'Survivor' Icon Ozzy Lusth on Starting an OnlyFans
Film/TV

'Survivor' Icon Ozzy Lusth on Starting an OnlyFans

by Evan Ross Katz

Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth holds a rare title in the Survivor universe: He is among only seven players among the show's 590 castaways to play the game four times (Boston Rob holds the record with five appearances). He's also a two-time recipient of the game's Fan Favorite Award, placing him with fellow legends Cirie Fields and Rupert Boneham as the most experienced and well-liked players to never win the game. Still, Lusth is no loser.

In the four years since his last appearance on the show, Lusth has kept busy, maintaining work in the restaurant business and, most recently, starting an OnlyFans, where fans can see Lusth in all his explicit glory. It's a side of Lusth first seen by many 15 years ago when he made an appearance on Playboy TV's Foursome. "Having sex with Oscar was like having sex... on top of the world," one of his partners told the camera during a confessional shortly post-coitius.

Below, Ozzy answers burning questions (like if he masturbated during his time on Survivor), reminisces about his days as a stripper and discusses his pivot to OnlyFans, including which Survivor alum he'd most like to perform with and whether we might see some guy-on-guy action.

Ozzy! Legend. Let's go back a bit. Tell me how you first heard about Survivor?

When I was graduating high school (I'm 39), Survivor was in its first year. I wasn't the kind of kid that followed television shows at all but Survivor really spoke to me as someone who has always been into the idea of being stranded on a deserted island. And so I remember seeing the Season 1 finale at a friend's house and in the credits it had a directive to submit a tape to CBS to be considered for a future season but that applicants had to be 21 or over. And I was like "fuck that show." And so it was in one ear, out the other until many years later — well not many, more like five or six — and I had moved to Los Angeles to get a job in the entertainment industry and then randomly, cosmically, serendipity my friend met a casting agent. Soon thereafter I got a call saying they needed a "non-stereotypical latino guy," and I surf and skate and I'm not really what people would consider a typical Mexican... at least 15 years ago. So they had me submit a video and the rest is history.

Let's talk about Cook Islands, your first season, which was billed at the time as a race wars season and saw the tribes divided into four groups: Black, Hispanic, Asian and White. This received a ton of blowback at the time for obvious reasons, and especially so considering the lack of POC contestants on the show prior to that season. Were you made aware of this twist in advance?

No, none of us knew that this was going to be this super-diverse Survivor season. I'm sure some of the cast that were more students of the game, those that had watched the show in its 12 seasons leading up, maybe had a sense that something was different. I had no idea. I was so naive when it came to Survivor. I tried to cram as much as I could when I found out I was going to be on, just to understand the game. But once we got out there and Jeff [Probst] said he'd be splitting us all up based on race, I was less shocked than I was excited, because I looked at my tribe of Latinos and was like, "Great, we've got some strong players... except for Billy." Which I'd like to say I still feel so bad about. Me throwing that second challenge made no sense. It's one of the biggest regrets I have out of all the choices I ever made in Survivor. He could have been an incredibly strong ally. He could have made it to the end and been someone that voted for me. Dumb. Super dumb. But regarding the race wars aspect, despite the outrage at the time, I'm glad it had the result it did [with four POC landing in the top four]. The subsequent seasons should have been more inclusive.

Have you heard the rumor that Fiji, the season that succeeded Cook Islands, was also intended to utilize the same twist of dividing the tribes up by race but abandoned the premise following the backlash? Because that season features only four white contestants among the 19. Notably, it's the second season in a row to feature an all POC Top Four.

I think I watched it. That's the season with Earl and Yau-man, right? You know it was so bad, because after I played and lost it was really hard for me to watch the subsequent seasons. I'd watch a little bit but it would bring up too much emotional bullshit, so I don't think I really watched that season. But no, I wasn't aware of that or at least not as aware of it as I should have been.

How bad do people smell out there?

Yes they do, but you don't notice it. It's weird. At least for me I was in the water all the time so I don't think I was that smelly. Also my diet even leading up to Survivor was pretty good. I don't eat a lot of meat. I mostly eat fish and vegetables. I do know that the people who have heavy meat diets coming out there would go through this detox week where they'd get really stinky. But when you're around them all the time you don't really smell it. But the production would put us into boats or vans to get us from one location to another and they'd always be like, "Whoa, guys, oh my God the smell." But on the inverse of that, we could smell what they ate for lunch, ate for dinner. So you'd be talking to them and then be like [gestures like he's sniffing] "Did you guys have sausages? Oh yeah, pancakes too?"

Did you masturbate out there?

