Secret Scene: Debbie
Debbie makes a sweet tasting treat for her tribe: jatoba pancakes.
(Day 32)
Debbie: Are ya'll getting hungry?
JT: How many Jatoba we got?
(they say about 5, even though they found 19 yesterday)
Debbie: We could make jatoba cakes. We make 'em thin, and get them fried up enough, like in water.
Debbie (solo): I think we're craving food because all we've eaten is beans and rice out here. Very little of that as well. We have not been able to catch fish. We're hungry. The taste buds are screaming for something different.
(they start cooking)
Stephen (solo): Jatoba out here to us is a major luxury item. We do not get to taste much jatoba. Jatoba is sweet-tasting and very healthy. It's got protein and calcium. Jatoba is a big delicacy.
(they make the cakes as JT looks on in anticipation)
Debbie (solo): Jatoba cakes. Jatoba and water and put them on a fire and burn them. Because our taste buds are lacking in so many areas, even burnt tastes good out here. We burnt them basically, and got them dried out and crispy, and they were delicious. It didn't even taste like jatoba.
(Stephen thanks Erinn and Debbie for the meal)
JT (solo): The jatoba pancakes were excellent, and I'm on the lookout for more jatoba. If I can get these gals to whip us up some more like that that'll be good.
(Debbie says if they can find more they can have the cakes every day)
Tribal Council Voting
Watch as the Forza members cast their votes at Tribal Council.
Coach (Taj): Taj, you're a beautiful woman, beautiful soul. I don't want to vote for you, but you might have the hidden immunity idol, so you gotta go. Best of luck. I'll see you on the other side.
Erinn (Debbie with a heart): I'm sorry. It's your time.
Stephen (Debbie): Big threats come in small packages.
Taj (Debbie): Sorry, Little Debbie.
JT (Debbie): Sorry, Debbie, but you're making too many promises you can't keep.
Debbie (Coach): I'm sorry, Coach. I hope you can forgive me. This game is changing, and you wanted to play with honor and integrity. It's time for you to go because it's not going to be able to pan out that way. Hope you forgive me.
Debbie's Final Words
Debbie reacts to having just been voted out of the game.
"33 days. I am so proud of myself. Honestly it's time. I'm ready to go. I would have loved to have been here to the end, but my tribe was honest with me and told me I was too much of a threat socially and everybody likes me and the jury is a lot of Timbira members. I'm not surprised, and I also actually surprised myself and was a fierce competitor in the challenges, and I think that scared them as well. It was a great ride. What an adventure this was, wow. It was the best of times and also some of the absolute worst. It all combined to make an incredible, incredible life experience."
(cut)
"Absolutely life-changing. Life-changing from both ends of the spectrum. It was a life-changing event I would never take back, ever."
(cut)
"The 908 Drake Middle School kids are going to be very proud. I think my own 5 kids are going to be blown away by how well I did out here. I surprised myself, actually. I'm shocked I lasted 33 days. I'm really the girly-girl. Eating live fish, sleeping in the freezing cold, everything I endured, I'm so proud of myself. I'm not disappointed, I'm not angry, this is a game. I'd like to have been one of the last ones standing, but I'm not. I was proud to have been here 33 days."
(cut)
"Forza is gonna miss me a lot. JT was ultra-sweet. He's always great but he was today telling me how much he loved me and going on. I know it was a hard decision for them to make to vote me off tonight. I know they had some difficult choices. I know they have reasons for keeping individuals in certain roles. I don't hold any grudges. This is a game, and you gotta play it the best. I'm anxious to sit on the jury and see what goes down."
Debbie the Day After
Debbie reflects on her time in the game and what she took out of it.
"I think my darkest moment in the game had to do with Sierra, and Sierra getting voted off, and Coach and I trying to manipulate to see if we could get her back in, and Sierra calling Coach out on lying. She believes it one way, Coach believes it another way. I was in the middle. At this point I started thinking, this game is getting crazy. Starting to really maneuver, talk about people, which is something as an older lady made me uncomfortable. That was a really low point, that firepit exchange between Coach and Sierra with JT and Stephen and Taj and Erinn and I all around. At that point I thought you know what, this is gonna get nasty. It really brought me down a notch."
(cut)
"I'm not like that at all. Some people love that. I think they like the drama of it. They draw energy from conflict. That is something that's just not in my personality. I don't draw energy from it. It really makes me uncomfortable. These people we spent this experience with were important to me. I really cared about them. It wasn't fake, it was true. I think people, some people, not only in the game but in life, draw energy from negative issues and like the drama and like the attention and like the energy that gives them. I'm not one of those people."
(cut)
"I think going into the game I was cautious and I really needed to prove myself early. I wanted to prove myself early. I worked really hard around camp, but again, I get bored. I'm not just gonna sit around. I didn't work to prove anything to anybody else, I just did it because I was bored, I wanted to do something. I think I had a lot to prove early in the game. I started really gaining my confidence towards the end. I was doing well in the challenges, I won the immunity necklace, I was placing second and third. So my confidence was growing. If I'd still be in there, who knows what would have happened."
(cut)
"Actually I did not think I had this inside of me. I really didn't. I'm like the girly-girl. People are gonna die when they see me on this show. I've always had my nails done, high heels, looking cute. It's gonna be really amazing. When I came out of the game, I looked myself in the mirror, and I had no idea who I was. It scared me. I only lost 6 pounds in the game, but when you're dehydrated, I would be gone. In my opinion I looked like a 90-year old woman coming out of the game. I was exhausted, I was hungry, I was filthy, just everything that is not me. When I looked at that person in the mirror I didn't know who it was. It really, really bothered me. And I didn't know I had this in me. I'll tell you what, there's not many things that can be thrown at me in life anymore that I won't know I can't handle. After handling this and going through this entire experience it's made me a stronger woman, I think it's made me a more caring person, and I will never take life's simple pleasures for granted again, ever. Especially my family or my loved ones. I laughed but I'm so happy to have a towel, I'm so happy to have toothbrush and dental floss. Who ever thinks of toothbrush and dental floss, y'know? I also know, and unfortunately I have children in my school who live without a lot of simple pleasures. We have children like that in our world, in the United States, who are homeless, who are living a life similar to what I've been living, who not knowing if you're gonna get your next meal, not knowing if you're gonna get a show. It's made me really appreciate people that don't have what I have and how they survive."
