“The Girls Brainwashed Troy and Jay” – Reality News Online’s Exclusive Interview with Survivor: One World’s Jonas

Jonas went from being a quiet provider who was flying a bit under the radar to suddenly becoming the biggest threat the opposing alliance could find. Read on to see what he think of how this alliance came to be, how he was named the target, and much more!

Reality News Online: Hello, Jonas, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Reality News Online!

Jonas: Oh, you’re welcome!

RNO: Let’s jump right in to the end of your time on the show. I’m trying to get a handle on what the plan was going into Tribal Council. Can you explain it?

Jonas: There were multiple plans in different people’s heads. Tarzan was under the assumption that everybody was going to vote for Kat – when I say everybody, he was thinking Jay, Troy, himself, Leif, and Mike were going to vote for Kat. And he thought I was in that whole mix. I knew from talking to Troy and Jay that they absolutely were not on board with that plan.

I knew we didn’t have the votes so I knew it was pointless to even vote for Kat. It gets a little confusing because it could be said that, based on our talks, the vote was changed. But we never had the votes for Kat. I knew that the girls had brainwashed Troy and Jay to leave the alliance with me when they created the new Salani tribe and the guys were down numbers. It was basically Troy and Jay, and Mike was never part of our alliance.

I knew when we remerged, the alliance had been destroyed and Jay and Troy were now with Chelsea and Kim. Kim had convinced Troy and Jay that I was going next. I knew the only chance I had was to convince Chelsea and Kim to vote Mike, because that would still prove the guys’ loyalty was towards the women, but it would just not be me. That was my plan that I had proposed to everybody else.

RNO: How much of a chance did you think your new plan had?

Jonas: I proposed that to every single person and I talked to everybody individually, except for Kat, about voting Mike. It’s one of those things where, I realize how easy this was to fall into when I fell into voting for Bill. Bill was like my best friend in the game but it was so easy for me to fall into the [mode of thinking], “Hey, five guys are going to vote for Bill so why don’t I just jump into that too?” It was so much easier. Everybody just decided Jonas, Jonas, Jonas and they all fell in line.

I realized being out there how difficult it is changing people’s minds and how much of a target it puts on you if you try to change people’s minds. It’s way too much work and way too risky.

RNO: Do you think Troyzan was ever with you, or was he perhaps trying to begin the process of jury management?

Jonas: I think it was a little bit of both. Bill and Troy were by far my closest friends and allies out there. But when we got separated at the mix-up, he definitely had made alliances with Chelsea and Kim and that was totally clear to me once we remerged. He was acting weird and I called him out on it. I get the feeling that if Michael wasn’t an issue then maybe I might not have been told I was going to go home.

RNO: Last week, Colton told me that despite the way he was treating Christina, his plan was actually to vote out Alicia. He said, “what actually happened was I had already spoken with Jonas, saying we need to flip this and get rid of Alicia because she has connections with the women.” Is that indeed what happened?

Jonas: Yes, yes. Believe it or not, he did talk to me about that. I didn’t believe him 100% but he did propose it. I believed about negative-80% of what Colton said. I didn’t believe anything that guy said. I just pretended to make him think I believed what he said. (Laugh)

RNO: Speaking of Colton, earlier in the game, you seemed to be content to just be a quiet follower of his. What was your plan at that point?

Jonas: Because Colton was so volatile and so was his rationale for voting out people – he proposed we give up immunity! It showed how non-strategic his thinking was and how emotional he was about voting. I knew any little suspicion of me trying to get him out would be very dangerous because he could flip on you in an instant and in two minutes he’d have everybody voting for you.

My thoughts were: 1) It’s way too early to be making big moves. 2) Hey, let him do all the dirty work and I’ll make him believe I’m with him and it’ll be that much easier. It was purely strategic on my part, it wasn’t like he and I had any kind of a friendship or anything.

Although I did really truly feel some empathy for him when he went out. I was shocked I even felt that way. People ask me, “Was that real?” I really did. At that point, I knew he wasn’t lying or faking – it was real and raw and I was like, I actually feel bad for the guy. I was actually shocked.

RNO: What do you think of Tarzan overall?

Jonas: I’m totally cool with Tarzan. I know it’s not like he was singling anybody out with his abrasiveness – he was just like that. I don’t take it personally.

RNO: I’m being told we’re out of time, but before we go, is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Jonas: My time on Survivor was amazing. Maybe one thing that was unique is that I learned if you have zero money and if you have a spear and a mask, you can survive if it really came down to it.

RNO: Thanks again, Jonas!

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David Bloomberg is the Editor of Reality News Online and has been covering Survivor since the very first season. He can be reached at RNO@pobox.com. You can also follow him on Twitter!

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