This is a question that a lot of people ask. For me, I didn't, never once on any of the seasons I was on. Part of it was I just didn't really have the desire. The first time I played I had a girlfriend and those 40+ days was the longest I had gone without any kind of physical pleasure or touching or anything since I was 14 or whenever you find… yourself. But I know that there's other players who have, like Adam Gentry from Cook Islands did it when he went out to Exile Island. I know that because he talked about it. Everybody knows that when you say you're going to go take a walk you're either going to take a piss, talk to the producers or just need some alone time. But my sexual drive was just focused on other places.

But we did get that night vision footage during Micronesia of you and Amanda Kimmel cuddling up very close and there seemed to be some smooches. Was that all it was? And… I know you two dated briefly after the show. Was that relationship real or was it constructed or heightened for the show?

Let me start with the first question. Yeah, there were a lot more situations that Amanda and I found ourselves in. We'd find little pockets of privacy for sure. It was really just kissing and some petting because then things got intense game-play wise and we already knew we were facing a lot of scrutiny because we were a couple and James and Parvati were a couple, which meant bigger targets on our backs. Immediately following the show and we got together it was on. Now to your second question. The emotions that I had… they were true emotions. I think maybe the emotions were heightened a bit because of the intensity of the feelings that you have when you're going through Survivor and then all of the sudden your distractions are all gone and you think you have this chemistry with a person and things that worked in the jungle don't always translate to the city. I really did have strong feelings for her. I was falling in love with her. But when we got back into real life it didn't really work. The worst part about the whole thing — and this was something I didn't find out until many years later — is that many years later we reconnected, we went out on some dates and were getting close again, and she was going to move back to Montana and said, "Hey, I have to tell you something… it was my idea to vote you out back then." And she didn't take credit for it. She pretended like it was this blindside situation that Parvati and Cirie crafted, but they hadn't. It was her. And if she just had owned it in front of me, in front of the tribe, and been like, "Yo, I'm sorry but I played you," I know for a fact she would have won. But she wasn't honest about it. And it would have hurt me, yes, but our relationship never went anywhere. I know she regrets it. That bites people in the ass a lot with this show. If you're up there and you have your chance to make your case to the jury, be as honest as you possibly can, even if you think it's going to hurt people's feelings.

You appeared in a 2006 episode of Playboy TV's adult reality "dating" series Foursome just a few months before you went and filmed your first season of Survivor. In the episode you are seen showering, receiving oral sex and having sex with multiple contestants. How did you wind up on this show?

So my mom was living in LA and I was going to school in Santa Barbara. I had saved up some money and was going to go on a year-long surf trip down to Central America. And I remember answering an ad for Playboy TV that was something like, "Spend 24 hours with two couples and if something happens... great." Something like that — and it paid $500. So I sent in my stuff and got on the show. I never thought I would be an actor or in front of the camera. I had done nude modeling when I was in college and I was a stripper in college. I've been an exhibitionist my whole life. I figured this would be a one-off and no one would watch it. It didn't really sink in then that once you do something, with the internet it's going to be there forever. I just wanted to have fun. I thought, "I'm going to have fun with these chicks and it will be a blast." No thought of the future. $500 to have a good time? Let's do it. And it was so much fun. And I got a taste of what it was like to perform in front of a crew of people, and it didn't affect me. In fact, I kinda liked it. I felt bad for the other guy though because... I don't know if you remember... he had problems [getting hard]. I feel especially bad for him because that episode got more eyes on it because of me and I think that it's not something he probably wanted people to see.

Were the Survivor casting people aware of this video? Season five winner Brian Heidik had a past in softcore porn that casting was aware of and female alumni were regularly featured in Playboy before and after the show, so it's not like you weren't in good company.

It was really scary because I hadn't told the producers. When you fill out the paperwork they ask for everything and I didn't tell them about that. After we're back from Cook Islands and it's close to the premiere I get a call from Lynne Spillman, she was the head of the casting department for many years up until recently, who was furious. And she just let me have it. "Everyone's so disappointed because you lied to us." I think she was just kinda scaring me a little bit, though, because I don't think they really cared that much. But it did have a detrimental effect because I had opportunities that presented themselves after the show that went away when people found out about Foursome.

Did any adult companies reach out?

If there were, I never saw them. If I had gone and looked for them maybe. But I wasn't really set up for it. It was a sex tape basically before people were really doing sex tapes. I mean, Paris Hilton's tape had come out two years before and then of course Pamela Anderson's sex tape which was... wonderful. At that point I just apologized. I wrote a letter to Jeff. And it didn't seem to affect them casting me anymore.

Right! Okay let's go back before we go forward. Need to know more about your days as a stripper. Channing Tatum is shaking.

