Jon Dalton Biography (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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.

Early life

John Dalton attended George Washington High School, followed by college at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Dalton started in wrestling in 1998 in North Carolina, and then moved to Oregon where, as Jonny Fairplay, he started his own promotion, New Dimension Wrestling (not to be confused with a similarly-named Carolinas' promotion). There he served as promoter and heel commentator. During this time, he also ran his own weekly online professional wrestling radio talk show, having various wrestlers on as guest commentators.

John Dalton also worked with Rowdy Roddy Piper as his production assistant, and he was in the same car wreck that almost ended Piper's life.

Reality TV career

Survivor

In 2003, on Survivor: Pearl Islands, 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%. His masterminding the ouster of audience favorite Rupert Boneham also contributed to his unpopularity. While Jonny Fairplay's obnoxious behavior might have hurt him, one cannot discount his strategy of lying and manipulation.

Dalton became most infamous on Survivor after constructing what host Jeff Probst called "the greatest lie in Survivor history." 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. Other cast members took pity on him and let him win the challenge, all according to his plan. Dalton 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.) Doing so allowed Dalton to constantly switch alliances, earning him a spot in the final four. Then when he was likely to be voted off, he instigated a fight between Lillian Morris and Darrah Johnson, causing Darrah to be voted off instead of him.

Jonny Fairplay was so hated that it was only logical that anyone would want to face him against the jury. However, at the final three, Lil (who won the final immunity challenge, and therefore could choose either Dalton or Sandra Diaz-Twine) despised Dalton so much that she could not bring herself to take him into the Final Two, and chose to take Diaz-Twine instead. This turned out to be a bad move for Morris, as she was subsequently beaten by Diaz-Twine in the group vote by 6-1.

Probst has since publicly said:

"... [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."

Other appearances

In 2005, Dalton appeared in the reality television program, Kill Reality, which follows various reality television personalities as they film a horror movie. Dalton turned out to be the "star" of the show as it detailed his outrageous antics which culminated in him defecating on another cast member's bed and getting kicked out of house. The horror film, The Scorned, aired on E! in October 2005 and was subsequently released as a DVD with extra nudity and violence. During the television show, Dalton revealed having a past relationship with Tonya Cooley and a friendship with Trishelle Cannatella, both of Real World fame.

Dalton blogged for CBS' official Survivor website during Survivor: Guatemala.

Dalton was featured on an episode of the A&E reality show Inked. Upon entering the store Dalton stated, "Time for a tattoo for Jonny Fairplay, the most hated man in reality television." A couple next to him began to tell him how hated he is, and he gave them a middle finger salute. Upon seeing this transpire, Thomas Huntington, the shop owner, had Dalton thrown out of the store. Given that a reality show was being filmed in the store, it is quite likely that Dalton used the incident as some sort of publicity stunt.

In August 2005, Dalton appeared in an all-reality stars opening round of tournament six of Celebrity Poker Showdown. On June 26 2006 he appeared on Fear Factor Reality stars special edition. On February 2 2007 he appeared on Judge Mathis as a "witness" to the defendant.

In August 2007, he was back on television when CMT cast Dalton in Ty Murray"s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge. He was among nine lesser celebrities cast on the show.

Wrestling career

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004-2005)

After Survivor, Dalton was signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where he appeared under the Jonny Fairplay moniker. In mid January, vignettes began airing hyping his debut in the company. He made his debut on January 21 but was interrupted by A.J. Styles. The two feuded for several weeks, and on February 25, Fairplay brought in Lex Luger to get revenge on Styles and cost him the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

He made brief, non-wrestling appearances at both Final Resolution 2005 and at Destination X 2005. In October 2005, Dalton (as Jonny Fairplay) was a co-host, along with Jeremy Borash, of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's syndicated show Xplosion. He is currently no longer under contract to TNA.

Independent circuit (2006-2007)

On October 7 2006, Fairplay was defeated by Molly Holly after a low blow and quick pin fall at a WCWA event. One month later, Fairplay and the Hardkore Kidd defeated Frankie Kazarian.

Dalton made an appearance in Ring of Honor, an American independent professional wrestling promotion, on March 31 2007 in Detroit, Michigan. He was introduced as an ally for Chris Hero and Larry Sweeney for the night. He was on the receiving end of a lariat from Nigel McGuiness later on.

Filmography

Judge Mathis (February 2, 2007)
Fear Factor Episodes: Reality Stars: Parts 1 and 2 (2006)
True Life Episode: I'm a Reality Star (2006)
Celebrity Poker Showdown (2005)
The Scorned (2005) as D.Q.
Kill Reality (2005)
The Daily Buzz (October 27, 2004)
50 Most Outrageous TV Moments (2004)
The Howard Stern Show (January 8, 2004)
Survivor: Pearl Islands (2003-2004)

This biography article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jon Dalton". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.