“I Certainly Didn’t Feel Like I Had Control of the Game” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exlusive Interview with Survivor: Gabon’s Marcus

RNO: Were you pretty convinced going into Tribal Council that Ken was going?

Marcus: No. one of the things that I pointed out in an interview [on the show] that wasn’t shown was I’ve done certain things and you have to trust your decisions, but I’m definitely bringing my stuff. It was definitely not going to be Susie, Crystal, or Bob. That left a 50/50 shot. I had a feeling. I was tired of dealing with people that I was trying to justify my good motives to and I knew they didn’t have the same positive attitudes towards the game and each other. It kind of wears you out to have to deal with those kind of personalities. I think spotlights are things you share and when you’re successful, you share it with friends and families and people you care about, and I don’t think they saw it the same way.

RNO: When you had your talk with Susie, did she give you any reason to think she deserved to be in the top three? Did she offer anything other than her desire to be there?

Marcus: No, but that’s the point. Who deserves to be in the top three for a show? It depends on the way the twists come down. Nobody who doesn’t work hard and strategize and give effort in the game truly deserves to be in the top three. But that’s my opinion, and there were 17 other opinions at the start of the game. That’s her attempt to justify that she was doing the opposite the rest of the time, trying to hedge against her promises. She picked firewood but she knew she was annoying at camp. Your actions speak louder than your words. If you have to extract a promise to get to the final three rather than just earning it on your own, you’re in a different zone than some of the people on the show.

RNO: What was your plan going forward if you had stuck around?

Marcus: It depends on if a merge was imminent. Plan A was to work hard at challenges and bicker about Tribal Council afterwards [if we lost]. I was hoping to light some sort of athletic fire under Crystal but I think those coals have long died. She could have been such an asset for us. If we’d have merged, just continue with our plan. We had great people and relationships, which would have been indomitable until the final five. It would have been so interesting to see how you manage those relationships. I would have loved to see that type of television.

RNO: When I asked Ace if he underestimated Ken, he said no, Ken just got lucky. What about you – do you think you underestimated him?

Marcus: I never thought someone would take advantage of compassion the way Ken does. I hope he’s just young, I think he’s incredibly bright – he has such promise. And yet he sort of uses his diminutive stature to take advantage of people through their compassion. It’s sad. When I have patients who come in for pain medicine because they’re addicted, they’re taking advantage of my compassion, our society’s compassion. It hurts to watch that, it’s the last thing I hope for people. I think that’s underestimating people in a way – you just don’t think they’d go there.

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

Marcus: I definitely wish that I’d gone with a different brand of boxer briefs.

RNO: Would you care to expand on that?

Marcus: I found out later that I had a little friend helping me out in that challenge.

(Author’s note: In case readers hadn’t heard, Marcus’ mouse was out of the house during an early challenge. And CBS missed blurring it.)

RNO: I have to admit, I forgot about that.

Marcus: I can’t believe anybody even saw it.

RNO: Not only did they see it, one parents group accused CBS of purposely showing it on primetime TV.

Marcus: (Laughing) If they had shown it purposely, I can assure you they’d have picked somebody else.

RNO: Anything else?

Marcus: I play a mean air guitar. I challenge anybody out there if they want to duel in the air guitar world.

RNO: Thanks again, Marcus!

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

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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