Posts Tagged ‘terry deitz’

‘Survivor’ Castaway Terry: ‘Danny’s Heart Is Pumping Like a Champ’

October 29, 2015

"Survivor: Second Chance" (CBS)

Quick Note: We’re going to be bringing you all kinds of “Survivor” fun this season including episode recaps, exit interviews, and Power Rankings with Jenn Brown and Max Dawson. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for up-to-the-minute news and info.

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“I’ll do anything to play ‘Survivor’ again,” was a popular comment from people trying to win last Spring’s “Second Chance” vote.

On a starlit night in the Cambodia wilderness, Terry Deitz learned the truth about that statement. When host Jeff Probst told him there was a medical problem with his son Danny, Terry didn’t think twice before hopping on a boat and leaving the game behind.

I spoke with Terry the morning after this episode aired and we didn’t talk about “Survivor” much at all.

Gordon Holmes: You guys took us on a roller coaster last night. Did you know Danny had any issues before you took off for Cambodia?
Terry Deitz: Not at all. The day before we were out on the astroturf throwing bombs and he was like, “I’m a little short of breath.” I’m like, “Don’t worry about it. You’re probably out of shape from lacrosse or whatever.” Two days after I left, everything in his system started breaking down. He was throwing up. Cold, they thought he had bronchitis. The last thing she got him was an echocardiogram. It’s like an ultrasound for the heart. From that they can tell what your ejection fraction is. That’s the percentage of blood coming out of your heart. We walk around with a 50-65. He had an ejection fraction of eight. The doctor comes running back into the room. He says, “Mrs. Deitz, you’re not going on vacation. I just called 911. An ambulance is coming to take your son.” He went to Hartford Hospital, they wanted him to see a specialist. They put him in an ambulance immediately and took him to Boston Children’s Hospital. They’re the best children’s hospital in the world. And thank God they did. He shouldn’t have been walking. They had doctors coming in the room just to look at him. “There’s the kid with the EF eight.” There are athletes who have enlarged hearts and fall down on the field and never get up. Fortunately my wife got him a bunch of checkups because nobody was catching it. And all of this is going on while I’m doing challenges in Cambodia.

Holmes: There’s never been anything like it on the show. Jenna Morasca left “All Stars” but that was based on her intuition. I kept thinking about your mindset on the journey home. Because from the boat you boarded at Ta Keo beach it was another boat, and a three-hour car ride, and three or four flights. It must’ve been a nightmare.
Deitz: (Laughs) I can’t thank Jeff and his team enough. Everything was set up perfectly. Dr. Eliza, the company psychologist even came with me. It was wonderful having somebody with me. As soon as we got on the boat, Jeff gave me his phone and said, “Call Trish (Terry’s wife).” And Jeff didn’t really know what was going on with Danny because of HIPAA rules. I was able to fill him in. The game is the game and it can go on by itself. My tribemates were thinking about me. Jeff was constantly in touch while he was producing the show. It was really cool. But it was small boat to big boat. I was able to Facetime with Trish. I got to see my son. I got to see my daughter. That made my heart sink anymore because I could see how bad of shape he was in. He was one step away from dying. We boated back to the mainland. I got a shower. Four hour drive to Phnom Penh in an SUV. Flight to Hong Kong, layover where I got to talk to them again. And then a sixteen-hour flight with no communication to Boston. “Survivor” had a limo waiting and the limo’d Eliza and I right to Boston Children’s Hospital. Trish and my daughter met me out there. We had a little cry, then we got strong again for Danny. And when I went up and saw him the first thing I said was, “Dan.” He’s a big strapping athlete. 6’2”, 195 pounds and he’s now lost 25 pounds. He’s got all this (expletive deleted) hooked into him and everything. I said, “Look, nobody loves you for Danny Football. Nobody loves you for Danny Lacrosse. They love you for Danny Deitz, and I love you. And I want to see you get better, grow old, have kids, and have them give you the joy that you’ve given me. And we’re going to kick ass on this thing.” And that’s what we did. Two heart procedures and two open heart procedures within a month. God bless the organ donor, because Danny’s heart is pumping like a champ.