(cut)
"I think my approach to life is gonna be a lot more simplistic. I think this experience where you're stripped of everything makes you realize you don't have to have that to be happy. You don't have to have all that to have people love you. Spending time together is free. Hanging out with my son and sitting at a baseball game. I used to get real impatient at his baseball games cause I would get bored and think of everything else to do, or I would run around and come back. You know what, I'm not gonna see him play baseball forever, and I'm not gonna miss a game."
Treemail
Debbie and Erinn read treemail to their tribemates before going to the Survivor Auction.
Debbie: You have totally proven yourself to me, and I will fight for you in this game.
Erinn: Thank you. I will do the same.
Debbie: We're getting down to huge money at stake, and when Coach just stands up there and says he's not in it for the money.
Erinn: Yeah. Who cares?
(they find individual handbags for each contestant, and walk back to camp)
Debbie: Purses with money. It sounds like the auction!
Stephen: Auction. That's awesome!
Debbie: You ready?
Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is
Now is the chance to belong
Now is the time to trust your instincts
Now is the chance to get strong
(hands out the bags)
Debbie: I haven't even seen real money in a long time! JT will be like, "OK, I'll keep my money, no food, I don't care."
Coach: You're not gonna do that, are you?
JT: I don't know.
JT (solo): (smells the money) This is huge. This is the first time I've smelled money in forever. I'm debating on maybe just putting this in my pocket. I haven't seen $500 in a long time.
(Debbie hands Taj her money)
Taj (solo): Money. I saw that and just deflated. I was really hoping for a family visit, and then it's money? Who wants money? I'll throw it in the fire.
Meet Bret, Debbie's Husband
Debbie's husband, Bret, is shocked at the harsh living conditions that his wife has faced for the past thirty-one days.
"Without question, Deb can make it. I think she has a tendency, people are either black or white to Deb, good or bad. She has a tendency not to guard sometimes. If she's declared someone good, then she's not gonna guard in any way. I'm a bit concerned perhaps that some of the ones are getting along so well, it'll get to the stage where Deb'll take something for granted. Hopefully not. She's not a very guarded person. That might end up being a problem. As far as her making it, that's not a question, she'll make it. She also has a lot of heart for some of these peole and I'm not sure how hard at the end she's really going to be trying to...she in my mind has accomplished a great deal at this stage right here. For me she's got nothing to prove. I'm not saying that so she stops fighting or trying her best. She will. I think she's already proved a lot to herself or to me. It won't surprise me if perhaps she's not 110% focused on the whole thing. We'll see."
Meet Adrianna, JT's Sister
JT's sister describes her feelings after seeing her brother who has been living in the wild for thirty-one days.
"I knew JT could do it. He's always outdoors, doing all kinds of stuff. I'm the one that stays inside (laughs)."
(cut)
"He looked like a homeless man, I think, with the beard, and dirty, and ugh. I wanted to buy some soap for him."
(cut)
"He can do all the outdoor things. He can fish, he doesn't have a hard time staying outdoors. He loves it. He can't stand staying inside. That's why he doesn't have an inside job. He works with cows. He loves the outdoors."
(cut)
"JT's a people person. He charms them with his smirk. He has a smirk. He's really good with groups and stuff."
(cut)
"JT really is the best brother I can ever have. (starts crying) I'm so proud of him that he can do this."
Meet Mitchell, Coach's Assistant Coach
The Dragon Slayer's best friend comments on what Coach is really like back home.
"I'm out here in Brazil to see Coach Wade. Or as you guys call him, the Dragon Slayer."
(cut)
"When Coach first came down to camp, it was surreal. Just to see him after so long. To see what he's having to deal with. It's amazing. It's amazing. I'm still gobsmacked now."
(cut)
"He's lost a lot of weight, and the beard. That was the biggest thing. I've never seen Coach Wade with that much facial hair. To see him like that, I was taken aback a little bit, first of all. To see the small amounts of food and the area they live in, that's something I couldn't do, for sure."
(cut)
"For Coach Wade to get to day 31 is all up here. (taps his head) It's his mental strength. For me he's the strongest individual I know. Yeah, his body may not be able to take it, but up here, he's on a different level than most people are. That's what I think has gotten him to this point. And he's a very honest person, has a lot of integrity. What you see is what you get with Coach Wade. There's nothing behind that you think to yourself, 'Is this guy trying to snow me a little bit?' No. What you see is what you get. With me, he took me under his wing. He showed me, he helped me grow a lot, he looked out for me when I first came out to America. That's the honesty and integrity that he has that takes him to the next level."
(cut)
"Coach's life back home, he is the leader, but everybody respects him, everybody looks up to him, everybody knows this is the guy who is in charge, if he tells us to jump through hoops of fire, they'll jump through hoops of fire. I think with the people in this environment, I don't think he'll portray that as 'I'm the head guy, I'm in charge,' but I think people still look up to him, people still respect him for who he is, that honesty and integrity. It's his natural instict to lead people. Even though he might not be saying I'm your leader, I'm the Dragon Slayer, I'm this, I'm in charge, I'm that, people are still gonna wanna say we're gonna follow him, he's gonna help along the way."
(cut)
"Back home, Coach has his samurai sword up, all this kind of craziness. He's got the samurai robe and all that. This doesn't surprise me at all. I knew something like this was gonna happen, he'd get some crazy nickname. That is definitely him. The mythical side of stuff. He's a very religious person as well. I think that helps him get through the situation, he can pray about it and meditate about it. That's definitely Coach Wade."
