I had an exceptional opportunity to do an interview with one of the fan favorites from The Colony John Cohn about his experiences on the TV show. He’s just as funny and charming outside of the show as he was on it, here is the interview:
What was your experience like being on The Colony?
It was life changing. I’ve had a corporate desk job for the last 28 years. I like my job, but it’s been a long time since I’ve actually worked with my hands. THE COLONY was a wonderful opportunity to see what it was like to build things again.
It was both exciting and humbling. Exciting because most of what we tried actually worked; humbling because it wasn’t as easy as I expected. I don’t mean the deprivation of food, water, sleep, security, etc. – I was okay with all that. But it was hard to invent in that kind of environment. With old, broken-down tools, few usable components, no internet or reference guides, it was harder than I thought it might be.
The other thing that was cool about THE COLONY was the opportunity to go “off-line” for two months: no cell phones, Blackberry’s, computers, newspapers, etc. I’m a communications junky – I have a 3,000 min/month cell phone usage plan! – so I thought that going without all my gadgets would be truly hard. It wasn’t. I loved it! And I’ve tried to be more careful about getting hooked again. Check with me in a few months to see how I’m doing!
On one episode you seemed like you had fun making weapons in case your group was attacked again. Were any of those builds that you did, like being a kid and not having your parents to tell you “No. You can’t do that, its dangerous?”
A little bit. You have to understand, I LOVE building gadgets. I have a whole lab at home with chemicals, electronics equipment, tools, etc. I have bins marked “somewhat safe,” “somewhat unsafe,” and “Ask Dad!”’ to keep my kids out of some of the more dangerous stuff.
In some sense, I think our culture has had to “dumb down” science a bit too much in the interest of safety. Don’t get me wrong: I think safety is very important, but it’s also important to be able to experiment. If my parents had been stricter about keeping me away from chemicals and electricity when I was a kid, I don’t think I’d be as good an engineer.
I think we need to strike a balance that lets kids explore their world but at the same time we need enough intelligent supervision to keep folks safe. As much as I loved appearing on TV with the title “Don’t try this at home” under me, I’m hoping kids are responsibly trying some stuff at home – of course with their parents/guardians/teachers paying close attention!
I think that most viewers, like myself, found ourselves learning about things that we had no clue about, and now are glad for that little piece of knowledge (Mine was the simple water filter system). Was there something that you were able to learn from the other Colonists that you didn’t know before that really stuck with you?
Oh, many things! Here’s a quick list of some of my favorites:
• My favorite invention was the wood gasifier from episode two. Even though it was my idea, and I had heard it would work, no one was more surprised than me when it actually did!
• One thing that also really impressed me, but which didn’t make it into episode three, was the outdoor bread oven Morgan made. I never knew you could bake with wood heat that easily
• I learned from Mike how to use a piece of rubber garden hose to make a flexible rotary coupling
• I learned some cool tricks to disarm someone with a gun from Leilani
• I learned to make “bannock,” a utility pancake that became our staple food from Vladimir
• I learned how to make a simple personal baton weapon from Joey, and also how to make “prison vodka,” though that didn’t make the show!
• I learned a bunch of tricks about how to make shoes from John Valencia
• And so much more!
People have been ranting about the lack of reality in the situation with the lack of guns as weaponry, do you think it would have changed how the experiment was conducted?
Sure it would have. Remember that just because we didn’t have guns doesn’t mean that no one had guns, as episode four demonstrated. I think adding guns would have made it more violent. That might be more realistic, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun for me. I was there to invent and survive. That said, the whole marauder thing made the show more interesting to watch.
What was the hardest adjustment that you had to make while on the show, were you craving anything to eat, or a piece of technology in particular?
Oh man, in terms of missing things…I missed my family, Mexican food and beer – in that order. In terms of equipment I would have liked to have a better soldering iron and an old electronics catalog/handbook. Believe it or not, though, it was cool living within the constraints of the experiment.
Seriously, what was it like sharing essentially one large bed with 8 to 9 other people on it?
We had five in ours! It was hilarious. We all talked and told stupid jokes until way too late at night. Some of us snored. We all smelled funky. It was like being in a dorm room again.
How hard was it to change your mindset while you were on a TV show, that even though everything going on around you suggested differently, that it was just a show, and not real life. Did you know in the back of your mind that this wasn’t real and no big harm would come to you?
I never lost site that it was an experiment, but we were all totally immersed. We didn’t have to pretend that we were thirsty, hungry, dirty or tired, because we really were. The marauders were a bit harder for me to get into, but even then I didn’t need to pretend to be angry. I was. While I knew they weren’t supposed to hurt us, they did break and steal our stuff. Given how hard-up we were, it was easy to get mad!
You’ve talked about how you hated feeling angry when you guys were attacked by marauders. Do you think that you understand better why some people get so upset and violent about what they feel makes them unsafe or something was taken from them?
Yes. I really did gain some personal insights from those experiences. My take is that it’s really easy being a pacifist when no one is out to get you. I became practical in a hurry. There’s no question that during the real deal, you’d need to be prepared to protect yourselves. I still think the first approach needs to be diplomatic, but if that fails, you need to be able to fight back, if that’s what it takes. In the end, it’s either you or them. And that was such a different place for me to be.
If you could go back and do something differently than how you guys did on the show, or maybe would have been more vocal about, what would that have been?
I have dozens of ideas that I would have liked to try, but we just ran out of time. I tried to do projects with every Colonist. I think I would have liked working a bit more with the women. They were really easy to work with.
I think I could have been more vocal too. Though, the first three weeks with Mike was tough. I finally talked to him after hours and told him I liked working with him, and really respected him, but that sometimes I found it hard because of his temper. That worked! We figured out a way to communicate that worked for both of us and from then on I really loved working with the guy. He is wicked smart and a great designer (and a really nice guy…just don’t tell anyone ). I only wish I’d had that conversation earlier with him. I think we actually made a really good team.
Was there anything that you think you learned about yourself that you never knew before because you were on The Colony?
I realized that I really enjoyed working within constraints. At home and work, I always have everything I need to do a project. On THE COLONY we never had the right parts, tools, books etc. I learned that I like doing it that way better. Maybe because it’s more like a game.
When everything was over, did any of the producers or filming crew tell you exactly how they planned everything or tried to mess with your heads in certain ways?
After the show we were able to compare notes on what the TV folks had thought we’d do versus what we did do. It was amazing to see home much stuff we actually did on their list, without any prompting whatsoever. It was also very cool to see the stuff we did that they hadn’t thought of themselves.
You guy seem to have really bonded. Has any of those relationships kept going after the show was over?
Actually we all got to be very close. And we talk all the time through email and on the phone. I think we’ll remain very close after what we all went through together.
Would you do it all again, if they ran the show with a different apocalyptic scenario?
Absolutely!