While I initially wasn’t a big Horsemen fan (probably because I blame them exclusively for the demise of Michelle), they have actually grown on me quite a lot lately. I liked how Edgardo played the game and I think that my chat with him definitely revealed more than we saw out there.
Edgardo Rivera: Hey, what’s up man? I heard about you!
Murtz Jaffer: (Laughs). What’s going on?
ER: Not much, not much. I heard you were the guy who had to interview me. The guy of the hour.
MJ: I am. I am the man of the hour. Are you ready to get started?
ER: Yeah, let’s do it man.
MJ: At tribal council, the Four Horsemen obviously seemed shocked when it turned out to be you. Did you know that Earl’s alliance had targetted you or were you shocked?
ER: No, I wasn’t shocked at all. Coming to tribal council, I told Alex that we had a 50/50 chance because people weren’t looking at us in the eyes. You know from past Survivors, when you go to tribal council and people are not looking at you or actually saying something about you… that mean’s that you are out. So I kind of knew that it was 50/50. The shock was for me that actually Dreamz voted for Mookie instead of what we had agreed upon and then that’s when I knew that the whole plan had fallen apart.
MJ: Why was the alliance named the Four Horsemen? Was it a wrestling reference?
ER: Um… no. I don’t know what it was. But to tell you the truth, I am a little bit embarrassed that it was a name like that because I don’t even know where that came from… I think Alex and Mookie came up with it.
MJ: Yeah, it’s a big wrestling thing. It’s a big wrestling term.
ER: Yeah, well I don’t know man. I am from Puerto Rico and we don’t watch wrestling. So for me, listening to “Four Horsemen,” whatever. If I knew that they were going to call us that the whole show I would have kind of told Alex and Mookie to cut it out.
MJ: Who do you blame more for your dismissal? Dreamz for basically turning on you guys or Mookie for telling Dreamz that you guys had the idol?
ER: Mookie for telling Dreamz that we had the idol. Because, the fact of the matter is that Alex was out instead of me. So if Dreamz didn’t know about the idol and Alex was playing it and they wanted Alex out? Our whole plan would have worked out perfectly but once Mookie told Dreamz about the idol, we were done.
MJ: At tribal council, when you left… it looked like you tapped or rubbed Dreamz on the head. What was that?
ER: Haha, that was a tap with a bleep. After that, I was really upset and I wanted to let him know that I was really upset and that I knew that he backstabbed me and I wanted to look into his eyes and he couldn’t because I guess he is a coward.
MJ: So what did you do. Did you just hit him on the head? What was that?
ER: No, I just tapped him. I tapped him and I wanted to let him know that I knew that he was the one that got me voted off. Kind of reminded him of how low and what a backstabber he was.
MJ: Initially, your alliance also included Boo, Stacy and Lisi. Why did you think Dreamz would have any loyalty to you when you guys didn’t include him on the original Moto?
ER: Because you know what? Lisi asked to be voted out and we didn’t have a choice. Mookie was turning to Dreamz already so we kind of picked up on him. We were watching him, but I guess Mookie and Dreamz were getting a little bit more along and they had other plans and Alex and I tried to keep our eyes on them but they are too young and too dumb and they were making mistakes in the game. So it’s just the way the game works.
MJ: When you voted Lisi off on Ravu, did you think that served as a signal for Stacy and that’s why she was so quick to turn on you guys as well?
ER: You know, thanks for asking that question. We thought about this, but Dreamz and Mookie hated Stacy so that’s one of the reasons that we kind of like left Stacy up because Alex and I figured out that either way if we got to the end with Mookie and Dreamz, we’re good to go because nobody liked them either. We were golden anyway. And then I knew that in that reward challenge, people weren’t liking Alex that much so my eyes were huge. I said if I took these three guys to the end with me, I win a million bucks guaranteed.
MJ: What do you think about Stacy and Boo switching their vote? Was it a good move strategically to leave you guys?
ER: You know what? And I know you watch a lot of Survivor! They made a mistake because they weren’t aligned with Earl and Yau from the beginning. So they weren’t included in the main alliance…
MJ: Exactly!
ER: If there’s one big alliance, you know that once you get to the final seven…
MJ: They’re finished. They’re on the outside.
