“I Should Have Lied to Lill” – A Second Interview with Survivor’s Burton

RealityNewsOnline first interviewed Burton back when he was first voted out and we had no idea he’d be coming back in. But come back he did, in a big way. In our second interview, Burton discusses his life as an Outcast, his thoughts on Jon, why he didn’t think the women would form a counter-alliance, and more.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello again, Burton, and thanks once again for taking the time to answer these questions from RealityNewsOnline! Let's start off with the Outcast idea – what did you think of it, and what would you have thought if you had been still in the game rather than one of the people who got to go back?

Burton: Survivor is a game where you have to expect the unexpected. The basic rules stay the same, but you cannot assume anything when it comes to the future of the game or what is going to happen. We (the Outcasts) had no idea we would be in a challenge with a chance to get back into the game until Jeff told all of the tribes. When we heard that, I cannot tell you the excitement I had knowing there was a second chance. But, we still had to beat the other two tribes that should have been, and thought they were, stronger than we were. Well, we took advantage of the opportunity and won the right to get back into the game. Since I got to go back, I thought it was a great twist, to say the least. Overall, I think it was a great twist also, because players got too complacent and thought they could figure out everything that was thrown at them.

RNO: We've heard that the Outcasts were given minimal food, etc. What was life really like between the time you were voted out and the time you went back in – what were the living conditions, food situation, etc.?

Burton: The minimal food part is an understatement. I lost more weight in the seven days out of the game than I did in the first 12 days in the game. I was hungry the entire time and would be kept up at night with my stomach grumbling. The sleeping conditions were a bit nicer, but since I was so disappointed about being out of the game and with such little food, I barely slept at all. Additionally, overall the morale was pretty low since none of us wanted to be there, so that continually drained us mentally.

RNO: When you got back in the game, what was your plan and how did it change as the game progressed?

Burton: I was so thankful to get back into the game that I wanted to make up with my old tribe right away and let them know where I stood and that I did not have any hard feelings. I also knew I had to get them all back on my side so they would not vote me out again. I was much more honest at first and was sincere in everything I said for the first few days back. Over time however, I knew that I would have to play the game and being deceitful was required to move ahead. My plan changed to doing anything I needed to in order to move ahead in the game – honesty was out and lying was in.

RNO: Could you tell if there was an anti-Outcast sentiment among the others that you would have to overcome if you had made it to the Final 2?

Burton: My old tribe, Drake, was pretty happy to see me and said they thought we were now a stronger tribe so they did not seem to have an anti-Outcast sentiment initially. It did seem however that was not necessarily the case in the Morgan tribe, but then again, things were not handled too well from anyone's standpoint. If I had made it to the Final 2, I think I could have overcome any feelings about the twist by focusing on my work ethics, the fact that everyone had lived off of food that Rupert and I – eventually only me – had caught, and that I had played a very good strategic game and controlled it for a while.

RNO: Jon turned on you and voted you out the first time. But when you came back, you allied yourself with him again. At what point did you actually begin to really trust Jon, and why?

Burton: I created a situation where Jon and I needed each other, so it would be hard to go against that other person. I trusted him more and more as the game went along, but I also knew that if he turned on me, he would be put into a precarious position. As it turned out, he is the only person that did not turn on me in the second part of the game.

RNO: In your final Tribal Council, you correctly noted that sometimes you have to blindside people so they don't turn the vote around on you. But had you thought about how all the blindsiding would affect the jury vote if you made the Final 2, and what were your plans to address that?

Burton: I would have been honest with each person about why I had done it and addressed it head on. Had things gone my way, I would have been in the Final 2 with Jon or Lill so I would have also put much of the blame on them as to why the blindsides happened. Ultimately, it was a strategic move that I hoped people would respect since I played the game well.