Random Reality: Interview with Survivor: Micronesia's Eliza Orlins

Interviews, Shows







Why did you play the idol when you knew it was fake?

Eliza Orlins: Well, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have kind of a strategic move, right at the end there, and even after being voted off, when Jeff announced that that the idol was fake and knew I was going, I got to out Ozzy for having the real one and kind of said to everyone who was still around “Hey guys! You’re going to write this guy a check for a million dollars if you don’t get rid of him soon. Not only is he great at challenges, but he’s got the Hidden Immunity Idol and he just admitted it. It was just kind of a strategic move, even knowing that I was doomed.

Was it really unknown at that point that he had the idol?

EO: He’d told Amanda, Parveti, and James. But no one else knew. I think Cirie suspected, but still didn’t know until I confirmed it. Alexis, Natalie and Erik we all completely shocked.

What did you think when Alexis referred to you in the past tense?

EO: I think that it was harmless. It was unintentional on her part. It was kind of a foregone conclusion that I was going, so I wasn’t exactly being treated that well at that Tribal Council.

Who has the biggest target on their back at this point?

EO: I think Ozzy, thanks to me! I think Ozzy has a pretty big target. I think Jason has proven how strong he is at challenges and also that fact that he was the only person left on the outside of the last vote, so I think both of them have pretty big targets.

What was your first thought when you saw Erik at the merge?

EO: I was completely devastated. It was kind of just paddling up, so you don’t get to see my facial reactions. When I’m looking over at the Malakal boat and I’m going “Why isn’t Ami wearing a shirt? Why does her hair look different? OMG! That’s not Ami. That’s Erik! OMG!” It’s was just total heart break, stomach pit, just awful.

Did you believe Parvati’s story when she was telling you about Ami?

EO: Well, at that point, I was just trying to make conversation with Partvati. I had spoken to Cirie about it and she was like “Ami wasn’t really with us. She wasn’t loyal, so we had to get rid of her.” I was really sad about it. I had already talked to Cirie at that point, but was just trying to see if it meant that they were definitely not going to stick with the Favorites.

Is Ozzy hot headed and over confident or anything else?

EO: Ozzy, I think Ozzy is pretty cocky. I think you could tell that, just from the TC where Chet got voted off and Ozzy was like “Oh, I don’t have to play the Immunity Idol”. Everyone there kind of knew he had it. He was “I’m pretty confident here”. I think his laughing at me when I played the “stick”, even though it was outing him was pretty cocky too.

What did you think when Jason showed you the stick? That was classic TV.

EO: It was definitely a good moment, although it was unfortunate for me. I saw that stick in my bag and I thought, I actually thought that Jason was trying to pull one over on me because he told me that he had the Hidden Immunity Idol and I thought that he couldn’t possibly think that THIS was the Hidden Immunity Idol, so he must be putting a stick in my bag, just to mess with me. Which is when I confronted him on the beach and found out that no, he did, in fact, think that was the real Hidden Immunity Idol.

Was he ignorant or never watched the game before or is he that stupid?

EO: No, those are pretty negative things. I think he had watched the show. He saw the little face and I think it was a product of being so hopeful. He properly followed all of the clues. He HAD gotten to the spot where the II would have been hidden, so I think he just kind of, it was a combination of being naive and being so hopeful that this was in fact the Hidden Immunity Idol that made him believe that it was.

All of the women bailed on the Immunity Challenge first. Why did that happen?

EO: I was the last woman standing and Erik only bailed a second after I did, so I deserve not to be lumped in with them. I think that Cirie has admitted that she’s not very strong in the water. I think that Alexis was particularly nervous of that challenge. Amanda was careless. I don’t know how she did that. I don’t know. I think they felt safe, so I don’t think they were truing as hard as they could have, maybe. Maybe they’re just weaker in challenges.

When Ozzy didn’t win that challenge, how did he appear to the tribe members? Did his invincibility wear off?

EO: I think everybody was pretty shocked. I mean, Ozzy has never lost a water challenge in the history of his time on Survivor. Everybody thought, Gosh, Jason walks around talking the talk, but can he really walk the walk? Can he really beat Ozzy in a challenge? His idol, who he says he’s as good as, if not better than. I think that Jason really impressed people. You saw Ozzy’s face when he came up. He did not look good. Jason said that he could have gone for another 5 minutes easily. He had made a good little kind of snorkel thing for himself. Jason was very strong in challenges.

