better than it was as of last night’s episode, but it’s getting there. I can’t say it’s 100% but I do believe - certainly hope - it will be at 100%."

Jonathon on where he was taken after his evacuation:

"They took me to a hospital and then they took me to another western-style hospital where there was a plastic surgeon - Chet and I were just talking, because we had the same surgeon in Micronesia, [it was] a lovely woman, who he thought was the receptionist because she was walking around in a housecoat and flip-flops and everybody in the hospital chews on this beetle nut juice. So she was the surgeon of this hospital, it was really her hospital. So after a couple of days when they treated me, the Survivor folks took me out of that situation and put me into a western-style hospital."

On his future plans to write about his Survivor experience:

"I’m sure it’ll inform when I’m writing. We are contractually obligated to not reveal the workings of Survivor but I do have an idea, because the thing about Survivor for me is that it’s the closest thing - and it’s a bad analogy and an unfair analogy - but [it's] the reason people love it so much and the reason I went back and would go back again. It’s like a kid who goes off to war and comes back and he’s like, ‘Yes, it was the worst time in my life, but it was also the best time in my life.' It’s the most intense experience. When you come back to the real world and you’re told you can go back for another tour of this extraordinary experience and this extraordinary place, then you want to do it because you want to feel that intensity again. I’m thinking of using that in the script."

Chet Welch on his pre-injury strategy:

"My long term strategy was to stay on as long as I could and kind of keep our numbers up. Basically we were going to try to keep ourselves as [tribe] - a vote was going to keep us in, basically, because we were always coming as a vote. The short term was probably to vote off Ozzy that night. [It] would’ve been something that transpired while I was at Exile Island, so that probably would’ve been the first thing to happen."

On why he didn’t endure the pain a little longer to vote Ozzy out:

"I was given the ultimatum that if I did not get voted off I was going to get pulled from the game for medical reasons. I did not want to just disappear from the game, and that’s exactly what would’ve happened. The medical team told me that - the producers don’t pull you for medical reasons, the doctors do. I didn't have an option at that point. And as far as blindsiding Ozzy, that was something that totally came at me from the time I got back from Exile Island. So basically I got back in the afternoon, that was brought to my attention, and at that point a lot of stuff had already gone into play and I knew I had to go out that night."

Survivor Micronesia: Jonathan Penner and Chet Welch Page 2