The fifth person to get eliminated from Survivor: Micronesia was Joel Anderson. Joel was just another strong player that got voted off the island too soon thanks to the “weaker” players bonding together. In a conference call with members of the media, Joel discussed that along with many other things. Here are the highlights of Joel said in this conference call for Survivor: Micronesia…
Why do you think that the weaker players are always getting the upper hand?
Joel Anderson: You know, strategically it makes sense to keep some of them around. I think this season we’re seeing a whole lot more of them, kinda bonding together, than maybe we’ve seen in the past. You figure that if you take some weak people to the merge with you, some individuals that may not have a chance of winning the individual immunities, that could be good, strategically.
Seriously, how far do you think that Chet can go?
JA: I don’t know. I wish he was gone last night, but I’m sure that Mikey wished he was gone last week and Mary wished that he was gone the first vote, but, I don’t know. I don’t know how far he’ll make it. I don’t think he’s made it this far by any efforts of his own, so other people out there could continue to carry him. Last night it was Tracy and Cirie and who decided to carry him, so it just depends, and we don’t know what other choice there is going to come along either.
Under the circumstances, do you feel a little vindicated for dragging him through the jungle?
JA: I can’t say that was hard for me to watch. I’m thinking that a lot of people were laughing while they were watching that, sadly at his expense, but my goal was to win. I couldn’t see behind me. I was hoping he was keeping up. I felt something tugging on me every now and then, but you know, the training we do for the fire department, we do stuff like that. We have 150 lb tires that we pull that are fastened to hoses to simulate pulling a line and taking a plug and stuff like that, so the tension that was on didn’t feel like that much, but it looked pretty brutal watching it.
Who are you hoping to win now?
JA: I had a very early alliance with Alexis. She’s one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. Natalie and Erik and if any of the three of them wins, then I’ll be pleased. Anyone else is really irrelevant to me and I don’t mean that to sound callous, but that was my alliance and I’d like to see one of them win it all.
Who paired you with Chet for that challenge? Was that your choice, the tribes, or the producers?
JA: We get to decide as a tribe who gets paired with who. I guess my fault in that was probably not saying “Hell, No!”, but who’s going to take the bullet in that situation? I figured if anyone is going to take it, I’ll take it. You’re already walking on egg shells. You’ve got 4 brand new, you know we just got or designed a brand new tribe. You don’t want to offend anybody. You don’t want to be the “I’m too good to pair with him” or anything like that, so hey “I’ll take him and we’ll do the best we can. If I have to pull him through the fence, I’ll pull him through the fence.
What was your relationship with Tracy? Last week she was on your side and helped you flip on Mikey and this week she flipped on you.
JA: Tracy, Chet and Kathy all played the same role. Tracy didn’t convince me to vote one way or another. That vote was already done. The alliance that I had with Alexis, Natalie and Erik had already decided that was the way that we were going to go with the vote. We just needed or wanted them to vote that was too. They didn’t care who got voted off as long as it wasn’t them, but they really wanted Mikey or Jason to go home. I knew that I had at least 2 more votes out of them. They had no idea that my alliance was with Alexis, Natalie, and Erik.
I was kind of floating around, trying to act like I didn’t have an alliance with anybody, trying to design votes that way. I voted for Tracy at the first Tribal to kind of throw things off and not let anyone know that I had an alliance with the girls. There was a hand full of things going on there. I wouldn’t say that Tracy was on my side or helped me vote Mikey out. That was the direction that the whole tribe wanted to go, with the exception of Jason.
You had already decided to vote Mikey and not Chet last time?
JA: Yeah. There was a lot of stuff going on in our tribe, that had our tribe divided. Obviously, we all go into this experience with our past experiences. My past experience is being parts of sports teams and coaching teams. I always felt like when you have weaker players, then you don’t continue to tell them how weak they are, even though that may be the way that you feel and what you believe. You don’t kick sand in their face and tell them how they don’t deserve to be there. That’s to encourage them and get the absolute best out of them that you can. That was my goal.
