“I Didn’t Eat Any More Than Anybody Else” – Reality News Online’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: Nicaragua’s Tyrone

Going into this interview, I had several questions I absolutely had to ask, such as about leadership, the chicken eating, the chicken-killing, and where he stood with Marty’s alliance. And we had time to discuss all of them! Plus, we talked about several other topics as well, so read on to see what Tyrone had to say!

Reality News Online: Hello, Tyrone, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Reality News Online!

Tyrone: No problem.

RNO: Why did you take on the role of a leader when that can be such a dangerous position to have on Survivor?

Tyrone: I didn’t take on the role of leader, I was kind of thrust into the role. Whether it’s Survivor or not, I don’t run from leadership, that’s what I do every day at work. It was not a big deal for me, you just gotta know how to manage it. I know Survivor is a different dynamic but it’s a lot like the fire department.

RNO: How are they similar?

Tyrone: They got a lot of different personalities and people have their own motives and agendas and you have people from all different walks of life. The difference between the fire department and the civilian population is that you’re with each other 24 hours per day, which means you get to learn more about people than you otherwise would and sometimes more than you would care to know.

RNO: If you didn’t necessarily intend to be a leader, what was your strategy coming into the game?

Tyrone: My strategy coming into was probably not a strategy at all. It was basically to maintain my integrity and see whatever I came up against. That was it basically, give 110% in each challenge and be an asset to my tribe.

RNO: We saw you appearing to disagree with Marty prior to a couple votes, but then you voted with him both times. Were you a member of Marty’s alliance?

Tyrone: No, I wasn’t a member of Marty’s alliance. When you say I appeared to disagree and then voting, I listened to people. Marty’s style is a little different but I did listen although I didn’t agree with him a lot of times, but I took input. Marty thought he was running things and would try to entice people to do what he wanted to do. He would say, “Can I count on you?” and I’d say, “Count on me for what?” He probably had the least influence on me.

RNO: So then why did you end up voting that way at the time?

Tyrone: There were other factors involved. Marty had the least influence on me. In fact, he stopped coming to me to try to alter my vote. It was based on what I saw and thinking ahead further in the game. Jimmy Johnson, as he stated in Tribal Council, he said he was one of the weaker players. He basically told us, directly or indirectly, that he wanted out. He’s 67 years old. If a person does a self-assessment – which is good – there were other factors.

Jimmy T. kind of dug his own grave. I like him, he’s a good guy, but… what is the word… his insecurities got the best of him. the social dynamics of the game were a challenge to him. Looking down the line, he was very unstable, so it’s about numbers at some point and I wasn’t confident that he would have stayed in an alliance, if you will, for lack of a better term, with the older tirbe – which Holly ended up doing the same thing.

RNO: Why didn't you all let Holly and Jane know that you were voting out Jimmy T.? It seems like keeping them out of the loop ended up alienating them.

Tyrone: From my perspective, I didn’t go around monitoring conversations and alliances and whatnot. I didn’t even know they were alienated and not aware. I know mention was made and I remember hearing rumblings that they had an alliance with Jimmy T. – those three and maybe even Wendy had an alliance the first day. There were a bunch of alliances that were made that I wasn’t privy to. I wasn’t necessarily monitoring the alliances.

RNO: After your torch was snuffed, Jeff Probst called the vote a blindside. Did you have any idea you were being targeted?

Tyrone: Yeah, I did. I’d have been a fool not to. I think the four that were left from Espada tribe – myself, Yve, crazy Holly, and Dan – I said straight up to Yve, it’s about numbers now. It was four and four. Somebody’s gonna be a swing vote – it’s either going to be me or her [as the target].

I knew Holly was a nutbasket. Holly had said some things earlier that let me know that she was reluctant to engage with me. There were some comments about black men – she was sheltered and had preconceived notions and possibly even racist views on some things. I reached out to her to get some buy-in and it wasn’t as successful as I would like.

I was like, “Yve, they’re going to get Holly or Dan to vote with them,” and that’s exactly what happened. In retrospect, would I have done anything differently? Maybe I could have talked to Holly more to get her on board, charm her or whatever.

RNO: I obviously have to ask: Just how much chicken did you eat?

Tyrone: I ate my share. It’s a game and what happened was not what was depicted. I waited ‘til everybody else had their chicken. If you look at it, every piece I had was bone and I was getting gristle. I had a breastbone and there was no meat on it. It’s TV. It is what it is. I didn’t eat any more than anybody else. One person mentioned it; it’s Hollywood.

It’s a social game so there’s that perception factor and some people might have been a little more reluctant to eat what was available.

RNO: There have been a number of people wondering about this next question, including previous player Yau-Man on his Facebook page: Given your concern about egg-laying, why not kill and eat the rooster instead?

Tyrone: I’ll tell you why. I’m not Chicken George, I’m not the farmer. There were several people on our tribe who had more experience with farms and dealt with animals. I wasn’t the ultimate decision-maker. I got input form everybody else.

Some of the ladies said they need to have a rooster to produce eggs. Somehow, roosters are necessary for chickens to produce more eggs. Whatever – I didn’t know, they could have been right. If I’m out of my element and I don’t know and somebody else seems to know. I thought it would have been best not to eat the hen, but everybody else wanted to do it so I was like, it’s cool.

RNO: As far as I can tell, it’s a myth. [Indeed, Yau-Man further posted on Facebook that he has eight chickens and no roosters, but gets fresh eggs. So it seems like he would know!]

Tyrone: It might be. I never had to think about that before.

RNO: We’re being told that we’re out of time, so is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Tyrone: My time on Survivor was the bomb! Obviously it was shorter than I would have liked it to be. I thank God I had the opportunity to be selected. It’s cool. I learned some things about me and other people.

RNO: Thanks again, Tyrone!

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