“I Didn’t Realize Ken Had This Personal Vendetta Against Me” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with Charlie

Charlie didn’t get nearly the camera time of a Corinne or Randy – and he tells us here that his quiet nature on the show was definitely done on purpose. What was his overall strategy? What did he think of some of the others out there? And why was he happy to be blindsided?! Read on for all of this and lots more!

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Charlie, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at RealityNewsOnline! I have to tell you, you were my pre-show pick to win it all, so I really don’t like the fact that I’m talking to you right now!

Charlie: I bet you regret that. But thanks.

RNO: Starting at the beginning, what was your strategy coming into the game?

Charlie: My strategy was threefold. First of all – I knew Todd had just won Survivor: China and I kind of resembled him and he was a sneaky, conniving player. So I wanted to be as non-threatening as possible. I was the funny little silly gay guy. They forced me to wear a suit but I stripped off that suit [as soon as I could].

I also wanted to be a likeable guy and build genuine friendships because people who made it to the end [recently], like Amanda and Parvati, were genuine friends. So I saw that as an asset in the game. I didn’t want to alienate other people if that didn’t work out.

Last, I wanted to be very adaptable. I am a fan of the show and there are thousands of twists and you never know what’s coming. So you need to be on your toes at any given moment.

RNO: Until last night, did you have any idea that Ken was behind your ouster?

Charlie: People talk about the show afterwards, so I had heard that.

RNO: What do you think of the reason behind it?

Charlie: Honestly, I think I’m surprised because he prides himself on being a strategic player and it sounds like he made an emotional decision because he had a personal grudge against me for a silly reason. If you want to win, I’m not sure it’s good to lie to your allies for personal reasons. If you make these moves over and over… he lied about Ace to Sugar and it seemed more necessary. But this one didn’t seem that way. I think at some point it’s going to catch up to him.

RNO: In your final Tribal Council, you indicated that you thought Ken was a great guy. Once you were voted off and especially now that you’ve seen the episode, has your opinion of Ken, as a person, changed?

Charlie: I had very little experience with Ken. The only experience I had with him were those three hours we spent as a merged tribe after the challenge and before Tribal Council. The other thing with Ken was when Dan, Susie, and Randy came into our tribe, I learned Ken had been calling me “fag” behind my back.

I was in a game where there were a lot of abrasive, in your face, obnoxious people there and I was still able to foster good relationships with them. I was kind of nervous to meet somebody who perhaps might have negative views on my sexuality. It was just hearsay at that time. When Jeff asked me, I had just met him. Within three hours, my opinion of Ken had not changed. I didn’t want to make a snap judgment so I said that.

When we arrived at camp, it was chaos. We were scrambling to get the food and shelter in order, and the strategy. There wasn’t enough time to get to know Ken very well. The only thing I got to know was the one thing I heard.

Isn’t it interesting that the one person I didn’t get along with and who wanted me gone was the person who called me that behind my back?

RNO: When I talked to Ace, he said he thought Ken was just lucky. Then Marcus told me he thought Ken took advantage of people. What do you think about the way Ken has played?

Charlie: I didn’t know [at the time] how he was playing. As a viewer, I think he [had some luck] – you see before the first switch, the axis of evil were down in numbers, then there’s a switch, then they’re down in number and there’s a switch. He was fortunate but he did make some smart moves. I commend him for convincing Sugar. I was very impressed with that move.

RNO: Speaking of her, Corinne and others obviously had a pretty low opinion of Sugar’s intelligence and ability to play the game. What did you think?

Charlie: Sugar, I think she’s getting the most inaccurate edit. She was very unlikable out there. She was kind of like a princess. She demanded where to sleep in the hut. She tore up our bags and would wear them as dresses without asking; she would wear our clothes without asking. She said what on her mind all the time and did what she wanted to do. That’s great in real life, but in Survivor, I never felt like she stepped back and thought, “Is this fight really a strategic move? Is tearing up their bags going to piss people off?” And she aligned with the one person originally in Kota that everybody despised, Ace. I sort of wrote her off as making big errors in this game.

As a viewer, she was playing the game more than I thought. But I think she was duped a lot – she goes along with the last person who talked to her. She aligned herself with the big alpha male, first Ace, then Marcus, then she clung to Matty. I think she’s playing the game more than I thought she was, but I don’t think she’s playing the game very well.