“You Have to Lie to Win” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: Tocantins’ Winner, J.T.

J.T. won it all in dramatic fashion by going from never seeing his name written down the whole game to seeing it written all seven times as the winner – plus getting the extra $100,000 popularity prize as well! In the midst of all the craziness that goes on when you win Survivor, J.T. talked to me (literally in the midst, as we talked around his Early Show schedule) about, well, everything you’d expect him to talk about.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, J.T., and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at RealityNewsOnline. Congratulations!

J.T.: Thank you very much.

RNO: We know what ended up happening in terms of your strategy, but what was your plan coming into the game?

J.T.: Things went really well. I wanted to play the really nice guy and be truthful. In my eyes, you have to be truthful to win. But once it gets to five or six or the merge, you have to put that aside and play with your head and not your heart. I was able to stay true most of the game, but you have to lie to win. My strategy was to play the innocent guy as long as possible but be ready to turn the strategy on when I needed to.

RNO: You mentioned on the reunion that you were playing up being hurt by Stephen’s words at the final Tribal Council and by him saying he wouldn’t have taken you. How much of your final words and answers to questions were staged?

J.T.: I definitely knew – we are really good buddies because we were out there to win the game. I knew as soon as it got to the final four, I had to win out [all the immunities] to make it. I knew when they brought that out at Tribal Council, it was a gift. I played it like he would have done the same thing for me. He’s such a good guy that he admitted that in Tribal Council and that really helped me.

RNO: How hard was it to do that to a friend?

J.T.: It was very hard but we were both there to win the game. Immediately when it was over, we hugged and we were excited for each other. It was hard because you’ve seen the other [final] Tribal Councils – it was hard for us not to blow each other up. We had to do what we had to do. It really hurt us to have to do that to each other but we both were aware of what it would take.

RNO: Why did you take Stephen? Was it all based on honor and the like, or did you figure you could beat him pretty easily – as you did?

J.T.: I had no idea it would be unanimous. He got really nervous at Tribal Council and the questions worked in my favor. I felt like I could take him and still win but I thought it would be very close. I couldn’t do it to Stephen [not taking him]. I felt like I could still win. It was a big risk but after all we were through, I couldn’t not take him, he was such a good friend.

RNO: I ask because despite all that was being said about how easy it would be to beat Erinn, from my standpoint at home, I figured it would be easier to beat Stephen due to the fact that you had done everything together and would be blamed for backstabbing and blindsiding equally, while you were more likely to get votes for being the face of the alliance. Did that enter into your decision?

J.T.: Yeah, I definitely thought about that. I figured it up and obviously I thought I could actually beat him. But there was no strategy to it, I knew I could beat Erinn. Her tribemates really did not like her. When jerry was gone, she was supposed to go. I knew they really didn’t like her. I knew I could beat Erinn but also felt pretty confident I could beat Stephen.

RNO: When I spoke to Debbie a couple weeks ago, she said that on watching the show, she realized they had not given him enough credit for his game play. Was it part of your strategy to hide the fact that you and Stephen were so tightly bound on the strategic aspect of the game?

J.T.: Definitely. We didn’t want to show we were inseparable even though we were to the final four. We talked every move out and were very good checks and balances.