Secret Scene: Brendan
Brendan and Debbie gather some inspiration as they paint their clothes.
(everyone sits around bored)
Brendan (solo): So today, it's pretty monotonous out here. I have a hard time sitting around doing nothing. I think Debbie definitely does also. I was thinking about what we could do. We definitely haven't been able to do that many things creative, but we still have our leftover paint, and we still have these same clothes we've been wearing for days. I was thinking why don't we make some new outfits.
Brendan: I like how you paint. Why don't you paint your dress?
Debbie: Designs!
Brendan: That's be a fun project there. (smirks and nods at Debbie) Let's paint our clothes.
Debbie: How fun is that?
Brendan: I'll do that. I'm in. Alright, let's get motivated to do that.
Brendan (solo): And so Debbie and I put together some new outfits. Mine was very Speed Racer-inspired, because I can't really do anything else artistic.
Brendan: What are you going with?
Debbie: I don't know yet. I haven't really decided. Just gonna keep...
Brendan: Do you need any inspiration?
Debbie: No.
Brendan (solo): I'm not really an artsy-craftsy kind of guy (laughs), I love projects and having some type of purpose during my day. (Brendan tells Tyson they're making new outfits, Tyson says, "Sexy"). I thought that was great. It's making people smile around camp.
Tribal Council Voting
Find out what each castaway had to say as they cast their votes.
JT (Sierra with a sad face): <says nothing>
Debbie ("Brendon"): Brendan, you started playing the game again without us, and making alliances within the Jalapao members. Sorry.
Coach (Brendan with a small x underneath): You should have never gone against me. The ancient samurai used to say that if you wanted to defeat the army and win the war, you had to cut the head off the dragon. You, my friend, are the dragon, and I am the dragon slayer. Goodnight, sweet prince.
Sierra (Coach with a small heart): I didn't want to make this vote at all, actually.
Tyson (Sierra): Hopefully Brendan goes out, but if not, this is plan B. So...um...(muted out). That's it.
Taj (Brendan): Because I can't trust you.
Brendan (Coach): <says nothing>
Erinn (Sierra with a big X): I will gladly write your name down a thousand more times.
Stephen (Brendan with lightning bolts): This is my wizard lightning, shooting you back home. Kapow!
Brendan's Final Words
Brendan reacts to having just been blindsided.
"Thank you everybody, that was one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. So different than anything you can imagine being on the other side of the TV. It was so fun. Great game, great people, and I wish everybody would have a chance of doing it. Awesome time."
(cut)
"Going into this game, I expected to never have any type of certainty going into any part of the game. I knew at the merge that what would happen is I would become a big target. I didn't think it would happen quite that quickly, but it kind of feels good to blindside, because I wanted to blindside someone too. It's part of the game, it's all good. Goodbye all of them. I wish them the best of luck. I'm so psyched to be able to kind of sit there and witness it on the jury. It should be an interesting next couple tribals. We'll see what happens."
(cut)
"For me, coming out here, the money was one part of it. Obviously that would have been great. But it was to play a game and to enjoy an experience that not a lot of people have the ability to. Basically we're down here in Brazil, and you're in a totally different environment where all the rules of normal society that you know are taken away, all the material possessions are taken away, and to kind of go through that experience is something that will change me forever, hopefully in a positive way. I'll sure try to do it that way."
(cut)
"I think after what happened just now, with me getting voted out, my guess is Sierra's close behind. My guess is they thought one of us had the immunity idol, and that's why they loaded the votes the way they did. It was very smart. I was doing the same thing. As soon as this game merged it became an individual game. All bets are off. I'll be excited to see what happens."
(cut)
"The thing that Sierra probably needs most is in my pocket right now. I thought about leaving it and telling her where it was, but at this point, because she's such a target, for whatever reason, maybe because we're associated with each other, I don't think this could have saved her. Clearly the target was on me or her. Alliances are kind of set, based on that vote. Even if Sierra did have it, she'd be next, regardless, to go, and they'd figure out a way to kind of make it happen. It's just a matter of time."
Brendan the Day After
Brendan reflects on his experience in the game, noting what he would do differently if given a second chance.
"My Survivor experience was awesome. I think we came to a beautiful place. I was totally psyched to get to come down to Brazil. All the people we got stuck down here with, all the castaways in a sense, were all awesome. I had a great time getting to know 'em. Looking back on it, I definitely have some regrets about how I played the game, because it would have been totally fun to win. You come into it, you watch it on television, you think you have a good idea of what it's going to feel like, but you can't even begin to understand what that transition is like, in terms of coming into the game and having the food taken away, having the sleep taken away, having everyone start talking around. It's so creepy. (laughs) All that took a lot to get adjusted too. Overall, I'd do it again."
(cut)
"Being blindsided like that, I take 2 things from it. One, I was threatening to everybody so they wanted to get rid of me, which is kind of a backhanded compliment. The other thing immediately for me I'm like OK, what did I do wrong? Pretty clearly, I did, I can count on a hand what I did wrong, and if I played the game again, how I would play it differently, and how I got myself in trouble."
(cut)
"Some of my mistakes is I created an alliance with Sierra way too early, without really knowing who she was. Trying to stay loyal to that hurt me. Talking to Taj and creating the Exile Alliance I was fine with, but what I should have done is bring Tyson, or Coach, or Debbie into that loop to let them know what I was doing, so we could make that decision together. Ultimately, either place would have gotten me pretty far deep into the game. The reason I had worked with Taj early on was, the way the game was structured this time, the fact we were both going to Exile and you only had half a chance, 50% chance to get a clue, you had to work with somebody, and that allowed me to get to the immunity idol. That's another thing I would have done differently. At one point Tyson came to me by himself and asked, 'Do you have the idol?' I should have said yes. That thing is cursed. (laughs) I should have realized that and kind of just brought it up and said I do have it, but I'm willing to give it to somebody else and get it out of my hands, because all it does is kind of enlarge that target."
