Daniel "Danny" DeWayne McCray is a contestant from Survivor 41.
Entering the game as a strong physical force, Danny managed to lay low throughout the entirety of the pre-merge due to Luvu's winning streak. He connected with tribemates Deshawn Radden and Sydney Segal, but come the merge when Sydney was the first to be voted out, he regained security by entering the All-Black Alliance with Deshawn. Making the dicey decision to vote out Shan Smith at the final eight came back to bite him as his alliance fell to shambles at the hands of the newfound majority. After Ricard Foyé won immunity at the final six, the target was painted on Danny's back as he was unanimously voted out in a revote between Deshawn and himself.
Profile[]
Retrieved from cbs.com.
Age: 33
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Current Residence: Frisco, Texas
Occupation: Ex-NFL Player
Hobbies: Competing, traveling, cooking
Three Words to Describe You: Competitive, charismatic, optimistic
Pet Peeve: Lying, not being on time and lack of accountability. Lack of awareness and consideration for people's time and space or having to repeat myself after three times.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Completing my graduate degree program! It was my goal to earn an MBA before I made it to the NFL, but that changed due to the money I was making and the workload that football requires. After retirement, I had to overcome my own mind and doubts that I couldn't do it. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in life — late nights of studying and having tutors almost giving up repeatedly. But I never did, I have my MBA!
What is something we would never know from looking at you? You would never know that I often achieve success because of fear, my fear of letting the people that I love down. Letting down people that took a chance on me is the vision that I use to thrive in competitive situations. Very similar to Adam Sandler in the movie The Waterboy.
Who is your hero and why? My mom. When my father passed, she was left to take care of three kids alone. She worked two jobs plus side work to provide for us. There is nothing she wouldn't do for us. I take strength to be strong when a tragedy hits from her, she never complained or let us see her cry. She did that for us. I owe her everything that I can give.
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? Ben "Boom" Driebergen, 1 Big Move King. I figure that I would be seen as a strong physical player, so I would eventually become a big target. The way Ben was able to outwork everyone on the tribe and do what he needed to do in order to survive was truly admirable. It's that 'back against the wall' mentality I admire.
Why do you believe you can win Survivor? I'm applying to win. I always have something to prove to myself. I truly believe that I can succeed at whatever I put my mind to. I haven't failed yet and don't plan on starting now.[2]
Survivor[]
Starting the game on the Luvu tribe, Danny and Deshawn Radden were picked to perform the Sweat task to earn the tribe's flint. While they completed the challenge, Naseer Muttalif found them searching for a Hidden Immunity Idol. He promptly told the rest of the tribe about this, but Sydney Segal told Danny and Deshawn about Naseer's plot.
Danny was chosen to be the representative of the Luvu tribe to go to the first Summit. It was here that he met JD Robinson of the Ua tribe and Xander Hastings of the Yase tribe. The trio were given a choice, to either risk their vote to potentially gain an Extra Vote, or to protect their vote, gaining nothing. Unlike JD and Xander, Danny chose to protect his vote.
The Luvu tribe never went to Tribal Council throughout the premerge. While Danny and Deshawn did attempt to throw a challenge to eliminate Erika Casupanan, they failed to lose the challenge.
On Day 12, the tribes were divided into 2 teams, where the winning team would win Individual Immunity and a spot on the merged Viakana tribe. Danny's blue team won the challenge. After the reward, Danny, Deshawn, Shan Smith, and Liana Wallace formed the All-Black Alliance, an alliance that hoped to represent the African-American race all the way into the Final Four. After Erika smashed an hourglass, Danny's team lost immunity and a spot in the merge. While they originally hoped to target Xander using Liana's Knowledge is Power advantage, the idol had been given away and the idol wasted. With the alliance and their allies scrambling, Sydney was sent home. Danny helped eliminate 2 of the remaining Yase Alliance members in Tiffany Seely and Evvie Jagoda.
While the All-Black Alliance seemed to be about to work, tensions were growing between Deshawn and Shan over Deshawn's perception of Shan's bossiness. Danny and Deshawn had hoped to target Shan's ally Ricard Foyé, but the plans were cut short by Ricard winning immunity. Despite hesitation, Danny went along with his ally Deshawn and blindsided Shan, putting the All-Black Alliance outside the numbers and fractured. After Danny won immunity the next round and Deshawn was saved by the Do or Die twist, Liana was sent home.