We had 3 people who were alienated and one person who was, quite frankly, annoying. Granted that one person might be physically more dominant than any one of the 3, but I’ll trade 3 for 1 any day of the week. That was the decision with voting off Mikey. We had 3 people who had the potential to turn around and motivate to do more, vs. one person who was their own biggest fan.
So you don’t regret voting Mikey off?
JA: Oh, not at all. I probably have one regret in the entire time that I was there, and it didn’t have anything to do with any vote that I ever made. My biggest regret was when they shuffled the tribes, that I didn’t go right over, immediately, to Tracy and Chet and say “Hey, the 2 of you, Erik and I, will agree to never vote for each other. Ever! We’ll maintain “fans vs. favorites”. The 4 of us will never vote for each other. Then ideally, it would be the 4 of us that would go to the merge. If we win challenges, great. If we lose challenges, so what? There are 3 chickens over there. 2 of them are laying eggs. We’ve got a net. We can fish. Who cares? We’ve got a cave. If we win nothing else. Eliminate 4 or 5 people, or whatever it is, then that’s what we’ll do. Worst case scenario, if that had worked, there would have been a 4/4 tie at the vote last night.
But it didn’t even cross my mind. I think I just let my emotions and my disgust with Chet’s game play get the best of me and that’s the wrong way to play the game.
It seemed like going into the merge, it was just you and Erik. You were out there all alone.
JA: That’s what it felt like. I was probably the most uncomfortable ever n the game at that point. Up until that point, I felt like I was playing the game as logically as I could. I think there are lot of people who don’t agree with some of the votes. Some fans who disagree with how I chose to vote, but it’s a numbers game. It’s a numbers game and it’s a votes game. The most logical way, based on the numbers, was the way that I was trying to play. I never forced anyone to vote the way that I wanted them to. I just proposed ideas and they could agree or disagree and ultimately vote what ever way they wanted.
I never showed to Tribal Council without everything packed, because regardless of what they told me at camp, that night could be my night. When I got onto that new tribe, I was very, very uncomfortable and my emotions took over. I stopped making logical decisions and started making emotional decisions and that’s when I went home.
Were you surprised that the merge happened when it happened?
JA: You know, yeah. I shouldn’t have been. The reality was that, as a tribe, we didn’t prepare for it. Maybe we were too focused on trying to keep a fire going or trying to build a real good shelter, or too focused on trying to make some form of unity. It was something that we never talked about. We were all unprepared for it when it happened, on the fans side we were.
Why were people getting hurt in that challenge? It didn’t look that bad.
JA: That’s a good question. I’m not sure if those injuries came from, well, I know Ami injured her knee. I saw that when she went over the fence the wrong way. She said that she heard her knee pop. We’ll have to see what they end up doing with that. She was limping when we went back and everyone was discussing after that about Tribal Council and getting ready to go to Tribal Council, that that knee was hurting her. As far as Jonathan, until I saw it last night, I didn’t realize how bad that was and that was brutal. And then Chet. Chet is injured every day.
What is your relationshup with Chet since the show?
JA: I haven’t spoken to Chet since the show, but there was a little bit more of a relationship that we had while we were there then everyone got to see. He and I did have a lot of conversations one on one, just to clarify where I was coming from. I think that Tracy tried to insinuate that there were underlaying issues between Chet and I and there weren’t. We were fine with each other. He knew where I was coming from. He understood the intensity of my competitiveness, and I understood where he was coming from. He was a guy who was very pleased to be there. Pleased to be given the opportunity. He was going to go as far at the game was going to let him go, but his efforts were minimal. If I ever had to pick a football team, he wouldn’t be on it, but that doesn’t mean that he’s a bad guy or that he didn’t deserve to be there for some reason.
What did you learn about yourself during this experience?
