SportsHollywood: Which is tougher - boot camp or Survivor?

GLEASON: It's really hard to say. Survivor is a personality show that deals with social dynamics. In boot camp there is physical stress; in Survivor there is social stress--kind of like being back in on the school playground. You are constantly hounded by cameras and dealing with cliques in your tribe. There is no privacy, and you're just praying for recess--sometimes you prayed for someone to take you out of this crazy game of social politics. So Survivor is definitely harder than boot camp. But then again Survivor and boot camp are very different.

SportsHollywood: It seems like you were targeted early to be voted off.

GLEASON: Yeah, I believe I was targeted. When Mitchell and I were in the boat fishing in one of his early scenes and he was asked how he would vote, he said something to the effect that he would vote off the most threatening person or the weakest link. And as you can see he went after me first and then Marilyn, because she was hurting us in the challenges. I can only assume he saw me as a physical threat.

SportsHollywood: Who is the bigger bitch to be stranded with as a castaway: Jerri or Mrs. Howell from Gilligan's Island?

GLEASON: Hands down: "BLUE BIKINI!" The aspiring actress even said it herself in her initial interviews that she is very good at manipulating people, and for some reason she disliked me immediately. Everyone knew that I was constantly looking for something to chew on--bark, grass, leaves. I was so hungry that I was eating things that I knew had very little nutritious value, but at that point it did not matter--I ate anything I saw on the ground. I remember Keith telling me one day that I reminded him of his dog because I was constantly chewing on grit that had got caught in my teeth.

Survivor is a game show, therefore it is has to follow the guidelines of the FCC. So once the false accusations were made, the producers and cameramen had to check me out before I went down to the tribe to confront them. And of course they found nothing. And little did I know that the other tribe members had been rifling through my belongings. I could never understand at the time when I came down from the hill to confront my tribe, why they were snickering and smiling when I had offered to let them go through my bag--they had already done it. And when Marilyn and Keith told me in the boat that the others had gone through my belongings I just didn't want to believe it. They even tried to hide it from me by painstakingly repacking my bag the way I had it before.

SportsHollywood: Do you still eat beef jerky?

GLEASON: The whole beef jerky incident just got so out of hand in the press. First of all, there's no possible way anyone could smuggle food in on that airplane trip. They dumped out all of your belongings, tell you what you can and can't take. Plus (series creator) Mark Burnett is a stickler for details, a former hard core soldier. He plays everything by the book and would never allow such a thing to happen. Remember this is Survivor--there's a million dollars is at stake.

SportsHollywood: Where do the tribespeople go to the bathroom?

GLEASON: Behind a tree... up a hill... ANYWHERE. Cameras follow you everywhere. I only went once in four days for a bowel movement, because your body is utilizing everything you have. I'd wait until the cameramen switched shifts. I'd wait for the oldest, fattest guy, then run up a hill and say, "Be right back!" It was good thing those cameramen had to lug around big cameras, so it made it a little bit easier to run up the hill do your thing behind a tree, before the camera guy could get it on film. Cameras were everywhere, I was amazed at how well we were covered by the camera crew. They even filmed us while we slept. I remember one night I got up and bashed my head into a camera. The cameraman wanted to see if I would pick my nose. There was absolutely no privacy!

Kel with SportsHollywood's Rich Hull.

SportsHollywood:Are you happy with the results??

GLEASON: Well, uh... NO! I wanted to the money!

SportsHollywood: Other than yourself, who would you have liked to win?

GLEASON: Mike (the one who got his hands burned). Absolutely great guy. Mike and I get along great. And he is one the survivors that I keep in touch with on a regular basis. They never told us what happened to him. I ran into him by accident on a beach in Australia just after he was released from the hospital. His hands were bandaged up. I was horrified. I asked him what happened, but Mike said, "I don't want to talk about it. Let's just hang out." So we did, and talked about other things to keep our minds on lighter subjects.

SportsHollywood: Did you ever actually see any dangerous wild animals there, or are they pretty much cleared out where you were?

GLEASON: Well, to be honest, they cleared out most of them.... but they left one very dangerous, vicious animal there: "Blue Bikini." I'm very upset with the Australian wildlife commission.

KEL GLEASON WEB LINKS "Survivor Sucks.com!" Survivor Fever! Kel Gleason Page Kel at Survivor 2

SportsHollywood: Who wins in a fight to the death in the outback: You, Alicia, Colby or the Crocodile Hunter?

GLEASON: Are you kidding? First, I'll take that crazy immunity headdress that Elizabeth made and wrap it around Alicia's big muscles. And then I'd do suflex on Colby, then I would try to confuse the Colbster by using words that had four syllables or more. Then I'd do a clothesline drop on the Croc Hunter. Then, of course, the cowboy resurfaces with fierce determination in his eyes. Eventually it comes down to the Kellster having a meltdown on the Colbster……. Kelster wins!!!

SportsHollywood: How do you think your cast would have done against the first Survivor cast?

GLEASON: If it were a beauty contest we'd sweep up! We are in better shape.

SportsHollywood: Favorite sport?

GLEASON: Women's tennis. Love those short skirts.

SportsHollywood: Favorite athlete?

GLEASON: Anna Whats-her-name. Can't pronounce her last name, but love to watch her jump up and down.

SportsHollywood: Least favorite sport?

GLEASON: Gotta be Cricket, or is it called grasshopper? What's the point of it???? It has got to be one of the most boring sports around!

SportsHollywood: After six days in the outback on a diet of rice, are you prepared to call Crocodile Dundee a wuss?

GLEASON: Man against man I'd challenge him anytime. Bring it on. I think my knife is bigger than his.

SportsHollywood: Would you do Survivor again?

GLEASON: Yes... minus "Blue Bikini."

SportsHollywood: How many sponsorship offers have you gotten from beef jerkey companies?

GLEASON: So many I had to get an agent.

Interview by Karen Bailey

Kel Gleason Favorite Breakfast: BLUEBERRY PANCAKES (With Canadian maple syrup), FRESH O.J. Dinner: MEDITERRANEAN GREEK (Rice & seafood mix) Vegetable: ZUCCHINI, ASPARAGUS, MUSHROOMS Snack Food: POWER BARS (Apple Cinnamon), RICE CAKES (Banana Nut) NO BEEF JERKY!