“Mother Nature Kicked My Ass” – An Interview with Survivor: Micronesia’s Kathy

Kathy may have quit the game, but she is at least in pretty good spirits about it now. What happened to her? Why didn’t she know what to expect out there? And what answer does she give because she thinks she’s supposed to, even while laughing about it? Read all she has to say, right here.

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

Kathy: Basically, misfits are good. I was going to just find out the people that were kind of misfits. There’s numbers in that too. I got there and found out, I thought I was the only one – I’m like, okay, that’s not good.

RNO: How did that strategy change as the game went on?

Kathy: Pretty much anything I thought was going to happen, the second we got into the boat for that opening shot kind of changed. It’s odd how you can see little cliques forming even before you can speak to each other. I saw that coming and said uh oh. I said, like wow, am I like the oldest person here? Where are my Yau-Mans? Where are my Rudys?

RNO: So what did you think when you saw the Yau-Man and the other Favorites?

Kathy: Oh my god, I love love love the Yau-Man. What they didn’t show on TV was how shocked I was when he was gone. When we waded across that channel [in the opening “challenge” to get to the boats], I went over to him because I wanted to shake his hand. That’s how he knew my name to point out the idol to me at the beginning. It was a pleasure to meet him.

RNO: You kept saying you couldn’t feel your family – can you explain what you meant?

Kathy: You know, they let me wear – I have a ring that I got at Great America that has my daughter’s name. I thought maybe that wasn’t a good idea because every time I thought of them, I would just break down. I knew I was in trouble even before it started, so I was always thinking of my family. I told my daughter to look at the moon and I’ll be looking at the same moon [and we’ll say goodnight to each other]. That worked for a while and then I started going into a really dark place. As much as you think you can prepare for this game, mother nature kicked my ass – and the seven other people I was with on my tribe.

RNO: Did you consider that even after leaving the island, you’d still be sequestered away from your family?

Kathy: Yeah. I knew that, but as I told Jeff, it just gives me hope that I’ll be one step closer. I was watching the show last night and said that girl, whoever she was, she looked really happy to get on that boat. It was amazing the isolation out there, when I lost Tracy and Chet. And I got really close to Jonathan, and then when he left, I was like, “oh crap.” James and Amanda had each other, Alexis and Natalie [had bonded]. Eliza, I love her to death, but she can be… not real welcoming. I felt complete and utter isolation out there. When Penner left, that kind of killed me. I said I’ve got to be the unluckiest person on the island. Everyone I bond with is gone.

RNO: You’re obviously a fan of the show, so why did you not know how bad it could get there?

Kathy: As I mentioned, when you’re sitting on your couch and watching the show and love the show and think how cool, they don’t show you… One of the turning points was Ami and I on Exile Island. They never showed how brutal that was for us. We had nowhere to go during that storm, we just sat against the rocks being pelted for eight hours. It really sucked that they didn’t show any of that. Mother nature out there just really… you don’t expect it. They show it raining for 10 seconds, you don’t realize it’s 12 hours. They got so pelted with rain, their cameras broke. That kind of was a turning point. Ami was kind of crying. Giving birth is a piece of cake compared to that.

RNO: What do you have to say to those viewers who are upset that you quit after taking a spot on the show that could have been given to somebody else?

Kathy: Oh great, thanks for that question. You know, watching Osten – I kind of believe he was the first to go. I apologize to anybody out there [watching the show]. I really thought I was so prepared. You think no big whoop until you actually get out there. And wow, it’s… how do I explain how brutal it was?

Mentally I just started going into a downward spiral. I couldn’t prepare for that. The people I would be with. I give so much respect – everything I ever said about any Survivor who couldn’t hack it, I take back. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. You’ve got nothing out there, a minute felt like an hour; an hour felt like a week. It was brutal. I was not prepared for how brutal it would be.