JA: For me, I think what I learned are things that other people have told me a lot of times. I do allow my emotions to get the best of me sometimes. I always knew I was a very vocal person. I always knew that I was a very opinionated person. I always knew that I was a very competitive person. I don’t think I realized how many facial expressions I make, but they show a lot of those too. Aside from that was that a big part of me wanting to be on Survivor was to see how I would fare out in those elements, physically and socially, and I was pleased with myself and with what I did. I really feel that mistake that I made, I probably would have made more mistakes if I was out there longer, but in the time that I was there, the mistake that I made was how I played it after that shuffle.
Was your inability to keep quiet in challenges contributed to you being a target this week?
JA: I don’t know if my inability to keep quiet made me a target, but I can’t say that it made me any friends. But at the same time, I wasn’t there to make friends. I was there to win. And if you’re a target is pretty irrelevant ifyou have the alliances and you have the numbers. While I was on Airai, I was pretty confident that’s what we had going. We’ve seen in past seasons, if you’ve got the numbers, and the votes are going in your direction, then you can be one of the most annoying people out there, which is all left up to interpretation. I’m competitive. I’ve extremely, extremely competitive. People’s competitive nature comes out in different ways.
I don’t think, in all honesty, that I’m a know it all. I’m that last person to tell you that I have any authority on how to win any of those challenges, but I definitly want to have my hand in the pot. As opposed to somebody like Chet, I’m not somebody who will stand around and let other people make my decisions for me. I’m going to get involved. I’m going to make an effort. Sometimes that comes out verbally, but if I’ve offended anybody in my effort to win a million dollars, I can’t appologize for that.
I think that for the most part, most people understood what we were playing for. I wasn’t yelling at them calling them idiots. I was yelling at them because I wanted all of us to win. I’m yelling about winning. Even the early one where I was yelling at Chet to get out of the water, he understood that, because he and I talked about that. I’m not saying “you moron”, i’m saying “You do what’s best for the team and get out of the water.
When we were talking with Mikey, he said that you knew who you were going to align with from the beginning. He was critisizing you for that. He thought you should have been more flexible.
JA: Of course he would, because he wasn’t one of the people that I aligned with. If he was in my alliance, he wouldn’t have wanted me to be flexible.
Did you decide before that game that you were going to find people that we physically weak?
JA: No. Not at all. My strategy going into the game was aligning myself with people who saw whatever they felt I had to offer as a necessity. If I was going to be a builder, and make shelter, then I want to align myself with people who don’t know how to make shelter. If I’m going to be a provider and hunter, then I want to align with people that don’t have that ability, or someone who is afraid of fire and I’m going to make the fire or whatever it is. I think that’s the key, is to find contrasting people. If you align with people who are just like you, or think they are just like you, or have the desire to contribute the same things that you are contributing, then one of you is expendable.
It seems like Kathy, Chet and Tracy were on borrowed time, yet here they got farther than you. How do you think that happened and what do you think their chances are?
JA: In contrast to what other people thought about them, I think their chances are just as good as anybody else. Erik said it best. He said at the last Tribal Council that “There’s a lot more to strength than physical strength”. We realized that. Erik and I realized that. I think there were some people out there that realized that. Just because you are built a certain way or just because you have a certain past, or were involved with athletics and other people weren’t, doesn’t mean that they don’t have the ability to win this game. We’ve seen that season after season, that it’s not always the big, physically dominant people that win this game.
I think that Tracy, Chet and Kathy have jsut as much ability to make it to the end as anybody else. That was my opinion from day one. That’s why I was so frustrated. If there’s one thing that I dispise, with however I was depicted in this show, is that I don’t particularly care for bullies. If there’s one person on our tribe who is bullying and alienating others, that’s who I’m going to vote out.
Who would you say was that person?
