“I Feel Good About How I Played”: An Interview with Survivor’s Sarge

Sarge was definitely one of the most memorable players of Survivor: Vanuatu. As the first member of the jury, he will be showing up on our screens until the end of the series. In the meantime, Sarge answered some questions from RealityNewsOnline, including many that viewers have been asking for several weeks now.

RealityNewsOnline: You helped form the alliance of older men right at the beginning, though J.P. told me in an earlier interview that you approached the younger guys first and were rebuffed. What was your game plan coming in?

Sarge: I had a lot of different things coming into the game, however when this game started and they put women and men against each other, things totally changed. I then thought that I was through. I saw that I could fall into many different groups and that I had to be real careful what group I approached. I did go to the young group and ask what their plan was, solely because they were sitting on the rock by the beach and we had only been there for a real short time and I thought it odd that they would right away try to separate themselves. I walked straight to older crowd and said we had to get together and stay together or the young guys would eliminate us. But I at no time was trying to hook up with the young guys for an alliance.

RNO: Were you afraid that by eliminating the stronger, younger guys, you might set the tribe up for challenge losses?

Sarge: You amaze me just as many other people have amazed me. What makes you think that because they are young that they were the stronger of the two age groups? I am here to tell you that there was no member of the Lopevi tribe that was stronger than I or had more endurance than me. This is a myth and you have played into just as millions of others have. The cameras made some of the guys look larger but by no means were they weaker. Plus, weaker comes in many different forms as physical and mental. Let’s make that clear!

RNO: Just to clarify – I wasn’t in any way suggesting that you were weaker! I was just trying to get at a subject that many viewers have been talking about – and you certainly answered it!

Getting back to the questions, when you were having repeated disagreements with Rory, were you ever tempted to go back on your alliance just to get rid of him, or was keeping your word to important to even consider it?

Sarge: Yes, I had trouble with Rory, but at no time would the honor of my word be violated for advancement or any other reason. I did at one point ask the group that I had an alliance with if they wanted to change out one member – that being Brady for Rory – the answer was no, and that is where it stayed. I am too set in my ways that the American soldier is true to the end. [Readers can click here to see Rory’s take.]

RNO: Knowing how much lying and backstabbing goes on in Survivor, did you think you could make it through the entire game and win without doing either?

Sarge: No and yes. At first when I entered this game, I thought it would be impossible to play it to the end and never lie. But after starting this game and seeing how it was going, then I started to believe that there might be a slim chance that I could pull it off. I came into the game with the notion that I wanted to test the values of the Army at a game devoted to and based on deception and betrayal. If the cross by Julie hadn't been done then I think I would have pulled it off.

RNO: After the tribal swap, was there any attempt to re-integrate John K. into a male alliance rather than booting him before Julie or Twila?

Sarge: No! He was an untrust[worthy] person and never did I entertain the idea.

RNO:In your last episode, the guys seemed to be focused on getting rid of Eliza rather than having her join up with you. Why didn't you try to get her on their side, since she was obviously worried about the pecking order?

Sarge: I did. I tried numerous times and Twila said if we could get one more person she would walk over, but that might have been a lie as well. But Ami had her hounds guarding Eliza all the way up till we went to tribal council and you could not get anywhere near her.