(cut)
"To me, in this game so many people came to you individually to talk about things, and when that happened, I would say, 'Well let's just go get the other person, all 3 talk together. There's no reason it should be he said/she said, let's all work this out.' I should have forced that more, because what that does is flush out the BS. The best place to do that would have been at Tribal Councils. I didn't understand how to use the Tribal Council effectively enough to flush out certain facts and mistruths that were always occuring. Those were some of my bigger mistakes. In terms of the alliances, you don't need to create an alliance in this game until you have to, and until you have to, you shouldn't. That was another mistake I made."
(cut)
"My relationship with Coach during the game was I think...I think it was competitive quietly, although I didn't necessarily care to compete with the guy. He wanted to lead the tribe, and that was clear in his actions. The tribe asked me to lead it. I think naturally he didn't like that. I would have preferred they vote him to lead it, because that was kind of naturally my strategy coming into the game, kind of lay low and be like 'I'll do whatever you guys want, if you don't want me to do it, I don't have to.' Whereas Coach I think wanted to."
(cut)
"His stories about his travels around the world, to me are fantasy land rather than fantastic stories. When I get back maybe I'll be proven otherwise, but something about it just wasn't right. I wish I'd called him out on it more. He said he was about honor and integrity and to me he wasn't, he would talk in half-truths, which to me is a lie; maybe it's not to him. I think it was strained that way. I don't believe the guy. I don't necessarily have a lot of respect for him."
(cut)
"I can't wait to come out of this game and then in 3 months or 6 months or whatever it is, sit down and have dinner with Tyson, get a coffee with Debbie, say hi to Jerry - I'd love to go see Jerry again. I'd love to hang out with Taj. There's some people where I want to get to know the real them. I feel like you get a piece of it here but everyone's always somewhat on guard. There's a couple people I think might be great friendships you can potentially forage in the future. Based on the experiences here I don't think you can take what you have on Survivor and say this is the foundation for a great friendship, because it's too bizarre. (laughs)"
Coach as Don Quixote
Stephen compares Coachs adventurous life to that of the legendary Don Quixote.
"Coach is kind of like Don Quixote. He's sort of turned his whole life into this big epic quest, or adventure, and turns everything into some kind of mythology. All of the experiences that happened to him become gigantic, fantastic experiences. He is the epic hero in that quest."
(cut)
"In our alliance to take out Brendan, which he is calling the Power Alliance, he is the Dragon Slayer, he is the hero who needs to destroy the mythical beast. It's not a strategic move, it's an epic quest."
(cut)
"I love it about Coach, because it is so sincere. He is like Don Quixote, totally trapped in it. There's nothing self-aggrandizing about it, or pretentious about it. This is what he believes. He's going for it with all his heart."
(cut)
"He came into this game saying, 'I'm not gonna lie to anybody,' and as far as I can tell, he hasn't. He restricts what he says. In his mind he's doing the right things in this game, and in his mind, the right thing is taking someone like JT along, and taking out someone evil, like Prince Brendan."
(cut)
"There's definitely an advantage to having Coach figured out. He sees himself as the generous hero who is letting me in on his adventure. He's like Don Quixote including Sancho Panza. Come along with me, lackey. Knowing that it's easy to play that role and help foster that sort of dream. There's also a disadvantage because he's sincere about so much, you really don't want to betray him. He feels so passionately about honesty and never uttering a lie, that as perverse as it sounds, you almost don't want to lie to him. Being in a game where you almost can't exist without some element of deceit, it's tough to deal with him, because he's so sincere and so honest. Just lying to him or deceiving him, it's really hard. When you know other people are trying to screw you over, it's easier to screw them over. You don't have that with Coach."
Taj Shares a Laugh
Taj chuckles at Coachs horrific Amazon story.
"Coach has a ton of great stories from whenever he used to travel and do the things that he did. Last night he decided to tell us about his trip down the Amazon in a kayak, and about how this tribe no one knew about captured him and beat the crap out of him, and he got away. I'm sitting there looking like (laughs and then looks baffled). I think this tribe is fricking crazy. (continues to laugh) I couldn't even say anything else. That's all I was thinking. I've gotta get voted off. (laughs)"
(cut)
"I wouldn't call Coach crazy, I just think he, I don't know, maybe he just needs more friends. I don't know. Each one of them have this little, I don't know...you can't describe Timbira."
(cut)
"You have Coach, who has these amazing stories about Amazon, he's been caught by a tribe and beaten to death and he got away and paddled for 2 days half out of his mind. He's Superman. Then you have Superhero Brendan, whose untouchable and can do everything perfect and you all are so stupid but he's so smart. Then you have Sierra, whose the best model in the world, and everybody else in the world is so not traveled because she's been to Hong Kong. (laughs) Then you have Debbie, who's the sweetest person in the world, but if she apologizes or compliments somebody one more time, I'm gonna explode. (laughs) I don't wannt talk about anybody, but it's definitely different. I miss Jalapao a lot."
Split Between Two Tribes
Sierra discusses the complexities of being loyal to the original Timbira Tribe while managing to keep a cross tribal alliance with Stephen and Taj.
"Rightfully so, Timbira and Jalapao to a certain extent are split through the votes. Timbira worked really really hard at the very end to get the majority of the votes. I think I have to give respect to my tribe and let them pick and choose who they need to pull out of Jalapao and vote off. Anything but me. I did also make a promise to protect Stephen and Taj, because we're all carrying idols. I'm trying to figure out how that's all gonna pan out. I just need a moment with Brendan and I just need to talk to him. Sometimes it's so hard to understand when you're playing 2 sides. You want to protect Timbira. I think Tyson needs to go, I think Tyson is a huge threat. There's so many things up in the air right now, it's so hard. Here's Brendan, who goes on a reward thing today, and now that's another day setback where I can't really talk to him and ask him what's going on. I want to go sit next beside Taj and say, 'OK, here's what's going on, I want to settle some of your thoughts,' but I don't want to go over there and stir her pot if I don't even know if that's where Brendan's at anymore."
