The surprises keep coming in this season of Surivor South Africa: Immunity Island. This week saw one member of each tribe leave the game.
This twist saw colourful eternal optimist Thoriso and Survivor junkie, Carla both being sent home.
Have a read of their thoughts about the time they spent on the Wild Coast.
[divider]Thoriso[/divider]
You devised an elaborate false idol ploy. What do you think caused this plan to unravel?
I was in danger. I just needed to make sure that people weren’t going to vote me out. You have to be creative with what you come up with. Unfortunately, it didn’t work because it was a two-phase plan. In order for it to work I needed the boys to vote with me.
Were you aware that Tyson had changed his voting strategy? How did this make you feel?
It’s weird having watched the episode now. I did think he voted for me, but I thought he had voted me for me for a completely different reason. I literally thought that they had decided that they were going to try and ingratiate themselves with the dominant group and that was the basis for that decision. So naturally for me finding out that it’s because he thought I threw him under the bus. One, I think this was an overreaction. Two, it was at least by my understanding the plan that Anesu and I had set in motion in any case.
So it’s one of those where I’m not sure how it would have panned out had Anesu still been at camp. The idea was to let everyone vote for him, he plays the idol and they in essence cast the deciding vote. I had pretty much said to the guys, I don’t care who you pick to vote off on me other side. I’d hoped that as long as it wasn’t Renier. That was the plan. That for me was quite interesting to observe.
You spoke about your Survivor head game not matching your actual game. What do you feel was lacking?
I came into that game relying on my ability to make one-on-one connections. In real life that’s what I do best even within the marketing setup. So, when I started out at Zamba 1.0, I was deprived of that one-on-one interaction with my tribemates. I just couldn’t innovate around that, so it was very glaring for me from the onset. It’s one of those funny things that you almost don’t take the personalities into account when you go into the game, yet the personalities are what determine the values and what everyone else within the game strives for.
Each season is so unique because of the people that are involved and they determine what the priorities and values are. When I got to my original tribe it was very clear from the onset that I was considered as someone that was not going to be adding any value which is fine for people to conclude. I was just surprised by how brazen the collective was around it.
If you were sitting on the final jury, who do you think would be the 2 survivors remaining and who would get your vote?
I’m loving Santoni’s game. She’s probably gone out and played the type of game that I wanted to play – being the middleman. The one person that each group needs to swing the vote. My number 2 would be Renier. He has this ability to make everyone believe he’s their best friend. My winner pick for the season, without a doubt, is Anesu. She and Renier are probably two sides of the same coin. The difference with her is that I get the sense that she’s more clinical about having to cut people off. Once she had done it with Pinty, as the game progresses it’s something that she’s going to do with perfect execution and no remorse. I’m really looking forward to watching those three play.
[divider]Carla[/divider]
How did you feel when Nico announced that 2 castaways would be voted out?
Honestly, my heart sank. We had already been to three trials in a row and this was a guaranteed 4th. Tribal Council is an incredibly taxing exercise. It requires a lot of energy, a lot of thought and a lot of gameplay. When you’re doing that consistently, even just the hope of having a break is what gets you through. Knowing we’d already lost before we’d even started was a bit of a heartbreak.
Did you see the blindside at Tribal Council coming?
It’s quite an interesting question. I wouldn’t actually say it was a blindside because in my books, a blindside is when the person has absolutely no idea that they’re going home. I know I said that in my last words that I was blindsided but I was talking more about the alliance, or the false alliance, that I was working with. I was actually told by Shaun that I was on the chopping block and I was working quite closely with him in the past. I trusted him that Chappies was going to go home. I was more blindsided by the fact that Santoni and Shaun had voted against me when I put a lot of trust in them but I did know that I was on the chopping block. Shaun was my shield and had managed to get the vote off me twice and it’s because we actually did have a secret alliance working together and that’s why I was very clued up on what was going on.
What do you feel swung the vote to you instead of Chappies?
I think I was more of a social and strategic threat than Chappies was. Chappies didn’t have as many friends on the other side. The Zamba tribe was very aware of the fact that I was very tight with Kiran, Tyson and Anesu. My social game on Zamba was also pretty strong. I was close to Shaun and I was getting pretty close to Amy. I had revealed to Shaun that I was the mastermind behind the Pinty blindside. I think that I was playing quite a hard social and strategic game, more than physical. That’s what they saw as more of a longterm threat than in Chappies who didn’t have as many friends as I did. But it turns out he clearly had more friends than me. The social game was a huge part of my strategy and I couldn’t just not build connections in fear of people thinking that I’m a social threat.
If you were sitting on the final jury, who do you think would be the 2 survivors remaining and who would get your vote?
I think the two best players at the moment are Santoni and Kiran. Even though Santoni betrayed me, she’s played such a good game that she was openly playing double agent and I still trusted her. That’s how well she was playing both sides. That is just mind-blowing social game and at the end of the day I am the idiot knowing someone’s paying double agent and I still end up trusting then. That’s how good she is at the game – playing the underdog but she’s actually got everyone wrapped around her finger.
I think Kiran is playing a mad strategic game. I mean, he made a bold and risky move to put his neck out there. He’s so confident in his alliance and his gameplay that he’s willing to do that. As it stands, it would be a very tricky vote but based on my alliance and the person that I actually wanted to go there with was Kiran. Kiran would have my vote all the way.
Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island is produced by Afrokaans. Catch all the action every Thursday at 19:30 on M-Net (DStv Channel 101). Visit the M-Net Website for exclusive show content and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, using #SurvivorSA and #mnet101.