Part 1 / Part 2
Weirdly, it's kind of unprecedented for an alliance to stick together until the very end. Why was the Aitu 4 so strong?
That was something that I really spent a lot of time thinking about because we had this wonderful underdog story - four people who had basically been abandoned, most of us from different ethnicities, and it looked like we had no chance of getting to the end. But because we stayed really tight with one another, and worked well together as a team, we were able to overcome the long odds and get to the end together. And for my part, I was really concerned that we would end up having an ending that required things to degenerate into backstabbing and deceiving which is something that I didn't want to see happen.
So, in our case, I was really happy and proud of the fact that we all stood true to our principles and didn't resort to turning on one another, and I think the reason for that was we had forged a very strong bond after the mutiny and I think all of us really cared about one another and would have been happy to see each other win the game at that point. I think the thing I'm most proud of from this whole season was the fact that we were able to forge an alliance consisting of people from different backgrounds and ethnicities and stick together in a way that has never been seen before on Survivor.
What do you think, if anything, this season of Survivor said about race relations. Was it too small of a sample size to really have any meaning, or do you think there was a message?
I mean, obviously, it was a small sample size and things could have turned out really differently with a different group of people. I'd like to think that in some small way though, there are some positive implications that can be drawn from this experience and applied to society at large. I think it was compelling that the tribe that had different ethnicities and a diversity of backgrounds was the tribe that was really able to work together well as a team, as an integrated team, to overcome long odds. I think that actually speaks volumes for what could be achieved on a larger scale in the rest of society and it's a testament to the fact that difference doesn't mean less, but diversity can be a source of strength.
After watching the season, is there anyone you think received a negative edit? Was someone portrayed worse than they really were or far more positive than they really were?
Um...yeah. I definitely...the actual experience of the show was very authentic. The producers and the crew didn't tell you what to do. There's only one instance where I felt like I was being very fragrantly manipulated, and that was regarding Jonathan Penner's hat when I brought it back to him; I felt that I was basically set up at that point. But, besides that one experience, I felt that it was very authentic. The editing, though, is another story.
There's definitely a lot of, I think, manipulation of the footage in order to paint the story and to paint people in a certain light. I think some people were painted in a more negative light than was actually warranted. I think an example of this might be J.P. Calderon, the pro volleyball player, who was shown as being very arrogant and lazy, when in reality he's actually an extremely nice and considerate guy. But, you know, it made for a more compelling narrative to have him portrayed as being this lazy, tyrannical, despot on his tribe. Another person, Becky Lee, who I think was a very strong player and a huge part of the reason that our tribe got to the end, was just not seen or given a very visible role over the course of the season. And I think that's a disservice to her.
Were there any actions or things you said that you regret after looking back on the season?
No, I don't really think so. I'm not one of those people who don't believe in having regrets. I think you have to have regrets when you make mistakes, otherwise you don't learn from them. But, looking back on this season, I played pretty much the way I wanted to play and I don't think I made any huge mistakes or errors and I don't think I did anything that I'm ashamed of. So, overall, I feel like I've been very fortunate. I played the game that I wanted to play and, fortunately, it allowed me to get to the end and win.
How long was it between the end of filming on the island and the live finale? How excruciating was that wait?
Yeah, we got back in early August, the finale was December 17th. It was probably about a four month time interval. The wait wasn't too bad for me. I knew I had gotten to the finals and I thought I had a good shot at winning. I had gotten much further in the game than I had ever thought I would, so I was really happy. I had a lot of fears, anxieties, and trepidations coming into the game about whether I would embarrass myself, my family my friends, whether I would do something that I would regret. But, you know, none of that came to pass. I felt that I played a good game, I played with as much integrity as the game allows, and I'd gone much farther than I had ever expected to. So, at that point in time when I stepped off the island, I was happy. And if I won, it was just icing on the cake.
During that wait, did you have any sort of sense as what the final vote would be?
I had an idea of how people were likely to have voted, and I felt that I had a good shot at winning, but certainly it wasn't anything close to a certainty.
Are you still in contact with anyone from the cast?
Yeah, absolutely. I'm actually friends with a lot of people from the cast. One of the pleasant surprises for me was I came into the game expecting to find a lot of evil, nasty people. But, the reality is that most of these people outside of the game, in real life, are actually really nice, wonderful people. So I'm still close to all the people from my alliance. I'm actually very good friends with Jonathan Penner and Candice, close friends with Brad and J.P., and I'm on good terms with everyone else, so I've got to say this has been a wonderful experience in terms of making new friends.
What are you up to now and what are your future plans?
Right now, I'm still trying to get settled back down. I feel like I haven't even had a day to really decompress and take stock of things. After the finale I was going around doing a lot of interviews and after that it was the holidays - it was almost like I woke up and realized it was Christmas and I hadn't done any Christmas shopping...and of course there were all these expectations of people to get really nice Christmas gifts because I won a million dollars.
After that I've just been taking a lot of different meetings and phone calls with different people. So, I'm trying to sort all that stuff out. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do going forward. I'd like to do something that allows me to set a good example and to be a positive role model for people of my community, and also to continue changing perceptions about minorities in mainstream society. How I'm going to do that still remains to be seen. But, for sure, I want to spend a lot of time doing a lot of charity work and helping out different organizations and advocating for causes that I'm passionate about.
Part 1/ Part 2
Over the past few months, BuddyTV has interviewed a number of different people from all over the television industry. Thus far, we've featured an interview with CariDee English (winner of America's Next Top Model),an interview with Josh Schwartz (creator of The OC), an interview with Alfred Gough (creator of Smallville), an interview with John Shiban (executive producer of Supernatural), an interview with Mark Schwahn (creator of One Tree Hill) an interview with Hank Steinberg (creator of The Nine), an interview with David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik (the creators of The Class), and an interview with David S. Rosenthal (new Head Writer/Executive Producer of Gilmore Girls).