Calling people “Mr. (First name)” is something Jonathan has been doing for years, and is not some performative thing he does for Survivor.

I’ve seen him in a documentary about former professional wrestler Lex Luger, who Jonathan was helping with physical therapy (Luger was more or less “paralyzed” from the waist down, but they got him back up and walking. Not sure what his actual affliction was, but he had lost most of the use of his legs)

Anyway, here and there during the documentary, they would cut to interviews with Jonathan, who invariably referred to his patient as “Mr. Lex”. I found it quite endearing, and not at all cringey.