“I Knew It Was Fake” – An Interview with Survivor: China’s Jaime

What we saw on the show made Jaime out to be not terribly bright when it came to some things – like the fake immunity idol. But is that the way things really went down? What does Jaime have to say about it all, including her thoughts on watching her final Tribal Council? Read on to find out!

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Jaime, and thanks for taking the time to talk to RealityNewsOnline! Starting at the beginning, what was your strategy coming into the game?

Jaime: I knew I wanted to have an alliance of four just so I’d have the numbers at my tribe. I wanted to have a strong tribe, but my goal was to make an alliance of four and stick with it until we had to take each other out.

RNO: How did that strategy change once you got into the game?

Jaime: The strategy kept the same, I had an all of four and suballiances outside of that. The only time it changed was when we merged. We were down to three – four if you counted Frosti. But at that point it wasn’t going to work anymore.

RNO: Why weren’t you able to keep in your laughter after throwing last week’s immunity challenge?

Jaime: James was cussing at us profusely and saying some ridiculous things to Peih-Gee and I. Nobody had ever spoken to me like that before. Rather than getting upset about it, I just covered it with laughter. We never laughed at Aaron. He was amazing and we hated getting rid of him, but he wouldn’t share his alliances with us. James was just in such an uproar and saying such horrible things, it was hard not to laugh.

And it was really last-minute too – we decided last minute to throw the challenge. We overheard James and Todd speaking when the boys were swimming out. We were originally going to keep James and just throw the second challenge. But when we heard him speaking to Todd, we overheard that they were still together. We realized we were going to have to throw both of them because James didn’t seem like he was going to be with us.

RNO: Sherea told me last week that she and Peih-Gee had discussed throwing challenges before she left. So why was it last-minute?

Jaime: Yeah, that’s the funny thing. We actually decided beforehand that if we felt they were going to get picked off, we would throw challenges. I had a feeling maybe they would get rid of Jean-Robert because of what I saw when I was kidnapped. So we decided to throw the second one, but our plan got changed.

RNO: I know you guys had some doubts about Sherea and Frosti, but why didn’t you continue your plan to throw another challenge rather than having to rely on James who you just said you overheard saying he was with Todd?

Jaime: Honestly, we were worried about Aaron having the hidden immunity idol – that’s why we blindsided him. When James got kidnapped, we didn’t know who had the idol. Leslie had told me she was going to tell Todd, and we had a whole plan to kidnap each other back and forth. Because it hadn’t been played by Aaron, I was afraid James got a hold of it. After thinking about it, we thought we shouldn’t throw it because if James had it we’re in big trouble.

Aaron blatantly told us they’d try to get rid of James [on Fei Long], so we told James that and told him to stick with us, we were willing to work with him. We had an attempt to make friends with James and try to get him on our side. We thought that would help James stay on our side.

RNO: Did James ever give you good reason to believe he was trustworthy?

Jaime: He told us all the alliances; he spilled the beans and told us everything. James told us Todd was controlling the game and gave out all his secrets to keep him around. We felt he must realize he’s in for it there. He really made us believe he was telling all the Fei Long secrets and he’d get Denise with us and we’d get rid of them.

RNO: Why did you talk to Todd about the immunity idols?

Jaime: At that point, I already knew the idol was fake – we took the idol up to the trellis, and it matched the one that was still hanging, so we knew it wasn’t real. I didn’t think Todd knew James had [the real one], so I was trying to insinuate I had it and Todd would tell the others not to vote for Jaime, vote for Peih-Gee instead. I was hoping he’d think I really had an idol.

RNO: You said you knew it was fake, but you tried to play it anyway?

Jaime: That was out of humor for me. Jean-Robert and I had a talked and he told me they were voting me out. I figured something happened where they don’t think I have the idol. Jean-Robert didn’t know I had the idol so I wanted to see his face. I wanted to let the cat out of the bag – I didn’t know Todd would spill the beans about it to half the tribe. I knew James was voting for me, so if I let out [that he has the idol, I thought] maybe they’ll try to take out James [after me]. I tried it for a sense of humor and to see Jean-Robert’s face and to reveal that James had the idols.

RNO: As you watched Tribal Council last night when you played the non-immunity idol, what did you thinnk?

Jaime: It was hard for me to watch because in so many interviews [while out there], I said I knew it was fake. So it was a little hard for me because that’s not what happened. In the same sense, I got a good laugh out of it Jean-Robert’s reaction. Seeing James too – he’s a trip. I don’t think anybody knew I knew it was fake except for Erik. It was a little frustrating for me because I knew it was fake since day one at Fei Long. At least it was amusing – good TV.

RNO: In your final words, you said you were too nice to be on Survivor. Could you elaborate on that?

Jaime: It was very hard for me because they didn’t show the friendships we formed out there. Peih-Gee, Erik, Sherea, Frosti, and I were so close. It was hard, we were in the losing tribe, but we stuck together and cheered each other up. We really formed a crazy bond. I’m still friends with them and I love them all to death. On the one hand I’m throwing these challenges to save my friends. but I still think we were in trouble because of our numbers. I was so concerned about keeping my friends around, I think it hurt me.

RNO: Is there any chance of romance with Erik, or was it all friendship?

Jaime: Erik’s a great guy and we had a blast out there together. We’ll have to see what happens in the future, but definitely in the show we were just friends.

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

Jaime: I just feel we had an amazing cast and I’m so proud to be part of it. I really feel blessed to have the experience.

RNO: Thanks again, Jaime!

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

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