“Joel Was on a Bit of a Power Trip” – An Interview with Survivor: Micronesia’s Mary

Mary didn’t have much time to play Survivor, but she did have a strategy that seemed to be working okay… until Joel stepped in and squashed it. What does Mary think of Joel? What did she do that we didn’t see? Could she have seen the vote coming? And what’s this about a Survivor wedding? Let’s find out!

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

Mary: My strategy coming in was I really wanted to get a feel for the people on the island before making alliances. Then I wanted to make an alliance of one right off the bat and five so we at least had the numbers. So my strategy was to get a feel for personalities because you really never know, you have to meet the people first and see how the game is going to play out.

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

Mary: The strategy began as being an alliance with Mikey B and it developed into an alliance of seven people.

RNO: What were your first thoughts upon seeing the Favorites?

Mary: My first thought was I was really impressed with some of the favorites who were there, like Ozzy. They picked some major players on Survivor for us to go against.

RNO: Now that you’ve seen the episode, what do you think of the reasons you were voted off?

Mary: The reasons were Joel was on a bit of a power trip and he saw Mikey B taking control of the tribe. What you got to see on TV was the culmination of Joel really disliking Mikey B and fearing he was going to persuade myself, Natalie, and Alexis to vote Joel off in the coming weeks.

RNO: What do you think of Joel, in particular?

Mary: Joel is a little too paranoid for my tastes. He had a lot of paranoia even the first couple days, he started overstrategizing a bit. It kind of threw us all for a loop. In the end, he got what he wanted – voting me off would break down Mikey B’s alliance which would allow him to get to Mikey B.

RNO: Why do you think people were so easily swayed by Joel’s "don't ask questions, just do it" style of leadership?

Mary: Because he’s a little bullish and you’ve got a 6’5” big human being telling you that. You need him in challenges so you want to keep him happy.

He already had an alliance with Alexis; he came to her with the fact that Chet, Tracy, and Kathy offered him the three-in-one vote. Alexis was loyal to Joel the first day in, which changed things a lot.

RNO: Since your association with Mikey B was the reason for your ouster, what were your actual feelings for him – strategic or romantic?

Mary: Strictly strategic. Mikey B and I made an alliance from the very beginning that we would never write each other’s name down. Some of the others may have taken that [wrong because of] our body language – we were totally comfortable with each other. I think that was definitely not a good feeling for Joel. If anything, Joel wanted the affections of myself and Natalie – the girls that are on the tribe.

RNO: When you say he wanted the affections of you are you speaking romantically?

Mary: No, I think he felt a bit more control if he could control the female votes, and he had a majority enough to do so. I don’t think he put such a target on Erik or Jason. He didn’t even approach Jason. If he wanted to be in an alliance with Mikey B, he could have, but he chose to go for the females.

RNO: Did Mikey's voting plan make sense to you?

Mary: It was a little obscure, but it came from the possibility that Kathy, who was on Exile Island, could have found the immunity idol, which she could have given to Chet. And their vote would go towards one of us, which was apparently thought as Jason. So we were trying to spare Jason from being voted off by that plan. Whenever the votes are split, that’s really not the way things should be. It needs to be one vote one way that’s it. You see how un-unified our tribe was by how split the votes were.

RNO: What did you do on the show that we didn’t get to see on TV?

Mary: I provided a lot. I was basically working 24/7 on building shelters and I was a really hard worker. I cared for my tribe, I wanted us to win. I was working constantly, helping in any way I possibly could. I was talking to pretty much everyone, not leaving anyone out. I know some were alienating themselves from the tribe, but I tried to have conversations with everyone.

RNO: You say some were alienating themselves, but Chet, Kathy, and Tracy called themselves outsiders. Do you feel the threesome were outcasts or were they outcasting themselves?

Mary: They were outcasting themselves. From the very beginning, nobody singled out anybody else except when Kathy was making comments and crying and carrying on and wanted to offer her idol to Chet. That kind of created a rift in the tribe. Then she latched on to Chet and Tracy and they formed an alliance and separated themselves by building a separate shelter for three people. That’s how the tension originated.

RNO: What was the most eye-opening thing you saw on TV that you didn’t know about while you were there?

Mary: When Kathy had gotten back from Exile Island, Joel went to her and said, “Don’t say anything but we’re voting for Mary.” And she didn’t say anything. Just the fact he was so hush hush about it, that really shocked me. I had talked to him ten minutes prior and he had asked if I’d be in the final four with him, Alexis, Mikey B, and myself.

RNO: You indicated in your final words that you were blindsided. In retrospect, was there anything that you saw that going on that you now realize was a tip-off?

Mary: When I saw some of my tribemates keeping a low key and whispering. I didn’t think it was me but that’s a fault – I should have found out. I felt so secure and safe that it’s probably something I should have done a little differently and talked to everyone right before that Tribal Council and knew how everyone was voting.

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

Mary: Yes, actually. If I wasn’t voted off, I might not have met my fiancé, Ryno [Ryan O.] from Pearl Islands . When I got back from Survivor, I was introduced to him by another castmate who was also voted out early. And we were engaged a month later! Our wedding will be in September, with pretty much an all-Survivor cast, we’re such good friends. Lex is going to be our minister, Jonny will be one of the best men, Ami will be in the wedding, lots of fun people. That’s something we will probably televise, like a Survivor reunion/crazy party/Ryno and I get married.

I’m happy with the way things turned out. Sure I would have liked to stay longer, but I ended up wining in the end.

RNO: Congratulations! And thanks again, Mary!

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