“I Won Fair and Square” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: Samoa Winner Natalie

A lot of people are not terribly happy that Natalie walked away with the million dollars instead of Russell. But you can’t blame Natalie – she played her game and was rewarded. She was up all night but still sounded wide awake in talking to me this morning. Let’s see what she has to say!

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Natalie, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at RealityNewsOnline. Congratulations!

Natalie: Thank you!

RNO: You probably haven’t even slept yet, have you?

Natalie: No, it’s been amazing.

RNO: I’ve been at a few post-finale parties, so I know how it goes. But we’re going to be short on time, so I’ll just jump into it. How do you respond to those who say Russell deserved the win more than you because of his strategic play?

Natalie: There are just a couple things I’d like to say to that. The game that everybody else watches is totally different than the game we play. It’s three days of taping crammed into 42 minutes. They’ve got to create a story, something the audience can follow. It’s so hard for the audience to see everything that goes on. That’s kind of the first thing.

The second thing is in order to win Survivor, you have to get the majority of the jury votes, period, that’s it. People who weren’t out there, they watch a different game than we actually play. Not to throw anybody under the bus, but you have to win that majority, period. I won fair and square.

RNO: OK, but I just talked to Russell and he is extremely pissed off that you won. How do you respond to Russell, who says all you did was jump on his back?

Natalie: Of course Russell is going to say that. I think Russell is hurt to an extent, he wanted the title so bad. But honestly you can’t go around twisting people’s arms in a threatening way and expect them to vote for you. And when they’re voted out, you taunt them.

You know as well as I do – I’m a huge fan – the social part is a huge aspect. So I’m sorry, you can’t play one aspect of it and ignore the others. You can’t neglect the social aspect which in my opinion is the most important. That’s your own fault. I’m the one who built genuine social bonds out there and because of it I won one million dollars.

RNO: You say he taunted them, what do you mean?

Natalie: As y’all saw, there were many times he [behaved] in a condescending way, laughing and not just laughing – basically this is the way I think the jury felt, they were taunted as they exited, like they didn’t do enough. Just in talking to people. And I think also he wasn’t humble at all. You noticed Brett saying when you get too comfortable and cocky and arrogant, that’s when it can get you in trouble. He was basically directing that towards Russell. He didn’t play the social part really at all.

And also I deflected from him so many times, even early in Foa Foa. His name would be brought up. I can remember Liz bringing his name up multiple times. Ashley would. I would always be like, “He’s nothing to worry about.” I would essentially get it out of their head. I feel like had I not had those social links there at Foa Foa and Galu, I think it could have been a little bit harder.

RNO: Do you think the jury voted more with their emotions than for the player with the best strategy, or do you think you had the best strategy and that’s why you won?

Natalie: I haven’t actually had an opportunity to really talk to everyone on the jury about why they voted for me. It was news to me – I don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch. It was a surprise to me. I’m not exactly sure.

Obviously, I would say I had a pretty decent strategy. I aligned with somebody from the first day who clearly wanted to take the bullets. I’m fine with letting him take the bullets. If it’s more personal, which is how I think they felt, of course I wanted to play with him. I wanted him to underestimate me and think he can beat me and that’s exactly what I did.

It was daily that I would stroke his ego and be like, “You’re the best player in the game.” That was all strategic. Everything I did was strategic. I’m actually a pretty opinionated girl, but you have to keep yourself under wraps. You open your mouth one time, you could send yourself home, like Betsy, Marisa, and Liz. I noticed that the first and second day with Marisa, that wasn’t exactly a great strategy to have.

RNO: Do you know who voted for you?

Natalie: I haven’t seen it, so technically no. I feel pretty confident I got Brett’s and Jaison’s and Danger Dave’s, and we know Erik. And probably the girls’.

RNO: We’re out of time already and they’re pulling you off for TV, so I’ll just open it up here – do you have anything else you’d like to tell viewers about your time on Survivor?

Natalie: I’d first of all like to thank all the viewers for the support. It feels good to have them behind you and cheer you on. It’s not easy to see yourself on camera. I had no idea I said “Oh my word!” so much! I’d like to thank the fans.

I feel so thankful and so blessed I was given the opportunity to do the most amazing once in a lifetime experience. It’s a very humbling experience. I’m taking away so many new friendships that I otherwise wouldn’t have had. And of course a million dollars, I’m definitely thankful for that too.

RNO: Congratulations again and thanks again, Natalie!

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