Coach's Trustworthiness
Coach explains how import being a trustworthy person is.
"My grandfather once told me that a man is only as good as his word. There's a lot of shady men out there. When I give my word to somebody, I feel like it is my bond. I said that to JT yesterday. I love that guy. Everything I see about him it reminds me of my friends growing up in Knoxville Tennessee. He's a good ol' boy. The more I see of him the more I realize I'm going to be friends with him the rest of my life. We have a great connection. We had a great connection the first time we saw each other. I told him my word is my bond, and that means everything to me. Even in this game, in this setting, if you can't back up what you say, and all these crazy stories I tell everybody, I've been through hell and back in my life. You guys don't even know 90% of the stuff I've been through. We don't know anything anybody's been through, but I've been through some heavy duty stuff. I told a story last night about being captured in the Amazon. Man, that's heavy duty."
Erinn on Coach's Stories
Erinn debunks Coachs unbelievable story about being kidnapped by a tribe of pygmies.
"He is either the most fascinating man I have ever met in my life, or has the most fanatical imagination of anyone in the world. I think he's really, really brilliant. He's a really well-read guy, crazy smart. But I also feel like all these stories...3 nights ago, he told a story about someone breaking into his cabin and how it was the scariest thing that's happened to him in his life, he's never been so scared. Then 3 days later, to tell this story about being captured for days on end, not being able to get a hold of anyone, thinking you're going to die at any moment. Um...4 foot Amazon pygmies trump 1 guy in your house, always. Sorry. It's just...they don't add up. They seem ridiculous. If they are true, the man is fascinating, but I just don't know if I buy it."
(cut)
"I really gave a lot of thought to the fact that Coach's stories are so ridiculous, but his whole game is about trust. I really thought long and hard about if he's lying about this stuff, what else is he lying about. Obviously trust can't be that important to him. If he is building this big persona he seems to be building for the game, I think the very trustworthy guy is also part of that persona. That guy he may be claiming to be is the guy that's gonna be honest with you. I could be totally wrong about that, but I don't think I am. I think Coach really, truly wants to be that man, and that man is an honorable one."
Coach's Nicknames
JT comments on his fellow tribemates new nicknames.
"Coach approached Stephen and I and gave us all nicknames. (laughs) Coach says I'm the Warrior, due to previous challenges and things. Stephen is now the Wizard (laughs). I asked him what was Tyson's name and he said Tyon's just Tyson. OK. Debbie's Little Debbie. I don't know. Coach likes nicknames. I'll go along with it. Coach gives himself the nickname the Dragon Slayer, because he's going to slay Brendan. Hell, whatever he wants to call us, he can call us, but I'll probably refer to them as Coach, Tyson, Debbie, and Steveo. We are the power alliance, and whatever it takes us to get to the final five, I'll do it, but I'm not settling for fourth and fifth for Steve and myself."
Coach Analyzes Stephen
Coach analyzes Stephen, whom he has deemed The Wizard.
"Stephen, even Stephen. He is smart, not an outdoorsman, socially a little awkward, around these types of people, because he's out of his element so much that it makes him a little bit socially awkward. But that's what makes him endearing, what makes me want to include him in this power alliance. Is he a powerful guy? No. On the outside. Is he a powerful guy in here? (points to his chest) You better believe he is. He went to Exile. He's never done this in his life. He couldn't fight off a crocodile if he was in the Amazon like I did. He couldn't do any of that stuff. Yet he's here, and yet he's not complaining, and yet when there's a rainstorm and there's wood to be picked up, he raises his hand first. 'Send me, I'll go.' That open and willing attitude he has, persevering out here more than the rest of us, because most of us have already adapted - come on, JT, he's been outside every day, he doesn't mind sleeping in the rain, same as me - but Stephen, he's had to come a long way to get here with all of us, so I respect him more than that, because he's had to work harder to be here. I see this as Stephen's coming into manhood. This is his literally tribal experience like I went through when Indians get to become men, they go from boys to men, all the old cultures have it. This is his becoming a man experience. It's going to be awesome to see him 5 years from now, because he's also someone I think I'll stay in touch with, to see him 5 years from now, the man he is, and hear him tell people, 'Back when I was on Survivor, there was one time I went to Exile and it almost broke me, but when I came through stronger than that.' It's like an iron going through the fire and being forged and beat on. When our character goes through those types of circumstances, where, in our mind, out there on Exile, I'm sure it seemed like life and death, when we go through those, it's like an iron in the fire, and once it's removed, it won't be shaken. He'll remember that core experience, and draw on that experience, Stephen will, for the rest of his life."
Debbie on the Reward
Debbie recounts her amazing day of paddling down the Rio Novo and the picnic that followed.
"The reward became more than I ever expected it to be. The white water rafting trip was absolutely spectacular, amazing. Brendan and JT were a blast to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience with. We went down some great rapids, we drank and washed our hair in a fresh waterfall. Then we had to take our rafts about this gorgeous, enormous waterfall we had time to sit and watch. At the end of our rafting journey there was this beautiful picnic set up on the beach. I'm trying to downplay it to the rest of the tribe members that didn't get to participate, because it's the first one the Timbira tribe hasn't participated together. We walked up on the beach and there were all these variety of sandwiches and the biggest brownies I've ever seen in my life, and I've been craving chocolate so bad. They were this big and about this thick and tea and salted chips and wings and towels. Again, the simple pleasures of life you forget about, a towel. We sat there and laughed and ate and talked and it actually, totally exceeded any expectation I would have had for a day of rafting. It was one of those times you'll take with you for the rest of your life. Very similar to the waterfall when we had our hamburger deal. This was completely different and it was absolutely spectacular. It was awesome."