Meet Brian, Erinn's Father
"Erinn's situation out here is absolutely amazing. We come into camp and there's just a little bit of a lean-to, kind of a tarp over it, some poles with some palm fronds laying on top of it. This is their home. It's incredible this many people can spend this long literally out in the middle of nowhere with virtually nothing."
(cut)
"When she came around the corner the bones were coming through her shoulders, her wrists are showing, all the bites and so forth on her arms. It's obvious she's been toughing it out and having a hard time. I do have to laugh because one of the things she said when we first started was, 'Dad, I'm sorry, I'm so smelly.'"
(cut)
"One bit of advice I did give Erinn is you can never get too confident, overconfident about where you are in your alliances and the people around you, but to be careful and to do what she thought was right. Go for it."
(cut)
"As a father, leaving your little girl out in the middle of nowhere to continue to sleep under the stars is incredibly hard. It's already pulling my heartstrings to have to leave and she's gonna be out here. But I know it will end, I know she will be home, I know she's gonna be a better person for having been here. I wish her the best, I love her, and I'm just so incredibly proud of what she's been able to accomplish even if it were to end today. It's incredible."
Meet Dan, Stephen's Brother
Stephen's brother, Dan, expresses his initial feelings after seeing his brother in Tocantins.
"Stephen has never really been an outdoorsy guy, which is why it is so amazing to me he was able to do this and get this far. I'm so proud of him. I've never really considered him to be a guy who would be able to survive in this kind of thing. The joke's always been Stephen's so book smart if you put him in the middle of New York City, he'd never find his way back home. The fact that he's done this makes me rethink a lot of things about who he is and how he's suited to accomplish the most extreme tasks. This is certainly the most extreme from what I've seen."
(cut)
"I'm so impressed by how he's been able to cope, obviously, and with what little resources they have. We walked in here and we were completely overwhelmed by what little they actually have here. Hearing what they have in terms of food, which is basically nothing, is tough to hear."
(cut)
"As an outsider, to try and understand a) what's going on and b ) the strategy itself, is pretty tough. I can't follow what they're talking about. They're talking about alliances and who's been here and how did this person get voted off. I can't believe the mental side of the game, aside from the physical and the emotional. The strategy you have to work with and the mind strength when you don't have the body strength is mindblowing to me."
(cut)
"I'm so proud of him and I can't believe he's gotten this far in the game. I can't believe he's sleeping with 6 other people in I don't even know what. Some sort of constructed thing. The fact that he's been wearing the same clothes for 30 days. It's actually kind of tough to see, especially when I first saw him and the first thing I noticed was how much weight he's lost. He looks like he's lost a lot of weight, and that was tough."
Meet Eddie George, Taj's Husband
The former NFL player reacts to seeing his wife for the first time since she left home to play the game.
"To see my wife, and what she's doing, is inspirational. It's inspiring to see her like this, out in the sand, seeing her little home that has her touches on it. It felt good. I can see why it would be peaceful. Open skies. Serene. But you've still got to fight the elements. First impressions are I'm surprised she's doing it and how long she's been doing it for. I commend her. I know for a fact, sleeping out here for 3 days, or 31 days...I couldn't do it for 2. I'm definitely impressed."
(cut)
"She's tough. She holds it down back at our house in Nashville, I'm not surprised at her toughness. I think it's something which is good for her to see. I always knew she had the strength to overcome anything, but I think it's good for her to see she could always do it. I knew she could, I think she always could, but to see her follow through with it is tremendous. I'm just so proud of her. I know she's been wanting to do something ever since she left the group, and do something on her own, and this tops it off. (laughs) She's run a marathon. I ran a half-marathon. She's one tough cookie and that's why I love her. She's the rock of our household."
(cut)
"Before seeing my wife, I didn't know what to expect. It was like seeing her on our first date. I had butterflies driving up. What was I gonna say? How was I gonna react? Was I gonna laugh, or cry? I didn't know what I was gonna do. I had no idea. It was exciting. Hearing her voice. I know her laugh. I heard her laugh from way back. I could hear her excitement. I know this helped her out to get her over the hump, just a few more days. However long it goes, it's definitely helped her out. She needed it. I hope my energy spills off to her and she can just follow through.
Taj and Eddie George
Taj takes a walk with her husband, Eddie, on Exile Island.
Taj: I just realized you have to be way more appreciative of the things that you have. Not that I never was, but now I'm that much more appreciative.
Eddie: I know. Just the little bit I've experienced being here. I'm in this little motel, and I saw three roaches last night. (Taj laughs) Everything here is on steroids.
Taj: Everything is bigger and better.
Eddie: A toad, a cricket, a roach. Seriously.
Taj: Last night at Tribal Council there was a beetle this big. (holds up her thumb and index finger) The grasshoppers are like pigeons.
Eddie: I couldn't sleep last night. I couldn't locate this spider. I tried to kill it. I was up for an hour and a half, searching for this spider, high and low in the room. Couldn't find it. I refused to go to sleep. I watched the movie, I figured he'd show up as soon as I turned the light out. It was behind me, trying to get me. (he shows her the bottom of his shoe, indicating how he killed the spider) I could not sleep last night. I was like I've got to get out of here. I've had it. You can't brush your teeth right. You got a damn frog coming up through the pipe.
(cut)
Eddie: What do you do when it rains?
Taj: You get wet. One night I stayed out here, it rained from the time I laid down to go to sleep to the next morning.
Eddie: Did you sleep?
Taj: No, not really. I had sand all over me. It's Survivor. (he asks if anything crawls on her) Yeah. Spiders and stuff crawl on you, but now I'm sort of used to 'em.
(cut)
Taj: This is where I've been living, honey. This is what I've been doing.
Eddie: I like it.
Taj: Wanna stay? Wanna stay?
Eddie: I'll stay with you, yeah.
Taj: (puts her arm on his shoulder): Yeah right. I mean for 31 days, 39 days.
Eddie: If I had to. But I don't have to.
Taj: I know. You don't have to. There was several days when I just wanted to say to hell with it.
Coaching Erinn
Coach finds a new student to take under his wing: Erinn.
