Jon Dalton
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Jon Dalton, also known as Jonny Fairplay (born March 11, 1974), is a professional wrestler and former art consultant from Danville, Virginia who came in third place as a competitor on the reality TV show Survivor: Pearl Islands.
Dalton started in wrestling in 1998 in North Carolina, then moved to Oregon where as Jonny Fairplay he started his own somewhat over-the-top promotion, New Dimension Wrestling. There he served as promoter and heel commentator.
On Survivor, Dalton used his wrestling techniques to draw considerable heel heat on the show, leering at the camera, behaving obnoxiously, and channeling Ric Flair and Randy Savage when casting his votes. At this he was quite successful: by poll he is the least popular player ever to play Survivor, with a popularity rating of only 18%.
Dalton became most infamous on Survivor after constructing what host Jeff Probst called the biggest lie in Survivor history. [1] (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/14/Artsandentartainment/Sideshow.shtml) Before Dalton left to compete on the show, he told a friend of his that if the friend were ever invited to Panama as part of a loved-one-related challenge to tell Dalton that his grandmother had died. There was indeed such a challenge, and Dalton's friend told him, according to plan, that his grandmother had died. Dalton constructed the lie in order to gain the others' pity and win the challenge, then continued to milk the lie for all it was worth by always saying "I swear on my grandmother" when someone didn't believe him about something.
During the reunion show that aired after the season finale, Probst did a brief interview with Jon's grandmother who was in fact alive and healthy. Probst has since publicly said: [2] (http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1024612_3_0_,00.html)
- "... [then] you have Jonny Fairplay, who's completely despicable. It was actually fun to work with Fairplay on the show because he's a producer's dream. When he shows up drunk or flips somebody off, he's bringing you gold every time. I wish we had a Jonny Fairplay every season. Personally, however, he's an absolute jackass whose actions at the Vanuatu finale after-party pissed me off so much that he's banned from any event that I'm at from now on. I'm done with Jonny Fairplay."
After Survivor, Dalton was signed to NWA: Total Nonstop Action where he wrestles under the Jonny Fairplay moniker.