Was Ozzy really cozying up to Alexis or was that editing?

EO: I think that Ozzy and Alexis became friendly when they went to Exile Island together. They were just kind of… I think that was more strategic. I don’t think that Alexis was “moving in” on Amanda’s man or anything. I think that that was, in editing, made to be a little more of a big deal than it actually was.

People either love you or hate you on the message boards. Do you read them?

EO: Absolutely. I read it all. I love it. I even love reading about the people who hate me, who call me an Alien and stuff. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I think that I’m somebody who has self confidence and I’m really happy in my life, so people who feel the need to critisize me to hate me, in fact, really dont’ get to me. I have pretty thick skin. I enjoy reading that stuff because those are the people who are big fans of the show and I consider myself one of them, so I love reading the message boards. I read them before I was on the show, so I wasn’t going to stop just because I went on.

Just how friendly do you think that Ozzy and Alexis got on Exile Island?

EO: I think honestly, most of it was just strategy talk and maybe she thought he was cute, but I mean, Alexis is not that kind of girl. They were showing it as if anything was really going happen when she was laying there with him. What they were really talking about was the face that he had kept Erik around which was an idea that she had put in his head when they had gone to Exile Island together.

Did you know that Amanda was targeting Alexis?

EO: No! I wish I’d known that! That would have given me something, even though I actually really, really liked Alexis.

What about James eating the bat at the merge party?

EO: It was disgusting and unnecessary! There was SO much food there. There was no reason to eat the bat.

Was this time harder than on Vanautu?

EO: I don’t know. Both were definitely tough in different ways. In both somehow, I ended up on the outside, but I don’t know that I could say that one was tougher than the other. It’s a little bit. The first time around, you have a blind optimism where you’re like “Oh, maybe tomorrow they’re going to give us hamburgers!” but in the second time you know more what’s coming. It’s also, the second time is easier because you’re like, well, I made it 37 days the first time. I’m certainly capable of doing it. As hard as it ever gets, it’s going to be fine. I’m going to make it.

What would have happened if Ami had stayed and Erik had left? What was your plan?

EO: I don’t know, but something. It would have been great to have Ami there, because Ami and I would have been able to figure something out. Whether it would have been to make a girls alliance, which Ami was always big into, and try to target the guys straight out or to try, if they voted out Erik, maybe they were going to stick together as Favorites, so maybe even to convince them of that. i don’t know. Maybe Ami kept me in check a little bit, tempered me. Made me not be so crazy to make everyone want to vote me out.

Did you have any other alliances beside Ami?

EO: I was actually really close to Cirie. I had talked to her about everything. Unfortunately there was not much that could be done. I had Jason. Before Jonathan had gotten voted off, we had talked with Natalie and Alexis and had an alliance with them, but once Jonathan was gone, that fell by the wayside, because they were like, we can’t have an alliance with just you, Eliza.

What is Micronesian for “good”? Do you know?

EO: No! Micronesian is not a language! There’s no such language as Micronesian. I knew that at the time. I was trying to not stir things up, because little naive Erik was there saying “Hey guys! Guess what! I looked up Micronesian!” I’m like No you didn’t. I didn’t say anything. I was already in trouble.

Every week, everyone goes on and on about voting Ozzy off and he’s still there. What’s the deal?

EO: They’re just not very smart, apparently. Because Ozzy is playing a great. He’s playing a better game than he’s playing in Cook Islands where he was kind of anti-social. This time he’s talking to people. He’s making friends. He’s bonding with everyone who’s there, who’s going to be sitting on the jury. He’s still just the same great physical competitor that he always was. I think that Ozzy is a very dangerous player, which is why I tried to out him.

Cirie is under the radar lately. How far do you think she’s going to go?

EO: I think that Cirie is a power player. I think that Cirie makes great alliances. Once you get to the merge, Cirie is not a challenge liability to anyone but herself, which in a merge situation is a good thing, because Cirie is going to be someone who isn’t going to win any individual challenges. You know that. Once you get to a merge, why vote off Cirie? You can vote her off whenever. She’s not going to have immunity. I think that Cirie is someone to watch.