"Somehow, as a coach, and having relationships with females, there might be a few people on this tribe I can still influence. I tried to do it with Sierra. It was such an on-off relationship that I think I helped her through some things, but in the end it ended up being a disaster. If you look at Taj - Debbie, I trust her, she's right as rain, if I say Debbie, don't you think we should vote for Taj next, she'll do it, I don't have to worry about her waffling and she knows the same with me - but with Taj, she's such an independent woman that I don't think there's any reaching out to her. Erinn, on the other hand, I already told her I want to talk to her today if the weather clears up, because she went through something on Exile and in my mind became part-warrior, became a warrior. I told her all along, your character at the beginning of this game I did not like. The person you have become, I'm impressed with. Kind of the pinnacle of her game was to go on Exile, the worst Exile maybe in history, to persevere, to not talk to anybody about quitting, to come back, to be strong in here (pounds his chest), and then throw it all away on the same day, by taking the easy way out and not voting for Sierra. It blew my mind! But because I think Erinn has potential, not in the game, because I think her clock is ticking, but in life. I want to talk to her today about that. I want to tell her, look, it's easy to sit around here and talk about how we take food for granted, electricity for granted, all that stuff for granted. How many times have I been at that spot? 20 or 30 in my life. Put myself out there without any amenities, and stayed for a week or two or six months. Yet, before I came on this trip, I took everything for granted. That's what we do as human beings. We get comfortable and take everything for granted. Everybody on this tribe thinks they're gonna go back home and they're gonna be a different person for the rest of their lives. I think part of that is true, but I also think some of the lesson they learn out here about taking things for granted, after a month it's gonna be thrown away. When I saw Erinn so quickly throw away that stature she earned on Exile Island in a cowardly vote, it bothered me. It made me think, when she goes back home, it's gonna be 2 weeks before she's talking like she used to, she's superficial like she used to, and she forgets everything about here, it becomes a bunch of good stories she can tell her clients. I don't want to see that happen, because I am proud of her for going like she has gone. I want to keep her one more round and eliminate Taj for how she voted on Exile Island. But I need to talk to her first so I can get inside her head and say look, when tough choices come in life, don't forget everything you've learned. Go with it, because that's the time when you're tested."
Dangerous Moves
Debbie comments on the masterful moves that JT and Stephen have made in the game which have put her in a compromising position.
"We're in this game to win, we're not in this game to make lifelong friends. I know that sounds contradictory coming out of my mouth, because I am a caring person and I want to be friends with these people, but I'm out here to win. I'm out here to win the best place I can win. When you've got strong players like JT and Stephen, they've got an inseparable bond. Those two will never separate. You will never get one to vote for the other one, ever. I know that's a reality out here. Honestly I'm jealous that I don't have anybody who would never vote for me either. I think it's really cool they've actually maintained that through this game."
(cut)
"This game I knew was crazy, but out here playing it is crazier. You don't know what's gonna hit you. I was blown away by the Tyson blindside. Totally blown away. Coach, Tyson and I had every plan to be the last 3 standing. We had a strong alliance. I was blown away. But when it happened, to my credit, I said, 'Good move,' because it was a great game move."
Taj on the Immunity Challenge
Taj comments on the genius methods used by Stephen to solve the mathematical equation at the immunity challenge.
"Yeah, I didn't come through again, but I'm kind of happy that Stephen did. I mean, he's a Yale graduate, how can I beat a Yale graduate? Who sat there and gave each division and subtraction and addition a number and then pulls it together? No one! Only a Yale graduate would do that."
(cut)
"For Stephen to win today was huge, not only because he's a nice guy, but also because it kept Debbie and Coach from winning. We were just so excited. Poor Debbie, she was excited because she didn't want Coch to win because she thinks he's going home tonight."
(cut)
"I would have been disgusted if Coach had won. I think he's a waste of space most of the time. When he did win his immunity challenge I just thought it was luck. I don't really think he's this great warrior dragon slayer that he thinks he is, and he annoys me to no end.
The Merit of Promises
Stephen theorizes that promises in the game only go so far.
"It's tricky. There's definitely gradations of what your word means out here. You say things, you promise things, you give your word, you swear, you swear to God. I think that for each person, how breakable that is -- I think each person determines how breakable that is for them. You cannot really trust anybody's promises out here. The ones...you have to always be considering their self-interest as well."
(cut)
"Someone might sincerely promise you something one day, but if their self-interest changes in ensuing days, the might need to reconsider their promise. Weighed against a million dollars, suddenly their word to a stranger a week ago might not seem so valuable."
(cut)
"The final promise that is concerning me is Debbie's promise to go with me and JT to the final three and bow out. She swore to God that she would do this. It's a very lucrative offer, a lock for sure on the final two. On the one hand, it's bad for me because maybe I don't want to be in the final two with JT, but on the other hand, if Debbie is in that position where she has immunity in the final three, her swearing to God might suddenly be counterbalanced against all the good things she could do for the world for a million dollars. Maybe she would be willing to martyr her word for the sake of generosity in action."
JT's Post-Tribal Plan
JT reveals his plans to ease Coachs mind after voting out Debbie.
"It's gonna be tough for Coach for him and Debbie to split ways, or Debbie to go home. Debbie has already thrown Coach under the bus. Debbie thinks Coach is going home tonight and she likes it. What's gonna really help is the only person that writes Coach down is gonna be Debbie. If Coach realizes that I'm gonna be his savior, not his betrayer. I'm gonna say, 'Yeah, them girls had you picked out, Coach, me and Stephen stepped in, turned it around on Debbie, got rid of the bad apple. You're still here with us, old buddy.'"
(cut)
"We're gonna have some explaining to do after Tribal Council tonight, no doubt about it. But you know, that's all part of it. I'll explain as long as I need to or until I'm tired of explaining, but once I tell him it was him or her, he should be pretty thankful. Just like the Tyson vote. He'll come back, and there's not a whole lot he can say besides, 'Good move,' because he doesn't have a lot of power at this point."
