“I Might As Well Be Memorable”: An Interview with Survivor’s Wanda

Wanda might not have made it to even a single Tribal Council, but she has left a lasting impression on viewers of Survivor: Palau. In this interview, she talks about her plans for the game, why she thinks she didn’t get picked, and her songs!

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Wanda, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions from RealityNewsOnline. I know you really didn’t have much chance for strategy, but what was your plan going to be if you had stayed around longer?

Wanda: My strategy was BOB – The "Bond of the Best." My plan was to find the Alpha and Beta males of my tribe, and the Beta female (Alpha being me, of course!), and a fifth person in the beginning, and form this Bond of the Best. I would tell the others that because of their strength and character, they were obvious targets, and weaker people would want to get rid of them, but I wanted strong and good people to win, so I wanted to secure an alliance of the people who were physically and morally great people. This would serve Survivor well, because fans hate when UTR [under the radar] people win and their heroes get voted off. The plan could also serve me well, because if the strong guys won reward challenges, they might take me along to enjoy rewards that I might not be able to win for myself.

RNO: Do you think your singing did you in?

Wanda: Absolutely not. I had people say they thought the songs were cute, and Ian said he thought they were great and he wanted to learn the words, but if a half a dozen people had no opinion, another half dozen rather liked the songs, and another third said the songs were annoying, which people are going to get quoted on TV? I am not trying to create a false reality in my own mind. I absolutely believe that Willard found the songs annoying. Willard finds lots of things annoying. Some people are easily annoyed. People have different senses of humor and find different things amusing versus stupid. Some people would rather whine and be around whiners than be positive and be around positive people. There's a mix of people, and you can interview until you get any reaction you want. Let me just say that Willard has a great mind and is a wonderful friend, and I don't even mind that he said that. Coby is also an awesome person. On Day One he critiqued my singing. On Day Two we had a great conversation and established a good bond. One Day Three he cried when I left. What does that tell you?

RNO: So if it wasn’t the singing, why do you think you didn't get picked for one of the tribes?

Wanda: I had good relationships with all the guys there (some more than others, of course), and I am certain I would not have been voted off. It was not about having a lot of friends; it was about having one really close friend or admirer. If the pick-up had been after some kind of group challenge, people could have seen that I was physically stronger and better than some of the others there, but as it was, the guys were seeing me as the "Scout" of the group, and I'm sure her physical handicap transferred to their image of what I might or might not be able to do.

RNO: You said you had written a bunch of Survivor songs. Would you like to share some lyrics of one or two that didn’t make it to air?

Wanda: This is to the tune of "Supercalifragilistic - expialidocious":

S-U-R-V-I-V-O-R - I am a Survivor! I can deal with any fate and be my own reviver -

When the venture's over I'll be stronger, braver, wiser ! S-U-R-V-I-V-O-R -- I am a Survivor!

An alternate end to the first line above is "I can camp and find my food and be my own provider!"

This is to the "Twelve Days of Christmas," obviously. Although I have filled in all the words here, my plan was to suggest it at an evening campfire sometime halfway through the game and have people on the tribe suggest their ideas of things they missed most to put into the song:

On the twelfth day in Paradise my true love gave to me: 12 cell phone minutes, 11 bags of Doritos, 10 ice cold sodas, 9 wooden match sticks, 8 cheesy pizzas, 7 trusty tribemates, 6 fluffy pillows, 5 juicy steaks, 4 ice cream cones, 3 best friends, 2 comfy blankets – AND THE IDOL FOR IMMUNITY!

It takes a while to sing all the verses to that, and that kind of time-killer can be useful as the days go on and people start to get bored, lacking the technological entertainers they are used to at home.