On last night’s episode of Survivor: Gabon, Marcus was blindsided by Kota after the tribes were mixed up instead of merged. Marcus ended up on a tribe with Crystal and Kenny of the former Fang tribe. Crystal and Marcus realized that they shared a special connection – her cousin was his best friend and the two attempted to form an alliance. Crystal, however, went back on her word, pulled Susie in for a swing vote, and eliminated Marcus from the game. Today, he spoke to BuddyTV in an exclusive interview.
Below, you will find the transcript and mp3 of the interview.
Hey everybody. This is Gina from BuddyTV, and today I’m talking to Marcus from Survivor: Gabon.
You’re my last interview. This is such a bittersweet moment. This is my swan song. Let’s make this one a Nobel/Pulitzer Prize winning interview.
Well, I was just saying, I’m so mad that you got eliminated because I thought you were going to go all the way to the end with Charlie.
Um, that was the plan.
What are they thinking this season? They just keep voting off all these strong, physical players.
Well, the thing about Charlie and I is, we weren’t just physical. We had the mental thing going on, which was great, and in fact, it separated us a little from Dan and Ace. Not Jacquie so much. That was a horrible day in my world.
Were you actually friends with Charlie in the game, or were you just using him to get ahead?
Charlie is one of my best friends. He is an amazing guy. We hit it off right away and there was no using of each other. We were actually like, “Dude, you sure you’re not using me?” Like, “Uh, no.” “Are you sure?” We couldn’t even believe how well we were getting along ‘cause I think we all expected to get into Survivor and everyone was gonna be totally paranoid, sneaky, conniving jerks. Charlie and I were just hanging out and having a good time.
Well, I’m glad you and Charlie got together for an alliance this season because every season needs a good bromance and we got it in you guys!
Yes, we had an awesome bromance and I enjoyed every minute of the exposure.
Explain a little more about the connection you ended up having with Crystal and how that affected your gameplay in last night’s episode.
That’s a great question. I was shocked to find out that one of my best friends from Atlanta… I have two best friends, David and Ken. They’re guys that are like brothers to me. They’re family and they’re great people. Crystal was telling me she went to UNC and I’m like, “Oh, I know a guy who went to UNC.” It was such a stupid thing where you actually know who the person who went to this giant school. But she says, “I know, Kenny… Kenneth.” She’s his cousin! And I was like, “Are you serious?” And it all came together because then I realized – you’re not really a good basketball player, are you? We hit it off on that level. It’s one of those things where, when you’re struggling with somebody like Susie to make a connection and failing miserably, you’re thinking, “Well, at least I have something else here that I can start working on and hope that over the next couple days, I’ll have enough of a relationship to where she and I can communicate on what the next move should be.” Like, this is not somebody that I need to fight. This is somebody that I want to work with. That’s how I viewed the friendship and some of that is out of respect for my friend, Kenneth, because he really is a great guy. I don’t think that she got some of his good nature. I was wrong about that.
Jeff Probst said that from last night’s episode until the of the season, it was going to start being the good people vs. the bad people. Is the good people alliance something that you sort of spearheaded and got started and then got voted out?
Well, I’ll let the viewers decide. For me, I played the game the way I play my real life. I’ve been so blessed. I have great parents. They helped me take advantage of the blessings that I have. I think I learned it when my sister passed away and I realized that we were always bickering a little bit as kids and it was just one of those things where… considering what we meant for each other and how we help each other and we might not have the chance to make amends in that respect. I think that that’s kind of the dynamic that got started with my group of comrades in the game, I guess. It certainly was one of the elements that developed over at the Fang tribe. I think that we’ll continue to see that difference being a very big element. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. I obviously have not seen any of the other episodes so I don’t really know what went down in a lot of ways.
Who would you and Charlie have taken to final three?
Corinne, most likely. I was close to Charlie. I loved Randy a lot and it would’ve been a very, very difficult decision to go from four to three in that position with Randy or Bob. I think it would’ve probably been Corinne, Charlie, and I if we could’ve pulled it off.
Do you leave the game with any regrets?
Only that I left the game. I would gladly starve to do more challenges and to experience more. I feel so blessed and so humbled to go through this experience and I had a great time. Like I said, I regretted not having more time out there with the cool people that I met and get under Jeff’s skin some more ’cause I know… I know that throwing that idol in the water that got to him. It was awesome.
Well, I’m glad I could give you your swan song and I just wanted to thank you so much.
Take care.
– Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