Bonding at the Reward
The trio of JT, Brendan and Debbie share their feelings on the other tribe members as they paddle down the Rio Novo.
Debbie: Ooh, back at camp, if it's raining, they're sitting in bed.
Brendan: They're thinking about us...
Debbie: And wondering what we're doing?
Brendan: They're thinking about brownies. They're talking about food, I guarantee.
Debbie: They're talking about food. They may be fishing. Think Taj is still fishing?
JT: Nah. Sierra's talking about New Zealand, or how her hair's really blonde when it's obviously got black roots. (they laugh) Erinn's talking about the only thing in the world she can talk about, hairdressing.
Brendan: Or whatever story you have, she's got one to match it.
JT: Just like it. Right now she's saying, "Me too."
Brendan: This one time, my friend, at band camp...
JT: The other day we were talking about French toast, and she goes, "I've always ordered French toast, but I've never liked it." That makes no sense to me. How do you order it and not like it more than once?
Debbie: That's why I was giving the Captain Crunch French toast recipe. There's a lot of conversation...and you know what could be going on? Bickering. Cause everybody is about at their last nerve right now. Sierra and Coach may have fought by now. They may actually be in a wrestling contest.
Brendan: Of everybody there, we're kind of like the positive trio. (Debbie agrees) You take us out...(Debbie mentions Tyson) Well, Tyson, but I don't know if Tyson could put up with it.
Debbie: You know what Tyson will do? He'll do his own thing. He'll leave. How many times do you think Coach and Sierra have got into a verbal altercation since we've been gone? I try to keep it, try to buffer it.
JT: Ya'll got a lot more different personalities than at Jalapao.
Brendan on the Immunity Challenge
Brendan explains the difficulty of maneuvering his body throughout the obstacle course during the immunity challenge.
"The challenge today was super-fun. I've never seen or heard anything like that before. I figured after getting the note in treemail today it was some type of tying each other to something with ropes. Basically you had to take a belt and you were looped around this rope that was fixed on other end, and then follow the rope all the way to the end of the course. Tumbling and turning and diving under the bars, pulling out loops so you can squeeze through them, then following it all the way to the end. In the first round, did pretty well I guess, came in third, moved on to the second round. In the second round, thought I got the hang of it, was kind of moving through pretty well. Then I got to the end, and just jumped onto the wrong side of the knot, and when I jumped onto the wrong side of the knot, I made myself a knot. Then Tyson won. It was fun though. Totally enjoyed it."
(cut)
"Once I get into challenges, I like winning. Winning's fun. (laughs) Any kind of a game I start playing I obviously want to take it. Got to the end of that first round and kind of just forgot I was stuck to the thing when I was trying to walk away, and I fell over, because I was exhausted."
Tyson After the Immunity Challenge
Tyson describes the close call of nearly losing to Brendan during the immunity challenge.
"When the final was just the three of us, Brendan, JT and myself, I was definitely worried Brendan could win. There was actually a point where I heard Jeff say he was in the lead, and that was about the moment where I was like, 'OK, kick it in,' so yeah, I ended up winning. I gotta give Brendan props, he's an average athlete and he kept up pretty good with me today."
(cut)
"If Brendan had won today it definitely would have thrown a wrench into the plan. What we would have had to do is vote Sierra out and continually split votes on Brendan until he has no more idols and he's gone. It's better to get him out earlier rather than later, and not have to deal with it."
(cut)
"It wouldn't have been a huge deal if JT would've won between the 3 of us, I definitely would've felt safter with JT winning than Brendan, but I think in this game and as an individual, you want to win as much as you can. It's always safest to win. Out of us three I definitely want me to win. If I couldn't do it I'd have chosen JT. If JT and myself couldn't do it I'd wish that Brendan had fell and hurt himself so he was taken out of the game. It's been too long. He's been here way too long and every time I plan to have him long, the tribe either wins immunity or Tribal Council gets canceled. This time I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll actually arrive to Tribal and Brendan won't get wind of the plan."
Kill or Be Killed
Coach comments on the situation around camp before Tribal Council.
"I think all of us have a short fuse out here, and I have a tendency to not sugarcoat anything. I know I'm annoying people, and I know people are annoying other people, but they don't say it a lot, because they just want to sugarcoat everything. I just call it like it is. I've just noticed Tyson is really stressed out. He wants to get rid of Brendan in a bad way, because Brendan's making a move to take him out of the game shortly. So Tyson's on edge. We haven't been arguing, but I can tell he's a different person. Plus Tyson has no body fat, so when he doesn't eat a lot, he gets really lethargic. He's not himself. A day like today, I wouldn't mind taking a long walk with Tyson, and mapping out the rest of the game. That's kind of what I wanted to do, and I just approached him about it, and he was like, 'I need to go fishing with Taj, and I need to talk to her,' and I was just like OK, that's cool. Plus I knew one of my big struggles out here was every time I've survived out in the wilderness, I've been by myself. I've never been frustrated by anybody else. When somebody eats all the beans, that drives me crazy, because it's easily avoidable. When somebody builds the shelter the wrong way, puts the tarp on the wrong way, tells me I'm stupid for wanting to make fish rice last night with the leftover fish we boiled, tells me that's stupid and there's no nutrition there, that type of stuff, you don't need that extra aggravation out here, but that's part of the game. I knew for me the hard part was to assimilate myself completely with the tribe while keeping my own independence, and I've done that through meditation and taking long walks. I think everybody's irritating everybody right now, everybody's kind of walking on eggshells, we know there's gonna be some tough decisions to make in the future on who goes home. Not me, per se, but everybody else. It comes up a lot in conversation, it's gonna be bad when we have to start cutting each other from the tribe. It's starting to weigh on each other's mind. We're getting to the final lap of the game. It's kill or be killed right now."
Brendan and Debbie gather some inspiration as they paint their clothes.
(everyone sits around bored)
Brendan (solo): So today, it's pretty monotonous out here. I have a hard time sitting around doing nothing. I think Debbie definitely does also. I was thinking about what we could do. We definitely haven't been able to do that many things creative, but we still have our leftover paint, and we still have these same clothes we've been wearing for days. I was thinking why don't we make some new outfits.
Brendan: I like how you paint. Why don't you paint your dress?
Debbie: Designs!
Brendan: That's be a fun project there. (smirks and nods at Debbie) Let's paint our clothes.
Debbie: How fun is that?
Brendan: I'll do that. I'm in. Alright, let's get motivated to do that.
Brendan (solo): And so Debbie and I put together some new outfits. Mine was very Speed Racer-inspired, because I can't really do anything else artistic.
Brendan: What are you going with?
Debbie: I don't know yet. I haven't really decided. Just gonna keep...
Brendan: Do you need any inspiration?
Debbie: No.
Brendan (solo): I'm not really an artsy-craftsy kind of guy (laughs), I love projects and having some type of purpose during my day. (Brendan tells Tyson they're making new outfits, Tyson says, "Sexy"). I thought that was great. It's making people smile around camp.
Tribal Council Voting
Find out what each castaway had to say as they cast their votes.
JT (Sierra with a sad face): <says nothing>
Debbie ("Brendon"): Brendan, you started playing the game again without us, and making alliances within the Jalapao members. Sorry.
Coach (Brendan with a small x underneath): You should have never gone against me. The ancient samurai used to say that if you wanted to defeat the army and win the war, you had to cut the head off the dragon. You, my friend, are the dragon, and I am the dragon slayer. Goodnight, sweet prince.
Sierra (Coach with a small heart): I didn't want to make this vote at all, actually.
Tyson (Sierra): Hopefully Brendan goes out, but if not, this is plan B. So...um...(muted out). That's it.
Taj (Brendan): Because I can't trust you.
Brendan (Coach): <says nothing>
Erinn (Sierra with a big X): I will gladly write your name down a thousand more times.
Stephen (Brendan with lightning bolts): This is my wizard lightning, shooting you back home. Kapow!
Brendan's Final Words
Brendan reacts to having just been blindsided.
"Thank you everybody, that was one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. So different than anything you can imagine being on the other side of the TV. It was so fun. Great game, great people, and I wish everybody would have a chance of doing it. Awesome time."
(cut)
"Going into this game, I expected to never have any type of certainty going into any part of the game. I knew at the merge that what would happen is I would become a big target. I didn't think it would happen quite that quickly, but it kind of feels good to blindside, because I wanted to blindside someone too. It's part of the game, it's all good. Goodbye all of them. I wish them the best of luck. I'm so psyched to be able to kind of sit there and witness it on the jury. It should be an interesting next couple tribals. We'll see what happens."
(cut)
"For me, coming out here, the money was one part of it. Obviously that would have been great. But it was to play a game and to enjoy an experience that not a lot of people have the ability to. Basically we're down here in Brazil, and you're in a totally different environment where all the rules of normal society that you know are taken away, all the material possessions are taken away, and to kind of go through that experience is something that will change me forever, hopefully in a positive way. I'll sure try to do it that way."
(cut)
"I think after what happened just now, with me getting voted out, my guess is Sierra's close behind. My guess is they thought one of us had the immunity idol, and that's why they loaded the votes the way they did. It was very smart. I was doing the same thing. As soon as this game merged it became an individual game. All bets are off. I'll be excited to see what happens."
(cut)
"The thing that Sierra probably needs most is in my pocket right now. I thought about leaving it and telling her where it was, but at this point, because she's such a target, for whatever reason, maybe because we're associated with each other, I don't think this could have saved her. Clearly the target was on me or her. Alliances are kind of set, based on that vote. Even if Sierra did have it, she'd be next, regardless, to go, and they'd figure out a way to kind of make it happen. It's just a matter of time."
Brendan the Day After
Brendan reflects on his experience in the game, noting what he would do differently if given a second chance.
"My Survivor experience was awesome. I think we came to a beautiful place. I was totally psyched to get to come down to Brazil. All the people we got stuck down here with, all the castaways in a sense, were all awesome. I had a great time getting to know 'em. Looking back on it, I definitely have some regrets about how I played the game, because it would have been totally fun to win. You come into it, you watch it on television, you think you have a good idea of what it's going to feel like, but you can't even begin to understand what that transition is like, in terms of coming into the game and having the food taken away, having the sleep taken away, having everyone start talking around. It's so creepy. (laughs) All that took a lot to get adjusted too. Overall, I'd do it again."
(cut)
"Being blindsided like that, I take 2 things from it. One, I was threatening to everybody so they wanted to get rid of me, which is kind of a backhanded compliment. The other thing immediately for me I'm like OK, what did I do wrong? Pretty clearly, I did, I can count on a hand what I did wrong, and if I played the game again, how I would play it differently, and how I got myself in trouble."
(cut)
"Some of my mistakes is I created an alliance with Sierra way too early, without really knowing who she was. Trying to stay loyal to that hurt me. Talking to Taj and creating the Exile Alliance I was fine with, but what I should have done is bring Tyson, or Coach, or Debbie into that loop to let them know what I was doing, so we could make that decision together. Ultimately, either place would have gotten me pretty far deep into the game. The reason I had worked with Taj early on was, the way the game was structured this time, the fact we were both going to Exile and you only had half a chance, 50% chance to get a clue, you had to work with somebody, and that allowed me to get to the immunity idol. That's another thing I would have done differently. At one point Tyson came to me by himself and asked, 'Do you have the idol?' I should have said yes. That thing is cursed. (laughs) I should have realized that and kind of just brought it up and said I do have it, but I'm willing to give it to somebody else and get it out of my hands, because all it does is kind of enlarge that target."
