After one of the best seasons ever, Parvati won. After 4 blindsides in a row, the ending was almost anti-climatic. Everyone expected Amanda to win, but she didn’t own up to her actions during the game in the final Tribal Council. Natalie was the first of the four to go, then Cirie, Amanda, and Parvati, who were excited about making it to the final 3, found out that it would be a final 2, so they had one more immunity challenge and someone else had to be voted out. Amanda won that and chose Cirie to leave, taking Parvati to the final 2. Amanda has now spent more time on Survivor than any other player, going to the final 2 twice in a row and failing to win.
Members of the media, including myself, had a chance to take part in an interview with Natalie, Cirie, and Amanda. Here is what they had to say…
Are you the new presidents of the she-woman man-haters club?
Cirie Fields: That would be Natalie.
Natalie Bolton: I love men. Just because you want to empower women doesn’t mean you hate men. It doesn’t have to be that black and white.
Was that your plan all along though – to go after the men?
NB: I think it was better for us to do it once Parvati and I and Alexis got close. When we all came together it was the only thing that really made sense at that point because we would have the numbers and we could execute it properly.
Cirie, when you found out it was final two – how did you feel at that point?
CF:Like the air was let out of my balloon. It was devastating because I knew that there was no infiltrating between Parvati and Amanda. I knew if I didn’t win the next challenge that I would be going home.
Natalie, what was your plan to make it to the final three if you didn’t win that immunity challenge?
NB:Literally from day one the fans and the favorites on their collective tribes took it for granted there was going to be a final three so by day 37 of this game our brains were shot. We could not even process that there may be a final two. Now I’m kicking myself in the pants. Cirie and I literally joked about it. If we had the wherewithal to say “Know what? If it does shake down this way we need to have a plan.” We just didn’t. I would have made a plan with Cirie had I known better. We could have had greater odds of us being the final two.
Amanda, did Natalie ever try to talk you out of your immunity necklace because she obviously did a good job of it with Erik?
Amanda Kimmel I don’t even think she tried. It was not going to happen.
What was it like coming back from tribal council where you got Erik to give up his immunity necklace?
AK:Freaking awesome. We were jumping up and down like little kids.
CF:It was unbelievable. I felt we had at least a 20% chance he might do it but to actually see Natalie with the necklace on I was amazed.
That had to take some major coordination. How long did you discuss it?
CF:I’m a coordinator for my hospital and I think I lost about ten pounds running back and forth between them. It was just crazy.
NB:All it really took was literally a three minute conversation that they coursed me into going and talking to Erik but what they didn’t show was Cirie running around. They didn’t show Amanda doing her magic with the situation also. It was a consorted effort on each of our parts to make this shake-down happen, and everyone held their own.
Natalie, how did you come up with your question to Parvati?
NB:I know people are confused right now. The thing is I really respect Amanda and Parvati being the final two. No one can argue they played an amazing game. You cannot play an amazing game and not end up in the final two. I had twelve days to bond with Parvati so I got close with her and got to know her as a person. She was loyal to me as far as she said she would be loyal to me. She honored our relationship therefore I knew she was going to get my vote. But I wasn’t going to just hand her my million dollar vote. I’m going to make her sweat, I’m going to make her think quickly on her feet, and I’m going to try to embarrass her a little bit, and if she answers quickly on her feet, then she deserved my vote. And that is all it was – to shake her up a little.
Amanda, are you really disappointed? How are you doing?
AK:I’m fine. Things happen for a reason and Survivor isn’t my life. I have a lot of other things going on. It is kind of funny when you make it to the final two and you lose both times. It is upsetting. But you get over it.
Ozzy declared his love for you in front of the whole room and you didn’t have a chance to say what you were thinking.
AK: After Ozzy said that I was like pausing for 20 seconds with my mouth open. I did not know what to say. Yes, he is adorable and we’re together and we’re doing great.
Cirie, how are you coping with not being in the final two?
CF: Things happen for a reason like Amanda said. I feel like I can hold my head up high because people didn’t expect me to make it as far as I did this time or the last time. So I’m good with the outcome. I don’t think anything differently except making a plan for the final two. Outside of that I love the game that I played and have no regrets.
How about when you dropped the ball? Did you lose your concentration?
CF: Is blinking considered losing concentration? I can’t even tell you. I’m going to watch that over and over and over again because I don’t know what happened. I was totally concentrating and I blinked – that is all it took.
Amanda, you would have gone to Micronesia before the finale of China right?
AK: Actually when I was at the finale of China I had just gotten drafted on Micronesia.
Do you think that hurt you?
