“She Didn’t Think a Winner Should Win Again”: An Interview with Survivor’s Tina Wesson

Survivor 2’s winner became Survivor: All-Stars’ first victim. RealityNewsOnline was able to ask Tina Wesson some questions about her second Survivor stay and some of the people she had to deal with.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Tina, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions from RealityNewsOnline! We’ll start at the beginning for this show – when did you first hear from the producers about an All-Star show and what did you think?

Tina: I was so excited when I got the call, I was ready to go!!!

RNO: You went in knowing that you would have a big target on your back – what were your plans to try to offset this and stick around in the game?

Tina: I tried to get Mark [Burnett] to level the playing field by putting all the winners on the same tribe so that we would at least have a fighting chance.

RNO: Obviously the dynamics here were much different than the first time any of you played. What seemed to be more important and what was less important this time around?

Tina: Surviving became more important this time due to the fact that we have gone three days without water!

RNO: Who was the main force in the vote, and did you try to suggest to others that the person in question should be voted out?

Tina: Jenna was behind my getting the boot, and yes indeed I tried to sway the vote the other way. Rupert was the guy I tried so hard to align with and help him to go all the way by helping him to realize he should not form an alliance with Jerri and Jenna due to the fact they needed the money the most and would not take him all the way since they could not win against him. But he still went to the dark side.

RNO: Why do you think Jenna was so adamant that a former winner shouldn't win again – is it personal, greed, vendetta, or something else?

Tina: Pure and simply she didn't think a winner should win again, that is it.

RNO: Any idea why she picked you first instead of Ethan?

Tina: Because Ethan was needed to help win the next challenge.

RNO: On The Early Show, you mentioned that you tried to get Rupert into an alliance, and in the additional website material we saw Jerri saying that you talked to her about the difference between the game and real life. In all of these discussions that we didn't see, what did you do to try to convince them to come over to your side?

Tina: What you don't see is that the tribal council was 1 1/2 hours long. There all the cards were presented and laid out on how I was in this game to help Rupert. I had told him who he could and could not trust, yet he still went with the dark side!

RNO: So did it surprise you that Rupert sided with Jerri and Jenna – any idea why he did?

Tina: The only reason I can figure that he went with them is because he felt like them in that he doesn't want a winner to go all the way again.

RNO: You and a few of the others seemed to know quite a bit about Rupert – how much did you know about him before you got to the island?

Tina: Only what we saw on the first three episodes of his show.

RNO: Which player were you most surprised to see back on "All-Stars," either on your tribe or another?

Tina: Amber – wasn't this called ALL STAR Survivor?

RNO: Who were you most surprised to NOT see on the show?

Tina: Mike Skupin.

RNO: And, of course, the big question: Would you do it again and, if so, what would you change?

Tina: Of course I would do it again and not much I could do to change the outcome, unfortunately.

RNO: Thanks again, Tina!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com. Thanks to the other writers of RNO for their question suggestions.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recaps and other info on this show at the Survivor: All-Stars page, and take a look at our The Simple Life page and our Average Joe page. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about Survivor, be sure to check out SirLinksALot and Survivor Fever!