“I Didn’t Try to Be Anything I Wasn’t” – Reality News Online’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: Nicaragua’s Winner, Fabio

Fabio’s mind works in mysterious ways to begin with, and the fact that he essentially didn’t sleep last night certainly made this an interesting interview! I edited out some of the weirder non-sequiturs because it just made things a bit too confusing, but you’ll still get a bit of a flavor for it. That’s pretty much who he is, though, as we saw on last night’s reunion. So let’s get to it!

Reality News Online: Hello, Fabio, how are you?

Fabio: Doing well and watching the sun rise, it’s still raining. I slept for about half an hour.

RNO: Thanks for talking to us here at Reality News Online! First of all, congratulations!

Fabio: Thank you man, it’s been very… “surreal” would be the right word. Getting the support and congratulations from everybody – and they’re all genuinely happy for me, which is the most important thing. It’s just great.

RNO: Going into the game, did you ever think you’d come away with the million dollars?

Fabio: I had a sneaking suspicion, man, I really did. I knew my own abilities and I just really believed – you have to, you know. Nobody goes into Survivor thinking, “I’ll probably just get tenth.” I really did believe I had what it took, and that was kind of also my motive thing. I was like, “Dammit, I know I’m supposed to win this.” I didn’t want Holly or Chase or Sash to win and I knew others didn’t either. I felt like a responsibility to win.”

RNO: What does your family think of all this?

Fabio: My sister just got engaged last week and we’re all excited and we all got to hang together it’s like the next phase in my family’s life. I get to help out my brother for Christmas and help my sister go back to school for a nursing program. I’m not afraid about spending it all because it’s going to be on good stuff.

RNO: Remember to pay taxes!

Fabio: Yeah, but hopefully not until April 2012.

RNO: You said at a couple points that you were essentially playing the goofball or what I would call the male equivalent of the dumb blonde. Was that truly your strategy going in?

Fabio: Yeah, I was allowing myself to play that role. Everybody’s strategy is to stay under the radar; the real strategy is in how you do it. Knowing how other people are perceiving you and having a clear sense of what’s going on. Keeping everything in perspective. Having a sense of wanting to have fun did me well.

RNO: How much of the dumb blonde type moments that we saw on TV were really you and how many were acting?

Fabio: Dude, most of ‘em were me. There were some things – this is real life too – when you’re going for it, you end up with some funny situations. The little crab that was stuck in my finger and getting the pepper in my eye, it was just a combination of the circumstances you were in. It was so crazy down there! It’s pretty accurate, man. The power of editing as well, a month worth of accidents in 20 seconds makes a bit impact. I don’t mind being that guy because I’m good at it (laughs).

RNO: Do you think everybody underestimated you?

Fabio: Definitely, yeah. At the very beginning too, I turned a lot of heads and apparently almost went home in the first few days.

RNO: In the jury arguments, Sash accused you of not knowing what was going on during a number of the votes. We did indeed see that happen at least a couple times – what do you say to that accusation now that it’s all said and done?

Fabio: When we tried to get Brenda out, I signed on to Marty’s plan. I knew Marty was going to go home, but it wasn’t me. My name didn’t come up until Benry put it up. When we would come up with a plan, I usually knew. I would always calculate the possible outcomes and how good it would be for me or other people, and who’s left that might want to form a new alliance if it came down to it. They didn’t even show me as being the swing vote, but I remember when we saved Benry when we did get Brenda off. I talked to Sash and Chase and made sure if they ditched Brenda that we’d have a strong alliance as well and they had options. I knew what was going on.

RNO: Did you realize, prior to watching it on TV, just how in danger you were of being voted out if you hadn’t won all three of those last immunity challenges?

Fabio: Yeah! After the first one, I remember catching a look between Chase and Holly. I was like, uh oh, they looked at each other like I foiled their plan. Jane was right when she said the writing was on the wall. But it made it so much better winning every time!

RNO: Why did you choose to eliminate Holly and take Chase and Sash to the finals at the end?

Fabio: I think if I would have let Holly go, I think she would have taken votes away from me such as NaOnka and Purple Kelly because she was the mom. If Chase wasn’t there… I think she would have taken votes away from me.