Debbie makes a sweet tasting treat for her tribe: jatoba pancakes.
(Day 32)
Debbie: Are ya'll getting hungry?
JT: How many Jatoba we got?
(they say about 5, even though they found 19 yesterday)
Debbie: We could make jatoba cakes. We make 'em thin, and get them fried up enough, like in water.
Debbie (solo): I think we're craving food because all we've eaten is beans and rice out here. Very little of that as well. We have not been able to catch fish. We're hungry. The taste buds are screaming for something different.
(they start cooking)
Stephen (solo): Jatoba out here to us is a major luxury item. We do not get to taste much jatoba. Jatoba is sweet-tasting and very healthy. It's got protein and calcium. Jatoba is a big delicacy.
(they make the cakes as JT looks on in anticipation)
Debbie (solo): Jatoba cakes. Jatoba and water and put them on a fire and burn them. Because our taste buds are lacking in so many areas, even burnt tastes good out here. We burnt them basically, and got them dried out and crispy, and they were delicious. It didn't even taste like jatoba.
(Stephen thanks Erinn and Debbie for the meal)
JT (solo): The jatoba pancakes were excellent, and I'm on the lookout for more jatoba. If I can get these gals to whip us up some more like that that'll be good.
(Debbie says if they can find more they can have the cakes every day)
Tribal Council Voting
Watch as the Forza members cast their votes at Tribal Council.
Coach (Taj): Taj, you're a beautiful woman, beautiful soul. I don't want to vote for you, but you might have the hidden immunity idol, so you gotta go. Best of luck. I'll see you on the other side.
Erinn (Debbie with a heart): I'm sorry. It's your time.
Stephen (Debbie): Big threats come in small packages.
Taj (Debbie): Sorry, Little Debbie.
JT (Debbie): Sorry, Debbie, but you're making too many promises you can't keep.
Debbie (Coach): I'm sorry, Coach. I hope you can forgive me. This game is changing, and you wanted to play with honor and integrity. It's time for you to go because it's not going to be able to pan out that way. Hope you forgive me.
Debbie's Final Words
Debbie reacts to having just been voted out of the game.
"33 days. I am so proud of myself. Honestly it's time. I'm ready to go. I would have loved to have been here to the end, but my tribe was honest with me and told me I was too much of a threat socially and everybody likes me and the jury is a lot of Timbira members. I'm not surprised, and I also actually surprised myself and was a fierce competitor in the challenges, and I think that scared them as well. It was a great ride. What an adventure this was, wow. It was the best of times and also some of the absolute worst. It all combined to make an incredible, incredible life experience."
(cut)
"Absolutely life-changing. Life-changing from both ends of the spectrum. It was a life-changing event I would never take back, ever."
(cut)
"The 908 Drake Middle School kids are going to be very proud. I think my own 5 kids are going to be blown away by how well I did out here. I surprised myself, actually. I'm shocked I lasted 33 days. I'm really the girly-girl. Eating live fish, sleeping in the freezing cold, everything I endured, I'm so proud of myself. I'm not disappointed, I'm not angry, this is a game. I'd like to have been one of the last ones standing, but I'm not. I was proud to have been here 33 days."
(cut)
"Forza is gonna miss me a lot. JT was ultra-sweet. He's always great but he was today telling me how much he loved me and going on. I know it was a hard decision for them to make to vote me off tonight. I know they had some difficult choices. I know they have reasons for keeping individuals in certain roles. I don't hold any grudges. This is a game, and you gotta play it the best. I'm anxious to sit on the jury and see what goes down."
Debbie the Day After
Debbie reflects on her time in the game and what she took out of it.
"I think my darkest moment in the game had to do with Sierra, and Sierra getting voted off, and Coach and I trying to manipulate to see if we could get her back in, and Sierra calling Coach out on lying. She believes it one way, Coach believes it another way. I was in the middle. At this point I started thinking, this game is getting crazy. Starting to really maneuver, talk about people, which is something as an older lady made me uncomfortable. That was a really low point, that firepit exchange between Coach and Sierra with JT and Stephen and Taj and Erinn and I all around. At that point I thought you know what, this is gonna get nasty. It really brought me down a notch."
(cut)
"I'm not like that at all. Some people love that. I think they like the drama of it. They draw energy from conflict. That is something that's just not in my personality. I don't draw energy from it. It really makes me uncomfortable. These people we spent this experience with were important to me. I really cared about them. It wasn't fake, it was true. I think people, some people, not only in the game but in life, draw energy from negative issues and like the drama and like the attention and like the energy that gives them. I'm not one of those people."
(cut)
"I think going into the game I was cautious and I really needed to prove myself early. I wanted to prove myself early. I worked really hard around camp, but again, I get bored. I'm not just gonna sit around. I didn't work to prove anything to anybody else, I just did it because I was bored, I wanted to do something. I think I had a lot to prove early in the game. I started really gaining my confidence towards the end. I was doing well in the challenges, I won the immunity necklace, I was placing second and third. So my confidence was growing. If I'd still be in there, who knows what would have happened."
(cut)
"Actually I did not think I had this inside of me. I really didn't. I'm like the girly-girl. People are gonna die when they see me on this show. I've always had my nails done, high heels, looking cute. It's gonna be really amazing. When I came out of the game, I looked myself in the mirror, and I had no idea who I was. It scared me. I only lost 6 pounds in the game, but when you're dehydrated, I would be gone. In my opinion I looked like a 90-year old woman coming out of the game. I was exhausted, I was hungry, I was filthy, just everything that is not me. When I looked at that person in the mirror I didn't know who it was. It really, really bothered me. And I didn't know I had this in me. I'll tell you what, there's not many things that can be thrown at me in life anymore that I won't know I can't handle. After handling this and going through this entire experience it's made me a stronger woman, I think it's made me a more caring person, and I will never take life's simple pleasures for granted again, ever. Especially my family or my loved ones. I laughed but I'm so happy to have a towel, I'm so happy to have toothbrush and dental floss. Who ever thinks of toothbrush and dental floss, y'know? I also know, and unfortunately I have children in my school who live without a lot of simple pleasures. We have children like that in our world, in the United States, who are homeless, who are living a life similar to what I've been living, who not knowing if you're gonna get your next meal, not knowing if you're gonna get a show. It's made me really appreciate people that don't have what I have and how they survive."
