247 Ink Magazine (April/May) 2017 Issue#14 | Page 191

Let ’ s talk about the show for a minute . Would you go back and do it again ? I ’ m not really interested in it . I did a few Redemptions , but those kinda suck too . It ’ s never gonna be The Mark Longenecker Show and let ’ s see how cool he is . It ’ s let ’ s put Mark under as much stress as possible and see what happens . I think there was always a formula of trying to make me crack . They put me in the bottom the very first show and they saw what they turned me into and they liked it , so they kept me there . That ’ s one thing I regret the most . Once I had that stigma , whatever I said to anybody they said “ well you ’ re in the bottom a lot ” but that really doesn ’ t matter , it matters where you end up . A lot of those people I beat in the long run and I went all the way to the end and they went home . Close to the end , so I was on every episode and I ’ m proud of that . I don ’ t feel like I have too much to prove . The 3 people who beat me are great people and great artists , I would get tattooed by all 3 of them . Jason Clay Dunn and Erik Siuda and Cleen . Cleen is still one of my best friends and I respected him way before I went there . People think we don ’ t like each other and we fought like you would with your own brothers and sisters , and when I got thrown off and told Jason I was gonna choke him , I meant it , it wasn ’ t for TV , but that was at that moment , but in the long run we would have been drinking beers that night . There ’ s friendship and competition and there ’ s that fine line , especially at the end when everyone is crazy . I was friends with everyone though and in the long run the way they portrayed me was pretty close to who I am . Just a stressed out , tired , manipulated version of me ( laughs ). I think I was pretty chill and it takes a chill guy to make the screaming guys look even crazier but I would kill for those guys . I would take a bullet for them and I love them .

Let ’ s talk about the show for a minute . Would you go back and do it again ? I ’ m not really interested in it . I did a few Redemptions , but those kinda suck too . It ’ s never gonna be The Mark Longenecker Show and let ’ s see how cool he is . It ’ s let ’ s put Mark under as much stress as possible and see what happens . I think there was always a formula of trying to make me crack . They put me in the bottom the very first show and they saw what they turned me into and they liked it , so they kept me there . That ’ s one thing I regret the most . Once I had that stigma , whatever I said to anybody they said “ well you ’ re in the bottom a lot ” but that really doesn ’ t matter , it matters where you end up . A lot of those people I beat in the long run and I went all the way to the end and they went home . Close to the end , so I was on every episode and I ’ m proud of that . I don ’ t feel like I have too much to prove . The 3 people who beat me are great people and great artists , I would get tattooed by all 3 of them . Jason Clay Dunn and Erik Siuda and Cleen . Cleen is still one of my best friends and I respected him way before I went there . People think we don ’ t like each other and we fought like you would with your own brothers and sisters , and when I got thrown off and told Jason I was gonna choke him , I meant it , it wasn ’ t for TV , but that was at that moment , but in the long run we would have been drinking beers that night . There ’ s friendship and competition and there ’ s that fine line , especially at the end when everyone is crazy . I was friends with everyone though and in the long run the way they portrayed me was pretty close to who I am . Just a stressed out , tired , manipulated version of me ( laughs ). I think I was pretty chill and it takes a chill guy to make the screaming guys look even crazier but I would kill for those guys . I would take a bullet for them and I love them .

http :// www . marklongenecker . com /

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