“I Was Shocked He Really Thought That Was the Idol” – An Interview with Survivor: Micronesia’s Eliza

Eliza started off in a good position that quickly turned bad. Then the tribal swap happened and she once again found herself in a good position (as she explains below) – which once again went bad on her. Then she thought she had the immunity idol and it turned out to be a stick – making it three times bad luck for her. What does she have to say about all this? What was her strategy? What could she have done differently if only she’d known about the stick earlier? Eliza tells all right here.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Eliza, and thanks for taking the time to talk to RealityNewsOnline! When I interviewed you after Vanuatu, you said that you had all sorts of strategies and they went out the window when you got there. Did you have any particular starting strategies coming into the game this time?

Eliza: Yes, I did. They actually kind of worked out. I made an alliance with people I thought I could trust, people I thought who were similar to me, smart and good game players and maybe not the biggest challenge threats in terms of individual immunity, people I wanted to go to the end with.

Then Fairplay went and Cirie went with the showmance alliance and I found myself in trouble.

RNO: When that happened, how did your strategy change?

Eliza: I just realized it was going to be like Vanuatu all over again and I needed to survive week to week and wait until the next stage of the game. On Day 12, I had been told by my tribe, “You’re going home if we lose an immunity challenge. If we lose, you’re done.” I knew I was in really big trouble. I even said to one of the producers during an interview that a swap would really help right about now. He said they’ll get right on it. That day, Probst said, “Drop your buffs!” I could barely contain the joy on my face. [Author’s Note: I feel I should clarify here that Eliza is not actually suggesting that the producers did this for her – all of this was said in a humorous manner that indicated she wasn’t serious with the producer and she knew they wouldn’t do something like that.]

RNO: Do you think your game was hurt by your portrayal the first time around?

Eliza: I think everyone’s game is hurt by their portrayal the first time. You’re portrayed a certain way and pigeonholed. Even if they say they won’t judge you from your past, it’s in the back of their minds.

You even saw that the first day, Parvati saying she didn’t want to get [fooled] by me because that was how I was shown in Vanuatu. I had trouble getting people to trust me, even though I felt that Yau-Man and Ami and Jonathan trusted me.

RNO: Speaking of Jonathan, he seemed to have a plan to join with you and the Fans on Airai to target Parvati. But when he left, Parvati pulled in Alexis and Natalie. Why hadn’t you formed an alliance with them before Parvati could get to them?

Eliza: What you didn’t see was I had formed an alliance with them and Jason. When Jonathan was there, it was a very solid alliance, with us telling them we were the four and we’d use Jason’s vote as we go because they didn’t really like Jason much. Having Jonathan leave didn’t make that offer very appealing anymore. They said, “We have a better offer on the table, we’re going to take it.” There wasn’t much I could do, though I spent a lot of time talking to them. We even planned to possibly throw an immunity challenge at one point [before Jonathan left].

Parvati approached them long after Jonathan and I had, and I’m convinced if he had stayed, they absolutely would have gone with us.

RNO: Did you really expect Parvati to align with you after her alliance was so obviously targeting you before the tribal switch-up?

Eliza: Expect? No, absolutely not. But did I hope I could maybe get back in with the Favorites and get in a final six situation with them? Yeah, I was hoping that could work out. Once I saw Ami was gone, I knew this wasn’t Fans vs. Favorites anymore. I wasn’t going to stay loyal to the Favorites, so I knew they wouldn’t stay loyal to me. It was a last ditch effort.

Parvati could have easily lied to me and didn’t. She said she wasn’t sure. I respected that.

RNO: Indeed, when Parvati made it pretty clear that she wouldn’t keep you around, did you try to talk to the others, who might be more open to the idea?

Eliza: Absolutely. I spent a lot of time talking to Cirie that day. But she said the Fans told them everything, told Parvati you were trying to get her out and maybe throw a challenge. She said, “You were playing too many people and there isn’t anybody who trusts you here.” While I did try, I knew it was hopeless at that point.

Later I found out there was something I could have done, but I didn’t have time. But I’m sure we’ll get to the stick.

RNO: Oh yes, we’ll get to that.

Eliza: Was it obvious from the episode that I knew it wasn’t the idol?

RNO: Yes, I wasn’t even going to ask you that.

Eliza: Good, because I’m sure somebody will ask that today.