(cut)
"I think my approach to life is gonna be a lot more simplistic. I think this experience where you're stripped of everything makes you realize you don't have to have that to be happy. You don't have to have all that to have people love you. Spending time together is free. Hanging out with my son and sitting at a baseball game. I used to get real impatient at his baseball games cause I would get bored and think of everything else to do, or I would run around and come back. You know what, I'm not gonna see him play baseball forever, and I'm not gonna miss a game."
Treemail
Debbie and Erinn read treemail to their tribemates before going to the Survivor Auction.
Debbie: You have totally proven yourself to me, and I will fight for you in this game.
Erinn: Thank you. I will do the same.
Debbie: We're getting down to huge money at stake, and when Coach just stands up there and says he's not in it for the money.
Erinn: Yeah. Who cares?
(they find individual handbags for each contestant, and walk back to camp)
Debbie: Purses with money. It sounds like the auction!
Stephen: Auction. That's awesome!
Debbie: You ready?
Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is
Now is the chance to belong
Now is the time to trust your instincts
Now is the chance to get strong
(hands out the bags)
Debbie: I haven't even seen real money in a long time! JT will be like, "OK, I'll keep my money, no food, I don't care."
Coach: You're not gonna do that, are you?
JT: I don't know.
JT (solo): (smells the money) This is huge. This is the first time I've smelled money in forever. I'm debating on maybe just putting this in my pocket. I haven't seen $500 in a long time.
(Debbie hands Taj her money)
Taj (solo): Money. I saw that and just deflated. I was really hoping for a family visit, and then it's money? Who wants money? I'll throw it in the fire.
Meet Bret, Debbie's Husband
Debbie's husband, Bret, is shocked at the harsh living conditions that his wife has faced for the past thirty-one days.
"Without question, Deb can make it. I think she has a tendency, people are either black or white to Deb, good or bad. She has a tendency not to guard sometimes. If she's declared someone good, then she's not gonna guard in any way. I'm a bit concerned perhaps that some of the ones are getting along so well, it'll get to the stage where Deb'll take something for granted. Hopefully not. She's not a very guarded person. That might end up being a problem. As far as her making it, that's not a question, she'll make it. She also has a lot of heart for some of these peole and I'm not sure how hard at the end she's really going to be trying to...she in my mind has accomplished a great deal at this stage right here. For me she's got nothing to prove. I'm not saying that so she stops fighting or trying her best. She will. I think she's already proved a lot to herself or to me. It won't surprise me if perhaps she's not 110% focused on the whole thing. We'll see."
Meet Adrianna, JT's Sister
JT's sister describes her feelings after seeing her brother who has been living in the wild for thirty-one days.
"I knew JT could do it. He's always outdoors, doing all kinds of stuff. I'm the one that stays inside (laughs)."
(cut)
"He looked like a homeless man, I think, with the beard, and dirty, and ugh. I wanted to buy some soap for him."
(cut)
"He can do all the outdoor things. He can fish, he doesn't have a hard time staying outdoors. He loves it. He can't stand staying inside. That's why he doesn't have an inside job. He works with cows. He loves the outdoors."
(cut)
"JT's a people person. He charms them with his smirk. He has a smirk. He's really good with groups and stuff."
(cut)
"JT really is the best brother I can ever have. (starts crying) I'm so proud of him that he can do this."
Meet Mitchell, Coach's Assistant Coach
The Dragon Slayer's best friend comments on what Coach is really like back home.
"I'm out here in Brazil to see Coach Wade. Or as you guys call him, the Dragon Slayer."
(cut)
"When Coach first came down to camp, it was surreal. Just to see him after so long. To see what he's having to deal with. It's amazing. It's amazing. I'm still gobsmacked now."
(cut)
"He's lost a lot of weight, and the beard. That was the biggest thing. I've never seen Coach Wade with that much facial hair. To see him like that, I was taken aback a little bit, first of all. To see the small amounts of food and the area they live in, that's something I couldn't do, for sure."
(cut)
"For Coach Wade to get to day 31 is all up here. (taps his head) It's his mental strength. For me he's the strongest individual I know. Yeah, his body may not be able to take it, but up here, he's on a different level than most people are. That's what I think has gotten him to this point. And he's a very honest person, has a lot of integrity. What you see is what you get with Coach Wade. There's nothing behind that you think to yourself, 'Is this guy trying to snow me a little bit?' No. What you see is what you get. With me, he took me under his wing. He showed me, he helped me grow a lot, he looked out for me when I first came out to America. That's the honesty and integrity that he has that takes him to the next level."
(cut)
"Coach's life back home, he is the leader, but everybody respects him, everybody looks up to him, everybody knows this is the guy who is in charge, if he tells us to jump through hoops of fire, they'll jump through hoops of fire. I think with the people in this environment, I don't think he'll portray that as 'I'm the head guy, I'm in charge,' but I think people still look up to him, people still respect him for who he is, that honesty and integrity. It's his natural instict to lead people. Even though he might not be saying I'm your leader, I'm the Dragon Slayer, I'm this, I'm in charge, I'm that, people are still gonna wanna say we're gonna follow him, he's gonna help along the way."
(cut)
"Back home, Coach has his samurai sword up, all this kind of craziness. He's got the samurai robe and all that. This doesn't surprise me at all. I knew something like this was gonna happen, he'd get some crazy nickname. That is definitely him. The mythical side of stuff. He's a very religious person as well. I think that helps him get through the situation, he can pray about it and meditate about it. That's definitely Coach Wade."
Meet Brian, Erinn's Father
Erinn's father, Brian, shares his first impressions of seeing his daughter surviving in the wild.
