This past week Charlie Herschel was voted off of Survivor: Gabon. I got the chance to talk to him about his Survivor: Gabon experience including all about his relationship with Marcus. He was very candid and you won’t want to miss what Charlie had to say…
Josh Clinton: Hey Charlie, how are you?
Charlie Herschel: Hey Josh, I’m doing good. How are you?
JC: Doing good as well. So how surprised
CH: I was shocked. I was not prepared at all. My heart was not beating one bit. (Laughs).
JC: Yeah, I bet. It looked like it came down to Sugar’s vote last night. Why do you think she voted you out?
CH: I think that Kenny really had it out for me and he convinced her of this lie that I was the brains behind everything and she seems to be duped by whoever is telling her whatever. And they had a solid alliance of five people, and we only had four people. It was a numbers game. But I was shocked because I didn’t think it would be me within my alliance that would be going first. But I wasn’t shocked that one of the four people in my alliance would be gone.
JC: Yeah, but you didn’t think you had a chance to sway the vote of someone besides Sugar?
CH: Well I met Kenny and Crystal that day. I had three hours. So I doubt they would want to align with someone they just met after 27 days. Matty, I knew less than Sugar, but I thought that maybe Randy could sway Matty, but he’s tied into Kenny and Crystal, who I don’t know. So I couldn’t get his vote. So there was no swaying.
JC: Right. How did you feel when you saw that Marcus had been voted out?
CH: I was totally bummed. I had expected it, because I know Survivor is all about strategy and Kenny and Crystal and Susie would have been idiots to keep the biggest threat in the game. When they had the chance to go into the merge, up in numbers and without the biggest threat in the game. So I thought they would have really dropped the ball if they didn’t vote out Marcus. But I still had hope that maybe they would, because they had dropped the ball in other instances of the game. So when Marcus didn’t walk in, I knew the game was about to get very interesting for me. I thought that they were going to start targeting my alliance, but I won’t be the first one out because even though they had ties to each other, I was friendly to them.
JC: Yeah. Who were you more mad at for eliminated Marcus: Kenny, Crystal, or Susie?
CH: I am not mad at any of them. I think they made the right decision. I would have been mad at them if they had not, in that I want to play Survivor with smart people that make logical moves. I think they did that.
JC: Okay, I understand. What was it about Marcus that made you like him so much?
CH: Marcus is an amazing guy. He is very smart and very inquisitive. He is excited to get to know people. He is excited for new adventure. He is trustworthy. He is just a great guy.
JC: Cool. In last night’s episode, you said that Marcus made a lot of the strategic decisions. And Marcus also said that your alliance was the “onion alliance” with him at the center. Was that really accurate? Was he really the leader of the alliance?
CH: Marcus and I were the genesis of the alliance. We were the first two people in the alliance. Then, we slowly added more people and developed relationships. We thought that by developing relationships was the best way to gain someone’s trust and actually trust someone. So we kept doing that, and once we had our core alliance, that alliance all made strategic moves together. There was no President, there was no Treasurer. We were all working together.
JC: I see. Did you get to spend a lot of time with Marcus in Ponderosa?
CH: You bet ya! (Laughs). He was there my entire Ponderosa, which is 12 days. The first week it was just Marcus and Charlie. And then from there we had a blast. We are the kind of people who are like “whatever! We got voted out, but that’s in the past. We have these 12 days to have an amazing time.” And that’s what we did.
JC: Very cool. Do you think you were portrayed accurately in respect to your relationship with Marcus on the show?
CH: That’s a good question. We were very very close. I think sometimes from the editing of the show it made it look like it was a crush. And every time they asked me, which was literally every interview I did after that, they said “do you have a crush on Marcus?” I would then vehemently say that “I do not have a crush on Marcus, but I love Marcus! He’s a great guy, he’s smart, and this that and the other!” And unfortunately from the editing they chopped it up and despite me not having a crush on Marcus, they can make it look like that. That said, Marcus is amazing.
JC: Cool. What do you really think about Kenny?
CH: I don’t really think anything about Kenny. I met him briefly at the feast, and then those three hours between the fire challenge and tribal council. I had heard that he had called me “fag” behind my back, and when they joined my tribe everyone else let me know that was his nickname for me. Those three times were they only time I had with Kenny. So I really didn’t get to have a one-on-one experience with Kenny. So I really can’t comment on his character, because I don’t know much about him.
JC: Understood. Who do you think is playing the best game right now?
CH: I don’t know. I really don’t think that Kenny’s move last night was that strategic, because he lies to his alliance in order to achieve an execution on his own personal vendetta. I don’t think that is a strategic move. I think if Kenny does enough of those moves, he’s not going to be credible to his alliance and the other people getting voted out. I’m not sure how much they will admire that. I think that the people in my alliance are playing very smart, they won the first half of the game, but unfortunately an unlucky twist has put them in a loser position. So I think they are playing a great game, but unfortunately they don’t have the numbers and it’s a numbers game. And as for the rest of the people, I think I would put my money on Matty. Just because he obviously doesn’t get along with a lot of people there, but he is able to bite his tongue, and still be a likable person and not alienate himself and be successful out there. And not be in too much of a leadership position, but still be kind of a silent leader. My money’s on Matty.
JC: Excellent. Who would you say is the most deluded as far as their position in the game right now goes? Who do you think feels they are safe, but really aren’t?
CH: Unfortunately with this new twist, there are these two alliances, one with five people and one with three people. I think the five people feel safe, and rightly so. And I think the three people feel vulnerable and rightly so. So I really don’t think anyone should falsely feel safe.
JC: Okay. What was your favorite reward on the show?
CH: Hands down it was the helicopter trip to the picnic at the crater. It was one of the best days of, not only the show, but my life. It was incredible.
JC: Nice. Did you learn anything about yourself from this Survivor experience that you didn’t know before?
CH: Yeah, I was actually surprised. I’m a New Yorker and we can be pushy and obnoxious, and I thought I would be like that on the island. But instead I felt like I was patient and I was sharing and I was helpful. I got along with everyone. There were a lot of people who had very ego-driven and aggressive personalities, but I managed to develop relationships with everyone, except for Kenny, the one person who didn’t like me. That really surprised me, but made me feel good. And hopefully I will learn something positive from that.
JC: Very cool. Well that is all I got for you, but thanks for your time and good luck with everything.
CH: 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.