Holmes: Damnit, Terry. I’m not supposed to get weepy during exit interviews.
Deitz: (Laughs)
Holmes: I’m a professional!
Deitz: My wife and I have had 79 days in the hospital. We’ve truly had the worst days of our lives. But, we’ve stayed solid as a team. And Danny knows this. And the love and support that we’ve gotten from you and everybody out there. It meant the world to us. It was sad watching the show last night, especially with Kass and Ciera, they have kids. It was tough on them. We’re exhaling. We’re thankful for a lot of things.

Holmes: When’s he going to be ready to go for a “Blood vs. Water” season?
Deitz: (Laughs) He’s only seventeen, so it’d be a couple of years. But even then, it’d be a reach. He’ll never be 100%. But, you never know.
Holmes: The show is going to be on for another fifteen years anyway. He can play in his thirties.
Deitz: Yeah, but the way things are with research and development…the type of rejection drugs that are not only good for his heart, but good for his system are right around the corner. Twenty five, thirty, forty years down the line when he needs another transplant, it’s probably going to be a mechanical heart where there is no rejection. Or they build a new heart out of his own stem cells.
Holmes: So, he’ll need another heart transplant in the future?
Deitz: Yes. It all comes down to the match and how well the body gets along with the new heart. And a lot of them can get along for a long time.
Holmes: My father had serious heart issues in the past year. We were in and out of the hospital for weeks at a time. And the doctors would talk about advances and say things like, “If this had happened five years ago, he wouldn’t be around.”
Deitz: You’re exactly right.
Holmes: It was heartbreaking to watch, but it helped knowing there was a happy ending.
Deitz: Wait, did your father turn out OK?
Holmes: Yes. Sorry. He’s up and about and cranky as ever.
Deitz: (Laughs)

Holmes: What’s Danny’s day-to-day like?
Deitz: He gets up in the morning, he takes his rejection drug, he’s got about eight pills he takes in the morning and in the evening. He’s got to go to Boston Children’s at least once a week. He’s got physical therapy three times a week. He can’t go to school because his immunity system is squashed. He can’t go into a petri dish of a high school. That’ll happen next semester. He’s a teenager so he’s eating like a madman. He does his workouts, and he hangs out with his football team. Whenever he goes in public he has to wear a mask. He has clinics he has to go to. He’s being tutored, he has a girlfriend, and we’re hanging out a lot. He’s actually back driving, which is scary.
Holmes: In all fairness, it’s always scary when a teenager is driving.
Deitz: (Laughs) When Jeff pulled me off, I thought it was my mom who’s 85 or my mother-in-law who’s 85. What happened to them? This is not going to be good news. And when he said, “Danny” the first thing I thought was he had a car wreck.
Holmes: You really wanted to come back after Panama. But the way you left, and the bigger picture it provided you, I feel like there can’t be too many regrets.
Deitz: I don’t spend any time projecting myself into the future of the show. It’s not worth it. It’s fun because Eliza and Jeff both said the same thing. They’re like, “You’ve been here two weeks, these are the goals you’ve talked about. You wanted to do better in the challenges and you wanted to be better socially.” I think I hung with the young guys and on the social side I felt I was involved in one of the big strategic move of getting rid of Shirin. I did those two things in two weeks. And I have no regrets about the show. It’s weird, the whole summer has been such a compelling story. It’s more exciting and more meaningful than anything “Survivor” can give.

Holmes: And where can we go to donate to the Danny Strong Foundation?
Deitz: People can go to bostonchildrens.org/dannystrong. You’ll see the whole story there. There are donations that can be done and t-shirts. It all goes to pediatric cardiomyopathy.

Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes

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‘Survivor: Second Chance’ Terry: ‘I’m in Good Shape, I’m Not in Ten-Years-Ago Shape’

September 18, 2015

"Survivor: Second Chance" (CBS)

Quick Note: XFINITY TV sent me deep into the Cambodian wilderness to bring you all kinds of “Survivor: Second Chance” goodness. So, be sure to check back for exclusive interviews, photos, and behind-the-scenes tidbits. And, follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for up-to-the-minute news and info.

[xfinity-record-button id=”4814958312953183112″ program_type=”series”]

Name: Terry Deitz
Season: “Survivor: Panama”
Finish: Third Place
Why You Should Remember Him: Terry won five consecutive individual immunity challenges and was the first person to have a “Whaaaaambulance” called for him.

Gordon Holmes: Whenever the topic of returning players comes up, people are always screaming for Terry Deitz. And now here you are.
Terry Deitz: Gordon, this is great. I’ve actually been through the process several times. The other  times were just casting and timing. And to be brought back by America? That makes it special. America has given me a lot of lessons on how to be a better player. Obviously my game was kind of one dimensional due to the circumstances.
Holmes: You always hear the term, “Challenge beast.” I’ve been trying to coin “Challenge stallion.”
Deitz: (Laughs) That’s a visual.
Holmes: Have you still got it? Are you going to rattle off 20 more consecutive challenge wins?
Deitz: Well, I’m 55 years old now. I’m going to go out on a limb and say our season was the most athletic season. We had nine big-time athletes. I think seven college athletes. And I’d just never seen a season like that before. Now saying that, all the men here…and even Fishbach is pumped up from Cross-fit…they’re ready to bring it. I’m hoping I can get out there and kick some ass. I’m on the turf every day, throwing the ball with my kids. Doing this, doing that, whatever. Doing lots of adventurous stuff. I’m ready, I’m in good shape. I’m not in ten-years-ago shape, but pretty good shape.

Holmes: Shane was on your season…
Deitz: Are you bummed that he’s not here?
Holmes: Me and the rest of the world. Does it work for you or against you that he’s not here?
Deitz: I was really bummed out. I thought he would be a lock. He’s great TV. And he hasn’t stopped smoking, so the first couple of episodes would probably have been “The Shane Show.”
Holmes: (Laughs)
Deitz: Which is fine. (Laughs) That’s the law of thermodynamics heat transfer. If the heat’s on somebody else, it ain’t on me. He’s gone through a lot of stuff in his life and this would have been a nice stepping stone. He could’ve gotten some closure on some things.

Holmes: Speaking of Panama, Aras’s brother Vytas is here as well. Do you know each other?
Deitz: I met Vytas one time. That was back at my finale. I really enjoy Aras. He’s a great guy. We had our come-to-Jesus moment at the end of our show. Ever since then we’ve been really good friends. He’s friends with my family. Now he’s a new dad and husband…and Vytas too. I’m looking forward to playing with Vytas because I’m friends with Aras and he’s that type of guy. No (expletive deleted), he’ll look you in the eye. Are you ready to go? Let’s do this thing. I’m really looking forward to that. And, he’s playing the new game. I’m an old-schooler. I watch it all, but I’m thinking he’s going to be able to help me with the newer stuff.

Holmes: What do you think people remember about your game?
Deitz: Challenge hog. Very trustworthy. I’m an airline captain. People rely on me to get their family home. I’ll tell you straight up what’s going to happen. And so, I’m relying on that and the fact that rest of these guys are stallion-esque in the challenges.  I’ll be able to hold off until after the merge. There’s some strategy involved.
Holmes: You’re a competitor. If it makes sense to you strategy-wise to hold back, can you hold back?
Deitz: Oh yeah. If we’re winning a challenge and Joe or Spencer is leading the way, I’m going to say, “You guys did great! You carried us! That’s awesome! Oh, (expletive deleted) my hammy is back!”
Holmes: (Laughs)
Deitz: There’s going to be twenty losers out there. None of us have won. You can look at the game we’ve played, you can analyze the film like Belichick. But in the long-run we all lost. We can’t play the same game. We can’t make the same mistakes again. Everyone’s going to be doing something different. There are no slackers. Usually there are three or four people who don’t belong on the beach, but for some reason they are there. That’s not the case here.

