An “Insider” Look at Survivor: China Episode 12 – “I Put My Whole Self Into This, Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul”

Peih-Gee’s Final Words

First off, can I say that Peih-Gee’s hair must have some sort of mystical power to stay looking fantastic through all the harsh conditions in Survivor. The bow’s cute too. Moving on. Peih-Gee starts off by saying that she has a lot to be thankful for, being Asian, being Chinese, and getting to play in this location. Her cultural knowledge actually did help her win some challenges. She’s also representing the Asian community, whether she wants to or not. She hopes she’s been able to do them justice. Peih-Gee says she overcame huge odds and made it to the final five – and “did it pretty honorably, in my opinion.”

Peih-Gee says there are two main reasons she was voted out. She understands there was a pretty strong four-person alliance that wanted to stick with it to the final four. She had people she would have liked to take all the way to the end with her too – if she had the opportunity. The second reason she believes she was voted out was that nobody wanted to go against her with the jury. The others were also worried about Peih-Gee winning immunity and didn’t want to risk it happening.

“I’m really proud of the way I played this game.” Peih-Gee says she’s glad she immersed herself fully in the experience. “I put my whole self into this, heart, mind, body, and soul.” She’s glad she played to her utmost. She pushed herself as far as she could, yet she also played honorably. Peih-Gee didn’t backstab anyone. She also did things she never knew she could, even though she probably had the least to eat of everyone here.

Living in the jungle “sucks” and so does getting voted out. She’s glad she wasn’t blindsided or voted out by people who she thought were her allies. She felt honored by how threatened everyone was by her and that she had become somewhat of an immunity hog. Peih-Gee won’t be a millionaire, but she feels she walks away way richer than she was going in.

Peih-Gee seems to have come to terms with her ouster already. That’s probably because she knew it was coming. Peih-Gee often seemed to let her emotions run away with her in the game, but she did play hard. And she has great hair too.

Peih-Gee, The Day After

Peih-Gee starts by saying she went into the game thinking she’d be a villain. She thought she might be a stronger character who picked up a few people to work with her as a voting squad. But it didn’t really work out that way. Going into it, you know it’s a game. But you’re immersed in this game 24/7. Peih-Gee was thinking that lying is like bluffing in poker and so she’d be good at it. In poker, you can play for an evening and walk out saying, “Ha ha! Got you good that time!” But in Survivor, you’re so immersed in the game all the time, you can’t ever walk away and let it go. She couldn’t put up a façade for that long. Peih-Gee says, “I’m a loyal person.” She couldn’t ever vote against her friends in Zhan Hu. It might not have been the best way to play, but she’s still proud of it.

Before the merge, it was intimidating looking at someone like James. Peih-Gee is only about 100 pounds and it’s hard not to lose hope looking at someone like that. You have to force yourself to believe there is a way to persevere. But she did it. Her saving grace in the game was realizing that she was stressing out and then using that energy to her advantage.

Peih-Gee says she’s tougher than she thought. She didn’t whine and quit. She’s learned that she can persevere and if she puts her mind to it, she can go a long way. Gaining the respect from the other contestants meant a whole lot to Peih-Gee. A lot of them told her they admire her and think she’s really tough.

As far as the people back at home go, Peih-Gee thinks they’ll notice a big difference in her. Before she came here, she might have been suffering from a lack of initiative. But when you’re out here, you need to have initiative and get stuff done. Or else! Peih-Gee thinks she’ll be able to take some of that initiative back to her real life at home and just do what needs doing.

Good for Peih-Gee that she’s looking at all the positive aspects of the game for her. She also notes she may not have played the game the best, strategically, but she never gave up. Despite what she says, she did whine some. Another good point Peih-Gee makes is that it’s easy to sit on your couch and wonder why people aren’t playing their best strategic games. It seems clear that playing any sort of game like Survivor continually for a month or more is extremely wearing mentally and physically. It takes an extraordinary person to stay on point for that entire time.