An “Insider” Look at Survivor: Tocantins, Finale, Part 2 – “It Was the Sum of Everything Good and Bad in My Life”

Taj’s Final Words

Well, I’d tell you what Taj had to say… Except that CBS hasn’t put this clip on the website. Maybe Taj cursed her way through the whole thing – or maybe CBS screwed up. You decide.

Taj the Day After

Taj, looking beautiful, starts by saying she would sum up her experience here as, “The sum of all the experiences I have had in my life – good and bad – all in one setting, during a 37 day period.” Taj says it encompasses highs and lows, like she had growing up poor, losing her parents, being in a popular group, marrying the man of her dreams, and everything. “It was the sum of everything good and bad in my life.”

Taj goes on to say she figured she would start as the happy-go-lucky Taj, helping around camp and do as best she could in the challenges. Then she hoped to form a bond and an alliance – but it didn’t work out that way at first. So, Taj says that she figured she needed an immunity idol, so she really wanted to go to Exile Island. Then she made the alliance with Brendan – “But he flipped on me!” Taj laments. “It would have been so sweet!”

So, then, Taj went with the alliance with J.T., Stephen, and the idol. “That was working fine until I got blindsided by my alliance.” Taj says the immunity idol helped her make that alliance – and the alliance with Brendan. Taj says it all worked out well until the “idol ran out” and the guys blindsided her.

Despite that, Taj feels she knows J.T. and Stephen well. She knows very personal things about them. J.T. is a hard worker and a great guy – he’s the first person to go to college from his family. Stephen is very smart and shy. Again, he’s a great guy too. The one thing about both of them Taj really didn’t get was that they were both willing to do anything to get the million dollars. “That was the part I met last night – who I wanted to fight.”

Taj thinks she lost focus on the million dollars and her alliance-mates will to win it. “I lost my drive.” Taj says after the Exile Island alliance fell apart she just went along with her other alliance, allowing them to dictate the game for her. “I allowed them to drive that car.” Taj actually felt the idol put a bulls-eye on her, and that caused her to relinquish control too much.

Taj is still proud that she, J.T., and Stephen were able to eliminate so many Timbira when Jalapao came in with so much lower numbers. “It could have been a picture perfect season, but somebody always has to mess it up!”

Heh. I like Taj, and I agree with her assessment that she gave up too much control towards the end to the guys. Its clear Taj believes Brendan had abandoned the Exile Island alliance – once again showing that he made a big error in not talking to Taj and Stephen and reassuring them. Taj doesn’t seem too bitter today, taking things with a grain of salt.

Erinn’s Final Words

Erinn says that, as much as she wanted to make it to the end, she knows J.T. made the right decision to take Stephen to the end. “I’m really proud of him.” Erinn says the show has been life changing for her. She was a little surprised that J.T. took Stephen, but not much. “If it came down to morals or money – when most people would choose money, I definitely knew he would choose morals.”

Erinn says she can’t stress how much she’s happy that – if she was going to go out – she’s glad it was the two guys at the end. If she was going to lose to anyone, Erinn wanted it to be J.T. and Stephen.

I’m not sure why Erinn or anyone else considered it much of a risk for J.T. to take Stephen to the end. J.T. was clearly loved and respected by everyone. No one was going to beat him.

Erinn the Day After

Erinn says that the whole experience here has been very positive. “I got incredibly far in the game.” Erinn says she tested herself – and she succeeded. “I generally just felt really good about the experience.”

Erinn notes that it’s amazing how much your body can do with almost no food. But it’s also amazing how much fuel your body needs to perform. Erinn says it gets very difficult to do basic things when you’re not getting enough food. Erinn says they tried to calculate how many calories a day they were getting – at the beginning when they had more food – and they thought it was maybe 800 calories. By the end, you got maybe three little scoops of rice.

“My last day in this game, I have never been as hungry, as tired, as exhausted.” Erinn thinks half of why she was so positive leaving is because she knew there was food and water out there. Erinn thinks she could have barely gotten through the final day if she had to do it. “I figured once you got that hungry you were just dead.”