Holmes: Any worries about an old-school/new-school divide?
Deitz: It’s a concern. There are five old-schoolers if you count Peih-Gee  and fifteen of them. But on the other hand, there are a lot of older people; Kass, Keith, Vytas. They’re almost like old-school to me. But I think some of the younger girls or someone like Spencer are going to look to older people to hook up with.

Holmes: If there are any twists, any guesses as to what they could be?
Deitz: I think we’ll start off with two tribes of ten. We’ll each get rid of one, then we’ll go to three tribes. I think the three tribe thing is good TV and it messes with loyalties. If you were loyal to someone in the first days and then you’re gone you have to attach yourself to someone else. Then what happens at the merge? You dump them and go back to your old one?

Holmes: There’s always talk of pre-game alliances in returnee seasons. Have you participated in any?
Deitz: There was stuff on Twitter about the Culpepper house. I really don’t know. I saw some names thrown around, but I haven’t heard what went on. That’s (expletive deleted). I had some people calling me and then they ended up not even being in the final 32. I have met some of these people before, drinking beers with them at Give Kids the World or Temecula Reality Rally. Stuff like that. So, there’s going to be some familiarity. I’ve met Spencer before. He’s the kind of guy that’s really loyal. I might want to get a hold of him and one of the younger girls and say, “You can trust me, I’m like your dad.”
Holmes: Spencer is old enough to have a beer?
Deitz: (Laughs) I think so.


Holmes: Alright, we’re going to play “Align or Malign.” In my hand I have nineteen cards featuring your competitors. You’ll go through them and tell me who you’ll align with and who you’ll malign. Trick is, you only get eight aligns.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Kass because she’s good at puzzles and she’s a Navy vet.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Vytas because I think I can have the same type of good relationship with him as I do with Aras.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Peih-Gee because she’s good at puzzles.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Keith because I think he’s a good ol’ boy and he and I see eye-to-eye on stuff.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Kelly because she’s old-school and she’s good at challenges for a female. And I need a strong female.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Spencer because he’s a sharp, young kid. He’s good in challenges and I think he can help me out with the younger crowd. And I can beat him in challenges.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Jeff because he’s funnier than (expletive deleted) in the interviews he’s done. He’s old school and he’s very loyal.

Deitz: I’m aligning with Andrew for the same reason. And I think I can beat him in challenges as well.

Deitz: Fishbach is on the cusp because he’s smart. He’s got his own podcast. And he and I have talked about aviation. I like him, but I’m maligning him.

Deitz: Kelley…I’m maligning. I’d align with her in the beginning, but halfway through she’d have to be gone.

Deitz: Abi…malign. I don’t think she belongs on the beach in the first place.

Deitz: Shirin…malign. She does not belong on the beach either.

Deitz: Joe…he’s a big threat. He’s a likable guy. He probably got the most votes out of all of us. I want him gone.

Deitz: Kimmi…she was a whiner on her show. Even though she’s a big girl, I don’t think she’s strong in challenges. Malign.

Deitz: Ciera…not good in challenges. She may hang around for a little while. Malign.

Deitz: Jeremy…he’s a good guy. I think his kids play lacrosse. He’s been wearing lacrosse sweatshirts. But, malign.

Deitz: Woo…he was brought to the end because he was clueless. And I think he still is. Nice guy, but maligning him. They’re all nice people, don’t get me wrong.

Deitz: Monica…princess, seems nice. But she doesn’t really belong on the beach. Malign.

Deitz: Tasha… she’s going to be a threat. I heard she can be a little bit annoying though. Malign.

Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes

“Survivor: Second Chance” will kick off with a special 90-minute premiere on Wednesday, September 23rd at 8 p.m. ET.

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