Maybe I'll have to check out this new survivor, I remember Rude Awakening and watched faithfully too. I like making connections like that to people/actors I've enjoyed watching perviously on other things.

Rebecca, I know just what you mean. It drives me batty when I can't figure those things out. And SouthBeach, you're completely right. Don't forget Brian Heidik, who also had an acting past. But Penner is clearly a step beyond any of the previous actors on Survivor.

Historically, Survivor has a habit of doing this. They have contestants who are "waiters" or "bartenders" or listed as something else meanwhile they're also actors, models or in the entertainment business in some form. I remember hearing Johnny Fairplay on Howard Stern talking about how they found him for the show as well as others plus every season you see a few articles like this. I think it's kind of disengenious of Survivor but then again if Jonathan writes and tries to make money from it then it makes him a writer...

I am SO glad you ID'd this guy. When I heard his voice last night, I just knew that I had heard/seen him before but I couldn't put him together with Rude Awakening (which I watched faithfully thank you very much) since Survivor called him a writer. Cool!

He also starred in the Tea Leoni vehicle, "The Naked Truth" as a cute photographer/possible love interest for her character. So obviously I know him better as an actor than a "writer". Strange.

I just looked at the IMDB page, and saw something I'm almost ashamed to point out. He was in the first episodes of The Nanny, as the "boyfriend who threw her out in that crushing scene" and the reason "[Fran Drescher] bacame The Naaaannyyyy."