(cut)
"To me, in this game so many people came to you individually to talk about things, and when that happened, I would say, 'Well let's just go get the other person, all 3 talk together. There's no reason it should be he said/she said, let's all work this out.' I should have forced that more, because what that does is flush out the BS. The best place to do that would have been at Tribal Councils. I didn't understand how to use the Tribal Council effectively enough to flush out certain facts and mistruths that were always occuring. Those were some of my bigger mistakes. In terms of the alliances, you don't need to create an alliance in this game until you have to, and until you have to, you shouldn't. That was another mistake I made."
(cut)
"My relationship with Coach during the game was I think...I think it was competitive quietly, although I didn't necessarily care to compete with the guy. He wanted to lead the tribe, and that was clear in his actions. The tribe asked me to lead it. I think naturally he didn't like that. I would have preferred they vote him to lead it, because that was kind of naturally my strategy coming into the game, kind of lay low and be like 'I'll do whatever you guys want, if you don't want me to do it, I don't have to.' Whereas Coach I think wanted to."
(cut)
"His stories about his travels around the world, to me are fantasy land rather than fantastic stories. When I get back maybe I'll be proven otherwise, but something about it just wasn't right. I wish I'd called him out on it more. He said he was about honor and integrity and to me he wasn't, he would talk in half-truths, which to me is a lie; maybe it's not to him. I think it was strained that way. I don't believe the guy. I don't necessarily have a lot of respect for him."
(cut)
"I can't wait to come out of this game and then in 3 months or 6 months or whatever it is, sit down and have dinner with Tyson, get a coffee with Debbie, say hi to Jerry - I'd love to go see Jerry again. I'd love to hang out with Taj. There's some people where I want to get to know the real them. I feel like you get a piece of it here but everyone's always somewhat on guard. There's a couple people I think might be great friendships you can potentially forage in the future. Based on the experiences here I don't think you can take what you have on Survivor and say this is the foundation for a great friendship, because it's too bizarre. (laughs)"
Coach as Don Quixote
Stephen compares Coachs adventurous life to that of the legendary Don Quixote.
"Coach is kind of like Don Quixote. He's sort of turned his whole life into this big epic quest, or adventure, and turns everything into some kind of mythology. All of the experiences that happened to him become gigantic, fantastic experiences. He is the epic hero in that quest."
(cut)
"In our alliance to take out Brendan, which he is calling the Power Alliance, he is the Dragon Slayer, he is the hero who needs to destroy the mythical beast. It's not a strategic move, it's an epic quest."
(cut)
"I love it about Coach, because it is so sincere. He is like Don Quixote, totally trapped in it. There's nothing self-aggrandizing about it, or pretentious about it. This is what he believes. He's going for it with all his heart."
(cut)
"He came into this game saying, 'I'm not gonna lie to anybody,' and as far as I can tell, he hasn't. He restricts what he says. In his mind he's doing the right things in this game, and in his mind, the right thing is taking someone like JT along, and taking out someone evil, like Prince Brendan."
(cut)
"There's definitely an advantage to having Coach figured out. He sees himself as the generous hero who is letting me in on his adventure. He's like Don Quixote including Sancho Panza. Come along with me, lackey. Knowing that it's easy to play that role and help foster that sort of dream. There's also a disadvantage because he's sincere about so much, you really don't want to betray him. He feels so passionately about honesty and never uttering a lie, that as perverse as it sounds, you almost don't want to lie to him. Being in a game where you almost can't exist without some element of deceit, it's tough to deal with him, because he's so sincere and so honest. Just lying to him or deceiving him, it's really hard. When you know other people are trying to screw you over, it's easier to screw them over. You don't have that with Coach."
Taj Shares a Laugh
Taj chuckles at Coachs horrific Amazon story.
"Coach has a ton of great stories from whenever he used to travel and do the things that he did. Last night he decided to tell us about his trip down the Amazon in a kayak, and about how this tribe no one knew about captured him and beat the crap out of him, and he got away. I'm sitting there looking like (laughs and then looks baffled). I think this tribe is fricking crazy. (continues to laugh) I couldn't even say anything else. That's all I was thinking. I've gotta get voted off. (laughs)"
(cut)
"I wouldn't call Coach crazy, I just think he, I don't know, maybe he just needs more friends. I don't know. Each one of them have this little, I don't know...you can't describe Timbira."
(cut)
"You have Coach, who has these amazing stories about Amazon, he's been caught by a tribe and beaten to death and he got away and paddled for 2 days half out of his mind. He's Superman. Then you have Superhero Brendan, whose untouchable and can do everything perfect and you all are so stupid but he's so smart. Then you have Sierra, whose the best model in the world, and everybody else in the world is so not traveled because she's been to Hong Kong. (laughs) Then you have Debbie, who's the sweetest person in the world, but if she apologizes or compliments somebody one more time, I'm gonna explode. (laughs) I don't wannt talk about anybody, but it's definitely different. I miss Jalapao a lot."
Split Between Two Tribes
Sierra discusses the complexities of being loyal to the original Timbira Tribe while managing to keep a cross tribal alliance with Stephen and Taj.
"Rightfully so, Timbira and Jalapao to a certain extent are split through the votes. Timbira worked really really hard at the very end to get the majority of the votes. I think I have to give respect to my tribe and let them pick and choose who they need to pull out of Jalapao and vote off. Anything but me. I did also make a promise to protect Stephen and Taj, because we're all carrying idols. I'm trying to figure out how that's all gonna pan out. I just need a moment with Brendan and I just need to talk to him. Sometimes it's so hard to understand when you're playing 2 sides. You want to protect Timbira. I think Tyson needs to go, I think Tyson is a huge threat. There's so many things up in the air right now, it's so hard. Here's Brendan, who goes on a reward thing today, and now that's another day setback where I can't really talk to him and ask him what's going on. I want to go sit next beside Taj and say, 'OK, here's what's going on, I want to settle some of your thoughts,' but I don't want to go over there and stir her pot if I don't even know if that's where Brendan's at anymore."
