“There Was Never a Point Where I Was Going to Quit” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: Samoa’s Jaison

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Jaison, and thanks for taking the time to talk to RealityNewsOnline.

Jaison: Of course.

RNO: Jumping right in, why didn’t you make a move against Russell in the late part of the game rather than just going along with him all the way to the end?

Jaison: Yeah, you know, hindsight is 20/20 and I think my biggest problem in the game was being too much about Foa Foa as a team and not about me, myself, and I. I realized too late that this is an individual game, not a team game. I thought pre-merge it was a team game and I thought post-merge we were fighting for each other to move forward. I felt we had suffered and shed blood, sweat, and tears together. If I was going home, I thought they’d at least give me a nod and it just didn’t work out that way.

I even had a conversation with Brett where he said he’d like to see me stay as long as I can, to let him know if he could help. I could have pulled Mick into that and gotten Russell. I thought I had conversations with Russell that I could rely on him to keep Natalie and him on my side and give me the votes I needed.

RNO: As you mentioned those conversations, at several points in the season, you talked about how you believed you were a partner in the decisions made with Russell. Looking back and seeing the show on TV, how much of a true partner were you and how much was Russell just leading you on?

Jaison: You know, I honestly think the majority of the time it was a true partner thing. He had certain info I didn’t have an I had certain info he didn’t have. Every stage of the game there were people who wanted to get rid of him and me and Natalie [helped deflect that].

Yeah, he went behind our backs in interviews saying it was “me, me, me,” but it was us who defended him so he could stay around. It wasn’t until really late that he really established control of the game by finding idols or wooing Shambo or doing whatever he was doing. I think I was a partner in decisions and making moves, but he definitely had a devious part of him that I didn’t have. That’s why I was attracted to being in an alliance with him – because I knew he was thinking in a way that no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t come up with these ideas of backstabbing the way he did.

I agreed with his last statement [in final Tribal Council] that he might be the snake but they were just as responsible for following the snake. I just think there is a way to do things that doesn’t piss people off. I think Russell played to get to the finals and not necessarily to win. The way he was playing was good but there was another part of him that was like, when I move forward I’m also going to rub your face in it. It was that part of it that really pissed people off and was bad strategy to get votes to win.

RNO: You voted for Natalie, right?

Jaison: Yeah.

RNO: Why, especially given that you said you agreed with Russell’s statement as you described above?

Jaison: I voted for Natalie because I felt like she had made some strategic moves that we couldn’t have moved forward without some of her moves. If Erik doesn’t go home first, none of that happens – he had the hidden idol in his pocket. If he doesn’t leave, it doesn’t go back in circulation for Russell to find it. I go home instead, then they just pick us off one by one. I think we needed her and she did what was necessary to get to the finals even though Russell made some big moves too.

I also thought she had grown the most over that 39 days. She came in as the southern belle and [later] was the girl who was killing rats, roasting them, and eating them. I had a lot of admiration for her stick-to-it-ness and her willingness to embrace the situation and adapt.