How Joe Manganiello's Acting Career Derailed His 'Survivor' Dreams
In a new Men’s Journal cover story, Joe Manganiello revealed the extent of his love for Survivor. The Magic Mike star is so passionate about the show, in fact, that it inspired his new hosting gig on Deal or No Deal Island.
Manganiello has been an avid Survivor fan since the show premiered in 2000. Before taking his breakout role in Spider-Man (2002), Manganiello and his pals would throw weekly Survivor viewing parties at their West Hollywood abode.
“I was at a house party a few years later and ran into someone who worked for CBS casting, and they said, ‘You would be great for Survivor,’” Manganiello explained. “I said, ‘Oh my God, I can win!’ I went into my whole strategy, and they said, ‘Would you make a tape? But you can't be an actor.’”
At the time, Manganiello was between acting jobs and working at a masonry company to pay his bills. He decided to pitch himself to Survivor producers as “Joe the construction worker from Pittsburgh who was a descendent of Armenian genocide survivors.”
“I'm a survivor,” Manganiello recalled saying in his audition tape. “I have survivor genes in my blood.”
In a bizarre twist of fate, former teen actor Tori Spelling blocked Manganiello’s chance of being a contestant on Survivor. He scored a two-episode arc on Spelling’s meta MTV sitcom So NoTORIous, playing the star’s boyfriend, which precluded his involvement in any reality series.
Manganiello was even willing to make some drastic personal alterations to secure his position on Survivor. “I was gonna get my eyes corrected by surgery, because I wear contacts, even though I found out they give you contact solution,” he admitted.
The actor also studied proper nutrition methods for his prospective time in the wilderness. “I had met a yogi whose specialty was taking people off solid foods. The philosophy is that you could eat a leaf that contains more nutrients in it than an entire large pepperoni pizza. I was gonna wean myself off solid food so I wasn't worried about energy. And then, as a big, athletic male, you're gonna help win all the challenges for your tribe. But at the merge, you're gonna have to win immunity, because I'm a target.”
Of course, none of that ever came to pass. However, Manganiello feels he’s poured all of that preparation into his hosting gig on Deal or No Deal Island. He explained to Men’s Journal that while his persona on the show is something of a character, it’s also the most authentic on-screen representation of his true personality to date.
“I don't think people had any idea who I was. When I was on True Blood, people would ask me, ‘Did you grow up on a farm?’ No. When I did Magic Mike, people would say, ‘Oh, did you jump out of cakes?’ No,” Manganiello laughed. “It's a compliment when people think you are your characters. It means they believe you. What's interesting is now people go, ‘Oh, that's who he is,’ and they can separate me from my characters.”
Check out Joe Manganiello's full Men's Journal cover story here.