Ace
Dan
This past week two people were voted off of Survivor: Gabon. I got the chance to talk to both Dan Kay and Ace Gordon about their Survivor: Gabon experience…
Josh Clinton: Hey guys, how are you doing?
Ace Gordon: Hello, doing well.
Dan Kay: Hey Josh, I’m doing good.
JC: Good, well lets jump right into then. Ace, what is up with your accent?
DK: (Laughs) Just getting him right out of the gates!
AG: Yeah, no kidding. I don’t know, what’s up with your accent? My accent is mine. Both of my parents are English. I lived in England for 8 years. My accent goes in and out, it just depends on who I am talking to or how irritated I am.
JC: Oh, okay. That’s fair enough. Ace, it looked like in the previous immunity challenge that you were putting the flagpole together by yourself. What was your view on that?
AG: No one else wanted to do it. I asked if someone would help me put the pieces together, but no one wanted to.
JC: Alright. Do you think the last immunity challenge was fair?
AG: Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?
JC: They could have had two separate immunity challenges instead of forcing the same tribe members against each other?
AG: I mean I didn’t mind it. It was fine to me.
JC: Okay. Dan, it seemed like you wanted to be accepted by everyone. Does that come from something you have dealt with previously in your life?
DK: I think there was a point where I wanted to feel comfortable. I don’t know if I wanted to be accepted more than I didn’t want to wonder if I was the next to be voted out. I tend to worry a lot. But by no means did I want to be accepted by Corinne. I definitely don’t need as much counseling as she does. So it was quite the contrary. I didn’t want to be accepted by her. I wanted to feel like I could trust some of the other people, and that is something I didn’t get. I didn’t feel like I could trust anyone at all, except for maybe Matty and Randy.
JC: Right. Dan, you were the first one to go to Exile Island but you didn’t find the immunity idol. Was it really that hard to find?
DK: I don’t want to take any credit away from Sugar. I am not going to say it was easy to find, because I didn’t find it. I think I overanalyzed the clue. You should ask Sugar if it was easy to find. I had a tough time and I wasn’t feeling so hot. I hadn’t eaten anything. It was day five and we barely had any water. We only fire for one night. Wait I’m sorry…for day four and day five. I went with a half of a canteen full of water, directly from a challenge, so I felt awful. It really takes your will to play the game out. I felt bad, but there was a point where I said to myself on Exile Island “is this worth it?” Then when I came back from exile I thought I was going to quit. I felt awful. I was dry heaving. So there was a lot of feelings I had.
JC: Yeah, I understand. Ace, who do you blame more for getting eliminated, Kenny or Sugar?
AG: Well I expected Kenny to backstab me at some point. So I wasn’t particularly perturbed by that. So more Sugar I would say.
JC: So you didn’t expect Sugar to turn on you at all?
AG: Oh, I thought she would. You see the problem is she voted me out for no reason. I have no problem with being voted out. Obviously I would prefer not to be voted out, but on the same note there needs to be a strategic reason for doing it. Sugar didn’t do it for a strategic reason, because she has no idea what she is doing.
JC: So you think the reason she voted you out was because she has no idea what she is doing?
AG: Yes, because she has taught me that.
JC: Okay. So you don’t think Exile Island played a role in her decision?
AG: I think it definitely did. I think it sorta pushed her over the edge. You know, being out there 10 days on your own it could make anyone wacky-duck!
JC: Right. So Dan, speaking of people turning on other people, were you surprised that Randy turned on you?
DK: No, I think Randy fought for me as much as he could. But I think there comes a point in a game where you fight too much, you can put a target on your own back. I can understand that a little bit with Randy. He’s a smart player. He knows that if it comes to that point, you just have to go along with the crowd. That is what happened with me and Gillian. I liked Gillian a lot and I didn’t want to see her go, but if I had fought for her anymore I would have made enemies.
JC: Yeah, I can see that. Ace, what are you thoughts on Kenny then?
AG: I think he is sweet kid. I don’t think he is a manipulative mastermind in any respect. I think he is nice people, but he is a very naive child.
JC: What did you think about everyone else in the Fang tribe then?
AG: I mean honestly they were a bunch of bumbling idiots. Not to steal Marxist terminology. I mean I think they had the mental iniquity of a five year old. I don’t know what else to say. Some of the things I heard come out of their mouth were some of the most shocking statements I had ever heard.
DK: And he was on a tribe with Corinne. Keep that in mind.
JC: Yeah. So Dan, what were you feeling when your original final four alliance was almost immediately broken up after the tribes were switched?
DK: Oh, I was happy to go where I went. I was to happy to be on a tribe with Marcus in the beginning, because I felt he was a professional and we would be able to bond in that respect. I think that is what made Kota a little more successful. We were more professional. A lot of us had jobs that required teamwork and a lot of us had played organized sports. I think we were definitely a little more professional in that respect. But it gave me more anxiety. I instantly hung my head. I don’t know if it was because we were one move away from getting GC out of the game, and at that point I really didn’t like him. But he is a nice kid outside of the game and I mean that sincerely. He really is a nice guy. But out there I wanted to get rid of him. So I was a little disappointed when we switched tribes, and now in hindsight, I’m REALLY disappointed.
JC: Right. Ace, how is it possible that someone like Crystal is still in the game?
AG: I don’t know. I think she won something from the Special Olympics. She has got Kenny. She is not a bad person. But there has not been enough moves to knock her out. Originally when any tribe transitions, the tribe you start out with is obviously the one you have the most in common with or perceived to be aligned with. So when we went over to Fang it was obvious that she wasn’t going. Two original Kota members were going to go before any Fang members. It was natural that they wanted to protect their own, because they were scared that, if we had won and we had merged, I would have gone back to old Kota.
JC: Okay. For both of you, who do you think has the best chance of winning this all?
AG: Definitely Obama!
JC: (Laughs) Survivor?
AG: Oh, I don’t know.
DK: I think everyone at this point…
AG: Has a chance.
DK: Has a chance. Who has the best chance? You just don’t know what is going to happen in the game. I mean one would say anyone in the “onion alliance” would have a good chance of winning. But again we all know from watching Survivor that any one day that can change.
AG: That’s the problem. It is no longer in Thailand where it’s set there is going to be no twists and so on and so forth. It become much more of a transient game that you might as well put your hand in a lucky hat and pull out a number.
JC: Yeah. Okay, well thanks for your time guys and good luck with everything.
DK: Alright, thanks so much.
AG: Thank you.
– Survivor: Gabon airs on CBS in the U.S. on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
– Survivor: Gabon airs on the GLOBAL network in Canada on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