I was probably 19 or 20 and I was working at this Moroccan restaurant in Santa Barbara called Chef Karim where the meals included belly dancing in the middle of it. And these older ladies would just be hitting on me all of the time. And I saw an ad in the paper for Stripograms and I was like, "Hey, I'll try that out." So I got a construction outfit, a police outfit and just started doing it. I had so much fun. I think there's a big difference between men stripping for women and women stripping for men. I mean, I know there is. For me it was more about comedy and embarrassing the bride or the birthday girl. The most cringey ones were going to an office and having to do a striptease at someone's office, which was fucking horrible. But bachelorette parties, birthdays, so much fun. And it wasn't so much about the sex — I mean, it would be that too — but it was more about flipping a girl over and pretending to eat her out or just getting hard and tapping them with your clothed member. And I was making pretty good money. And of course every once in a while a girl would take a liking and something would happen either that night or later on. One time I showed up and it was a guy and a girl and I asked, "What's going on?" and she's like, "Well, are you into both of us?" And they didn't want me to dance or anything, they just wanted me to fuck one of them. And I was like, "Sorry I'm not gay, but nice to meet you," and I went with her. All good memories. The only embarrassing part was going to strip at a birthday party and seeing the little sister of one of my friends from high school. "Hi Katie, how are you doing? Don't tell your brother."

Now, let's talk OnlyFans. Why did you want to launch?

It took me about a year and a half to make the decision. I've been mulling it over in my head, thinking about all of the pros and cons. How is this going to affect my life in the future? The effect on my family, my friends, my career. I look back at what I did in my 20s. I look back on Foursome. I look back on Survivor. And I look in the mirror and I'm like, "I'm starting to get old." I want to enjoy my life as much as I possibly can. I don't give a fuck about what anybody thinks. I know I'm a good guy. I have morals and ethics and I do right by people. My parents love me. I told them that I was going to do this. They were like, "Are you sure you want to do that?" And I said, "Yeah." Also, I started dating a porn star a couple of years ago, Kissa Sins, and just seeing her experience in the adult industry and getting a little closer to it personally made me more fascinated by it. I always had thought it would be fun to do, but never really took it seriously because I had other interests. But being with her and exploring what it means to connect to people made me realize that I want to enjoy my sexuality. I love to perform for people, with people. I think that some of the biggest problems we have when it comes to sex is that we just don't talk about it. It's so taboo. I don't fancy myself a sex worker advocate, although I'm trying to learn as much as possible about the industry. I realize that I don't face nearly the same obstacles that a young trans person that's trying to make ends meet [does].

For people not yet subscribed, how explicit is this OnlyFans? Can subscribers expect to see full on fucking?

Yeah!

Are you open to connecting with other OnlyFans creators and creating content with them? I know that's a big way in which the platform functions.

Of course. I mean I'm looking for that. The problem that I've come to in this beginning stage is that I've been doing all of my work with my lady and she just moved to Hawaii — we're doing a long distance thing and have an open relationship — and I've encountered a lot of people reaching out saying they are interested with no follow through. I'm making some headway, but I'm 100% open to working with people.

Is there ever the possibility that you'd do a MMF threesome?

Yeah, of course. People ask me all of the time what my sexual orientation is. I wouldn't say that it's fluid — I've never been with a man — but I've had threesomes with male friends in college where we're fucking the same girl. I'm not opposed to it, it just has to happen organically and with the right people. I'm open to it all. I think one thing that's really dangerous for men is this toxic masculinity, this idea that just because we're men we have to be about fucking women and, "Stay away from my butthole." I'm becoming more comfortable with myself and more comfortable with sharing that. And I think that's part of the journey that I'm going on. Am I going to end up being gay? Probably not. But will I end up working with other guys? Maybe. I'm not opposed to it. Beautiful people are beautiful people. To live in this world and not be open to all of the experiences that are out there is a shame.

If you were to perform in an OnlyFans video with a Survivor alumni, who would it be?

Oh my God. Damn! I would probably go with Julie Berry [from Vanuatu]. She's one of the most beautiful women that's played Survivor. And she might appreciate me saying that. She would never in a million years ever do it because it's just not her style. Or, and this is going sound really weird, Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Just because she's so conservative, so close minded and so just the opposite of who I am. It might be kinda fun.

Last question: You famously were spotted with and are rumored to have dated the one and only Lindsay Lohan. I've seen the paparazzi photos. You've been very honest throughout this interview, what can you tell us about your time together?

You know, I would love to answer all of your questions, unfortunately legally I can't. I don't know if there's a statute of limitations on that, but as far as I know I can't say anything because I don't want to get my ass sued.

Photo courtesy of Ozzy Lusth

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