JA: Mikey. I don’t think I designed Mikey’s vote. I think I went along with what the majority of the tribe wanted. Tracy said it when she said “How are we being blamed for losing challenges, when we’re not even being allowed to compete in challenges?”. Chet said it when he voted for Mikey and said “Hey. You haven’t stopped talking and telling us what losers we were”, I can’t remember how he worded it, “since day one”. That was pretty much the dynamic of the tribe. Out tribe really didn’t have any unity until the morning after Mikey was gone. That was the same day that we got shuffled with the other tribe. Our goal in voting Mikey off, as a tribe, was not to do what I wanted to do. Our goal was to finally have some kind of unity and finally be on the same page. The only person who had an issue with that at Tribal Council was Jason. Everybody else was pretty much on the same page.
When you were out on the boat talking to Ozzy, you were trying to strike a deal with him. Why did you not at that point say “Hey, Ozzy. Let’s make an alliance right now”.
JA: Ozzy wasn’t willing to make an alliance. It was very clear by the words he was saying and his body language, that he was not willing to make an alliance. s time went on, we all saw, and the other favorite tribe members knew, we all saw who Ozzy had an alliance with.
At that point, did you know that he had the Immunity Idol?
JA: No. We discussed it. Ami came over to Tracy and Chet and Erik and I and discussed that we think he might have it. We haven’t seen it and nobody said anything. We all agreed that it makes sense that it only makes sense that the very first time that he goes to Exile Island. That’s pretty much what happened because, Hey, it’s Ozzy! He’s not a dumb guy. He’s not going to be out there and not look for it. He understands the game, so things like the clues are all going to make sense to him.
We figured that if Ozzy was to ever go to Exile Island, and the Immunicy Idol was out there, that he would come back with it. We figured that he probably had it. It was more likely that he did than didn’t.
Tell us about the difference in the camps.
JA: Our original camp was the epitomy of Survivor. There was coral all over the ground. Our trails were rediculous. You could not walk bare foot anywhere without cutting your foot, which then would never heal. You’re wearling wet socks and wet shoes all of the time, which then leads to trenchfoot. Nonstop. We had very little flat land anywhere that wasn’t infested with bugs, wehre we could sleep on the ground or have any kind of decent shelter.
Then you get over to the Malakal tribe, when we shuffled the tribes, and we get over to our new island and they got a great shelter, a big open area. It’s the difference between living in a studio appartment and 5 bedroom house on 3 acres. You’re just “OK. This is significantly nicer”. You could walk around barefoot. Their sand was soft. They had a front beach and a back beach. They had plenty of coconuts and trees. They had the cave. Yeah, I wanted to stay there.
This week, Cirie and Tracy carried Chet along. Did you carry him along last week?
JA: Yeah. That’d be fair to say. There’s nothing wrong in that statement. Me and anyone else who voted the same way that I did. You’re playing a game, based on strategy. At that point, he’s a vote.
Could you have picked him up and carried him with you during that challenge?
JA: Ha. If I had seen what was going on behind me, I may have done that. I was just running. I had no idea what was going on behind me. A couple times it felt like he was running in the other direction, but I just gave a tug on the rope and kept going.
Is Ami a big part of the decision making?
JA: To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what was going on with the Malakal tribe. Erik and I talked about it when we got over there. We thought that they were the most unified, on the same page, blah, blah, blah, but they were just feeding us a big old line of, you know, junk.
Ami’s votes, watching Ami vote over the last few episodes, when that tribes gone to Tribal Council, and even last night, it just confused me. She was the first one to approach Erik and I about voting Cirie off when we very first got there. She came and said that Cirie is running the show and I said “I’m down. Let’s do it. Boom. It’s done”.
With Tracy, Chet, Erik and I and Ami voting off Cirie, then we got the numbers. Let’s do it. As soon as we had that discussion, then everything got thrown up in the air and she ended up voting for me.
What did you think about Tracy calling you out last night about the challenge?
JA: I think Tracy wanted to be on camera. Call me out, but call me out with something legitimate. Don’t call em out with something that you made up.
Going out on the island like that, what is better, boxers or briefs?
JA: Boxers, but make sure they’re clean!
– Survivor: Micronesia airs on CBS in the U.S. on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
– Survivor: Micronesia airs on the GLOBAL network in Canada on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Sir Linksalot: Survivor: Micronesia