"Erinn's situation out here is absolutely amazing. We come into camp and there's just a little bit of a lean-to, kind of a tarp over it, some poles with some palm fronds laying on top of it. This is their home. It's incredible this many people can spend this long literally out in the middle of nowhere with virtually nothing."
(cut)
"When she came around the corner the bones were coming through her shoulders, her wrists are showing, all the bites and so forth on her arms. It's obvious she's been toughing it out and having a hard time. I do have to laugh because one of the things she said when we first started was, 'Dad, I'm sorry, I'm so smelly.'"
(cut)
"One bit of advice I did give Erinn is you can never get too confident, overconfident about where you are in your alliances and the people around you, but to be careful and to do what she thought was right. Go for it."
(cut)
"As a father, leaving your little girl out in the middle of nowhere to continue to sleep under the stars is incredibly hard. It's already pulling my heartstrings to have to leave and she's gonna be out here. But I know it will end, I know she will be home, I know she's gonna be a better person for having been here. I wish her the best, I love her, and I'm just so incredibly proud of what she's been able to accomplish even if it were to end today. It's incredible."
Meet Dan, Stephen's Brother
Stephen's brother, Dan, expresses his initial feelings after seeing his brother in Tocantins.
"Stephen has never really been an outdoorsy guy, which is why it is so amazing to me he was able to do this and get this far. I'm so proud of him. I've never really considered him to be a guy who would be able to survive in this kind of thing. The joke's always been Stephen's so book smart if you put him in the middle of New York City, he'd never find his way back home. The fact that he's done this makes me rethink a lot of things about who he is and how he's suited to accomplish the most extreme tasks. This is certainly the most extreme from what I've seen."
(cut)
"I'm so impressed by how he's been able to cope, obviously, and with what little resources they have. We walked in here and we were completely overwhelmed by what little they actually have here. Hearing what they have in terms of food, which is basically nothing, is tough to hear."
(cut)
"As an outsider, to try and understand a) what's going on and b ) the strategy itself, is pretty tough. I can't follow what they're talking about. They're talking about alliances and who's been here and how did this person get voted off. I can't believe the mental side of the game, aside from the physical and the emotional. The strategy you have to work with and the mind strength when you don't have the body strength is mindblowing to me."
(cut)
"I'm so proud of him and I can't believe he's gotten this far in the game. I can't believe he's sleeping with 6 other people in I don't even know what. Some sort of constructed thing. The fact that he's been wearing the same clothes for 30 days. It's actually kind of tough to see, especially when I first saw him and the first thing I noticed was how much weight he's lost. He looks like he's lost a lot of weight, and that was tough."
Meet Eddie George, Taj's Husband
The former NFL player reacts to seeing his wife for the first time since she left home to play the game.
"To see my wife, and what she's doing, is inspirational. It's inspiring to see her like this, out in the sand, seeing her little home that has her touches on it. It felt good. I can see why it would be peaceful. Open skies. Serene. But you've still got to fight the elements. First impressions are I'm surprised she's doing it and how long she's been doing it for. I commend her. I know for a fact, sleeping out here for 3 days, or 31 days...I couldn't do it for 2. I'm definitely impressed."
(cut)
"She's tough. She holds it down back at our house in Nashville, I'm not surprised at her toughness. I think it's something which is good for her to see. I always knew she had the strength to overcome anything, but I think it's good for her to see she could always do it. I knew she could, I think she always could, but to see her follow through with it is tremendous. I'm just so proud of her. I know she's been wanting to do something ever since she left the group, and do something on her own, and this tops it off. (laughs) She's run a marathon. I ran a half-marathon. She's one tough cookie and that's why I love her. She's the rock of our household."
(cut)
"Before seeing my wife, I didn't know what to expect. It was like seeing her on our first date. I had butterflies driving up. What was I gonna say? How was I gonna react? Was I gonna laugh, or cry? I didn't know what I was gonna do. I had no idea. It was exciting. Hearing her voice. I know her laugh. I heard her laugh from way back. I could hear her excitement. I know this helped her out to get her over the hump, just a few more days. However long it goes, it's definitely helped her out. She needed it. I hope my energy spills off to her and she can just follow through.
Taj and Eddie George
Taj takes a walk with her husband, Eddie, on Exile Island.
Taj: I just realized you have to be way more appreciative of the things that you have. Not that I never was, but now I'm that much more appreciative.
Eddie: I know. Just the little bit I've experienced being here. I'm in this little motel, and I saw three roaches last night. (Taj laughs) Everything here is on steroids.
Taj: Everything is bigger and better.
Eddie: A toad, a cricket, a roach. Seriously.
Taj: Last night at Tribal Council there was a beetle this big. (holds up her thumb and index finger) The grasshoppers are like pigeons.
Eddie: I couldn't sleep last night. I couldn't locate this spider. I tried to kill it. I was up for an hour and a half, searching for this spider, high and low in the room. Couldn't find it. I refused to go to sleep. I watched the movie, I figured he'd show up as soon as I turned the light out. It was behind me, trying to get me. (he shows her the bottom of his shoe, indicating how he killed the spider) I could not sleep last night. I was like I've got to get out of here. I've had it. You can't brush your teeth right. You got a damn frog coming up through the pipe.
(cut)
Eddie: What do you do when it rains?
Taj: You get wet. One night I stayed out here, it rained from the time I laid down to go to sleep to the next morning.
Eddie: Did you sleep?
Taj: No, not really. I had sand all over me. It's Survivor. (he asks if anything crawls on her) Yeah. Spiders and stuff crawl on you, but now I'm sort of used to 'em.
(cut)
Taj: This is where I've been living, honey. This is what I've been doing.
Eddie: I like it.
Taj: Wanna stay? Wanna stay?
Eddie: I'll stay with you, yeah.
Taj: (puts her arm on his shoulder): Yeah right. I mean for 31 days, 39 days.
Eddie: If I had to. But I don't have to.
Taj: I know. You don't have to. There was several days when I just wanted to say to hell with it.
Coaching Erinn
Coach finds a new student to take under his wing: Erinn.
