Fairness Has No Place in Survivor: An Interview with Andrew

Andrew Savage immediately took the leadership role on Morgan tribe. The tribe suffered numerous losses but came back to tie up the game. The big twist followed by the merge sent him home before he could even make the jury. Here he shares his thoughts with us on a number of aspects of his stay.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Andrew, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions from RealityNewsOnline! Starting at the very beginning, you took the leadership role of a rather chaotic Morgan tribe. In hindsight, do you think it was a mistake to be the leader – did it make you the biggest target?

Andrew: I have absolutely no regret in taking the Morgan Tribe leadership role. I actually think in the end it wouldn't have mattered one bit because I don't think I was voted out because of a title, I think I was voted out because I tried to lead by example and the Drakes saw that example and were concerned about it.

RNO: Do you feel that as the leader of the Morgan tribe there was anything you could have done differently to motivate your tribe in the day to day work of securing food and comfortable shelter?

Andrew: I do think I could have done a better job of organizing the tribe to gather more food. Early in the game, we all had a good amount of energy and that is the time when we should have worked out what was the most plentiful and nutritional food source on our island and crafted a plan to get it. As I have said before, we didn't have many fish in our lagoon so an alternate food source was necessary. Our shelter was actually superior to the Drakes and I believe we did a good job in building it.

RNO: Morgan was clearly nutritionally deprived, but during the challenge where you had to hold up weight on poles across your back, you held out for what seemed like an incredible amount of time. How did you manage to hold up under the weight – did Jon telling you they threw the earlier challenge give you added incentive?

Andrew: Yes, Jon telling us about throwing the challenge helped as did his perpetual smack-talking attitude. When Jon ordered the final 160 lbs. to be placed on my shoulders, he sneered at me and said, "he's done." I thought to myself, “f--- you, you're done, the Drakes are done, I'm not getting off this platform unless I pass out.” I also went into two mental zones, the first was hugging and kissing my wife and the second was playing with my two daughters. That enabled me to hold the weight for what seemed like 45 minutes.

RNO: We've heard from both Ryan S. and Lill that you and the rest of your alliance never really accepted them. Ryan told us here at RealityNewsOnline that he felt out of place, the rest of the tribe was superficial, the five of you had a tight social bond and wouldn't let him in, etc. Lill said that you seemed to "have it out" for Ryan. What is your side of the story on this – what was it about Skinny Ryan that seemed to bother you, or were their claims completely unjustified?

Andrew: I never had any problem or personality conflict with Skinny Ryan. I certainly never swore at him on the deck of the ship just after the game began. In fact, I didn't use profanity towards a single castaway, even little Jon, during my entire 21 days on the island. Skinny Ryan chose to align with Lill. Lill was a loner who would walk up and down the beach all day long gathering firewood, never, ever making an effort to interact with the rest of us. The opportunity to get to know everyone was equal to all and Lill and Skinny Ryan simply chose not to get to know or interact with the bulk of the tribe. I would like to also clear up the fact that Skinny Ryan got voted out for one reason and one reason only, his own good. What you didn't see was Skinny Ryan lying in the shelter all day long claiming he was on his death bed and that he only needed 3-4 more hours sleep and he'd be okay. Skinny Ryan was in completely over his head, we were concerned about his physical and mental health and that is why he was voted out. He told me he was a strong swimmer but, in fact, he almost drowned in the reward challenge. He's a good kid and we were legitimately concerned about him. Check out Ryno's answers to the same Skinny Ryan questions. He'll tell you the same thing because it's the truth.

RNO: Osten wanted to quit early and you kept him around instead of Lill and Ryan S. Then he wanted to quit again and you all eventually let him go. What were your thoughts on his wanting to quit both times, and did you regret not letting him quit the first time and instead keeping around Ryan S. or Lill?

Andrew: On day 4, Osten simply had a bad day and mentioned he wanted to be voted out. I don't believe he actually wanted to pull the trigger. In fact, he rallied for an additional 15 days, which, considering the conditions, was commendable. I will say that Osten wanting to quit hurt me personally from a friend's standpoint and as the leader of the Morgan Tribe. I'm sure all of you have at some point had a dear friend come to you and tell you of a decision he or she had made that you disagreed with but because you cared so much about that friend you gave them your blessing. That is how we all felt and reacted to Osten on day 19. Keeping Osten around rather than Lill or Skinny Ryan was the right decision. What you didn't see was Osten spending 3-4 hours a day gathering oysters and mussels to help feed the Morgans and dragging huge logs down the beach to keep the fire going 24 hours a day. Also, Osten held Darrah suspended in the air for over two hours in the third immunity challenge. Lill, Skinny Ryan, and Nicole certainly couldn't have done that. Moreover, Osten held 175 pounds in the sand bag weight challenge long enough to allow the Morgans to load up and break Rupert, which in turn allowed me and Ryno to win that Challenge. Again, Lill, Skinny Ryan, and Nicole certainly couldn't have done that. Keeping Osten around was definitely the right decision.