AK: It was kind of a good thing and bad thing doing them back to back. The game was still in my head but I definitely didn’t get the benefit of reflecting my season and how I came across on TV.
What about the rest factor? Do you think it was harder for you because you had so little rest before you were doing another Survivor?
AK: I was a mess. I wasn’t really prepared at the beginning to make it to the end. At the end emotionally I had a hard time and blew up at Cirie. It happened in China exactly the same way. I blew up at Todd for no reason because I was done!
Would you and Ozzy ever consider doing The Amazing Race together?
AK: Yes, that would definitely be a fun show.
Cirie, you seem like an obvious target to flip on week after week so how did you deflect the focus from ever landing on you?
CF: I don’t know. They all had bigger fish to fry. A lot of times people underestimate me because they do look at the game as a physical game but the reality of it (no pun intended) is that the physical aspect of the game is a low percentage. A lot of the times the person that was being voted out they would agree with and they would need my vote so they looked at me more as a “get the vote” thing than someone that was actually being powerful.
Did you know that Amanda had the immunity idol and was planning on using it?
CF: I did.
AK: I told her.
Amanda, whose jury speech did you feel hit the most hard or was most surprising to you?
AK: Natalie, Alexis, and Eliza were pretty harsh to me. I wasn’t expecting that.
Cirie, it seemed like you were very good at saying “I wonder if we can get Erik to get rid of his immunity idol” and bam – the plan goes into action. You made that into an art form. Was that your plan going in?
CF: Actually no. I just watched and listened a lot. And if I see an opening and I think that the people I’m working with are open to that suggestion then I just go for it. But there’s a lot of facts that come into play before I would be comfortable enough to make that move. A lot of things had to line up before I would just go out on a limb and say something crazy like that. I have been around Erik and I saw how naive he is. He’s young and he’s allowed to be naive at his age. On the slim chance that it might work we had to go for it. The ladies were all for it!
It seems like you planted a lot of seeds. Amanda and Natalie would you agree with that?
AK: 100%
NB: Yes, definitely.
Natalie, did you mean for the bitchiness to come out of you? Was that a genuine feeling or did you just get caught up in the game and it came out?
NB: I think through the casting process that is kind of what they saw in me. Is that who I am? No. Is that a layer of who I am? Absolutely. Do I own it? I do.
Natalie, was Parvati kind of a flirt with you?
NB: No. Parvati flirts with everybody. Parvati has an amazing quality about her and on camera it’s one-dimensional that you see. She has many layers. She’s very loving and very engaging and funny and charismatic and everyone labels it a “flirt” because it’s a term to throw on it. She is an amazing person and she is a lot deeper than a flirt. She didn’t flirt with me. She was very engaging with me and many people in this game.
Cirie and Natalie, when you discovered you were going to be on the jury what went through your mind?
CF: At first I was perturbed. I didn’t want to be on the jury. And then I really had to think which one of these two ladies really deserves my vote for my million dollars that I’m giving up?
Did you go in with a set vote and then something changed at that last tribal council?
CF: For me nothing changed at tribal council. I love Amanda and she knows that but it’s kind of hard to hand the person who took a million dollars from you to hand it to them.
AK: She pretty much told me that she wasn’t going to vote for me if I voted her out but I knew I had no chance against Cirie at all so it was kind of like, what do you do?
Why didn’t you say that to the jury?
AK: I don’t know. I told them when I was at camp but….I don’t know.
Amanda, how has this changed your life?
AK: I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’ve learned a lot about people in general. It’s definitely an experience that made me grow.
What do you miss the most about the jungle?
AK: Actually I miss it a lot. There’s things about it you miss – the simplicity. The feeling of just being able to take care of yourself and not having materialistic things. I came home and got rid of half of everything I own. I’m simplifying my life.
CF: She took my answer! I’m thinking the same exact thing.
Well then Cirie, what don’t you miss about the jungle?
CF: The rats, the bats in the cave. The little things that float around in the water that we drank. Having to swim. The heat. Shall I go on?
Natalie, what do you miss about the jungle?
NB: In our normal daily lives we have cell phones, TV’s, and cars. We are left with what we are given on a daily basis to make our lives function. When you’re thrown in a situation where you have to show up yourself, raw, and survive everyday it’s kind of instant gratification. Every day you wake up and you see the coconut that you open to eat. You have to make fire and you have to boil water that you’re drinking for eight hours. You have instant gratification of your process.
Amanda you played a game of alliance and Parvati played more of a cut-throat control game. Do you wish that you were more cut-throat?
AK: Honestly I’m proud of the game I played. I’m not that person. If it takes that to win Survivor, then I will never win Survivor.
– 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