Coach's Trustworthiness
Coach explains how import being a trustworthy person is.
"My grandfather once told me that a man is only as good as his word. There's a lot of shady men out there. When I give my word to somebody, I feel like it is my bond. I said that to JT yesterday. I love that guy. Everything I see about him it reminds me of my friends growing up in Knoxville Tennessee. He's a good ol' boy. The more I see of him the more I realize I'm going to be friends with him the rest of my life. We have a great connection. We had a great connection the first time we saw each other. I told him my word is my bond, and that means everything to me. Even in this game, in this setting, if you can't back up what you say, and all these crazy stories I tell everybody, I've been through hell and back in my life. You guys don't even know 90% of the stuff I've been through. We don't know anything anybody's been through, but I've been through some heavy duty stuff. I told a story last night about being captured in the Amazon. Man, that's heavy duty."
Erinn on Coach's Stories
Erinn debunks Coachs unbelievable story about being kidnapped by a tribe of pygmies.
"He is either the most fascinating man I have ever met in my life, or has the most fanatical imagination of anyone in the world. I think he's really, really brilliant. He's a really well-read guy, crazy smart. But I also feel like all these stories...3 nights ago, he told a story about someone breaking into his cabin and how it was the scariest thing that's happened to him in his life, he's never been so scared. Then 3 days later, to tell this story about being captured for days on end, not being able to get a hold of anyone, thinking you're going to die at any moment. Um...4 foot Amazon pygmies trump 1 guy in your house, always. Sorry. It's just...they don't add up. They seem ridiculous. If they are true, the man is fascinating, but I just don't know if I buy it."
(cut)
"I really gave a lot of thought to the fact that Coach's stories are so ridiculous, but his whole game is about trust. I really thought long and hard about if he's lying about this stuff, what else is he lying about. Obviously trust can't be that important to him. If he is building this big persona he seems to be building for the game, I think the very trustworthy guy is also part of that persona. That guy he may be claiming to be is the guy that's gonna be honest with you. I could be totally wrong about that, but I don't think I am. I think Coach really, truly wants to be that man, and that man is an honorable one."
Coach's Nicknames
JT comments on his fellow tribemates new nicknames.
"Coach approached Stephen and I and gave us all nicknames. (laughs) Coach says I'm the Warrior, due to previous challenges and things. Stephen is now the Wizard (laughs). I asked him what was Tyson's name and he said Tyon's just Tyson. OK. Debbie's Little Debbie. I don't know. Coach likes nicknames. I'll go along with it. Coach gives himself the nickname the Dragon Slayer, because he's going to slay Brendan. Hell, whatever he wants to call us, he can call us, but I'll probably refer to them as Coach, Tyson, Debbie, and Steveo. We are the power alliance, and whatever it takes us to get to the final five, I'll do it, but I'm not settling for fourth and fifth for Steve and myself."
Coach Analyzes Stephen
Coach analyzes Stephen, whom he has deemed The Wizard.
"Stephen, even Stephen. He is smart, not an outdoorsman, socially a little awkward, around these types of people, because he's out of his element so much that it makes him a little bit socially awkward. But that's what makes him endearing, what makes me want to include him in this power alliance. Is he a powerful guy? No. On the outside. Is he a powerful guy in here? (points to his chest) You better believe he is. He went to Exile. He's never done this in his life. He couldn't fight off a crocodile if he was in the Amazon like I did. He couldn't do any of that stuff. Yet he's here, and yet he's not complaining, and yet when there's a rainstorm and there's wood to be picked up, he raises his hand first. 'Send me, I'll go.' That open and willing attitude he has, persevering out here more than the rest of us, because most of us have already adapted - come on, JT, he's been outside every day, he doesn't mind sleeping in the rain, same as me - but Stephen, he's had to come a long way to get here with all of us, so I respect him more than that, because he's had to work harder to be here. I see this as Stephen's coming into manhood. This is his literally tribal experience like I went through when Indians get to become men, they go from boys to men, all the old cultures have it. This is his becoming a man experience. It's going to be awesome to see him 5 years from now, because he's also someone I think I'll stay in touch with, to see him 5 years from now, the man he is, and hear him tell people, 'Back when I was on Survivor, there was one time I went to Exile and it almost broke me, but when I came through stronger than that.' It's like an iron going through the fire and being forged and beat on. When our character goes through those types of circumstances, where, in our mind, out there on Exile, I'm sure it seemed like life and death, when we go through those, it's like an iron in the fire, and once it's removed, it won't be shaken. He'll remember that core experience, and draw on that experience, Stephen will, for the rest of his life."
Debbie on the Reward
Debbie recounts her amazing day of paddling down the Rio Novo and the picnic that followed.
"The reward became more than I ever expected it to be. The white water rafting trip was absolutely spectacular, amazing. Brendan and JT were a blast to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience with. We went down some great rapids, we drank and washed our hair in a fresh waterfall. Then we had to take our rafts about this gorgeous, enormous waterfall we had time to sit and watch. At the end of our rafting journey there was this beautiful picnic set up on the beach. I'm trying to downplay it to the rest of the tribe members that didn't get to participate, because it's the first one the Timbira tribe hasn't participated together. We walked up on the beach and there were all these variety of sandwiches and the biggest brownies I've ever seen in my life, and I've been craving chocolate so bad. They were this big and about this thick and tea and salted chips and wings and towels. Again, the simple pleasures of life you forget about, a towel. We sat there and laughed and ate and talked and it actually, totally exceeded any expectation I would have had for a day of rafting. It was one of those times you'll take with you for the rest of your life. Very similar to the waterfall when we had our hamburger deal. This was completely different and it was absolutely spectacular. It was awesome."
