“It Came Down to the Puzzles”: An Interview with Survivor: Fiji’s Erica

Erica was voted out second on Survivor: Fiji, but as you’ll see in this interview, she doesn’t seem too upset about it. Read on to find out why.

RealityNewsOnline: What was your strategy going into the game?

Erica: I wanted to be strong and I wanted to be somebody they could rely on in challenges and to be a big contributor. I think I accomplished everything I wanted to.

RNO: What did you do, either physically or mentally, to prepare yourself for Survivor?

Erica: I was already pretty athletic. I work out a lot, I was a college athlete. I think I was ready in that aspect. I did watch a lot of the previous seasons and got myself familiar with the game. I also really focused in on swimming. I wanted to be as fast as I could possibly be in the water and really be a threat on all ends.

RNO: On the official website, you described yourself with terms including “confrontational.” How did you expect to keep that aspect of yourself under wraps for Survivor?

Erica: I knew that every word that came out of my mouth and all my actions would definitely be counted and I would have to give an account for what I did and said. I would probably have to keep it under wraps. Once you’re in that environment and playing the game, it’s really hard to separate what you thought about in the real world and follow that script you so carefully planned out before you started.

RNO: Did you feel you had a solid alliance with Rocky?

Erica: You know what, after Jessica left, it kind of went downhill and I didn’t really feel like we had the best communication going on. But I never expected him to lead a really to get me voted off!

RNO: What do you think went wrong?

Erica: After Jessica was singled out to be sent home [but before the vote], I went to Rocky and informed him. It was followed by, I would say, very conspicuous behavior. I said, “Let’s just keep it under wraps and vote the way we were going to vote.” That wasn’t done and after that, I think trust and communication just came into play and we didn’t have either between us.

RNO: What do you think about him claiming he couldn’t read you and saying you were the biggest threat?

Erica: I wouldn’t deny it. If he felt that way, I can see why he felt that way, but at the same time, we had space and opportunity to maybe talk about it. But it was just – the chain of events that happened and after Jessica left, things just kind of fell apart. Him not being able to read me, my door was still open to him to say, “What’s going on, what are we going to do?” At that point in time, there was nothing ever discussed between me and him, it was kind of in the air.

RNO: What do you think he meant about you being a threat to him?

Erica: In the challenges, when we were competing, I think I contributed quite a bit. If it came down to strength on the team, I could be considered one of the stronger ones. Later on, that could have come into play. He’s pretty strong himself, but I think it might have come down to, “Why not get rid of her right now rather than face her down the line?”

RNO: We didn’t see you in any strategy discussions in the second episode. What did you do that we didn’t see?

Erica: I actually talked with pretty much everybody there and it was very brief discussions, because before Sylvia got back from Exile Island, it was already put into motion that she was the next to go. The majority felt she was bossy and pushy and she wasn’t very strong. So with all those odds stacked up against her, it was pretty clear to me and to the majority that when she came back, she would be the next to go. So the discussions I had were like, “Are we voting the same?” and everybody was like, “Yeah.” I never heard about what I did wrong until we got to Tribal Council and Jeff [Probst] brought it up.

RNO: Did you see any of the private discussions going on around camp, and wonder what they were talking about?

Erica: Oh yeah, there were a couple private discussions that I walked into, they turned into [them saying] they were talking about voting Sylvia out. I did see Anthony and Mookie talking, but with the attitude that I had and my personality, I won’t sit around and wonder what they’re talking about. So I would take the initiative to see what they’re talking about, but I wasn’t able to walk up on anything that would give me a hint that I was the next to go.

RNO: After Jessica left, what did you do to try to gain new long-term allies?

Erica: When we started to go down and get food and water, the rest of the females on the tribe sat around and waited on some things to happen. I started to hang with the guys and developed a pretty good relationship with Earl. But he was on Exile Island when I was voted out. He was kind of our leader, the unspoken leader. I think that was a pretty good ally to have.

RNO: What went wrong with the challenge?

Erica: We needed food! We couldn’t think straight. As you could see, us rowing the boat, getting our boxes in, pulling – we didn’t have a problem with physically getting ahead of them. It came down to the puzzles, and there were certain people picked out for those and I was not one of them. Once it wasn’t working was kind of when I started putting in my input, really getting excited about it. By that time, we had lost probably a 30- or 45-second lead when I stepped in.

RNO: When asked at Tribal Council, Yau-Man indicated he was voting based on getting rid of somebody who was too vocal or stubborn, and then he voted you out. Can you shed any light on what he was talking about?

Erica: I have no idea (laughing). The times where I was really vocal, I had been vocal at the immunity challenges, because when I get into game mode and competing, I get really excited and passionate about winning. But other than that, I have no idea what he’s talking about.

RNO: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Erica: Just that I enjoyed every second of it. I wouldn’t change anything. I went out there to compete and be strong. I didn’t want to try to fool anyone and sit around and make up anything about myself or to act as if I was too weak to do anything. I wanted to be strong, I wanted to go out and compete, and to do things that would make me valuable to my tribe and that’s what I did. If I had a chance to do it over again, I would.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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