Joe Anglim didn't just find the adventure of a lifetime on Survivor -- he found the potential love of his life.
ADVERTISEMENT
Joe opened up about how he's dating Sierra Dawn Thomas, whom he played against on Survivor: Worlds Apart, and is now living with her in Utah during a recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.
Joe -- who will be competing on Season 38, Survivor: Edge of Extinction -- said he met Sierra on Season 30 of Survivor in 2014 but they didn't fall in love during the show.
RELATED LINK: 'SURVIVOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER?! WHICH SHOWMANCES SPLIT UP? (PHOTOS)
In fact, Joe tried to manipulate Sierra a little bit while playing for $1 million, using their friendship and his flirtatious nature to his advantage.
ADVERTISEMENT
"But she was not having any of that. We really didn't even have that great of a relationship, even within the game," Joe told the newspaper. "She voted me out, which she reminds me of every chance she gets."
According to Joe, the pair's "friendship developed" after the game when they would both attend Survivor-related events or gatherings, and then they ultimately met each other's family.
"Neither of us was looking to have a relationship or find love on an island," insisted Joe, who grew up outside of Scottsdale, AZ.
"You always say, 'Oh, what if?' But in reality, you know that's not going to happen. And you shouldn't couple up because it's bad for your games [to be viewed as a power pair]. But, again, all this happened after the fact."
Joe said of the barrel racer from Roy, UT, "We realized we had way more in common than we'd really gotten to know out there on the show."
ADVERTISEMENT
Since falling for each other, Joe acknowledged he's been "thrown into a whole new world" by living in Utah.
"I've just been learning a lot about horses and doing a lot of equine massage and training," Joe told the newspaper with a laugh.
"I knew nothing about horses coming up here. So Sierra had to be patient with me. She had to teach me. She's still teaching me. Man, I didn't realize how much work horses were. Especially these ones. They're like Ferraris. They're fast, they have bad attitudes and you have to be very mindful of them all the time."
RELATED LINK: 'BIG BROTHER' SHOWMANCES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER? WHICH COUPLES HAVE SPLIT UP?? (PHOTOS)
But the chemistry Joe and Sierra have comes naturally, as Joe admitted the blonde beauty loves his unique look.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Sierra is so funny. I grew [a mustache] out for a while, and she just fell in love with it. And she said, 'I want you to keep the Doc Holliday look.' I'm not allowed to cut it off. She loves the man bun and the little mustache-goatee thing," Joe shared.
Sierra was actually the person who encouraged Joe to attempt to outwit, outplay and outlast a third time on this year's Survivor: Edge of Extinction season, which premieres Wednesday, February 20 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.
Joe -- who also previously competed on Survivor: Cambodia: Second Chance -- will be one of four returning players next season along with Aubry Bracco, Kelley Wentworth and David Wright.
Joe claims to be ready for the starvation and brutal mind games all over again, although he needed to take some time off to recover "physically and mentally" from his first two stints on the reality competition series.
Sierra, for example, was actually hospitalized after appearing on Survivor's 34th season dubbed Survivor: Game Changers.
ADVERTISEMENT
"She was in the hospital for, like, a week almost with liver failure and kidney failure. I mean, it's no joke. This game really pushes you to your breaking point -- past that point," Joe revealed to The Tribune.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT?! (PHOTOS)
Joe will also be surviving in new terrain with new weather conditions. This will mark his first time filming in Fiji, as his two previous editions were taped in Nicaragua and Cambodia.
Regardless of the struggles that await him, Joe admitted it's "so surreal" to be playing Survivor again.
"I literally just told her, 'I can't believe that we played Survivor together, honey. I still can't get over the fact that we both have played twice, and now I'm going to play again. It's crazy. This is nuts," Joe told The Tribune.
But Joe has never made it to Survivor's final jury vote. Since he was also viewed as a lovable, personable guy and huge physical threat, Joe insisted he's going to have to "change things up" a bit for Season 38, though he didn't disclose a specific strategy he has in mind.
"I always knew that I was meant to play Survivor in my heart. I visualized it. I dreamt about it," said Joe, who's been a fan of the show since Season 1 premiered in 2000.
"I had vivid dreams of getting my dad out onto the season. But that wasn't the reason that I was meant to play. The reason I was meant to go on this journey was to find [Sierra]."
RELATED LINK: 'SURVIVOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER?! WHICH SHOWMANCES SPLIT UP? (PHOTOS)
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski