Murtzcellanious: Murtz Jaffer Interviews Survivor: Fiji's Andria 'Dreamz' Herd

Interviews, Shows

My original pick to win Survivor: Fiji, Dreamz was the guy everybody was talking about when the cast was first announced and is still the guy drawing the most attention. We all know about how he failed to live up to his deal with Yau Man and in addition to answering why he did the dastardly deed that he did, he also opens up about the strategy that he used to get to the end of the game, who he liked backstabbing the most and what he plans to do with the infamous truck.



Murtz Jaffer: Hey Dreamz.

Andria ‘Dreamz’ Herd: Hey, what’s up man?

MJ: Hey, what’s going on? I met you this weekend, it was awesome.

ADH: Oh, cool.

MJ: When we met, I told you that Earl was going to win unanimously and that is what ended up happening. What do you think about Earl winning the game?

ADH: Oh man, I knew he was going to win. I told you. I told you. I said you’re probably right. I hope you’re right. Remember?

MJ: Right, right, right.

ADH: And I hope you are right because if he wins the game unanimously, that puts me in second.

MJ: So were you happy with Earl winning?

ADH: Definitely. I was so happy. I mean I knew I wasn’t going to win. Who else is better to win? Who played a better game? You know what I mean?

MJ: Yeah, but I thought you were always tight with Cassandra so I figured you would want her?

ADH: No, no, no. I mean when it’s down to that, Cassandra was my friend more and everything, but then it came to the basics of who needed it more and I mean Cassandra’s married. Her husband’s got a good job, she’s got a good job. She don’t really need the money, you know what I mean?

MJ: Now, if you saying it should be weighed on people needing the money, you needed the money more than anyone right?

ADH: Yeah, when it comes down to that point of need deciding, you know what I am saying, versus who I would rather win. That was the point. I knew I wasn’t going to win but I would just rather Earl win over Cassandra.

MJ: Do you think that when it comes down to the end, it should be about who needs the money rather than who played the best or do you think it should always be about who played the best?

ADH: Well judges are always going to judge on different things. I want people to judge on what they want to judge on. I mean they are on the jury. That’s their part. They are still part of that part of the game. I think everything went fair.

MJ: Did you think about how the jury was going to feel about your actions during the game? It seems like you backstabbed each and everyone of them on there.

ADH: Yeah. I already knew that. But even if I wouldn’t have backstabbed them, then I would have been sitting on the jury.

MJ: (Laughs). It’s true.

ADH: Alex’s alliance was going to get wiped out anyway. He thought he had Stacy when he didn’t.

MJ: Obviously everyone must be asking you about not giving Yau Man the idol. Can you tell me what went into the decision?

ADH: Oh, the game. The game went into that decision. I knew that if I had given Yau Man the idol, I would have went home and I wasn’t going home. You know what I mean? I came too far. I stabbed a whole alliance in the back. I mean I felt that I played too hard of a game to give up and I felt giving him the immunity idol would have been giving up and it pretty much would have been. ‘Cause I knew that it was either him or me.

MJ: People have said that you have been wishy-washy about the car decision. So can you set the record straight? Did you set him up from the beginning or did you decide with the tears right at tribal council?

ADH: Okay. From the beginning, I was like ‘yeah, okay I’ll give him the thing’ only because I knew that I could take him out before 5 came. But things kept happening, you know what I mean? One time we actually casted in votes for him but he used the immunity idol and I was like dang it. I knew that if it came down to it, I wasn’t going to give it to him. The reason the tears came in is like I said, it’s like sending your kid to college. When people send their kids to college, they tear up. It’s not sad because their kid is going to college. It’s just sad because you have been with them for such a long time and now it’s time that he gotta go. At this time, he gotta go but I had to put him out to after I looked at the jury and all those people I put out and now I gotta put out one of my real friends. It was kind of sad and he played the game so hard, you know what I mean?

MJ: Right, right, right. I think you are the biggest badass to play the game since Jonny Fairplay. While your game wasn’t always the most strategic, you played a very raw game and did whatever you had to. Isn’t that what Survivor is all about?

ADH: That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about playing to the end. Playing your hardest. If you gotta lie, lie. Everybody lies. I seen Earl lie, I seen Yau Man lie… I seen everybody lie. If you gotta lie, you gotta lie. I mean, it’s not real life. I mean I wouldn’t go lying to people in real life ’cause as a man, I feel like I don’t have to lie and I have no consequences for my actions. And I’ll deal with my actions as a man in real life and on the real streets. You know, like Mookie won’t really go into Yau Man’s bag or Yau Man won’t go into Sylvia’s bag in real life. But on a show like that? You have to. Playing the game? You have to do what you have to do. I feel that if I am going to play it, I am going to play it.

MJ: You backstabbed a lot of people. The Horsemen and Yau Man stand out in particular. Which person did you like stabbing in the back the most?

ADH: Edgardo.

MJ: (Laughs). Why’s that?

ADH: He never had me in his plans intentionally. Alex and Edgardo? I was never in their real plans. You know what I mean? They thought that I was stupid because I played the stupid part, you know what I mean? I played it like I was real stupid and I was going to act as stupid as they needed me to be ’cause Alex was the smart one, you know? If you go smart against a smart guy, he’s going to be like ‘no, he thinks he’s smart’ and try to get you out of there. So I had to play it stupid as possible ’cause you can’t be smart and athletic either. So I played as stupid as possible for the time being until it was time for them to go. Then I had to really strategize.

MJ: Are you down with Edgardo now?

ADH: Oh yeah, we’re all cool. Everybody’s cool now.

MJ: I have heard you say that you planned a lot of what you did on the show and decided in advance who you would align yourself with. Sylvia said that at the beginning of the game, Rocky and Liliana tried to get all the young people together to vote out the older people and that you told the older people about it. Did you know going in that you were going to align with the older people?

ADH: Going in, I knew that older people were smarter than younger people. They are just smarter. Even if it is not educational smarter, they are wiser than younger people. They work harder than younger people and they make better decisions than younger people. So I knew that I was going to align with… I said that I was going to align myself with Cassandra, Papa Smurf, Sylvia and Yau Man. Those people ’cause they were smarter. But things went different when the tribes split but I was still with Cassandra and Papa Smurf ’cause the younger people or whatever wanted to take them out. And Earl was on my side. Me and Earl talked from Day 1 and we were still friends. I knew that if we ever got back together, he have people and I have people, we were just going to merge with all our people. But the plan was for me, him and Cassandra to make it to Final 3 which happened just like we planned it from Day 1.

MJ: Do you think that race had anything to do with it? I know that you guys got together but none of the other races really did?

ADH: Oh, no, no, no. The other races did.

MJ: Oh really?

ADH: Hispanic. They had a Hispanic alliance.

MJ: Right, right. But I think that yours was the tightest. Yours was the one that worked, yours was the one that got to the end no matter how many twists happened.

ADH: Only because Alex and Edgardo was a pact and that was a pact and that was a pact of two and everybody seen it so the rest of the alliance had to band together as two’s and stuff. Which pretty much separated ’em overall but me and Earl and Cassandra was a pact of 3. I mean I know it seemed like Earl was tight with Yau Man, but he really knew where he was at in the first place.

MJ: You had a history of people telling you things and you telling other people. You told the older people about the younger alliance. You told Earl and Yau Man that Mookie gave Alex the idol. My question is, can you keep a secret?

ADH: In real life I can. (Laughs).

MJ: (Laughs).

ADH: Because I have tons of secrets. But if you ever looked at the show, when people told me secrets it was people who weren’t in my alliance. So then I go back and tell the people that were in my alliance. You know what I’m saying. I was a double-agent in the whole game. Trying to double it up the whole game. Get one information and take it to the other one that’s going to benefit me. It’s all about me the whole time.

MJ: (Laughs). At one point, you were in an alliance with Stacy. The same girl who was so mean to you in the days of the original Moto. How could you stomach being aligned with her?

ADH: Well, actually after all that stuff happened, we came back and I still didn’t like her, you know what I mean? But we talked. We sat down and talked and everything was cool, you know what I mean? I just gave her another chance to redeem herself especially after that challenge where she got all those bad reviews. I talked to her after that and she really opened and she really didn’t know that she was that kind of person that nobody liked. She really didn’t know that stuff. So we sat down and we talked and stuff and she said that she was going to try and change and I really felt that she did. I was really her friend after that.

MJ: The one question that I have been dying to ask you involves Stacy as well. After the twist, you had already joined Earl/Yau Man/Cassandra and Michelle so why did you decide to keep Stacy and vote out Michelle? Was this because you realized that this was the only time that you could get rid of her?

ADH: Yeah, ’cause Michelle, she would have been with Yau Man and Earl and that would have been a tight 3 which I wouldn’t have knew if me and Cassandra could pull Earl away from Yau Man and Michelle. ‘Cause they were really tight. All three of them were tight. And I had to get her out. I knew Stacy could get voted out at any point in time. They didn’t like Stacy. So Stacy could go at any point in time. That was the only time that I could get rid of Michelle and the opportunity was right there and then I could do a lot of stuff with that. I could make it seem like I didn’t do it on purpose and then when she said that, I was like ‘okay, good.’

MJ: Right, now you could say you had a reason…

ADH: A good reason.

MJ: Did you ever consider how other people would look at you after the show was over?

ADH: Nah. I mean the people in my town love me regardless. I don’t care if I would have killed somebody on the show. Or stole something on the show or anything. My people in my town are going to love me regardless. And it was all a game. TV man.

MJ: What would you have done with the money if you had won?

ADH: Ah, I never planned on winning!

MJ: (Laughs). Big house? Would it have changed who you are? Or would it have remained the same?

ADH: No, I would have still probably lived in Wilmington and I would do the same. I would go get the kids the same. It would have helped me. I would have tried, I am going to still try to do this. Try and get a center built in Wilmington so that I can take kids there and we can all have fun. It would take a lot of kids out of trouble. Keep a lot of kids out of trouble, you know? People from growing up so rough.

MJ: Are you keeping the truck?

ADH: Yeah, I am going to sell it. I am going to auction it off and give it to the Good Shepherd’s Soup Kitchen place ’cause they helped me when I was young. I’d probably be dead right now if it wasn’t for them people there. So I am going to definitely try to give back to my community.

MJ: I think you were one of the best players of all-time. I called you to win from the beginning. A homeless guy. A cheerleading coach. A boxer. I think you were the perfect Survivor player on paper. I want to know what’s next for you after Survivor.

ADH: I don’t know. I haven’t even looked into anything. I really don’t know.

MJ: Thank you so much Dreamz.

ADH: Alright man. Thank you.


Growing up homeless in the projects of Wilmington, North Carolina, Andria “Dre” Herd spent most of his childhood trying to keep his family together and alive. He slept on the streets, ate at soup kitchens and was able to survive by becoming a street performer with his brothers. In high school, Herd began playing sports and quickly became an athletic superstar, excelling in cheerleading.

Herd spends his summers teaching cheerleading for the Universal Cheerleading Association. He also is training to be a boxer at the gym owned by his brother. Herd enjoys boxing, basketball, tumbling and stunting. He is very proud to have obtained his Associate’s Degree from Cape Fear Community College.

Herd describes himself as humorous, energetic and intelligent. Describing his perfect day, he says, “When everybody is happy all day… that’s a perfect day.”

Herd continues to reside in Wilmington, North Carolina. He is a proud father to his two-year-old son, Giovanni, and his one-month-old son, Luca. His birth date is December 15, 1981.


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.

Sir Linksalot: Survivor: Fiji

Please credit Murtz Jaffer & RealityDish.com when using this interview. If reposting, please post just an excerpt and link back to the rest of the piece.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.