"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;" - Isaiah 40:30

“Dan, you’re going to Japan.”

It was a nice day this past March, a Friday, as I was setting up for a teen event in the Loft at the Library. One of my coworkers came and told me that the library director wanted me to cover the desk. I was slightly irritated as she was the one who told me to come in on my day off to hold this teen event in

the first place, and now she wanted me to work at the front desk for an undetermined amount of time? Seriously! I headed down to the desk, and began checking in items. A moment later, a camera crew runs up to me and a producer states “Dan, you’re going to Japan.”

“Dan, you’re going to Japan.”

I may not have won $250,000 dollars, but those five words were a prize in itself. “Dan you’re going to Japan.” I don’t travel that much, especially outside of the United States. “I would scream, but I’m in a library.”, is what I managed to mutter. A couple of weeks later, I was swept off to Japan, all expenses paid, with my fellow contestants and members of the crew. I told myself I had three goals. One – try and not take a single thing for granted. Enjoy Japan. Enjoy the experience.

Two – Don’t get eliminated first. And three – win the $250,000. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. While I would have loved the money, I beat out thousands upon thousands of others simply for place on the show, and for that I can be thankful. Out of a total of ten episodes, I was in seven – 70% of season two on a national television network. Not too bad. I got to say “Oh my word” on national television – total plus! I can also be thankful for meeting some extraordinary people. I feel more at liberty to play favorites with the remaining players now that my time is done. Linda, Megan, and Cathy are three people I hope to be friends with for the rest of my life. I really want one of them to win the whole thing. “Gun to my head” I would have to choose Linda, and I told her this in a letter I wrote in the Majide house to be read if I was eliminated. Linda is one of those people that has a perfect balance of girl-next-door innocence and fun-loving humor that makes her a joy to spend time with. We had some great discussions in the house, and we have a lot in common - I think the world of her. In an extremely close second, Megan is the life of the party, but also has a caring side you don’t get to see as much of while watching the show. She saved my bib from the show and had it framed for me – and she was also the first person to call me from the cast once the show was all done. She is so amazing. Cathy is a great mother, despite my comments on the show – she is someone every parent should look to for tips. She made everyone’s Majide experience a little more enjoyable. Brent is a really nice guy, I just didn’t get to know him that well. I wish him the best in all of his ventures. Justin is the miserable idiot he is being made out to be. He was the biggest attention whore of the season. If he said something funny, and you laughed, he had to repeat it again and again, as if he was so happy he made you laugh once he wanted the credit over and over again. I am pretty sure it has a medical disorder, so I am not going to rake him over the coals – I just would encourage him to seek therapy. If Justin wins the show, buy stock in the alcohol industry as $249,000 would be surely spent on booze and the other $1,000 would be spent on cab fare to get him to and from the package store. I really don’t care to have much to do with the idiot until he passes out of his druken college phase, and it has nothing to do with the fact he beat me in the elimination game. I give him total props for winning “You Look Funny Stuck on a Wall” – he rocked it. If you watched last week’s episode, you may have noticed that I wacked into that dragon numerous times in the elimination game. I was so sore and injured from that game (still have a nasty bruise – come on guys, shoulder pads??) , I knew my days in the Majide house were numbered unless I had a miraculous healing. I would have lost to Mama San had I been facing her in elimination at this point in the game. I knew the second I saw the game I was in trouble, but it didn’t stop me from giving 100% of the 40% I had left in me. I decided early on after losing the second team game that I did not want to put Megan through the stress of an elimination game if I still felt so sore come game time. That is if she and Justin didn’t volunteer themselves to play – but I knew they wouldn’t. If I thought I could beat Megan, I would have gone up against her, but I was in so much pain that I said “screw it, I want to at least try and take out Justin” as some of the Majide games are pure coin-tosses. Unfortunately for me, this one wasn’t. It’s all good though.

The Red Robots team was a train wreck from the start, and I am sure I was stuck on that team to be totally out of my element on camera. While the Green Tigers were praying before challenges, our team was backstage just being miserable or rude most of the time. I tried to be so positive with my teammates every step of the way. I’m sure they are all good people in their own circles. Maybe. Eh, Yari might be cool at least. Every RR teammate annoyed me on some level though, and it was just flat out frustrating. But hey, this librarian and virgin outlasted the junior olympian, chatty Latin chick, the muscle, and the looker – so I can live with that.0

One thing many of the contestants would ask each other along the way was “Do you think this show will change your life?” At first, I said no. Looking back on it though, I guess it did in a way. For one, being a realty show fan for so long, I loved seeing the behind the scenes elements that few ever get to know about. I cannot watch any reality show the way I did before.

I love competition and was so thrilled to get this strange and fantastic chance to get out of my comfort zone. None of my friends were surprised to see I was on a reality show, but most were shocked when they discovered which reality show. I am not a costume type of person, but I told myself to just have fun with it. With the exception of the bunny suit and the tutu, I had a blast transforming into each outfit every week. So I guess the show helped expand my comfort zone a bit.

Also, the notierity has been a mixture of flattering and creepy. I went to a local grocery store the other day and got stopped by more than ten people, some of which who looked in awe just to see me. I appreciate all my fans, but seriously, I am just the same Dan who works 40 hours a week and puts on my pants one leg at a time. Some people have been too kind!! I don’t get how real celebs put up with it! If I seem stand-offish to some of you fans, it’s not that I don’t appreciate it, I just don’t think I deserve it. People are risking their lives in battle for our country every day – be their fans. I put on spandex and bunny ears – nowhere near as noble. Other online people have been downright nasty, and I guess that comes with the territory. I don’t get how people can be so mean when they don’t even know the cast members other than for a few minutes of talk time in each episode. Oh well. They are the ones with the sorry lives.

I’m not going to recap the games in this episode. You watched it right? If not, just hulu.com it. I got eliminated if you haven’t guessed.

It’s over – WHAT A RELIEF!! No more secrets!! When I got eliminated, the weight of the competition lifted instantly, and I felt a rush of excitement to return home to family and friends. Now that my elimination has aired, I have a sense of closure and joy that this crazy chapter has come to an end and I am still smiling. I want to thank everyone for watching. I want to thank all of the fans, both those online and those I know personally, for cheering me on. I want to thank all of the fellow contestants, even those I am not fond of, for making the “ISAJGS” process an absolute trip, and I will never forget any of you, for better or for worse. I want to thank everyone who came out to my viewing parties, and those that held parties of their own to cheer me on. Not that they’ll ever read this, but I also want to thank Rome, Judge Bob, and Mama San – they are characters on the show, but in “real life” they are really amazing and talented people who rocked their roles on Majide. I want to thank the production team for working so hard to put out this crazy show. And I truly do want to thank God for giving me this gift. It wasn’t His will for me to win the $250,000, but He gave me an experience I will never forget. He gave me new friends. He gave me a dream of mine, and for that, I am so blessed. Keep watching – who knows what will happen, and heck, I’m still in the theme music intro!

I will continue to recap the show and write other rants – check back on my blog often. A friend of mine also does a lot of really good writing, so I would encourage you to check her site out too - http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/445132/lori_berkey.html

In conclusion, I guess nice guys don’t finish last after all – they finish sixth. The producers told us they received thousands upon thousands of applications to be on the show, and they couldn’t even look at all of them. One of the questions on the application was “What is your biggest fear?” My answer: To grow old and not have expierenced all life has to offer. I think I’m well on my way. With that, ISAJGS Dan says “Sayonara” to you all, and normal Dan says “Hey. Who are you? Why are you reading my blog?”