ER: There’s always a core within the alliance. And they didn’t know that. It’s funny because Boo’s a strong guy and he just got thrown around like a little dirt-rag because he didn’t have an opinion and he’s not smart enough I guess.
MJ: I have to ask you about Cassandra. While she clearly didn’t show the most personality out there, why did you have so much contempt for her? What did she do wrong?
ER: I am going to have to write an e-mail to Cassandra about this because this is something that I said and regret. One of things that you say that just came out. The truth is that I like Cassandra a lot, I think she’s a good lady, she had a good strategy with Dreamz. The only thing that I didn’t like about her was that she had no strategy. She just laid around camp and waited for somebody to come talk to her and never pulled her own weight and she just did whatever Earl and Yau Man wanted her to do. It’s good that they had somebody like that and we didn’t have somebody like that. But I mean, at the same time… I didn’t like her that much because she is one of the persons that I wouldn’t like to see win.
MJ: I have heard some of the other interviews you have done and you have said that it was really annoying to hear Dreamz constantly talking about being homeless. What would he say and why was that so annoying?
ER: He kept saying stuff like… he believes in God a lot. He has a lot of faith in God. He kept saying that he was homeless for a reason and it was to be on Survivor to prove to people… I mean that he was going to show people that he was going to get to the end because he’s come from nowhere and he can make it far with other people. Over and over again, he told all these stories that people were buying. I looked at people around and I was like ‘are you kidding me? This guy’s just like playing you! He could be somebody rich and he’s just lying right now.’
MJ: Totally! Totally!
ER: So that was my thing. I could read people very well because if you see in the episode when Alex comes up to me and says ‘well Stacy told me this and this…’ I told him ‘she’s not in. I know she’s not in.’ He kept talking about all of that and I think what got me really mad at the end was that he said something… I said ‘Dreamz, what are you doing right now,’ and he said ‘well right now, I don’t have a job’ and he’s like ‘but God is going to get me a job because I believe in God.’ And I go to him ‘but I believe in God too and the last time I saw God giving out jobs, I don’t remember when was the last time I saw God giving out jobs. You have to go out there and look for them.’ People were like ‘awww… poor Dreamz… we’re going to help you out after we get off of the island.’ It was like oh my god. What a bunch of bs.
MJ: You were responsible for two of my favorite moments out there. One is when you got to Ravu and the first thing you asked was what living with Sylvia was like and the second was when you were totally laughing when Lisi fell. Do you usually just say whatever is on your mind and laugh whenever you want to?
ER: Yeah I usually say whatever I want. I do regret that they showed the Sylvia part because I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just wanted to joke with Rocky and Mookie. Kind of like begin a conversation with them because I knew that they didn’t like her that much so that’s how I started. It’s not that I didn’t like her because she actually was the one who helped us to build the whole shelter that we had at Moto. Lisi was going crazy and saying crazy stuff around camp and before that challenge, when we told her to pick in the memory game, she kept saying ‘I know, I know’ and she started yelling at us that she knew that she was a genius. And she just stepped off the platform and fell down. Of course, I am going to laugh man! That’s what happens with people that treat people bad. It’s bad karma.
MJ: Thanks a lot Edgardo!
ER: Hey man, nice speaking with you.
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Edgardo Rivera spent his teenage years there while attending high school. After his senior year, Rivera moved to the United States where he attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in advertising while playing on the Varsity Tennis Team. During this time, he earned All-Conference accolades and was part of the Davis Cup National Tennis Team for his native Puerto Rico.
After graduating college, Rivera began to work in an advertising agency in Puerto Rico before moving to Miami to further his career. He is currently a Regional Account and Planning Supervisor for a major client of a multinational advertising agency.
Rivera enjoys playing beach volleyball, tennis, basketball, traveling, spending time with his family and friends when he visits Puerto Rico and occasionally hitting the hot spots in South Beach, Miami. He describes himself as spontaneous, ambitious and very adventurous.
Rivera has three younger sisters, Rebeca, Adriana and Isabella. He currently resides in Miami Beach, Florida. His birth date is October 5, 1978.
– Survivor: Fiji airs on CBS on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
– Survivor: Fiji airs on the Global network in Canada on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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