Bonding at the Reward
The trio of JT, Brendan and Debbie share their feelings on the other tribe members as they paddle down the Rio Novo.
Debbie: Ooh, back at camp, if it's raining, they're sitting in bed.
Brendan: They're thinking about us...
Debbie: And wondering what we're doing?
Brendan: They're thinking about brownies. They're talking about food, I guarantee.
Debbie: They're talking about food. They may be fishing. Think Taj is still fishing?
JT: Nah. Sierra's talking about New Zealand, or how her hair's really blonde when it's obviously got black roots. (they laugh) Erinn's talking about the only thing in the world she can talk about, hairdressing.
Brendan: Or whatever story you have, she's got one to match it.
JT: Just like it. Right now she's saying, "Me too."
Brendan: This one time, my friend, at band camp...
JT: The other day we were talking about French toast, and she goes, "I've always ordered French toast, but I've never liked it." That makes no sense to me. How do you order it and not like it more than once?
Debbie: That's why I was giving the Captain Crunch French toast recipe. There's a lot of conversation...and you know what could be going on? Bickering. Cause everybody is about at their last nerve right now. Sierra and Coach may have fought by now. They may actually be in a wrestling contest.
Brendan: Of everybody there, we're kind of like the positive trio. (Debbie agrees) You take us out...(Debbie mentions Tyson) Well, Tyson, but I don't know if Tyson could put up with it.
Debbie: You know what Tyson will do? He'll do his own thing. He'll leave. How many times do you think Coach and Sierra have got into a verbal altercation since we've been gone? I try to keep it, try to buffer it.
JT: Ya'll got a lot more different personalities than at Jalapao.
Brendan on the Immunity Challenge
Brendan explains the difficulty of maneuvering his body throughout the obstacle course during the immunity challenge.
"The challenge today was super-fun. I've never seen or heard anything like that before. I figured after getting the note in treemail today it was some type of tying each other to something with ropes. Basically you had to take a belt and you were looped around this rope that was fixed on other end, and then follow the rope all the way to the end of the course. Tumbling and turning and diving under the bars, pulling out loops so you can squeeze through them, then following it all the way to the end. In the first round, did pretty well I guess, came in third, moved on to the second round. In the second round, thought I got the hang of it, was kind of moving through pretty well. Then I got to the end, and just jumped onto the wrong side of the knot, and when I jumped onto the wrong side of the knot, I made myself a knot. Then Tyson won. It was fun though. Totally enjoyed it."
(cut)
"Once I get into challenges, I like winning. Winning's fun. (laughs) Any kind of a game I start playing I obviously want to take it. Got to the end of that first round and kind of just forgot I was stuck to the thing when I was trying to walk away, and I fell over, because I was exhausted."
Tyson After the Immunity Challenge
Tyson describes the close call of nearly losing to Brendan during the immunity challenge.
"When the final was just the three of us, Brendan, JT and myself, I was definitely worried Brendan could win. There was actually a point where I heard Jeff say he was in the lead, and that was about the moment where I was like, 'OK, kick it in,' so yeah, I ended up winning. I gotta give Brendan props, he's an average athlete and he kept up pretty good with me today."
(cut)
"If Brendan had won today it definitely would have thrown a wrench into the plan. What we would have had to do is vote Sierra out and continually split votes on Brendan until he has no more idols and he's gone. It's better to get him out earlier rather than later, and not have to deal with it."
(cut)
"It wouldn't have been a huge deal if JT would've won between the 3 of us, I definitely would've felt safter with JT winning than Brendan, but I think in this game and as an individual, you want to win as much as you can. It's always safest to win. Out of us three I definitely want me to win. If I couldn't do it I'd have chosen JT. If JT and myself couldn't do it I'd wish that Brendan had fell and hurt himself so he was taken out of the game. It's been too long. He's been here way too long and every time I plan to have him long, the tribe either wins immunity or Tribal Council gets canceled. This time I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll actually arrive to Tribal and Brendan won't get wind of the plan."
Kill or Be Killed
Coach comments on the situation around camp before Tribal Council.
"I think all of us have a short fuse out here, and I have a tendency to not sugarcoat anything. I know I'm annoying people, and I know people are annoying other people, but they don't say it a lot, because they just want to sugarcoat everything. I just call it like it is. I've just noticed Tyson is really stressed out. He wants to get rid of Brendan in a bad way, because Brendan's making a move to take him out of the game shortly. So Tyson's on edge. We haven't been arguing, but I can tell he's a different person. Plus Tyson has no body fat, so when he doesn't eat a lot, he gets really lethargic. He's not himself. A day like today, I wouldn't mind taking a long walk with Tyson, and mapping out the rest of the game. That's kind of what I wanted to do, and I just approached him about it, and he was like, 'I need to go fishing with Taj, and I need to talk to her,' and I was just like OK, that's cool. Plus I knew one of my big struggles out here was every time I've survived out in the wilderness, I've been by myself. I've never been frustrated by anybody else. When somebody eats all the beans, that drives me crazy, because it's easily avoidable. When somebody builds the shelter the wrong way, puts the tarp on the wrong way, tells me I'm stupid for wanting to make fish rice last night with the leftover fish we boiled, tells me that's stupid and there's no nutrition there, that type of stuff, you don't need that extra aggravation out here, but that's part of the game. I knew for me the hard part was to assimilate myself completely with the tribe while keeping my own independence, and I've done that through meditation and taking long walks. I think everybody's irritating everybody right now, everybody's kind of walking on eggshells, we know there's gonna be some tough decisions to make in the future on who goes home. Not me, per se, but everybody else. It comes up a lot in conversation, it's gonna be bad when we have to start cutting each other from the tribe. It's starting to weigh on each other's mind. We're getting to the final lap of the game. It's kill or be killed right now."
