Portrayal or Personality? An Interview with Heidi Strobel

RNO: What lesson do you think your students learned from watching you on the show?

Heidi: Direct quotes: "You inspire me to be what I was before scared of doing." "You make me want to be my best and I am proud of you." "You make me believe in myself." "Seeing that you stop at nothing makes me believe that I can do anything." Quote from staff: "You have done one thing that no one else has been able to do... bring this school and community together." "A lot of educators just talk... there are very few like Heidi that show students that instead of talking about, just do it." I have at least 300 more like this! The basic message... as Butch puts it... "Believe in Yourself." I never tell my students to do what I do. But I do tell them to believe the way I believe. To be positive and not let anything stand in your way.

RNO: What kind of reaction did you get from your family and friends? ?

Heidi: My family and friends are in shock that I could pull off the personality that I did. They are so used to seeing the kind, considerate Heidi... and I will admit it was very hard for me... but I didn't want people to think that I was a "panty waist" as Deena puts it. Other than that my family and friends are sooooo proud of me! They beam every time someone mentions my name! They are really funny about it! We would watch the shows together and just laugh! We couldn't understand why everyone was taking the show sooo seriously! Half the things they show me saying are really funny... they were not meant to be serious! Yikes... lay off, people! Ha!

RNO: What do you have to say about your relationship with Christy and how it was portrayed?

Heidi: From day one I knew I would have to work really hard on a relationship with Christy. Not because of anything obvious, but when I told her how excited I was that she was on our team... she seemed to not want to take to me right off the bat. I understood that I had to earn her respect... and I worked very hard at that. On that note... she never told us what she needed, she would run off by herself and get lost... causing mass chaos at camp, and she NEVER cared what anyone one else might have going on... that she at all times was to by number one. And I do believe that she is used to that. In all fairness... to the end of the show I wanted to be close to Christy... but I knew there was no way letting me in.... she was that way to everyone. And so my thinking was that if this person isn't willing to take a chance on me, then I need to move on! This game is only going to last for 39 days and I can't spend it all on getting Christy to like me. I was never mean to her, despite what some may think... We dug the holes for the bathrooms together, I was the only one who would help her build a shelter, I was the only one that would always go fishing with her (until later in the game – then she did go fishing with other people). And when I was told that Roger, Butch, and Dave wanted to vote her off next... I refused to put her name down! When she had an infection in her leg... I was the only one who gave her my dry clothes so that it wouldn't get infected, and I always offered to do fire duty with her. I also would have gone into the final 2 with her. So you can see where my aggravation comes from when they played the two evil girls against the innocent girl! (However, Jenna and Christy hated each other, so to make a story line they had to include me in that mess.) And I still to this day would love to be friends with her! I think she is an amazing person who I actually have a lot in common with!

RNO: Did you regret voting off Dave after having apparently gotten fairly close with him?

Heidi: I wanted to keep Dave. Besides Jenna, he was my best friend. And besides if I were to save him, there's no way we would turn on me. However, so many people wanted him off, that if I were to go against them, then I would be their next mark. So there is no regret... but it would have been great to pull it off to where he could have stayed. Just not possible.

RNO: When Deena suggested voting off Alex, why did you side with Alex rather than Deena, who had been one of your original alliance partners? ?

Heidi: I thought that the final 3 would be Deena, Jenna, and I. When Rob, Alex, and Jenna told me that she had different plans, and that I wasn't a part of her final 3 pick, then I knew she couldn't be trusted. [Editor’s Note: Also see our interview with Rob, where he said something similar.] So when she mentioned to vote off Alex... she was already turning against the alliance! How did I know that I wasn't next? I would have been loyal to Jenna and Deena down to the end, but she didn't let that happen. No one got to me (Not Alex... I wasn't siding with Alex)... I was taking out someone who had turned. If it had been Alex I would have tried to do the same to him.

RNO: What was your biggest mistake in the game? ?

Heidi: When Rob first started telling Matt "false" information. I knew he would turn if it got down to it. It's just that I wouldn't have had the majority vote to vote him off... and I would have had to turn on Jenna and Alex. Not worth it! It was very hard for me to keep quiet on that one! When I overheard Alex tell his plan to Rob... I knew what Rob would do... So I convinced Alex to stay in the game and take out Jenna and I if he had to, to keep Rob on his side. He agreed and was going to tell Rob this new info the night he got kicked off. Too little too late.

RNO: Thanks again!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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