With neither Danny nor Deshawn having any idols nor advantages, the consensus target Ricard winning immunity, and the Final Four Alliance appearing to be unbreakable, the duo seemed resigned to their fates and accepted that they would have to turn on each other. Despite Deshawn unleashing a "truth bomb" in an attempt to break up the duo of Erika and Heather Aldret, Danny's physical strength and lack of social bonds compared to Deshawn were enough for him to tie with Deshawn 3-3 before being unanimously eliminated on the revote, finishing in 6th place.
At the Final Tribal Council, Danny voted for his ally Deshawn to win the million dollars. However, Deshawn lost to Erika in a 7-1-0 vote.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luvu | Marooning | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Bonus Track | Immunity | No | Won | |||
| 2 | Water Sports | Reward/Immunity | No | 1st | ||
| 3 | Victory in the Bag | Reward/Immunity | No | 1st | ||
| 4 | Running Down a Dream | Reward | No | Lost | ||
| Kenny Log-Ins | Immunity | No | 2nd | |||
| 5 | Ramplified | Reward/Immunity | No | 2nd | ||
| Tribes Disbanded, Day 12 | ||||||
| 6 | None | Keep Digging | Reward/Immunity | No | Won1 | |
| 7 | The Game is Afoot | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| Tribes Merged, Night 14 | ||||||
| 8 | Viakana | Puzzle Pieces | Reward | No | Won | |
| Keep on Your Toes | Immunity | No | Lost | |||
| 9 | Uncomfortably Numb | Reward/Immunity | Shared2 | |||
| 10 | Starfish | Reward | Lost | |||
| Hard to Handle | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| 11 | Balance On The Line | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 12 | Beach Front Bay Bash | Reward | Lost | |||
| Dizzy Miss Lizzy | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| Voted Out, Day 23 | ||||||
| Notes: ^1 The unchosen sit-out from the challenge (Erika) was exiled. There, she was given an hourglass which she may choose to break to strip the winning team of their immunity, transferring it to the losing team and herself. Erika broke the hourglass and Danny lost his immunity.
^2 The challenge was played for team reward and individual immunity, with the last person standing winning reward for their team. Danny did not win immunity, but was on the team that won the reward. | ||||||
| Episode | Danny's Votes |
Voted Against Danny |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luvu Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Luvu Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Luvu Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Luvu Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Luvu Tribe Immune | |
| 7 | Evvie | - |
| 8 | Xander | - |
| 9 | Evvie | - |
| 10 | Shan; Shan1 |
- |
| 11 | Ricard | Individual Immunity |
| 12 | Deshawn; Ineligible |
Deshawn, Erika, Heather; Erika, Heather, Ricard, Xander2 |
| Voted Out, Day 23 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Deshawn | |
^1 In "Baby with a Machine Gun", the vote ended with a 3-3 tie between Liana and Shan, forcing a revote. Danny did not change his vote on the revote.
^2 In "Truth Kamikaze", the vote ended with a 3-3 tie between Danny and Deshawn, forcing a revote. Ricard and Xander changed their votes to Danny on the revote, eliminating him from the game.
Post-Survivor[]
Danny's promotional photo for The Challenge: World Championship.
- In the spring of 2022, Danny competed on CBS's The Challenge: USA 1.[3] He alongside fellow Survivor contestant Sarah Lacina became winners of the season.
- In the fall of 2022, Danny competed on Paramount+'s The Challenge: World Championship.[4] He made the final challenge alongside his partner Tori Deal, finishing in 2nd place for both the pairs and of the 15 male Challengers.
Trivia[]
- Danny lasted the longest without receiving elimination votes in Survivor 41.
- Danny lost 20 lbs. during his time on 41.[5]
References[]
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_McCray
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20230204051319/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/216545/
- ↑ https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/the-challenge-usa-cast-revealed-photos/
- ↑ https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/the-challenge-world-championship-cast-revealed-details/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/Survivor/videos/614910076295145/
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