"Somehow, as a coach, and having relationships with females, there might be a few people on this tribe I can still influence. I tried to do it with Sierra. It was such an on-off relationship that I think I helped her through some things, but in the end it ended up being a disaster. If you look at Taj - Debbie, I trust her, she's right as rain, if I say Debbie, don't you think we should vote for Taj next, she'll do it, I don't have to worry about her waffling and she knows the same with me - but with Taj, she's such an independent woman that I don't think there's any reaching out to her. Erinn, on the other hand, I already told her I want to talk to her today if the weather clears up, because she went through something on Exile and in my mind became part-warrior, became a warrior. I told her all along, your character at the beginning of this game I did not like. The person you have become, I'm impressed with. Kind of the pinnacle of her game was to go on Exile, the worst Exile maybe in history, to persevere, to not talk to anybody about quitting, to come back, to be strong in here (pounds his chest), and then throw it all away on the same day, by taking the easy way out and not voting for Sierra. It blew my mind! But because I think Erinn has potential, not in the game, because I think her clock is ticking, but in life. I want to talk to her today about that. I want to tell her, look, it's easy to sit around here and talk about how we take food for granted, electricity for granted, all that stuff for granted. How many times have I been at that spot? 20 or 30 in my life. Put myself out there without any amenities, and stayed for a week or two or six months. Yet, before I came on this trip, I took everything for granted. That's what we do as human beings. We get comfortable and take everything for granted. Everybody on this tribe thinks they're gonna go back home and they're gonna be a different person for the rest of their lives. I think part of that is true, but I also think some of the lesson they learn out here about taking things for granted, after a month it's gonna be thrown away. When I saw Erinn so quickly throw away that stature she earned on Exile Island in a cowardly vote, it bothered me. It made me think, when she goes back home, it's gonna be 2 weeks before she's talking like she used to, she's superficial like she used to, and she forgets everything about here, it becomes a bunch of good stories she can tell her clients. I don't want to see that happen, because I am proud of her for going like she has gone. I want to keep her one more round and eliminate Taj for how she voted on Exile Island. But I need to talk to her first so I can get inside her head and say look, when tough choices come in life, don't forget everything you've learned. Go with it, because that's the time when you're tested."
Dangerous Moves
Debbie comments on the masterful moves that JT and Stephen have made in the game which have put her in a compromising position.
"We're in this game to win, we're not in this game to make lifelong friends. I know that sounds contradictory coming out of my mouth, because I am a caring person and I want to be friends with these people, but I'm out here to win. I'm out here to win the best place I can win. When you've got strong players like JT and Stephen, they've got an inseparable bond. Those two will never separate. You will never get one to vote for the other one, ever. I know that's a reality out here. Honestly I'm jealous that I don't have anybody who would never vote for me either. I think it's really cool they've actually maintained that through this game."
(cut)
"This game I knew was crazy, but out here playing it is crazier. You don't know what's gonna hit you. I was blown away by the Tyson blindside. Totally blown away. Coach, Tyson and I had every plan to be the last 3 standing. We had a strong alliance. I was blown away. But when it happened, to my credit, I said, 'Good move,' because it was a great game move."
Taj on the Immunity Challenge
Taj comments on the genius methods used by Stephen to solve the mathematical equation at the immunity challenge.
"Yeah, I didn't come through again, but I'm kind of happy that Stephen did. I mean, he's a Yale graduate, how can I beat a Yale graduate? Who sat there and gave each division and subtraction and addition a number and then pulls it together? No one! Only a Yale graduate would do that."
(cut)
"For Stephen to win today was huge, not only because he's a nice guy, but also because it kept Debbie and Coach from winning. We were just so excited. Poor Debbie, she was excited because she didn't want Coch to win because she thinks he's going home tonight."
(cut)
"I would have been disgusted if Coach had won. I think he's a waste of space most of the time. When he did win his immunity challenge I just thought it was luck. I don't really think he's this great warrior dragon slayer that he thinks he is, and he annoys me to no end.
The Merit of Promises
Stephen theorizes that promises in the game only go so far.
"It's tricky. There's definitely gradations of what your word means out here. You say things, you promise things, you give your word, you swear, you swear to God. I think that for each person, how breakable that is -- I think each person determines how breakable that is for them. You cannot really trust anybody's promises out here. The ones...you have to always be considering their self-interest as well."
(cut)
"Someone might sincerely promise you something one day, but if their self-interest changes in ensuing days, the might need to reconsider their promise. Weighed against a million dollars, suddenly their word to a stranger a week ago might not seem so valuable."
(cut)
"The final promise that is concerning me is Debbie's promise to go with me and JT to the final three and bow out. She swore to God that she would do this. It's a very lucrative offer, a lock for sure on the final two. On the one hand, it's bad for me because maybe I don't want to be in the final two with JT, but on the other hand, if Debbie is in that position where she has immunity in the final three, her swearing to God might suddenly be counterbalanced against all the good things she could do for the world for a million dollars. Maybe she would be willing to martyr her word for the sake of generosity in action."
JT's Post-Tribal Plan
JT reveals his plans to ease Coachs mind after voting out Debbie.
"It's gonna be tough for Coach for him and Debbie to split ways, or Debbie to go home. Debbie has already thrown Coach under the bus. Debbie thinks Coach is going home tonight and she likes it. What's gonna really help is the only person that writes Coach down is gonna be Debbie. If Coach realizes that I'm gonna be his savior, not his betrayer. I'm gonna say, 'Yeah, them girls had you picked out, Coach, me and Stephen stepped in, turned it around on Debbie, got rid of the bad apple. You're still here with us, old buddy.'"
(cut)
"We're gonna have some explaining to do after Tribal Council tonight, no doubt about it. But you know, that's all part of it. I'll explain as long as I need to or until I'm tired of explaining, but once I tell him it was him or her, he should be pretty thankful. Just like the Tyson vote. He'll come back, and there's not a whole lot he can say besides, 'Good move,' because he doesn't have a lot of power at this point."