What do you think of the game that Patrvati is playing?

EO: I think that her game could be either really great for her or could blow up in her face. She’s making all these side alliances with people, but these are the people who she’s ultimately going to have to vote out if she want’s to end up in the finals in front of the jury. Those are the people who are going to be voting. Eventually, if you back stab too many people, even if you end up in the finals, you can’t win the game. It’s unclear if her game is smart or not so smart yet.

At what point did you feel on the outs with your tribe?

EO: Starting once Yau-man was voted out, I was really on the outs with the Malakal tribe in the beginning. Really early! Once Cirie turned on us and we didn’t have the majority alliance, my whole alliance got picked off. I happened to be the last one in my alliance, but it was just a struggle. It was a fight. I’m glad I made it as far as I did, considering that it was almost me instead of Yau-Man back on day 9, I guess it was.

Tracy said that some of favorites had thrown some of the challenges. Are you aware of anything? Did anyone ever throw any challenges?

EO: Absolutely not. I actually asked them about that because we really did, the new Arai tribe just dominated them and I asked the girls when we merged and subsequently. Were you guys throwing those challenges? Seriously. You were throwing them because you couldn’t have been that bad at puzzles without me. Really?” They were like “Eliza, we never threw a challenge”. Tracy had accused them of throwing the one where you had to build it up, break it down, where we put the sticks in and tied them up, but that was a reward challenge! If anything, they’d want to win a reward challenge, so we’d be demoralized and lose the immunity challenge. There’s no way they would throw the challenges. Ozzy is fiercely competitive. They always came back looking really dejected.

Do you still stay in contact with Jonathan after the game’s over?

EO: Absolutely. Jonathan is an amazing, amazing guy. I was devastated to see him go the way he did. We’re still in touch and I’m sure we will be forever.

What did you learn about your self? You mentioned being annoying.

EO: You know, I think that I’m relatively self aware, so I think that the fact that I annoyed people is something that maybe I just have to live with. They annoyed me right back! I didn’t get to say that on the show. What you didn’t see was this “LA Alliance”. 90% of the people left are from Los Angeles. They would be like “OMG! Do you go to this bar? OGM! I work at that bar! I can’t believe we know the same people. You know that manager! OGM! Do you get your facials done at this spa on La Brea? OMG! That’s where I get MY facials done!” So it was just a very annoying thing about many of the people there that I really couldn’t participate in. I felt so out of it. I’m not from LA. I have no desire to be from LA. It was just girls who spend their lives cocktail waitressing and bar tending vs. me, a law student, so it really… I had a tough time bonding with them.

Who is in control now that you’re gone? Ozzy? Cirie? Are their alliances?

EO: I think this next episode is going to be really telling because yes, I’m gone and is it going to be Fans vs. Favorites? We’ll have to see if the Favorites stick together. If they do, it does seem like Cirie might be the puppet master but Ozzy was definitely calling the shots over at Malakal because Amanda and Cirie were really not going to vote Ami out. They were going to vote Erik out, so Ozzy definitely pulled that one out, so it’s going to be really interesting how it plays out. I promise that my “eye rolls” at Tribal Council won’t disappoint you guys!

Who’s your favorite favorite and who’s your favorite fan?

EO: My favorite favorites are Ami and Cirie, for sure. They are just both wonderful, sweet, amazing people who I love. I love Jonathan and Yau-man too. They are just great. In terms of fans, my favorite fans are Jason and Alexis. They are both great. Jason gave me what he thought was the real Hidden Immunity Idol. He was willing to sacrifice that to keep me in the game, which is very sweet. We formed a bond, the “outsider bond”. Alexis is amazing. You aren’t really seeing as much depth as their is to Alexis. She is very smart. She’s honest to a fault, I think, but she’s wonderful.

Would you prefer an all girls alliance or an all guys alliance, that you would be in?

EO: That’s a good question. I mean, it depends who the girls were and who the guys were. If it was an all guys alliance with Ozzy and James and Jason and Erik, vs. with Parveti and Amanda, Natalie and Alexis, I’ll take the guys, please! I think that in general, probably girls, but I don’t know. That’s a tough one.














CBS LogoSurvivor: 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

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